Who are your most sympathetic villains?

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Norma Desmond in "Sunset Blvd." She definitely has some real issues, but you can understand a lot of why she desperately clings to her faded stardom.

Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) in "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" He becomes a pretty awful person as the film progresses, but it is very interesting seeing how he gets there.

Captain Queeg (Again Humphrey Bogart) in "The Cain Mutiny" At first he seems like the villain, but ultimately as flawed as he is, it is Keefer (Fred McMurray) who turns out to be the true villain. But even he is understandable even if totally dislikeable.

I always felt bad for Norman Bates in the Psycho movies He seems like a really nice guy except for being bat**** crazy.

Yeah, definitely Victor Fries from BTAS/Batman Beyond... I really felt bad for Victor when Derek Power's Doctor mind-f*cked him...

Also, the Ventriloquist from BTAS... I loved that whole Norman Bates thing they did with him and Scarface... so much better that the version in the comics.

Actually, Harley Quinn was pretty sympathetic when Joker was beating on her and she went to team up with Poison Ivy.....

BTAS had the BEST Villains...

Lex Luthor and Amanda Waller had their moments in JL:U as well.

Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and the rest of the DCAU writers know their villains, for sure.

Mr Freeze - He only became a villain because he wanted to cure his dying wife.

Magneto - Humanity took his parents and feared his kind. He wanted to pay them back.

Sandman (Movie Version) - Can't speak for his comic book counterpart as I have never actually read them but in the 3rd
movie he went to the life of crime just to help his sick daughter. Kinda on the same boat with Mr Freeze.

Two Face - He was just as good as The Dark Knight himself cleaning up Gotham. But things went wrong whether it be a dual personality he couldn't crontrol (TAS) or being punished for just doing the right thing (TDK) which eventually lead to his disfigurement and went on a crime spree and revenge which eventually lead to his death (TDK).

Dr Octopus (Movie Version) - In many other versions he's just plain right evil but in Spider-Man 2 he lost his wife and his dream which eventually lead to him almost destroying the city but redeeming himself in the end.

Hannibal Lecter

Doc Ock

Tyler Durden {from Fight Club}

Ben Wade {from 3:10 to Yuma}

Green Goblin

Electro

Magneto

Riddler

Voldemort

Casear {from Rise of the Planet of the Apes}

Wile E. Coyote, suuuuuper genius.

1. Hannibal Lecter.

2. Pinhead/the Cenobytes

3. The dragon from "Dragonslayer."

4. Frankenstein.

5. Godzilla

6. The Borg

7. Freddy/Jason/Michael Myers

Actually.......

None of these are sympathetic. I just tend to root for the monsters.

I'm a twisted person.

Can't forget the Phantom....especially when he's Gerard Butler

Randall from Monsters, Inc - always being overshadowed by Sully, and gets thrown thru a door while pleading not to be; the door is subsequently destroyed and we then see Randall being mistaken for an alligator and getting beaten in the head with a shovel.

Luna/Nightmare Moon from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - tried to get the same amount of recognition her older sister received as the "bringer of day" but went about it in the wrong way, and everypony acts terrified of her when she shows up for Nightmare Night even after she's reformed.

Sideshow Bob from The Simpsons - Can't possibly really want to kill Bart Simpson, or else he wouldn't have spared/saved his life in several episodes.

Kaa from The Jungle Book - Keeps falling out of trees in the most painful ways possible and ends up with his back muscles all out of joint while an insolent little boy looks down at him and laughs.

Wreck It Ralph - Not sure if this guy counts as a sympathetic villain, since he's really a nice fellow who's just misunderstood and is only a "bad guy" within the framework of the arcade game he is a part of.

Tom & Jerry
Sylvester - Tweetie
Lt. Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii - Battlestar Galactica

Francis Dolarhyde, "Red Dragon".

Roy Batty from Blade Runner.

I don't know if they count as villains, but King Kong and the Frankenstein Monster.

Sweeney Todd.

Mr. Freeze.

Magneto.

^ I completely forgot about Sweeney Todd.

Yeah, King Kong and Frankenstein's Monster are good sympathetic villains, too!

I'm not entirely a fan of the series, but Once Upon A Time does have its share of sympathetic villains. Both Regina and Mr Gold have (very believable) reasons for why they do what they do.

"It's just that magic is the way I've always gotten everything."
"It sounds like it's also the way you've lost everything."


A Game of Thrones is similar, particularly the TV series. Cersei Lannister's behavior is completely understandable once you understand everything she's gone through. About the one utterly irredeemable major villain is Littlefinger.

"The more people you love, the weaker you are. You’ll do things for them that you know you shouldn’t do. You’ll act the fool to make them happy, to keep them safe. Love no one but your children.”


The Dalek from the Dr Who episode of the same name. A brilliant piece ending in a gut-punch.

"This is... not life. This is... sickness. I shall not be like you."


...but really, if you want to dive deep into the trope, look no further than the excellent book Soon I will be Invincible by Austin Grossman. Basically, it gives us a sympathetic, eloquent and compelling protagonist who really only wants to take over and/or destroy the world. As a reader, rooting for him rather than those smug jerks that call themselves heroes is pretty much a given.

"I never understood CoreFire or liked him particularly. I should know how he worked if anyone can, but I don't. I've pieced together as much as I can about his exploits from news broadcasts, hacked computer files, and eyewitnesses. He could fly, which was reason enough to resent him. He didn't even have the decency to work for it, to flap a pair of wings or at least glow a little. He seemed to do it purely out of a sense of entitlement - something about it suggested that the rest of us had simply knuckled under to gravity. "

Jack Doyle - Gone Baby Gone
Ben Wade - 3:10 to Yuma
Draco Malfoy