Here's Who Fans Feel Is The Worst Villain On NCIS

For the past 18 years, the intrepid agents of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service have proven their bona fides as a crew of dogged investigators tracking down criminals, bringing their crimes to light, and ensuring justice is served. Over the years, they've proven themselves to be a crew of highly intelligent, scarily competent detectives who can bring down the average criminal with practiced ease. But every good hero (or team of heroes) needs a bad guy. Sometimes these villains are part of a single story arc, sometimes they're only around for an episode or two. But a good villain can leave an impact that can still be felt for years after.

In a recent Reddit poll, "NCIS" fans were asked to determine who was the worst villain over the course of the series' run. While there were a number of strong candidates, one stood head and shoulders above the rest. Introduced near the end of Season 1 and dying at the outset of Season 3, he appeared for a total of five episodes, but the impact he had on the NCIS lasted through the 17th season. The villain in question? Ari Haswari (Rudolf Martin), the double-agent turned murderous assassin, and also the brother to future NCIS agent Ziva David (Cote de Pablo).

While Ari Haswari was the clear winner of the Reddit poll with 190 of the votes, he still had competition. Harper Dearing (Richard Schiff) earned 155 votes in the poll for his infamy. Dearing was the CEO of Dorado Hills Investments, a multinational venture group that specialized in tech companies and a terrorist on a mission of vengeance against the Navy (and the NCIS) due to his belief that they killed his son. 

Reddit user BunnyFaceGirl wrote, "A tie between Ari and Harper but Harper literally tried (quite successfully) blow up the NCIS building. Thank god plot armor was there to save everyone." 

Ari Haswari pulled ahead, and a number of fans listed their reasons why. Napoleon 1603 stated: "I have to say Ari just because of the longevity of his villainess. (might have just invented a word there lol). Ari is still relevant to this day, with the whole Ziva storyline and all the other sub storyline throughout the series. We really see how many pots his dirty hands were in."  User SigmaKnight wrote: "Seriously, I think there has been one story somehow distantly related to him every season. Dead for ~16 years and still screwing with Gibbs."

Haswari was first introduced in the Season 1 episode "Bête Noire," in which he held several agents hostage only to escape, though he was unidentified at the time. Haswari was later revealed to be a rogue Mossad agent and terrorist who was a sworn enemy of NCIS Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon), having crossed paths and clashed with Gibbs a number of times in the past. Haswari truly earned the hatred of the NCIS team in the Season 2 episode "Twilight," in which he shot and killed Kate (Sasha Alexander)  with a sniper rifle.

Haswari's final confrontation with the NCIS too place in the Season 3 episode "Kill Ari, Part II," saw Ari attempt to kill Gibbs in his basement only for Ari to be surprised and killed by his half-sister Ziva, newly arrived from Israel and a random element Gibbs wasn't entirely sure to trust.  Ziva would become a full-fledged member of the NCIS team in her own right, but while Haswari himself was dead, his legacy would live on to haunt Gibbs and his team time and time again. First in Season 12 with the reveal of Haswari's half-brother Sergei Mishnev (Alex Veadov), and later with the revelation that a woman named Sahar (Louise Barnes) was an old colleague of Ari's who wanted to avenge his death at Ziva's hand. While Ari's time on "NCIS" was brief, his impact would be felt for years to come.