Top 30 villains in television history

Photo Credit: ABC

26.  Grant Ward 

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. got off to a slow start with a lukewarm critical reaction as the series struggled to find its voice. However, almost every viewer can agree that the reveal of Grant Ward as a double agent was the moment the show began to improve. Ward served as a longtime villain for the series mainly because people grew to love his character and Brett Dalton played such a good villain. As a protagonist, Ward was considered one of the most hated characters on the show as the “good guy” with a rigid sense of rules. However, with his heel turn , it showed that the series had a longer game plan immediately transforming him into a cunning villain with the ability to hide as anyone.

Like most recurring bad guys, Grant Ward has a tragic yet fuzzy backstory. While he claims to have abusive parents and an older brother who forced him to torment his younger sibling, all of the Wards have conflicting statements on the matter. The team makes it clear that they can offer him minor sympathy but never excuse his actions despite the massive popularity of a relationship between him and Daisy. What truly makes Grant Ward such a complex villain is how the series explores the one decision which ultimately sealed his fate.

Taken under the wing of HYDRA as a teenager, he finds purpose and security within the organization as well as his mentor Agent Garrett. In the Framework, an alternate reality where characters have their biggest mistakes changed, he ends up being recruited by Victoria Hand, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent he kills to reveal his double-agent status.