Rankings of hot men in movies (especially shirtless ones) are a dime a dozen on the internet. Heck, we’ve even ranked the most handsome movie superheroes. But where, I ask, is the love for the sexy bad dudes of cinema? Without them, your hunky heroes would have no one to save. Here’s the thing: It’s easy to be attracted to the good guys, however, they’re not nearly as exciting as their villainous counterparts. There’s just a teensy bit more appeal (and catharsis, even) to men who are terrible; the fact that loving them is wrong just makes it feel so right, you know? So, after careful consideration (and much heated debate), we’ve chosen the 25 hottest bad guys in movies and ranked them accordingly.

No one is going to give you grief for swooning over superheroes like Captain America and Black Panther, or handsome selfless types like Ryan Gosling in Drive or literally every dude from Magic Mike. But when I say, “Damn, that Patrick Bateman is fine as hell,” I get the side-eye. Sure, he’s an intensely narcissistic psychopath and serial killer, but his skincare regimen is on point and he looks great in a suit. Listen, no one is saying any of these dudes have decent morals. All I’m saying is that being attracted to bad men is actually pretty normal. Not to go all armchair psychiatrist on you, but the reason we love deeply flawed and sometimes flat-out awful dudes is because we shouldn’t. We love them because we want to fix them, or because they have a little more edge. And when they’re fictional, it’s a safe, cathartic way to work out our own baggage.

Trust me, I’ve spoken to my therapist extensively about this very thing because it’s not easy admitting to your friends that, you know what, yeah, I do think Jared Leto’s Joker is hot. And so, because I am tired of apologizing for my singular tastes, I’ve convinced the rest of the ScreenCrush editorial team to help me select and rank the 25 hottest bad men of movies. Don’t @ me about any of this.

The 25 Hottest Bad Guys in Movies, Ranked

More From KKRC-FM / 97.3 KKRC