History AntiVillain / WesternAnimation

* Mr. Freeze from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' is one of the deepest and most sympathetic villains within the ''[[Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse DC animated universe]]''. Notable in that, before his acclaimed appearance in ''Batman: TAS'', in the comics, he was more or less a typical villain, and his tragic backstory has [[CanonImmigrant since been integrated into his comic incarnation]].
** Later subverted with his JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope in "[[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE3ColdComfort Cold Comfort]]". Though his actual final appearance before ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' (an issue in the comic Gotham Knights) didn't even have him commit any crimes, instead, the crimes pinned on Mr. Freeze were actually done by a robotic duplicate made by Nora's stephusband, and Freeze even pulled a HeroicSacrifice in the end.
** In his ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' appearance, he tries to [[spoiler: kill hundreds of innocent people to get vengeance on two]], but in the end pulls an EnemyMine with Batman when Blight unveils himself, and [[VillainsDyingGrace sacrifices himself to tell Batman to get out of there]] when the facility was collapsing. In the end, Freeze goes back to being an AntiVillain.
---> '''Terry''': We have to get out of here, Freeze! This whole place is gonna go!
---> '''Freeze''': Believe me, you are the only one who cares.
** Freeze is far from the only Batman villain to feature this trait. There's Catwoman, who is a ClassyCatBurglar, definitely a criminal, but far from a violent psychopath like most of his other enemies. She's frequently portrayed sympathetically and is a major (many would say, [[DatingCatwoman THE major]]) love interest for the hero, sometimes nudging her into AntiHero territory.
** Matt Hagen, AKA Clayface, is an actor-turned-shapeshifting monster whose main purpose is [[IJustWantToBeNormal to get back to looking human again]] and get revenge on the people who turned him into Clayface. It ''was'' partially his own damn fault that he got mixed up with them, but don't expect him to acknowledge that. He ends up JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope in ''The New Batman Adventures'', though, and unlike Mr. Freeze, doesn't recover from it.
** The Riddler has shades of this as well in several incarnations, considering, most of the time, his entire gimmick is based on pathetically making it easier for Batman to catch him, and his crimes are relatively benign ones...right about now, he's spending more time reformed than not. Notably ''not'' the case in the DCAU where he successfully [[TookALevelInBadass takes the level in bad-ass]] and has intentions that (while sympathetic) are clearly murderous.
** Then we have little Mary Dahl, a 30-something former sitcom star who is trapped in the body of a 5-year-old due to a rare genetic defect. After failing to be taken seriously as a dramatic actress, including attempting to play Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'s wife in a stage play, she snaps and reverts to her TV persona, going so far as to capture her old castmates to re-create a birthday party episode "ruined" by Cousin Oliver (according to script, of course). Seems standard fare...but then they hit [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUtLTxBYZHw the hall of mirrors]] when she tries to escape from Batman. A bit of [[VillainousBreakdown mind breakage]] is kind of expected, in a situation like that.
--->'''Mary''': (''sobs'') I didn't mean to.
** [[WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond Terry]] gets his own DatingCatwoman moment with Melanie Walker/Ten, a member of ''Beyond'''s version of the Royal Flush Gang. She's significantly more reluctant and less ruthless than the rest, acting more out of familial loyalty than malice or greed. At the end, we get the delightful CallBack from Bruce:
--->'''Terry''': This kind of thing ever happen to you?
--->'''Bruce''': Let me tell you about a woman named Selina Kyle...
** Two-Face/Harvey Dent. Granted, in ''Batman: TAS'', he had the split personality beforehand...but then, the guy suffers from a split personality!
** [[WellIntentionedExtremist Ra's al-Ghul and Poison Ivy]] are willing to kill nearly every other human being on the planet, if it meant saving Mother Earth.
** And in the movie, ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm'', we have the Phantasm, or [[spoiler:Andrea Beaumont]]. [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Given her reasons for doing what she does,]] it's practically impossible not to have sympathy for her.
** The Penguin entered this territory in the episode "Birds of a Feather". He decides to reform and actually goes through with it. Two socialites decide to play a trick on him and the female one pretends to be in love with him; but the Penguin takes it seriously and saves her from muggers. Ultimately, though, [[spoiler:he finds out about their original intentions to mock him, snaps, convinced that society will never accept his reform, and kidnaps her. It seems to go without saying that attempting to make a ButtMonkey of a recently reformed criminal is a [[TemptingFate VERY bad idea]].]]
** About the only really heinous thing about the DCAU version of ComicBook/HarleyQuinn is her undying crush on ComicBook/TheJoker. When she isn't around him, she's still an obnoxious {{Tsundere}}, but she rarely tries to harm anyone unprovoked, and she legitimately cares about a few others, such as Poison Ivy (mentioned above) and her pet hyenas.
** Arnold Wesker, aka the Ventriloquist, is a calm, quiet person [[GollumMadeMeDoIt bossed around by his other personality, Scarface.]] He's actually a great example of how people with mental disorders suffer from their illnesses. [[spoiler:Fortunately, in "Double Talk" he finally gets rid of Scarface for good, making him one of the few Batman villains to successfully reform.]]
* Even ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' has examples of AntiVillain such as Clayface who had his back story changed as to become horribly [[MindRape mind raped]] by ComicBook/TheJoker after already having to deal with hell from DaChief, and to make it worse, he was a childhood friend of Batman, and one of his few supporters on the Gotham Force.
** Also the Riddler, who is even more sympathetic than usual, who only wanted to help increase intelligence only for one experiment of his to be sabotaged by his co-worker who he had a crush on.
** Poison Ivy, particularly in the spin-off comic series ''ComicBook/TheBatmanStrikes'' She just wants to make the world a better place....for plants.
** Harley Quinn also counts, for all the same reasons as her DCAU counterpart.
** One-shot villain Francis Grey, who was so unlucky that stealing a watch in order to make ends meet for his family caused a chain event of freak accidents that resulted in him getting locked in jail for [[DisproportionateRetribution much longer than his actual crime warranted.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/IronManArmoredAdventures'', Gene Khan is this initially and throughout most of the first season. [[spoiler:Whether or not he's still an Anti-Villain after the events of the season one finale is a serious case of contention among fandom. On the one hand, there's some foreshadowing that he may not be too far gone to save, and he doesn't seem happy with how things have turned out. On the other hand, he has (by the standards of Nickolodeon) crossed the MoralEventHorizon for many, given he almost killed Tony, kidnapped Tony's dad, and threw this into Tony's face mercilessly.]]
** There is also Arthur Parks, aka The Living Lazer, who has a heavy FreudianExcuse and is eventually persuaded to turn good by Iron Man, [[RedemptionEqualsDeath right before his death]].
** Madame Masque, aka Whitney Stane, is another example, [[spoiler:especially in her second-season return]].

* The Ultra-Humanite, as he appears in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''. His grand list of crimes is as follows: 1: breaking Lex Luthor out of prison and saving his life from kryptonite poisoning so that Ultra can get a huge donation to Public Broadcasting ([[spoiler:and then foiling Lex's plot and turning both Lex and himself in once Batman gives him a better offer]]), and 2: planning to demolish a modern art museum during the ChristmasEpisode (when, of course, nobody would be around to be caught in the crossfire), only to quickly declare a Christmas Truce with The Flash and help him give ''Christmas presents'' to ''orphans'' (ok, so he modified the toy so it recited ''The Nutcracker'', [[WickedCultured complete with musical score, instead of blowing raspberries]]). He isn't seen in another villain role after that.
** The Trickster is implied to be this. A harmless prankster villain, his hero/villain relationship with Flash seems to mainly consist of Flash making sure he's keeping up on his mental health needs, such as taking his medication and turning himself into the proper authorities so he can get the help he needs. The Trickster seems to enjoy this relationship mainly due to how nice Flash is to him, versus the harsh treatment he would have gotten from Orion or Batman. The closest he gets to being dangerous in the one episode he appears in is him ranting about using exploding props, which we never see him carry out. In fact, Flash talked him out of a fight entirely and convinced him to tell him the Rogues' villainous plan.

* Some of the antagonists from ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' fall ''somewhere'' on the SlidingScaleOfAntiVillains. [[Characters/TheSpectacularSpiderMan Just look at the character sheet.]] For instance, Tombstone may be the head of a criminal empire, but even outside of his VillainWithGoodPublicity persona he's far from a monster. He has no problem with Spider-Man saving lives and stopping psychotic villains (he does, however, have problems with Spidey interfering with the lucrative "ordinary" crimes carried out by his underlings).
** Black Cat fills precisely the same role she originally had in the comics. Unlike her comic book counterpart, she never made the jump to AntiHero since the show was cancelled before this could transpire.
** Sandman was definitely an anti-villain, as explored in Season 2. In his own words: "I was just in it for the bucks. I never meant to hurt anybody."

* ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'': Rubberband Man is this in his first appearance. He's out to get revenge on the people who swindled him out of the royalties to music he produced but otherwise isn't interested in hurting people or stealing stuff the way most other Bang Baby criminals are. He undergoes a full HeelFaceTurn in his second appearance, having abandoned crime to live as a professional rap musician and ends up turning himself into the police to serve out the remainder of his sentence. The only conflict left after that point comes from Static not being willing to believe he's changed [[spoiler: and Ebon blackmailing him]].

* Bizarro from ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''. A flawed clone of Franchise/{{Superman}}, he has a good heart and just wants to help, since he truly believes (at first) that he's the real Superman, it's just his help involves stuff like "saving" a building being lawfully demolishing and "fixing" a movable bridge.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'':
** David Slack, Amy Wolfram, and Glen Murakami, the writers and producers of the show, considered their version of Terra to be [[http://titanstower.com/source/animated/behindglens12345.html "a tragic character."]] [[MisaimedFandom The fans]] [[DracoInLeatherPants had]] [[RonTheDeathEater their]] own interpretations...
** The Witch from "[[Recap/TeenTitansS4E2CyborgTheBarbarian Cyborg The Barbarian]]", who is truly the one responsible for the monster invasion and Cyborg being pulled into the past. Despite this she creates a time portal to return to the present, even after Cyborg discovers Krall's plot. She also never directly does anything harmful to Cyborg or the villagers, and only really causes trouble because she's bound to serve Krall.

** In season one, [[Characters/TheOwlHouseLilithClawthorne Lilith Clawthorne]] is the [[TheDragon chief enforcer]] of the [[TheEmpire oppressive magical regime]] and is trying to capture Eda, but she truly believes that working within the system is the best way to make the world a better place and TheEmperor will lift Eda’s curse and recruit her into the regime if she's captured. In the season finale she [[spoiler:does a HeelFaceTurn when she realizes that none of that is true.]]

* David Slack, Amy Wolfram, and Glen Murakami, the writers and producers of the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' animated series, considered their version of Terra to be [[http://titanstower.com/source/animated/behindglens12345.html "a tragic character."]] [[MisaimedFandom The fans]] [[DracoInLeatherPants had]] [[RonTheDeathEater their]] own interpretations...

* WesternAnimation/HazbinHotel: Adam is a downplayed example due to the fact that most demons in Hell are AlwaysChaoticEvil his annual purge of Hell's citizens is somewhat justified. However, it's important to note that Demons are capable of possessing positive qualities and that it's very easy for a decent person to end up in Hell for a petty reason after they die.

* "WesternAnimation/HazbinHotel": Adam is a downplayed example as due to the fact that most demons in Hell are AlwaysChaoticEvil his annual purge of Hell's citizens is somewhat justified. However, it's important to note that Demons are capable of possessing positive qualities and that it's very easy for a decent person to end up in Hell for a petty reason after they die.

* Sargeant Hatred of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', once he finally enters the spotlight, turns out to be far more benevolent than his name would suggest, treating the Venture family well and not taking his position as their "arch" all that seriously. In Season 4, [[spoiler: he even becomes their bodyguard and attempts to be a good role-model to Hank. Unfortunately, he's severely emotionally unstable, not to mention a recovering pedophile, so the love is not exactly reciprocated.]]

** The Ice King does make a hobby out of kidnapping princesses and is shown to have sociopathic tendencies, but most of the time, he's just desperate for the same affection Finn and Jake receive but doesn't know how to get it, due to, again, him being a sociopath.

** Fred isn't really evil so much as he is insane and slightly [[{{Catchphrase}} NAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGHHHTTYYY]], yes he does have an obsession (and maybe a fetish) for shaving people completely bald, but it's not like he ever tried to hurt anyone.

* Bizarro from ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''. A flawed [[CloningBlues clone]] of Franchise/{{Superman}}, he has a good heart and just wants to help, since he truly believes (at first) that he's the real Superman, it's just his help involves stuff like "saving" a building being lawfully demolishing and "fixing" a movable bridge.

* ''WesternAnimation/TronUprising'': Paige is the most obvious of the lot. Yes, she's a former medic turned loyal {{Dragon}} to Tesler, and (like everyone else who supports Clu's forces) prejudiced against Isos, but that was because [[spoiler: [[Film/TronLegacy Quorra]] knocked her out so that she would be spared while Tesler and his forces massacred everyone else in the hospital. Tesler lied and told her that Quorra and Ada (fugitive Isos) killed all her friends and patients]]. She's not so much loyal to Clu and those "perfection" ideas as she is loyal to Tesler, because she believes he saved her life, and during the course of the series, starts to suspect her "benefactor" isn't what he's cracked up to be.

* [[spoiler:In the seasons preceding his HeelFaceTurn]], Prince Zuko from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' had so many heroic traits and plot lines (not to mention horrific backstory) that fans were at a loss as to what to call him before this index was created. If not for the fact that he was constantly trying to capture the protagonist, [[TheWoobie he would be the most sympathetic character on the show.]] (And to many viewers, he is anyway.) Notably, they show Aang and Zuko's backstories in [[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheStorm the same episode]], via two plots that have nothing to do with each other, and show that despite Zuko's sour attitude he's also the kind of person who thinks nothing of risking his life to save one of his subordinates and even letting his target go if it means ensuring his men's safety, to hammer home that he'd be the protagonist if he was in any other show.

** There's also Zuko's uncle Iroh. Though it's heavily implied that he was more of a standard villain as a Fire Nation general before the time of the series, he never really does anything evil within the story and almost delves into HeroAntagonist territory.

** Later subverted with his JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope in "Cold Comfort." Though his actual final appearance before ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' (an issue in the comic Gotham Knights) didn't even have him commit any crimes, instead, the crimes pinned on Mr. Freeze were actually done by a robotic duplicate made by Nora's stephusband, and Freeze even pulled a HeroicSacrifice in the end.

** [=BoJack=] and Princess Carolyn easily tick this box as well, being LighterAndSofter versions of {{Villain Protagonist}}s from time to time. BJ's not a bad guy but he can just as fill the role of protagonist ''and'' antagonist within the same scene by his rather twisted reasoning, damaging vices and asshole behavior. PC, on the other hand, leans more toward this alignment as time goes by, as she's not above crushing people if it creates some benefits for her client and earns her more money, be it lying, manipulating or betraying loved ones; not to say, her ControlFreak nature and refusal to accept defeat.

** According to Amon, when he was a child, his family was poor. Eventually, a firebender killed his family and burned his face to a grotesque degree. Because of this, he became violently prejudiced against benders, and the act of bending itself. While comparisons can be drawn between Amon and various historical figures; most notably UsefulNotes/MaoZedong, UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, and UsefulNotes/JosephStalin, [[VillainHasAPoint there is at least a grain of truth to Amon's assertion that benders are oppressing non-benders.]]

** The Red Lotus in Season 3, particularly, their leader, Zaheer. They, like Amon, sincerely believed in their cause, namely to destroy all world governments in order to achieve global freedom and equality. Unfortunately, they were rather extreme with their methods, being fine with, among other things, terrorism, kidnapping and murder, and ultimately [[spoiler:[[NiceJobBreakingItHero caused the ascent of Kuvira, an actual tyrant]]]].

** Kuvira herself is shown to have noble goals in reuniting the Earth Kingdom after the chaos that followed the death of the Earth Queen. She also has a fiance, and she avoids outright war if she can. Eventually, she goes way too far, creating a superweapon from spirit vines, forcing people into "[[ANaziByAnyOtherName re-education camps]]" if they don't obey her (or simply have non-Earth Kingdom ancestry), and trying to destroy Republic City after she finally does reunite the Earth Kingdom (and renames it to "Earth Empire").

** In season one, Lilith Clawthorne is the [[TheDragon chief enforcer]] of the [[TheEmpire oppressive magical regime]] and is trying to capture Eda, but she truly believes that working within the system is the best way to make the world a better place and TheEmperor will lift Eda’s curse and recruit her into the regime if she's captured. In the season finale she [[spoiler:does a HeelFaceTurn when she realizes that none of that is true.]]
** Season two replaces Lilith with the Golden Guard, Emperor Belos's right hand man and nephew. While the Golden Guard tends to just obey orders without question and typically acts smug and haughty, he's still very AffablyEvil. Later episodes reveal that the Guard is actually a 16 year-old boy named [[spoiler:Hunter]], who grew up isolated and [[AbusiveParents abused by Belos]], [[WellDoneSonGuy and just wants to help his uncle fulfill the Titan's wishes and heal his curse]]. [[spoiler:After learning in "Hollow Mind" that Belos is a {{witch hunter}} who wants to commit genocide in the Demon Realm, Hunter has a panic attack and goes on the run, before pulling a HeelFaceTurn two episodes later, and season three reveals that Hunter is actually an incredibly sweet and excitable kid when he's not being pushed onto the wrong path.]]

** Eric Cartman himself would become this in ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkPostCovidTheReturnOfCovid'' where he tries to prevent Stan and Kyle from fixing the BadFuture, with his reasons for doing so is out of fear that he'll lose is family if the future changes

* Plankton in the seasons of ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' following TheMovie.

** [[WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond Terry]] gets his own DatingCatwoman moment with Ten, member of ''Beyond'''s version of the Royal Flush Gang. She's significantly more reluctant and less ruthless than the rest, acting more out of familial loyalty than malice or greed. At the end, we get the delightful CallBack from Bruce:

* The Ultra-Humanite, as he appears in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''. His grand list of crimes is as follows: 1: breaking Lex Luthor out of prison and saving his life from kryptonite poisoning so that Ultra can get a huge donation to Public Broadcasting ([[spoiler:and then foiling Lex's plot and turning both Lex and himself in once Batman gives him a better offer]]), and 2: planning to demolish a [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible modern art museum]] during the ChristmasEpisode (when, of course, nobody would be around to be caught in the crossfire), only to quickly declare a Christmas Truce with The Flash and help him give ''Christmas presents'' to ''orphans'' (ok, so he modified the toy so it recited ''The Nutcracker'', [[WickedCultured complete with musical score, instead of blowing raspberries]]). He isn't seen in another villain role after that.

** Poison Ivy, particularly in the spin-off comic series ''The Batman Strikes!'' She just wants to make the world a better place....for plants.

** The Earl of Lemongrab isn't really a villain -- just a huge prick -- but the extent of his jerkassery certainly paints him in a villainous light. He sent everyone in the kingdom to the dungeon for one million years, terrorized and threatened the candy people for petty reasons, made a child cry in deleted scene, belittled his butler, screamed at and imprisoned everybody including his mother... But the reason he's so insensitive and such a huge jerkass is the fact that he's a science experiment gone horribly wrong. Whatever mistake Princess Bubblegum made while creating him resulted in him having a HairTriggerTemper, SuperOCD, NoSocialSkills, NoIndoorVoice, and the general mannerisms of TheMentallyDisturbed. Sure he's a jerk, but he's also "completely unadjusted to living," according to Adam Muto, a writer on the show. To make matters more puzzling, his motivations are far from malicious- he just wants the kingdom to be quiet, peaceful, orderly, tidy, clean, and free of pranks and pillow fights. It just happens that, in his maladjusted mind, DisproportionateRetribution is the proper way of dealing with disorder of any kind. [[spoiler: Later on, he becomes much more malicious.]]

* Lilith Clawthorne in Season One of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse''. She's the [[TheDragon chief enforcer]] of the [[TheEmpire oppressive magical regime]] and is trying to capture Eda, but she truly believes that working within the system is the best way to make the world a better place and TheEmperor will lift Eda’s curse and recruit her into the regime if she's captured. In the season finale she [[spoiler:does a HeelFaceTurn when she realizes that none of that is true.]]

** The Earl of Lemongrab isn't really a villain -- just a huge prick -- but the extent of his jerkassery certainly paints him in a villainous light. He sent everyone in the kingdom to the dungeon for one million years, terrorized and threatened the candy people for petty reasons, made a child cry in deleted scene, belittled his butler, screamed at and imprisoned everybody including his mother... But the reason he's so insensitive and such a huge jerkass is the fact that he's a science experiment gone horribly wrong. Whatever mistake Princess Bubblegum made while creating him resulted in him having an AmbiguousDisorder that causes him a HairTriggerTemper, SuperOCD, NoSocialSkills, NoIndoorVoice, and the general mannerisms of TheMentallyDisturbed. Sure he's a jerk, but he's also "completely unadjusted to living," according to Adam Muto, a writer on the show. To make matters more puzzling, his motivations are far from malicious- he just wants the kingdom to be quiet, peaceful, orderly, tidy, clean, and free of pranks and pillow fights. It just happens that, in his maladjusted mind, DisproportionateRetribution is the proper way of dealing with disorder of any kind. [[spoiler: Later on, he becomes much more malicious.]]

** Reagan is a MadScientist who has moments of intense selfishness and cruelty, but she's also trying to fix Cognito from within and create a better world, has to constantly manage the dealings of her negligent father, and she's not above occasionally helping other people and doing the right thing.

** Glenn is a violent, bigoted warmonger whose life has basically been ruined by the shoddy experiment that transformed him into the deformed half-dolphin he is now, despite his brutal personality, ''does'' seem to hold positive relationships with his coworkers and [[PetTheDog is usually the one who is the least hard on Reagan.]]