Any show involving Heaven, Hell, angels, and daddy issues is going to have some major villains. Case to case, Lucifer never held back in brutality, motives, and Devil faces. We see the worst of divinity and humanity, and honestly, we can all relate to Lucifer’s desire to punish the guilty.
Some of these villains reform and redeem themselves, while others perish and end up in their own personal Hell. Because Hell is a very personal place. Very.
Here are the 10 most vile villains in Lucifer, ranked.
Amenadiel
Sorry, buddy. But come on, Season 1 Amenadiel was a jerk who lost his way. At first, his reasoning is understandable and as we get into Season 4, yeah, Hell needs a ruler. What’s not okay is striking a deal with a human so they can kill Lucifer (thus, sending him back to Hell with no escape) on his behalf.
But Amenadiel has a lot of redeemable qualities, he’s just a cautionary tale of following directions without question. Lucifer represents a grey area, that even the first historical “villain” can change for the better. And Amenadiel definitely does once he realized everything he did wrong.
God
Even after Amenadiel’s grand revelation of free will and self-worth, that’s a pretty dirty move to pull on your kids. For the most part, those who believe in God see him as this omnipotent being who does have some grand plan set in motion. Ella’s comfort in faith gets shaken up after the murder of Charlotte Richards and of course, God says nothing.
Amenadiel essentially punishes himself, believing it to be God’s will and that he deserves it. And Lucifer? Granted, Lucifer has a lot of other problems, but they stem from God’s rejection and being banished to Hell. So maybe God didn’t have an active part in the conflict, but being a bystander is just as bad.
Mum/The Goddess
The more proactive of the Big Bang duo, Mum escapes from Hell with the goal of starting a war with Heaven. Lovely.
Mum was an interesting antagonist to have during Season 2. While her ultimate goal remained the same through the season, her actions to get there kept flipping between okay to oh my God, that’s murder. Yeah, don’t forget she almost blew up Chloe Decker after Lucifer stood her up on a potential date.
Ultimately, Mum did make the benign decision to create a universe of her own and spared everyone on Earth. But we can’t forgive her actions or the blatant manipulation of her children.
Lucifer
You know what they say: you are your own worst enemy. Throughout the series, we see Lucifer grow and slowly accept the emotions he’s feeling, but he’s done some awful stuff along the way. We can definitely justify Lucifer’s kill count, both done to protect those he cares about. Even Amenadiel was in danger when Uriel descended.
But he constantly has blinders up and until recently, really only did things for himself. Or at least, justified his actions - good or bad - if they helped him in some way. His self-centeredness have consistently put himself and those around him in immediate danger. In Season 4, he finally had that big revelation and towards the end, began consciously changing for the better. But seriously, half of the conflict in the show would go away if Lucifer was a bit more self-conscious.
The Sinnerman
The poor guy didn’t exactly get a say in his upbringing, but that’s a philosophical debate for another day. Though we can’t take Pierce’s word at face value, he did admit that the Sinnerman was once a close friend who went rogue. Pierce never really displayed the same psychotic levels as the Sinnerman did, so there may be some truth in the statement.
His eventual confrontation with Lucifer gives us everything we need to know. The Sinnerman is nonapologetic and most likely, would do it all again.
Perry Smith
As a prison guard, he had John Decker killed for literally doing his job and then had the innocent Joe Fields take the fall, promising him money for his daughter. But as life would have it, Smith climbs the ranks to warden. Overall, his crimes include serial and proxy murder, organized crime due to his affiliation with the Russian Mob and the Chinese Alhambra Triads, and corruption.
The justice system fails our protagonists (thanks, Mum Richards), so Maze and Dan take matters into their own hands. At the end of the day, we don’t feel badly about Smith’s demise.
Uriel
Where to even start with Uriel? Obviously, this guy’s got some issues and could use a session or three hundred with Linda. Like Amenadiel, Uriel’s pride was his undoing. But unlike Amenadiel, Uriel was ready and willing to get his hands dirty in the name of sending Mum back to her eternal torment.
Remember, Uriel was acting on his own. There was no message from God, only rumors among the angels about the task Lucifer was given. Uriel was ready to kill Chloe (and later Maze when she intervened) just to get Mum back to Hell, without even thinking through a better solution. And he knew not only that Lucifer cares for Chloe, but that she would have no say in her fate.
Also, that “Holier Than Thou” vibe? Ugh.
Malcolm Graham
What a scumbag. And we all thought Dan was originally being super shady and douch-y? No, Malcolm’s so much worse.
Given a second chance by Amenadiel, Malcolm doesn’t bother to reform like Charlotte does. He goes on in his nasty ways, trying to cheat death and the Devil himself. His time in Hell didn’t change him for the better and honestly, he’s one of a handful of characters who deserves to stay there for all eternity.
Father Kinley
This is a prime example of (questionably) good intentions gone wrong. Convinced that Lucifer is indeed the root of all evil, Father Kinley manipulated Chloe into going along with his plan to send the Devil back to Hell. The worst part is that he honestly believes he’s doing the right thing, despite the fact that he has two confirmed deaths on his hands and who knows how many unconfirmed.
It’s almost poetic when his body gets possessed by a demon. Despite believing himself worthy of Heaven, some piece of him felt guilty enough to send him straight to Hell.
Cain/Marcus Pierce
The original murderer deserves the top spot. What’s great about Lucifer is that everyone who can be considered a villain or the antagonist of the season is multifaceted. Pierce didn’t present as evil and he was built up to be this man who due to immortality, felt that it was too painful to connect with people just to watch them die.
But then it turned out that he was running a massive crime syndicate under the guise of the Sinnerman, murdered Charlotte Richards in an attempt to murder Amenadiel, and then tried to murder Chloe and Lucifer when push came to shove. As self-centered as Lucifer is, he is trying to change. Pierce never did and in the end, didn’t want to.