"If you don't open the door, I'm going to cut out your daughter's eyes, one by one, and then I'm going to cut out her tongue, and then her head."
"They paid me a lot of money to do it. And then I've taken my son captive and I’m torturing him, then I was going to take my grandson captive and threaten him. So I went to the producers and I said, 'Look, are there any redeeming qualities to this character?' They looked at me as though I was nuts, I was asking something bizarre."
— James Cromwell, on his character
Phillip Bauer
Phillip BauerJack Bauer and company have faced numerous terrorists and other enemies. These are the worst.
All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
- Multiple Days:
- Days 1-3: Nina Myers is a self-serving terrorist driven solely by her greed. After infiltrating CTU, Nina gave the Drazen family information that helped them conduct multiple assassination attempts against Senator David Palmer, and also nearly got Jack's family killed. Once Nina is compromised, she tries to flee the country, killing a few CTU agents and Jack's wife, Teri, in the process. Years after Teri's murder, Nina's schemes continued, as she helped a terrorist cell smuggle a nuclear bomb into the United States; attempted to buy a bioweapon so she could sell it to one of her employers; tricked Jack into launching a Computer Virus into CTU that nearly crashed all of their servers; murdered countless innocents who stood in her way; and nearly killed Jack's daughter, Kim. Even after she's finally subdued by Jack in Day 3, Nina tries to convince him that she still has valuable information, when all she was trying to do was buy herself more time so she could grab her weapon and kill Jack.
- Cheng Zhi is one of Jack's biggest enemies. Originally the head of security of the Chinese consulate in Day 4, Cheng subjected Jack to horrible torture after capturing him at the end of Day 5. Originally a loyal soldier for China, Cheng began to think only of himself and his own advancement. Cheng subjected Jack's former girlfriend Audrey Raines to a near-lobotomy in Day 6, which left her damaged for a long time after. After being thought dead, Cheng resurfaces in Live Another Day, having been the one responsible for Margot Al-Harazi getting the override key for attack drones. Manipulating events—and eventually having Audrey killed—Cheng tried to launch a nuclear missile to begin World War III between China and America where millions would die out of petty vengeance for China abandoning him for his criminal actions.
- Day 2: Peter Kingsley is the man at the heart of the oil conspiracy along with his backer known only as "Max". Having allowed terrorist Syed Ali to get his hands on a number of weapons, Kingsley intends for Los Angeles to be nuked, attempting to have anyone who knows the truth eliminated, and murdering his own secretary and lover Eve when she fails him. Trying to have Jack tortured, Kingsley's goal is to pin the bombing on three unnamed Arab nations to inspire a gigantic war and increase the profits of his own oil company.
- 24: The Game note : Peter Madsen is a ruthless mercenary working for Max. After Joseph Sin-Chung sabotages CTU headquarters with an EMP, Madsen and his mercenaries storm the building and take everyone hostage. When Madsen realizes Kim Bauer encrypted a hard drive he and Sin-Chung were trying to decrypt so they could expose undercover agents' identities, Madsen starts executing CTU personnel, and later kidnaps Kim. Madsen also murders his partner, Sid Wilson, because he couldn't find an escape route for him, and has all of his men killed. Opting to destabilize Los Angeles, Madsen and his team placed several bombs at various focal points in the city, one of which exploded and caused an earthquake that killed hundreds and created a citywide blackout. On Max's orders, Madsen kidnapped Kate Warner so as to force her father, Bob, into helping them smuggle nuclear materials out of the country.
- Day 5: Vladimir Bierko is the leader of a group of Russian separatists called the Dawn Brigade. Hoping to dismantle the Russian government, he has his separatists take several hostages inside of an airport terminal in hopes of negating the peace treaty between America and Russia. Afterwards, they steal a cache of Sentox nerve gas canisters in hopes of smuggling them to Russia. When this fails, Bierko tries to have the Russian President assassinated instead. After discovering that the assassination attempt also failed, he chooses to spitefully use the nerve gas against America, using multiple canisters against a hospital, CTU headquarters, and a gas distribution center. Upon getting freed by his separatists after he's captured, Bierko uses the final nerve gas canister to take over a submarine so he can use the submarine's warheads to kill millions.
- Day 6:
- Abu Fayed is the leader of a terrorist cell and stands out as having one of the highest body counts on the show. He is responsible for orchestrating dozens of suicide bombings across America, as well as torturing Jack and selling out his former partner, Hamri Al-Assad, after Assad betrayed him and his cause. After Fayed convinces the government to release one hundred prisoners, Fayed uses one of the prisoners to arm a nuclear bomb, which is later detonated, killing at least 12,000 civilians in the Los Angeles area. He later captures and tortures Morris O'Brian with a drill until Morris breaks and creates a triggering device for the nukes, one of which Fayed activates. With the help of Dmitri Gredenko, he conspires to set off the remaining nukes across America. After his plans fail and Fayed is captured, Fayed escapes and attempts to set off the final two nukes in downtown Los Angeles.
- Dmitri Gredenko is an ex-Soviet general who wants to turn Russia into a superpower. Upon finding out about Phillip Bauer's involvement in assassinating former president David Palmer, Gredenko blackmailed him into supplying him with five suitcase nukes. After contacting terrorist Abu Fayed, Gredenko conspired to have him use the nukes against America, which would result in a war between the Middle East and America. When Fayed loses one nuke and sets off another in Valencia, Gredenko attempts to set off a third bomb in San Francisco with a drone. Once he's captured by CTU and used as bait to lure out Fayed, Gredenko betrays both CTU and Fayed in a desperate attempt to escape and let Fayed take all the blame.
- Phillip Bauer, Jack's father, is the true mastermind behind the conspiracy in Day 5. Allied with his son, Graem, Phillip conspired to have President David Palmer assassinated, and his death led to dozens of other innocents being killed and nearly began World War III. After Abu Fayed sets off a nuclear bomb and Phillip's company is implicated, Phillip is more concerned about covering up his own mess as opposed to stopping Fayed and securing the nukes. When Graem reveals to Jack that he was involved in Palmer's assassination, Phillip murders him, and later kidnaps his grandson and tries to kill Jack. Later on, after Phillip is exposed, he teams up with Cheng Zhi, assisting Cheng in sending mercenaries to attack CTU, kidnapping his grandson again, and smuggling Russian technology into China, not caring that it'll inevitably start a war. While Phillip acts as though he cares about his country, he's really just a sociopath who will do anything to preserve his "legacy", even if it means murdering members of his family.
- Day 7:
- General Benjamin Juma, debuting in Redemption, is the ruler of the fictional African nation Sangala. Prior to the events of Redemption, Juma engineered a coup that placed him in a position to kill thousands of Sangalans in a brutal genocide. When deposed, Juma was contacted by an American conspiracy, which offered to return Juma to power in return for being allowed to use Sangalans to develop bio-weapons. Juma had the weapons tested on a civilian village, which he then had firebombed to conceal the evidence. When preparing to launch a vicious assault on Sangala's capital, Juma conscripted child soldiers and had them brainwashed. In Day 7, Juma sends his right-hand man Colonel Iké Dubaku to the US for a series of terrorist attacks and murders and then has Dubaku killed when he is captured, to make sure Dubaku won't reveal anything. Juma personally leads a paramilitary strike that captures the White House where he takes and kills hostages to show how serious he is. When he realizes his plans are foiled, Juma orders the hostages murdered and attempts to get to the President to murder her himself.
- Alan Wilson is the leader of a cabal organization, as well as being one of the two masterminds behind the events of Day 5, alongside Phillip Bauer. Longing to dismantle the American government, Wilson had Jonas Hodges develop a bioweapon so he and his organization could launch terrorist attacks within several American cities simultaneously, which would've led to the deaths of millions. He would then offload the blame on various foreign countries, and once the government fell, he and his various private military firms would take over and police America. After Hodges botched his plans, Wilson tries to have him killed to keep him from talking. He later convinces his organization to launch an attack on a subway station once he realizes he still has some of the bioweapon left. Even after the attack fails, Wilson decides to harvest Jack's blood and organs so he could extract the pathogen from his body and restart his schemes months later.
