10 most disliked Smallville characters, ranked

7. Lionel Luthor

Oh you can't go wrong with a devilishly good villain, and Lionel Luthor was the most devilish of all. In those first few seasons, at least.

Lionel was the cold and calculating father of Lex Luthor and he was never there for his son in the way that he needed. Seriously, behind every great villain there is another great villain. Lionel certainly never saw himself that way, but he was the biggest of villains in Smallville's early years.

The good thing about Lionel is that audiences were meant to hate him. He was conniving, selfish, and murderous when he wanted to be and the way he treated Lex - who fans loved a great deal at this point in time - made him easily hateable. Honestly, John Glover delivered a remarkable performance, portraying Lionel as this larger-than-life figure who just didn't care about the people around him.

The good news is that Lionel went a long way to redeem himself in later seasons, becoming the vessel for Jor-El and a confidante for the Kents in a bid to atone for his crimes. He even tried to stop Lex from going down the dark path he was heading down.

There was just something so inherently villainous about Lionel in those early years of Smallville (and Earth-2 Lionel in the final season). The show did villainous Luthors so well and we loved to hate them.