A villain is generally a villain because they’re doing a bad thing . Or, at the very least, they’re opposing the hero . Sometimes, their motives are actually in the right (even if their methods were purely bad).
These Reddit users pointed out instances where the villain wasn’t actually wrong , but was still the villain. Some of them were kind of mistreated, while others just took their ideology too far.
“Stevie from ‘Wizards of Waverly Place.'” – LunarRabbit18
“Her entire goal was to stop families from giving up their magic to just one person in the family. Like…we’re really supposed to be rooting against her? It just seemed super out of character for Alex to go against that plan.”
“Ken from ‘Bee Movie.’ I too would go absolutely berserk if a talking bee stole my girlfriend and gaslit me into thinking I was crazy.” – _shes_a_jar
When you really think about it, Bee Movie made absolutely no sense whatsoever.
“The bears from ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears.'” – throwaway_0x90
We’re really led to believe that Goldilocks is the victim, when she’s the real villain. Who breaks into someone else’s house, eats all their food, and then sleeps in their beds?
“General Hummel from ‘The Rock.'” – SideQuestWriter87
“This is a good one,” another commenter added. “Literal terrorist, but he got sympathy from pretty much every character in the movie, including those trying to stop him. Loyal leader, made concrete demands, and never actually intended on killing anyone.”
“Mojo Jojo from ‘The Powerpuff Girls.'” – TheMustardisBad
“He wanted to bring free energy and advanced technology to the people. And in one episode he actually did. He made the world an amazing place. And then the Powerpuff girls ruined it all.”
“Colonel Kurtz. ‘We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won’t allow them to write ‘[expletive]’ on their airplanes because it’s obscene.'” – Big-Leadership5185
Another user added, ” Apocalypse Now is one of those movies where depending upon when you watch it and what version you watch, your view of it can change.”
“King Kong. Not even because he was right. He was just alive.” – rocopotomus74
“Minding his own business and blam… taken out of his home and made to be the villain without any choice. A real good example of human nature.”
“Frankenstein’s ‘monster.'” – kingbad
“Created by a shortsighted, arrogant doctor as the first of his race, then denied the opportunity to be part of a community (of his own, manmade beings, or the human community).
“He only became monstrous after it became clear that Frankenstein would never create another of his kind, and was driven mad by his desire to punish Frankenstein’s hubris.”
“Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin from ‘Spider-Man.'” – bucketsz
“‘In spite of everything you’ve done for them, eventually, they will hate you.’ Dude was right about how the perception of public figures changes over time.”
Well, he was definitely right about that.
“I root for Magneto when watching the X-Men movies. He’s objectively right, and ‘Days of Future Past’ proves it.” – ElodinPotterTheGrey1
Another user replied with, ” First Class too. They save the world and are immediately betrayed, just how Magneto thought they’d be.”
“Not a true villain but Squidward. Damn is SpongeBob an annoying neighbor I’d hate him too.” – JeffreyHugh
Another said, “Squidward was right about adulthood. Especially if you work low-wage/on-call, stressful jobs.”
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The older you get, the more relatable Squidward really is.
“The Red Hood.” – ZenithCrests
“They go to Arkham, are usually experimented on there and come back worse. In a way I [think] that makes Batman one of the worst perpetuators of Gotham’s constant decline into savagery.
“The Red Hood just straight up kills them.”
Poison Ivy is an environmentalist at heart and Raj Al Ghul is a humanitarian.” – Chasingtheimprobable
“Both were pushed into extremism after the broken system they’re trying to fix simply refused to change for so long that they decided the system itself needed to be torn down.”
“Ultron, browsed the internet for 30 seconds and decided humanity had to go.” – saucyboi9000
This user is definitely, like, half joking. But also totally right. Humanity… kind of sucks. Which in itself is a pretty terrifying thing to think about.
“Maleficent. The king was a piece of [expletive] and deserved everything she did to him.” – Romirose86
Another commenter pointed out, “She wasn’t invited to a party that pretty much the whole kingdom was invited to. That’s a major snub especially in the time period the story is theoretically based in.”
“Dexter Morgan. I wouldn’t say he was a villain, but what he did was right even if illegal.” – DogIsBetterThanCat
“Other than the innocent he took to protect himself ofc… but yes the main concept of tamed serial killer who kills untamed serial killers. Brilliant,” another user commented.
“Killmonger from ‘Black Panther.'” – motioncitysoundwhack
“It may not seem obvious at first why Killmonger’s resentments led him on the path that took place in Black Panther — but looking at his personal experiences in feeling abandoned by Wakandans, and larger societal impacts from white supremacy, it absolutely makes sense.”
His anger was justified. His actions, not so much.
“Aria’s parents on ‘Pretty Little Liars.’ They’re villainized for not letting their high school daughter date her teacher??” – clarabelle220
I mean, I think what’s the most terrifying thing about this dynamic is all of the implications…
“Heath Ledger’s Joker.” – r2celjazz
“Specifically with this quote: ‘Their morals, their code, it’s a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They’re only as good as the world allows them to be. You’ll see. when the chips are down, these civilized people, they’ll eat each other. See I’m not a monster, I’m just ahead of the curve.'”
“Luke Castellan from Percy Jackson.” – Serpopard-Squad
“He was right about the Gods. Most of them didn’t truly give a [expletive] about their kids and only saw humans as playthings to toy with. They never truly kept their word, and tbh the world probably was better off without them.”
