The 20 Best Doctor Who Monsters of the Modern Era

If there’s something Doctor Who is known for besides time travel hijinks, sonic screwdrivers, and regeneration, it’s having a massive catalog of memorable monsters. With a new season of Doctor Who upon us, we’re taking a look back at the Doctor’s rogues gallery to highlight the most vicious monsters our favorite Time Lord has run into.

Before we begin, a couple of notes: We’ve left off villains that we don’t think qualify as “monsters” in the traditional sense, so don’t expect to see the Master on here. Additionally, although some of these creatures date back to the classic show, every entry in this list has made at least one televised appearance since the 2005 revival. We just think the “modern” monsters tend to be more effective (and are more in our wheelhouse anyway). With that settled, let’s get into it. Here are our top 20 Doctor Who monsters.

20. Macra

As all PlayStation fans know, few things are as terrifying as a giant enemy crab. Doctor Who first introduced the alien race known as the Macra during the Second Doctor’s era. Initially large, intelligent crabs, they had an interstellar empire and were referred to by the Doctor as the “scourge of this galaxy.” Millions of years later, the Macra fell on hard times and devolved into mindless beasts that survived on noxious gases and ate whatever fell through the cracks of the planet-wide gridlocked motorway of New Earth. They aren’t the most prominent Doctor Who enemy, but would you want to meet one in a dark alley? I didn’t think so.

19. Clockwork Repair Droids

“The Girl in the Fireplace” is commonly considered one of the quintessential Steven Moffat-penned episodes, and as such features a set of memorable antagonists. Those would be the Clockwork Repair Droids, a group of robots with a penchant for 18th century French fashion and stealing organs from human beings. They want to snatch the brain of Jeanne Antoinette “Reinette” Poisson, also known as Madame de Pompadour, to repair the computer of their 51st century starship. The audacity of their plan contrasts well with the tender romance between the Tenth Doctor and Reinette, making them the perfect villains for this iconic episode.

18. Sontarans

The stocky, dome-headed race of cloned soldiers known as the Sontarans are one of the Doctor’s most recurring foes. Bred for nothing but endless warfare, Sontaran culture is centered purely on the honor of death in combat. But despite their militaristic nature, the Sontarans lose some points by rarely coming off all that threatening because of their goofy appearance and easily outwitted schemes. All that said, the Doctor considers them among the “finest soldiers in the galaxy,” so they are still worth a spot on this list. Plus, they gave us Strax, one of the funnier and more interesting of the many side characters the Doctor has encountered.

17. Vashta Nerada

Why is every species in the universe afraid of the dark? According to Doctor Who, it’s because of the Vashta Nerada, microscopic carnivores that are essentially piranhas living in shadows. These invisible terrors encountered the Tenth Doctor at the Library, a planet that the Vashta Nerada had rendered devoid of life. While the sight of their skeletal victims trapped in their spacesuits is definitely spooky, the Vashta Nerada suffer a bit from how they actually “work” not being as clear as it should. They basically kill whenever the script wants them to, but the Doctor having no plan for them beyond “run” certainly makes them a credible threat.

16. The Vespiform

In what other show could an episode be an Agatha Christie style murder mystery that actually includes Agatha Christie as a character, and also the murderer is an evil alien wasp in disguise? That’s exactly what Doctor Who gave us with “The Unicorn and the Wasp,” one of the most deliriously eccentric episodes of the Tenth Doctor’s tenure. The Vespiform, a giant wasp that can shapeshift into human form, plays the part of a serial murderer at a 1920s dinner party. We won’t spoil the identity of the creature (it’s a mystery, after all), but as one-off Doctor Who villains go, the Vespiform is one of the more memorable for its genre-bending mischief.

15. Ice Warriors

Another longtime foe dating back to the original show, the Ice Warriors are a race of armored reptilian humanoids native to Mars. Originally starting off as enemies of the Second Doctor who wanted to colonize Earth, the Ice Warriors eventually changed their tune and became an ally of the Third Doctor. They returned in the revival era in the episode “Cold War,” where the Eleventh Doctor found himself trapped on a Soviet submarine with a single villainous Ice Warrior who hunts down the crew one by one. They aren’t quite among the most iconic of Doctor Who monsters, but the Ice Warriors deserve credit for their versatility and longevity.

14. The Veil

“Heaven Sent” is widely considered one of the best Doctor Who episodes of all time, and for good reason. The Twelfth Doctor is trapped in a confession dial, where he spends 4.5 billion years trying to find a way to escape and undo the death of beloved companion Clara Oswald. All the while, he’s hunted by the Veil, a being with a burning touch that forces the Doctor to share his darkest secrets. The slow movement and omnipresent nature of the Veil makes it an unsettling presence, but the real star of the show is Peter Capaldi’s performance. Even so, the Veil earns a spot on this list for being a big part of such a great episode.

13. The Flood

A good Doctor Who monster can make the most innocuous things scary, and one of the best examples of that is what the show did to water with the Flood. A virus trapped in a Martian glacier, it infected the water of the first human colony on Mars, turning those who came in contact with it into horrific zombie-like creatures. Their cracked mouths and them constantly spilling water from their skin made the Flood’s victims into the stuff of nightmares. They’ve only had one televised appearance in the Tenth Doctor special “The Waters of Mars,” but pretty much everyone who’s seen it would say the Flood made one hell of a first impression.

12. The Silence

Steven Moffat introduced a long-running mythology arc at the beginning of Season 6 with the Silence, who were hyped up by the creators at the time as the scariest Doctor Who monster ever conceived. These suit and tie wearing aliens had the power to make people forget they existed whenever they weren’t being observed, making it difficult to fight back against the Silence’s machinations. What those machinations actually were and how convoluted their subplot became is why the Silence don’t make the top 10 here, but even then they’re still among the most conceptually interesting and unnerving antagonists in the Doctor’s storied history.

11. The Ood

The Ood are unique on this list because they are far more sympathetic than monstrous. A race of benign and easily manipulated creatures, the Ood were enslaved by humanity but insisted they were okay with it. However, their telepathic abilities led them to become pawns of another, more powerful villain (who we’ll get to later), turning them into red-eyed terrors ready to hunt down the Tenth Doctor and his allies. Thankfully, the Doctor escaped intact. The Doctor later returned alongside Donna Noble to help the Ood in “Planet of the Ood,” where the pair assisted the Ood Brain in freeing all Ood across the galaxy from their enslavement.

10. Autons

For most modern fans of the show, the Autons are the first Doctor Who monster they ever encountered. Resembling walking mannequins, they were animated by their master, the Nestene Consciousness, as plastic foot soldiers in its attempt to conquer Earth. The Autons started off as recurring enemies of the Third Doctor, who thwarted their schemes on two separate occasions. They returned again in “Rose,” the pilot episode of the 2005 revival, where the Ninth Doctor once again put down an invasion attempt. They would also factor into the two-part Season 5 finale, with companion Rory Williams being revived as an Auton.

9. The Foretold

The best one-off monster of the Twelfth Doctor’s tenure, the Foretold is the eponymous mummy in “Mummy on the Orient Express.” This eerie creature is only capable of being perceived by its intended target, who it kills after exactly 66 seconds, no matter how the victim tries to escape. Watching the Doctor and Clara Oswald try to figure out how to stop a monster they can’t see or hear as it picks off its prey makes for one of the most tense episodes of Capaldi’s era. Plus, when the Doctor finally does see it, him figuring out what the Foretold actually is and how to stop it during the time limit makes for one of the Doctor’s finest moments.

8. Sutekh

Most science fiction properties eventually introduce a god-like antagonist, and the Doctor finally received one with Sutekh. Originally an adversary of the Fourth Doctor, the evil Osiran was seemingly defeated in “The Pyramids of Mars,” only to come back decades later in the two-part finale of Season 14 as the leader of the Pantheon of Discord. Sutekh revealing himself to the Fifteenth Doctor and explaining how and why he’s survived turns him from a pretty good one-off foe into one of the Doctor’s all-time greatest enemies. Plus, the Doctor even refers to Sutekh as “the greatest monster I have ever fought,” so that’s got to count for something.

7. The Empty Child

Creepy children are a staple of horror media, and Doctor Who turned in one of the best examples with the Empty Child. Originally a boy named Jamie who died during a WWII air raid on London, he was revived via extraterrestrial means and plagued the streets as a gas mask-wearing menace who turned anyone he touched into zombies similar to him. He and all of his victims would chant “are you my mummy?” over and over again. Luckily, the Ninth Doctor and his companion Rose Tyler were able to figure out what caused the Empty Child’s condition and reverse it, making for one of the most triumphant endings to a Doctor Who episode.

6. The Time Beetle

Season 4 of the revival era, the last season starring the Tenth Doctor, features two of the best one-off monsters in the show’s history. First up is the Time Beetle from “Turn Left,” a sinister insect capable of latching itself to a victim’s back and altering their personal history by creating a parallel timeline. This happens to Donna Noble, who makes a crucial choice that prevents her from ever meeting the Doctor, resulting in the Doctor’s death and numerous cataclysms that he was supposed to prevent. After it’s stopped, the Doctor recognizes the beetle as being affiliated with the Trickster, a villain who should be familiar to viewers of The Sarah Jane Adventures.

5. The Midnight Entity

Our second Season 4-exclusive monster is the Midnight Entity, perhaps the most mysterious Doctor Who monster of all time. It’s never seen, named, or properly understood; it simply is. While on a tour of the diamond planet Midnight, an unseen presence breaks into the tour bus and possesses one of the passengers, repeating every word said to it with perfect accuracy. It eventually takes control of the Doctor, stealing his voice and nearly convincing his fellow passengers to jettison him from the vehicle. Although the Doctor does survive the altercation, it’s still one of the most haunting encounters with the unknown in the show’s history.

4. The Beast

The two-part episode “The Impossible Planet” and “The Satan Pit” is arguably a better space horror movie than most actual space horror movies. In this story, the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler wind up trapped on Krop Tor, a planet somehow orbiting a black hole, where they come in contact with a being known as the Beast. This demonic monstrosity is implied to be the literal Devil, or at least the inspiration for such a creature in all the mythologies in the universe. Given how much he terrorizes the Doctor and his allies, both by controlling the Ood and possessing Toby, one of the poor souls stranded with them, we’d say he’s more than welcome to the title.

3. Cybermen

When it comes to recurring monsters, there’s only one that can claim to have battled the Doctor more often than the Cybermen. Originally a group of cyborgs created from the bodies of humans native to Earth’s twin planet Mondas, they also developed in a parallel timeline as part of a scheme by John Lumic, head of Cybus Industries. No matter their origin, the Cybermen seek to “upgrade” other humans into more Cybermen, whether the victims want to or not. They are scary not just for their relentlessness and lack of emotion, but because it seems that no matter what universe the Doctor visits, the Cybermen will always rise up eventually.

2. Weeping Angels

For the most terrifying Doctor Who monster of all time, there really can’t be any answer but the Weeping Angels. These fearsome killers look like statues to the uninitiated, but that’s because they’re quantum-locked while observed, meaning they only move when no one is looking at them. Turn your eyes away for a moment, even by blinking, and those statues will be a little bit closer. They kill by sending their victims back in time, meaning if they catch you, you’ll never see your loved ones again. If you somehow haven’t seen their debut episode “Blink,” sometimes cited as the best Doctor Who episode of the revival era, you’re seriously missing out.

1. Daleks

Did you really think number one would be anything else? Of course it’s the Daleks, the Doctor’s most iconic and enduring foes. Not only have they opposed the Doctor ever since the First Doctor’s second story, they are arguably just as responsible as the Doctor for popularizing the franchise. These fascist alien mutants encased in metal shells exist for only one purpose: to “exterminate!” They believe in Dalek supremacy above all else, and have sought universal conquest time and time again. Yet no matter how many times they battle their archnemesis, Doctor Who fans are always looking forward to the next clash between the Doctor and the Daleks. And that’s why they will always be the greatest Doctor Who monster of all time.

What’s your favorite Doctor Who monster? Vote in our poll and let’s discuss in the comments!

Carlos Morales writes novels, articles and Mass Effect essays. You can follow his fixations on Twitter.

Note: This story was updated to be a top 20 in April 2025. It originally ran as a top 10 in 2014.