Today we will be taking a look at the handguns that seem right at home when used by villains in popular media, those that are appropriate for a Russian officer, drug-cartel leader, mentally sick billionaire, and, well, Bond villain.

So, what makes a gun seem well suited to use by a bad guy? Well for me, there are three reasons:

• Used by multiple notorious bad guys

• Reserving a villainous reputation in history

• Cosmetically menacing and/or capable of intimidating firepower

Having taken these factors into consideration, I present to you the top five bad guy guns.

In today's world, the Walther PPK and James Bond are practically one and the same, but the fact of the matter is it was originally designed for use by German police, and when WWII broke out, it was the standard issue handgun for Nazi officers. Although it may not be very powerful, or big and dangerous, it was, no joke, Adolf Hitler's sidearm, and he was debatably the most evil person in history. Therefore, the Walther PPK had to at least take the last place in this comparison. But don't lose heart Walther fans! It is also the gun Hitler allegedly used on himself. So, in a way, it was the gun that ended WWII.

You may never have even heard of this gun, and in that case, the Jericho 941 is a 9mm Israeli copy of the CZ 75, somewhat taking after the Desert Eagle in appearance. So what qualifies this as a bad guy gun? Well, first of all, it is named after the city that was once an enemy of the Israelites, and I don't think any other gun can say the same. It is also used in multiple movies and TV shows, such as Breaking Bad, National Treasure, Live Free Or Die Hard, and Casino Royale, primarily by the bad guys. It also looks quite menacing! The two-tone model in particular really looks like it was made specially for gangsters! It also seems right at home used by quite a few very different bad guys, if you have a shady casino owner, the Jericho will fit right in. If you have a street-smart gangbanger, the Jericho will suit him well. If you have a nut-case trying to take over the world, the Jericho will fit right in as his personal sidearm.

No doubt about it, the TEC-9 is one particularly notorious firearm. It came out around the 1990s, when most modern guns were getting their start. It was meant by the manufacturer Intratec to be a military sub-machine gun, but when no world militaries were interested, Intratec converted it to semi-auto, and put it on the civilian market. However, it has one... quirk, it is able to be converted back to full-auto very easily. Between this and the fact it is a very cheap gun resulted in countless gangs and criminals with sub-machine guns, and soon, the TEC-9 was straight up banned. Nowadays, it enjoys a reputation as the drug-cartel, organized crime, or mass-shooter firearm, and I doubt it will ever be seen as anything more.

The Makarov was designed during the reign of the Soviet Union, as a replacement for the unreliable TT-33 Tokrev (Which probably would have been number 5 on this list, had it not been for Hitler.). It uses the 9 x 18mm Makarov round, the most powerful possible to safely fire in a straight blow-back design, just to throw that out there... Anyway, it shouldn't be any secret why this gun made number 2 on our list, the Makarov is a SYMBOL of the Soviet Union, it even has a Russian star on the grip!

In popular media, it has been seen in a great many action movies. Including, but not limited to: Goldeneye, Patriot Games, and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, in all of which it is used as an assassination or execution weapon. However, It's evil is not limited to fiction. The Makarov was mass-produced and sent throughout the communist world. It has been the standard issue sidearm in Russia, China, North Korea, Iraq, and many other countries. Except possibly the AK-47, it is the epitome of Communist firearms, and truly the stuff of legends.

The Desert Eagle XIX needs no introduction. Anyone who has ever watched an action movie has seen it before, and indeed, it has been used in no less then six hundred movies, TV shows, and video games. I doubt anyone has any questions why it made the top spot, after all, anyone who's seen what .50 Action Express can do knows it is absolutely cracked, and the gun itself is an absolute beast, there's no other word to describe it! I don't know if any other gun is golden-chromed as often as this one, and that may be because this gun is practically meant for gangsters, I mean, beside extremely good fun, what else is it known for?! The agents from The Matrix famously used these, and that may be one of the main reasons the Desert Eagle is my favorite bad guy gun.

What other guns do you think should have made the list? Join the Areotec Precision discord here and let me know! I hope you enjoyed this article, and maybe even learned something from it, thank you for your time, and have a nice day.

Want to learn more about the guns mentioned in this article? I'd like to encourage you to check out these videos, and maybe even research for yourself!