If you're a fan of the Indiana Jones franchise like me (and yes, I do enjoy Crystal Skull), you are probably familiar with Nazis. You know, those no-good SOBs who took over Germany and helped kick off a second World War. Yeah, those Nazis. When it comes to the subject of Nazis, you really shouldn't joke. They were a terrible group of people who invaded, destroyed, and plundered a lot of Europe during WWII. Hitler and his cronies were some of the worst individuals history has ever produced and that's why they're such ideal villains to place in movies, television shows, comic books, novels, radio serials, and poorly made Lifetime movies. Here are a few .gifs that should prove my point:

1. Nazis are the universal symbol for pure evil

Everyone loves to hate villains and who better than a group of people who were rotten to their core? They practically beg you to hate them!

2. They're always out to rule the world

What turns a regular villain into a super villain? Plans for world domination of, course! From Bond to Jones, some whack job is always out to try and rule the world.

3. There's always some cool ancient artifact involved

Whether it's the Ark of the Covenant, The Holy Grail, or the Tesseract, some ancient power is at play and the Nazis want it. Why? to rule the world, of course! Luckily for our heroes, they usually have their faces melted or age to death. In other words, they choose poorly.

4. There's always a super cool protagonist out to stop them. In fact, let's meet a few of them now:

And, cousin, business is a-boomin'

5. They're not above destroying the world in order to rule it

Kinda messed up, huh? But in Hellboy, they were willing to open a portal to another dimension, unleashing unspeakable Lovecraftian horrors that would have meant the end of mankind as we know it. Instead, all they got was a demon that would fight supernatural horrors, but would also be the key to ending the world. Go figure.

6. Their plans range from somewhere in between totally crazy and totally genius

For instance, clone a bunch of different Hitlers, send them all over the world to be raised in different countries by similar parents, and then kill their fathers when they're very young so that a Hitler with the exact same mentality of the original will emerge. Crazy enough that Ira Levin said it just might work.

7. They operate both alive and dead

Ever played Call of Duty? Ever seen Dead Snow? Nazis can also double as mindless, flesh-eating zombies. Sometimes, it's more satisfying to take the head off an undead Nazis than a live one.

8. Christoph Waltz

Need I say more?

9. As long as they exist, they do the nifty thing of narrowing down life choices to make things easier

10. And, as always, Kill Hitler