24's Best Villains

Updated May 23, 2010

TVGuide

Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is one heck of a CTU agent. Unfortunately, this superagent has encountered trouble in every shape and form over the last eight seasons of 24, from former CTU agent-turned-mole Nina Meyers to President Charles Logan to Jack's own father. TVGuide.com takes a look back at the best baddies in Jack's wake.

Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is one heck of a CTU agent. Unfortunately, this superagent has encountered trouble in every shape and form over the last eight seasons of 24, from former CTU agent-turned-mole Nina Meyers to President Charles Logan to Jack's own father. TVGuide.com takes a look back at the best baddies in Jack's wake.

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Victor Drazen, Day 1
Drazen (Dennis Hopper), a Balkan warlord who carried out ethnic cleansings, was behind the events in the show's inaugural season. Prior to Season 1, Jack Bauer led an assassination attempt on him called Operation Nightfall, which killed Drazen's wife and daughter. Drazen coordinated the first season's events to get back at Jack and David Palmer, who approved Operation Nightfall. He and his sons were killed by Jack.

Nina Meyers, Day 1
A former CTU agent, Meyers (Sarah Clarke) was a mole working with the Drazens during Season 1. She was captured, but not before murdering Jack's wife Teri. The next season, Meyers sold the internal schematics for CTU to terrorists, enabling them to bomb the facility. However, she received a presidential pardon in exchange for information. Meyers returned again in Day 3, when she worked for unnamed Mexican buyers of the Cordilla virus, and was taken into custody after failing to secure it. She escaped from CTU after killing several agents, before Jack ultimately shot and killed her.

Peter Kingsley, Day 2
Kingsley (Tobin Bell) was an oil tycoon with heavy military contacts. He planned to detonate a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles to force the U.S. into war with the Middle East, which would quadruple oil prices. A sniper picked off Kingsley just as he was about to kill Jack.

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Syed Ali, Day 2
The head of the Middle Eastern terrorist group called Second Wave, Ali (Francesco Quinn) coordinated the transport of a nuclear weapon to be used in Los Angeles. When the plot fell apart, he was killed to prevent him from revealing the higher-ups involved.

Max, Day 2
Max (Thomas Kretschmann) was revealed to be the true mastermind behind the sophomore season, but not much was known about him. When his original plan failed, he hired Mandy to (unsuccessfully) try and kill David Palmer.

Stephen Saunders, Day 3
Saunders (Paul Blackthorne), a former MI6 agent and member of Jack's Operation Nightfall team, was thought to be dead after the mission. In reality, Saunders was actually in captivity and brutally tortured for two years. Once he broke free, Saunders was determined to get vengeance on the government that abandoned him. Saunders got his hands on the Cordilla virus, with the intent of releasing it in major U.S. cities and killing millions. He was killed while in CTU custody by the wife of deceased agent Gael Ortega.

Sherry Palmer, Day 3
In the first season, the then-wife of David Palmer covered up two murders and leaked information to the press. After her divorce, Sherry (Penny Johnson Jerald) worked with Kingsley to overthrow her ex-husband's presidency in Day 2. The following season, Sherry tried to get back into her ex-husband's inner circle, but inadvertently caused the death of Alan Milliken, Palmer's primary campaign contributor. She was killed by Milliken's wife while trying to cover up evidence of Alan's death. Because of her death, David Palmer chose not to seek re-election.

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Habib Marwan, Day 4
Marwan (Arnold Vosloo) funded a number of terrorist cells in the U.S. and was behind the kidnapping Secretary of State James Heller and Audrey Raines. He executed a series of attacks in Season 4 to cripple the country, including the nuclear-plant meltdowns, stealing the presidential nuclear codes, and the bombing of Air Force One. When Jack tried to apprehend Marwan, he fell off a building.

President Charles Logan, Day 5
Logan (Gregory Itzin) masterminded the events of Season 5, including the sale of nerve gas and the assassination of David Palmer. When Jack discovered the truth, Logan was forced to step down. In the next season, it's revealed that Logan had been working with Jack's estranged brother, Graem, during the events of the year before. In Season 8, Logan used the death of Islamic Republic of Kamistan President Omar Hassan as leverage to keep the Russians from leaving President Allison Taylor's peace treaty, in an effort to thrust himself back into the political limelight. Logan manipulated the president into covering up the true nature of President Hassan's death in an effort to preserve the peace and covertly tried (unsuccessfully) to have Jack killed by Russian agents. His fate remains to be seen in the series finale.

Philip and Graem Bauer, Day 6
The estranged brother of Jack, Graem (Paul McCrane) controlled Logan toward the close of the fifth season. Graem was secretly murdered by his father, Philip (James Cromwell), during Season 6 to keep him quiet about their theft and sales of suitcase nukes. Philip also supplied the Chinese with information that allowed them to compromise CTU. He then offered to sell a Russian military grade nuclear board in exchange for safe passage to China for him and his grandson. Philip was killed in an air strike on one of his company's oil rigs.

Alan Wilson, Day 7
Wilson (Will Patton) was responsible for developing the Prion Varient biological agent in war-torn Sangala for military contractor Starkwood. He was also involved behind the scenes of what happened in the fifth season, which resulted in the death of Tony Almeida's wife and unborn son. Wilson was saved by Jack and was last reported to be "nearly killed" by his interrogation from Renee Walker.

Jonas Hodges, Day 7
An executive at Starkwood, Hodges (Jon Voight) was responsible for developing the Prion Varient in Sangala. In the two-hour TV movie 24: Redemption, he ordered the murder of President Taylor's son Roger, when Roger uncovered information about the actions in Sangala. In Season 7, Hodges equipped missiles with the Prion Varient, intent on using them on major cities unless the President made Starkwood her primary military contractor. The missiles were destroyed and Hodges was later killed in a car explosion.

Russian President Yuri Suvarov, Day 8
Logan revealed in the penultimate episode that Russian President Suvarov (Nick Jameson) ordered the hit on President Hassan to get Russia to withdraw from President Taylor's peace treaty. In addition, Suvarov was the one who ordered the death of Renee, which began Jack's downward spiral in the series' final episodes.

Source: FoxNews