Creating Despicable Villains

The hatred for the villain should build.

Start with his name. No one is going to hate Dave Hazelnut. But they will hate Hannibal Lecter or Jame Gumb.

Make the villain in stark contrast to the hero and other "good" people in the story. He has different ambitions and motivations than the hero. Maybe the same goals, but a much worse way to get there.

Have characters talk bad about the villain. Or have them too scared to talk about him at all. This makes it more reliable than just hearing it from the protagonist.

And then, of course, the usual things: dialogue, actions, mannerisms, symbols.

The villain should have his own arc of evil. You can start small with all the annoying traits we hate. The villain is an egotistical narcissist. Everything is about him. Someone had a mom who just died, and he turns the conversation to back to him. Everyone hates lack of empathy. Also, he can top everyone's story with a story of his own.

The villain will, of course, do terrible things to our hero, and also to people who the hero loves and adores, and he does it with the forethought of malice.

The villain doesn't just kick at a puppy, he carries treats to lure the puppy over. Then he laughs as the dog scampers away yelping and licking its wounds.

He doesn't just almost hit granny at the intersection, he motions for her to go ahead and walk. He'll wait. All is safe. Then when granny is halfway across, the villain guns his douchebag car (Monte Carlo, of course) through the intersection, laughing as granny screams out.