They are the most evil characters ever to grace our cinema screens. Corrupt, depraved, downright insane... but essential to a blockbuster movie.

And the list of badasses now sees two newcomers joining the established miscreants.

Straight in at number four in a poll of UK film fans is Anton Chigurh, the demonic and merciless assassin played by Javier Bardem in the Oscar-laden Coen Brothers classic No Country for Old Men.

And the late Heath Ledger’s role as The Joker in the latest Batman movie made it into the top ten.

Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter came in at number one in the poll by Lovefilm.com, an online rental and entertainment site that surveyed more than 2,500 members.

With a penchant for fava beans and chianti, Hopkins’ unnerving Oscar-winning performance scared fans rigid with nearly a quarter of the votes.

In ninth place was Ledger’s performance in the new Batman film The Dark Knight, which has seen calls for a posthumous Oscar.

Star Wars’ Darth Vader, played by David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones was second in the poll.

Joe Pesci’s turn as Goodfellas’ quick-tempered mobster Tommy DeVito came third while Alan Rickman as German antagonist Hans Gruber, Bruce Willis’ nemisis in 1988’s Die Hard, came fifth.

The only female to make the list was the psychotic nurse Annie Wilkes played by Kathy Bates in Misery.

Kevin Spacey’s turn as John Doe, a killer intent on ridding the world of the seven deadly sins, in Se7en, saw him in seventh place.

Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance in The Shining came eighth.

Robert De Niro as gang leader Al Capone in The Untouchables, running the show across a corrupt Chicago, was 10th.