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From Count Dracula to Voldemort, some of the best stories in books and on screens have made a name for themselves, in large part, due to their unforgettable villains, whose malevolent presence can captivate us just as much as the heroes.
But do all of them deserve a bad reputation? No, say the audience. In fact, some feel so strongly about it, that they even went on to Reddit to list the ones whom they believe should be acquitted.
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#1
Unions. They are the only tool left against corporate and governmental employee abuse. They are almost the sole reason that we don't still work to Industrial Revolution standards. Big Corporate is terrified about workers uniting and collective bargaining so they shame, slander and execute huge PR campaigns against unions.
Alexandra 1 year ago
Unions are bad??? I get it that companies like to portray unions as bad, but that employees buy into that astonishes me. A union is often the only thing that keeps employees from being exploited to within an inch of their lives. What is it about unions that get, especially Americans, so riled up? Good, strong unions help create a labour market that's stable and benefits most of us, not just the few, but perhaps that's not in the interest of the USA?
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#2
Mr. Wilson. Dennis was a rotten little kid, and it's not Mr.Wilson's fault that he lived next door.
#3
Stuart in Mrs. Doubtfire. He was just dating a divorced woman and being kind to her children.
I've long thought that a remake of Mrs. Doubtfire from the wife's perspective would be a great movie. Except it isn't a comedy; it's a psychological horror movie about a woman who is becoming increasingly concerned that her elderly nanny is actually her non-custodial ex, and how crazy that makes her sound.
Jack Burton 1 year ago
I rewatched Mrs Doubtfire with my kids for the first time in 20 years and i thought the same. Poor dude is just so cool !
#4
Squidward. The more I paid attention, the more I realised that Spongebob was the a*****e.
#5
Pee-Wee Herman. He had a highly acclaimed kids show. He gets caught masturbating in a public porno theater. And then hes painted as a danger to children. How did people mush those together?
My wife recoiled when i started showing my son Pee Wee's playhouse on DVD. "Hes a child molester!!" She said. I was like where did you even get that?!? But shes not alone The i go around defending Pee Wee everywhere I say we let him go.
#6
Frankenstein's monster.
All of the monster's flaws can be traced to Victor Frankenstein's abandonment of his creation. Nobody taught the monster how to live and it was immediately reviled by everyone, but nevertheless the monster forgives Victor in the end. Victor is definitely the "bad guy."
Yet at Halloween all over America we mock that poor monster.
#7
Lucifer. He k***s 2-3 people in the bible and gives humans knowledge and self awareness, while God k***s millions and demands sacrifice.
David 1 year ago
Lucifer isnt in the bible. In the Torah/"Old testament", Satan is, but not as a Devil character, but as the heavenly prosecutor. It is St. Jerome that reinterpreted several different names and spiritual beings in the Bible as "Lucifer" in his Vulgate Translation. In the "New Testiment"a Devil character is introduced, that very much mirrors pagan demon deities, a new concept, and even so the NT in different books have radical different understandings and details. But the name Lucifer is a creation of St. Jerome.
#8
Tom. He just want some peace and this a*****e mouse came in and ruined them all.
#9
Jack Kevorkian (Dr. Kevorkian) While not a radical thought in 2016, he was portrayed as a monster by the media. "He was often portrayed in the media as "Dr. Death"; however, many consider him a hero as he helped set the platform for reform. He famously said, ["Dying is not a crime."](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kevorkian)".
R Dennis 1 year ago
We always knew when someone was getting help. He came into our restaurant and ate while wearing that light blue cardigan right before... pretty sure he had a pattern and we were part of it. We were very supportive of him. He just wanted people to be able to pass with dignity.
#10
Lord Hades of Greek Mythology. He may be the God of The Dead and King of the Underworld, but nothing points him as a bad man. He was given a rotten roll of luck and got the underworld. He had to renovate the entire place and keep it from falling into shambles. He NEVER cheated on his Persephone. He was a great king to his subjects. There is no reason to keep blatantly making him the big bad in every modern iteration of Greek myth.
And no, he never wanted to be the King of Olympus. He is the God of Riches. Everything below the earth and precious belongs to him: diamonds, gold, rubies, emeralds, you name it. He even had three kids. He has no need to be evil. He's just the owner of real estate for the deceased, trying his best to keep his property from falling apart due to overcrowding.
#11
Wile E. Coyote. Poor fella just wants to eat.
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 year ago
Plus, he keeps getting ripped off by the only mail-order company that serves the desert.
#12
The indigenous people in most movies made before 2000.
censorshipsucks 1 year ago
Except dances with wolves, which I think was the first movie I saw that depicted native people in a sympathetic light.
#14
Judas. Never really understood the whole betrayal thing. Jesus "Died to save us from himself" etc and Judas was instrumental in that process. He was an enabler. He let Jesus reach his full potential and should be hailed for the part he played. Still, glad I'm an atheist.
#15
Emily from Friends.
The man she was about to marry suddenly says his ex's name at the altar. She had a right to be angry. They both made the mistake of not waiting longer to actually get married, but Emily should not have been seen as the villain.
Amelia Jade 1 year ago (edited)
I don't think anyone saw her as a villain until she began to make unreasonable demands. He's not allowed to keep his apartment, then be can't keep his furniture because Rachel touched it. Then he has to cut out his friend group because Rachel is there. Then she says she needs to know where he is at all times. She's controlling and unreasonable. We can understand why she's that way. But she takes it too far. If she'd just left him after the wedding and went on with her life, no one would think she was a villain.
#16
The psychologist in What About Bob? The poor guy is trying to go on vacation with his family and a f*****g clinically insane person tries to tag along. If my wife tried to convince me to let him come, I would pull her aside and be like, "Girl, who is the psychologist here? THIS IS NOT HEALTHY OR PROFESSIONAL.".
Janos Schumacher 1 year ago
What I love about that movie is that Dr. Marvin's therapy, even the fake therapy, works. He does a brilliant job of bringing Bob out of his prison of fear and turns him into a functional adult.
#17
I've always thought Magneto has been wrongly accused of being completely a villian. Sure he has done terrible things, but he is jewish and witnessed the holocaust as a young boy. Later he discovers his mutant powers and sees how fearful humans are of mutants. Can you really blame him? Even though his methods are extreme i think his overall goal is not letting two of his "people" wiped from the earth.
Anya Beboop 1 year ago
The problem is you have to ask do the ends justify the means? It's fine to have some sympathy for tragic villains, but maybe we shouldn't pretend everything they do is fine.
#19
The step-dad in Ant-Man, played by Bobby Cannavale, was also a great character. Yeah, he was a cop, but he wasn't a d**k. He cared for Cassie and wanted her to have a relationship with her real dad, but the real dad was a convict who was getting into some dangerous stuff. He was rightfully protective of her and was still willing to hear Scott's side of things instead of just assuming Scott is bad. There is a healthy respect between them.
#20
People who work in orphanages. I mean these people do highly important work for vulnerable children yet any movie set in a orphanage usually portrays the workers there as abusive sociopaths. I mean i get it, its a thing that happens but its really s******g on what i assume to be the majority of good people who work in these important facilities.
#21
Teddy (the director of NASA) from The Martian. Everyone hates him because he makes hard decisions that seem to go against saving Mark. But the entire time, he's being practical and worrying about the rest of the crew and future missions. Literally, everyone else is laser-focused on Mark. Teddy is just making sure the organization survives the mission. That's why he's the director; he makes the hard, objective decisions.
#22
The Trix Rabbit and the Lucky Charms Leprechaun. They just want some f*****g cereal!
#23
Donkey Kong in the original game. According to the manual, he was abused at the circus and escaped.
#24
Skyler White from Breaking Bad. As a teenager, I rooted for Walt and found Skyler annoying. How dare she not support her lying d**g lord husband?!
Jack Burton 1 year ago
I think that's the all point of Skyler White to make us feel annoyed. We want a d**g lord story and she is the reason, the reality check. Great writing and great acting.
#25
General Hummel in the Rock. He wanted fallen soldiers under his command to be recognized for their sacrifices even though they were classified ops and for their families to be compensated like they would in normal circumstances. As he said, 'These men died for their country and they weren’t even given a go**amn military burial.'
KatSaidWhat 1 year ago
Upvote because he was still fighting for his men and had no intention of using the VX.
#26
Professor Severus Snape.
Kristal 1 year ago
No he was a freaking villain. Ask Neville. He treated everyone outside of Slytherin house poorly and preyed on weaker students. He would still be a death-eater if Lily was alive, he DID NOT CARE that James was killed or that Harry was going to be killed, he only cared about Lily and turned on Voldemort because Lily died. He chose to take his childhood trauma out on children during daily life. Anyone that chooses to dump cruelty on people, particularly the vulnerable, are NOT heros. I will die on this hill, Snape is a villain, he only cared about himself and his own feelings.
#27
The landlord in "Rent." First of all, it was SUPER f*****g cool of him to let you live there for free for an entire YEAR - did you actually think that was going to last forever? Second just pay your f*****g rent you little brats.
Saddest_Lion 1 year ago
He supports/funds Mimi's heroin addiction, acting as her sugar daddy while his rich wife is at home... That seems at least a little villainous. The real villains in Rent are the AIDS epidemic, d***s, and capitalism
#28
This is like the 5th thread ive done this on but Captain Hook is actually the goodguy in the original Peter Pan story. Captain Hook was just trying to save kids from Peter Pan who would k**l his kidnapped kids when they grew too old.
Vix Spiderthrust 1 year ago
In the stage version, Hook is always played by the same actor who plays Mr Darling (Jason Isaacs does this very well in one of the film versions).
#29
Mojo Jojo. I mean c'mon man, half the time the Powerpuff Girls just busted into his tower, knocked his s**t out, then left and pretended that they did the city a huge service. Uh, no???? Y'all c***s just beat up a monkey for no reason, man. I mean he even tried to babysit y'all at one point.
Virgil Blue 1 year ago
I'm one episode it's shown that Mojo had always been kind of nasty and evil after he tries to gaslight everybody to see him as the victim.
#30
Better Call Saul did a good bait and switch on Howard, first presenting him like he was a bad guy and the problem, but almost every time the plot turns around to Jimmy, Kim, and even Chuck, being these high-functioning but unstable personalities with Howard caught in the very unenviable position of trying to manage them while being forced to choose sides. Even the perspective that Howard was a jerk feels like a matter of perspective bias. He really only acted douchy when someone else escalated against him over very petty grievances and while Howard at first shot back in kind, by the end of the series he was the only one of the main characters who seemed to want to become a better person rather than continue downward spiraling. For which his reward was being sabotaged by Kim and Jimmy who wouldn't let things go, and then inadvertently k***ed through no real fault of his own.
#31
Javert from Les Mis He is doing his job.
Shelli Aderman 1 year ago
And yet, as we’ve learned, “Following orders” isn’t always the right thing to do…
#32
Ivan Drago, TL/DR In Rocky IV Ivan Drago drew worldwide hatred because an unhealthy boxer who insulted his wife died under the rules provided. His country men proceed to turn on him for no reason. This guy was raised in Communist Russia admiring the best boxers in the world and finally his country opens its gates and allows him to prove himself to the public but they keep him on a tight leash. He wants to fight the current champ but instead they make him fight a guy who is long since retired. This retired guy puts his hand in his face during a press conference, insults him in a language he isn't familiar with and then talks s**t about his wife. After constantly humiliating the guy they have their boxing match and the guy dies. In communist Russia people die all the time? Ivan Drago was just spitting truth. You can die in boxing. They had a legal match and Apollo Creed died because he ignored everyones advice. Apollo's corner failed him. His friend failed him. The athletic commission failed him. Even his wife failed him. Ivan Drago is the LEAST responsible for Apollo dying. He didn't hit him after the bell or while he was on the ground. It was clean. Now America is all mad and him and his wife are getting death threats and the champion wants to beat him up just for winning an exhibition match. Okay. whatever. Fight me in Russia so I wont be embarrassed again. Not happening. We fight in Russia where people love me right? Right? Wrong!!!!! They begin to love this short American dude who's lifestyle represents everything the USSR opposes, only because he's good at getting his a*s kicked. When the American loses all of Ivan's Russian comrades flock the ring to celeberate his victory. Ivan Drago is left in his corner alone. Only his wife remains by his side.
#34
I always thought Loki from the first Thor movie was way less villainous than portrayed. He was making choices that made sense from the perspective of the governance of a medieval kingdom. His a*****e brother starts a war and the king kicks him out, then becomes incapacitated. Loki steps up, trying to keep Thor from running back to Asgard to start a dangerous power struggle in the middle of an ongoing conflict with a foreign enemy. Loki even k***s the enemy head of state himself. Then Thor's friends try to get him back into Asgard to start that civil war (which is treason), and Loki acts to stop them. When that fails, he decides to finish off the enemies (which were Thor's fault to begin with). None of that is wrong if your goal is to prevent the unnecessary deaths of your citizens. Why should Loki expect to find himself in a superhero movie where Thor will have a complete change of character in a few days rather than a political drama?
Lil Miss Hobbit 1 year ago
This is all pretty much true. Also everyone treats him like he's a big whiny baby about being "adopted" but his parents didn't tell him for like a few hundred years??!! And always favored Thor but expect Loki to just be like "Oh cool, I'm adopted. Of course Thor gets the honors." At the very least they needed family therapy, lol.
#35
The casino owner from oceans 11. He's a businessman who made all his money legally. He might be an a*****e but stealing millions of dollars from him, an innocent rich people who had money in the casino is still a crime.
#36
Lady Eboshi from Princess Mononoke.
TotallyNOTAFox 1 year ago (edited)
I don't think she's portayed as villain though, more like an antagonist
#37
Darth Vader. After watching the first 3 movies, I would have gone to the dark side as well.
RedBadgerCan'tSwim 1 year ago
Sorry, the moment they made him slaughter children he lost all right to sympathy.
#38
Mr Freeze. Just wants to save his wife. PS the new 52 dosent exist.
Virgil Blue 1 year ago
I loved his arc in the animated series. So tragic. He was a good man put in impossible circumstances by a greedy boss.
#39
Pre-transformation Ebenezer Scrooge. He earned his damn money, and people who owed him knew they would have to repay their loans when they signed. Sure, he could have been more generous with his wealth, but when generosity becomes an expectation, it ceases to be generosity.
Aroace tiger (she/they/he) 1 year ago
He didn't need to be an absolute dìck to literally everyone around him tho. Imo it was more his personality than his wanting to keep his money. For example GENUINELY saying poor people should die. Scrooge was a terrible man and only saw the poor as people due to seeing tiny tim sick
#40
The empire in Skyrim. Splitting the nords strength and having a civil war only weakens skyrim as a whole against the stinkin' Thalmor.
SheamusFanFrom1987 1 year ago
As an Imperial trying to Fus-Ro-Dah Alduin into Oblivion permanently, I'd agree. Although they need a better spokesperson than Ulfric who literally wants to drive all non-Nords out of Skyrim... -_-"
#41
Bruce Ismay. He survived the Titanic sinking but paid a heavy price.
Gene Perry 1 year ago
Yea, Ismay was pretty much a d*ck. But, be honest with yourself. You would have used every means possible to get you a** safely into a lifeboat if you were in the same situation.
#42
Zooey Deschanel in "500 Days of Summer," first time I saw it, I was about 18, I thought she was just an entitled a*****e stringing some guy along. Later on, I realized that she is put into a situation where the guy tries to make her into something she isn't; some fantasy filled with expectations that she doesn't want to fulfill, nor is she obliged to. Not to say what's-his-face is wrong or a bad person, or that Zooey was completely free of guilt, just that it was a bit preemptive for him to expect everything he did from what started as a fling where she clearly stated her intentions.
#43
Davey Jones from he Pirates Of the Caribbean series. Dude was in love. Lover scarred him after agreeing to meet in 10 years and not f*****g showing up. So he got pissed. Scorned the b***h. CUT HIS HEART OUT AND PUT IT IN A CHEST AND BURIED IT. Took his punishment (growing all tentacle-y) like a f*****g man and owned it. And at the end of it all, AT THE END OF IT ALL, he still tells her that's he's in love and he'll always belong to her. Davey Jones was a romantic. A committed individual who got pissed off after being dicked around, just like any of us would be, but stayed true to his word and was in still in love. Davey Jones was simply the manliest biggest badass out of all them pirates. Not the villain.
#45
Jim Lahey. Sure he's a drunken lunatic, but on a deeper level he really does care about the trailer park and the people who live in it, and everything Ricky and Julian and (to a lesser degree) Bubbles do is actively harmful to the quality of life there. He's not wrong for wanting to get them the f**k out of there.
#46
Sif from dark souls RIP.
#47
Tom Nook. He gave you a loan with no background check. Didn't charge interest. Gave you unlimited time to pay it back.
#49
Sid from Toy Story. I have nothing against the movie but I realized as an adult how weird it is for a child to be demonized for altering his toys, the s**t he did was pretty damn creative. Stealing from his sister and messing with fireworks is bad but I don't think kids modifying toys should be treated as such. (Oops replied this to a copycat thread before I saw this one copypasteee ).
#50
Napoleon. He tried to get rid birth privileges; establish freedom of religion, and have merit based government. The rest of the European countries being religious Monarchs took exception to him and villified him.
Joe Reaves 1 year ago
He made himself emperor for life and set multiple members of his family up as monarchs in other countries. A lot of his reforms were admirable but he was fine with birth privileges for anyone called Bonaparte. Merit based government is pushing it.
What do you think ?
Alley Cat 1 year ago
These are all true, but can we all agree that in Hunger Games the Capitol sucks and President Snow is a Psychopath?
Debra Robinson 1 year ago (edited)
RIP Donald Sutherland... he was cool. Love how he played Merrick on BTVS.
Load More Replies...
Kristal 1 year ago
Man, most of the authors from these entries should go into PR or become a defense lawyer cause they can totally spin some of these. Ultimately, a villain is a villain because of intent and deliberate choices that are self-serving and cause more harm than good. Can a villain grow out of being a villain? Yes they can. Can one selfless act abolish all transgressions of being a villain? Only if the villain doesn't go back to their villainous ways.
Alley Cat 1 year ago
These are all true, but can we all agree that in Hunger Games the Capitol sucks and President Snow is a Psychopath?
Debra Robinson 1 year ago (edited)
RIP Donald Sutherland... he was cool. Love how he played Merrick on BTVS.
Load More Replies... Kristal 1 year ago
Man, most of the authors from these entries should go into PR or become a defense lawyer cause they can totally spin some of these. Ultimately, a villain is a villain because of intent and deliberate choices that are self-serving and cause more harm than good. Can a villain grow out of being a villain? Yes they can. Can one selfless act abolish all transgressions of being a villain? Only if the villain doesn't go back to their villainous ways.
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