Does Heath Ledger's Joker measure up to Hollywood's greatest villains?

Could Heath Ledger win a posthumous Academy Award for playing the Caped Crusader's most celebrated villain, the Joker, in the new movie "The Dark Knight"?

Sure he could.

Ledger's Joker is the stuff of movie myth, one of those unique pairings of character and performer that seems so effortless and real, it could easily become a cinematic classic.

But will the late actor's work as the Joker hold up as one of the top 10 movie villains in history? Only time will properly frame the true impact of the Australian actor's role in "The Dark Knight."

In the meantime, here are the reigning all-time top 10 movie villains, those electrifying baddies whose low morals, disregard for human values or plain old meanness has immortalized them in film. Just to be fair, we've tossed in five runners-up for good measure.

10. Auric Goldfinger in "Goldfinger" (1964) Ernst Stavro Blofeld might have been the uber-villain at SPECTRE in the 007 movies, but Goldfinger's criminal cool, unbridled greed, perverse name, and plot to wipe out the U.S. gold reserves at Fort Knox make him Bond's baddest megalomaniacal opponent. It doesn't hurt that Goldfinger had backup from the greatest movie henchman in history, Oddjob, the Korean assassin with the razor-brimmed Frisbee bowler.

9. Khan in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" (1982) Only Ricardo Montalban's over-the-top, mad-dog delivery as Captain Kirk's mortal enemy could get away with lines such as "From hell's heart, I stab at thee! For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee!" Montalban reprised his character from a "Star Trek" TV episode. Contrary to popular belief, Montalban did not wear a fake he-man chest for the role. He was built that way.

8. The Demon in "The Exorcist" (1973) The Demon's presence inside little Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) establishes itself as the silver screen's most insidious and frightening supernatural villain.

7. Jack Wilson in "Shane" (1953) With his skeletal features and raspy cackle, Jack Palance won an Oscar nomination as a sadistic gunslinger who gleefully mows down anyone in his way, until he meets up with Alan Ladd's wandering loner. In 1992, Palance won the Oscar by more or less playing the same character for laughs in "City Slickers."

6. Hans Gruber in "Die Hard" (1988) Before Snape, Alan Rickman created the British-accented, effete Eurotrash bad guy who became an action movie staple for the next 20 years. He's not a member of the Asian Dawn movement in Sri Lanka, he just read about them in Time magazine.

5. Preacher Harry Powell in "Night of the Hunter" (1955) On one set of his knuckles is the word "LOVE." On the other is "HATE." Together, they spell "PSYCHO KILLER." Robert Mitchum played his murdering religious nut job with such understated conviction, it's a wonder he wasn't typecast for the rest of his career.

4. Cruella De Vil in "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" (1961) So you're a kid watching an animated movie about a rich woman who smokes and wants to club little puppies to death, skin them and wear their furs as a coat. Another traumatic cinematic childhood experience from Uncle Walt. Betty Lou Gerson provided Cruella's glass-etching voice.

3. Darth Vader in "Star Wars" (1977) That commanding basso profundo voice! That metallic insect face! That flowing Zorro cape! No wonder the former Anakin Skywalker is the poster boy for the Dark Side of the Force.

2. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) With his dead facial expression, brilliant mind and twisted sense of purpose, Anthony Hopkins' Oscar-winning villain combined the public's mistrust of intelligent people with their fear of mutilation to produce a perfect, modern-day boogeyman. Responsible for an entire generation refusing to drink Chianti with fava beans. Hold the liver.

1. The Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) This quintessential bad girl (the great Margaret Hamilton) has no qualms about burning Scarecrow alive, killing lovable Dorothy to possess her ruby Manolos, even knocking off her little dog Toto, too. True, WWW might not have the smarts, education, weaponry or appetite of a Hannibal Lecter, but her ability to command an army of flying monkeys, the sadistic way she toyed with her victims ("Going so soon? I wouldn't hear of it!") and her unparalleled beautiful wickedness make her the No. 1 movie villain of all time. She makes those other villains turn green with envy.

Five runners-up worthy of dishonorable mentions:

1. Gunfighter Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin) from "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." (1962)

2. Gunfighter Tim Strawn (Lee Marvin) from "Cat Ballou." (1965)

3. Wife killer Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) in "Rear Window." (1954)

4. Woman-in-the-wheelchair killer Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark) in "Kiss of Death." (1947)

5. The Scorpio Killer (Andy Robinson) in "Dirty Harry." (1971)

Did I leave off your favorite all-time baddest movie villain? Tell me about him/her at dgire@dailyherald.com.