History Main / SympatheticVillainDespicableVillain

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' has Waternoose and Randall. While both villains plot to kidnap and torture human children, the former only wants to save his company from going out of business, while the latter does this to get revenge on Sulley.

** ''Film/GodzillaXKongTheNewEmpire]]'': The two antagonistic Titans in the film are portrayed this way. Shimo is being tortured and ForcedIntoEvil by the Skar King using a crystal that's psionically linked to her, and when she's freed from his control, she's all too happy to switch to the heroes' side and start a life of peace. The Skar King, on the other hand, is an ''excessively'' cruel, murderous and psychopathic bully whose sadism matches that of Ghidorah and [[WesternAnimation/SkullIsland2023 the Kraken]], and his only ambition is to conquer and mercilessly enslave all other life on Earth.

** ''Film/GodzillaXKongTheNewEmpire]]: The two antagonistic Titans in the film are portrayed this way. Shimo is being tortured and ForcedIntoEvil by the Skar King using a crystal that's psionically linked to her, and when she's freed from his control, she's all too happy to switch to the heroes' side and start a life of peace. The Skar King, on the other hand, is an ''excessively'' cruel, murderous and psychopathic bully whose sadism matches that of Ghidorah and [[WesternAnimation/SkullIsland2023 the Kraken]], and his only ambition is to conquer and mercilessly enslave all other life on Earth.

** ''Film/GodzillaXKongTheNewEmpire: The two antagonistic Titans in the film are portrayed this way. Shimo is being tortured and ForcedIntoEvil by the Skar King using a crystal that's psionically linked to her, and when she's freed from his control, she's all too happy to switch to the heroes' side and start a life of peace. The Skar King, on the other hand, is an ''excessively'' cruel, murderous and psychopathic bully whose sadism matches that of Ghidorah and [[WesternAnimation/SkullIsland2023 the Kraken]], and his only ambition is to conquer and mercilessly enslave all other life on Earth.

** ''Film/GodzillaXKongTheNewEmpire: The two antagonistic Titans in the film are portrayed this way. Shimo is being tortured and ForcedIntoEvil by the Skar King using a crystal that's psionically linked to her, and when she's freed from his control, she's all too happy to switch to the heroes' side and start a life of peace. The Skar King, on the other hand, is an ''excessively'' cruel, murderous and psychopathic bully whose sadism matches that of Ghidorah and [[Westernanimation/SkullIsland the Kraken]], and his only ambition is to conquer and mercilessly enslave all other life on Earth.

*** Godzilla is the more antagonistic and aggressive of the two titular Titans in this movie, but he's still the {{Kaiju}} equivalent of a justifiable WellIntentionedExtremist, trying to stop the rise of Mechagodzilla which has Ghidorah's reanimated consciousness inside it. The true BigBad Mechagodzilla, on the other hand, is an omnicidal monster just like in its three-headed, draconic past life.

* {{Narcissist}

* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', the two most important villains are Scarecrow, the BigBad of the game with the intentions of submitting Gotham City to fear, and the Arkham Knight, his DragonInChief that is primary interested in killing Batman at all costs. Is eventually revealed that the Knight is none other than Jason Todd, the former Robin who was [[ColdBloodedTorture horribly tortured by the Joker]] and presumed dead back then. When Batman discovers the truth, he only feels remorse for Jason and what happened to him. Scarecrow, on the other hand, is nothing more of a deranged {{Sadist}} with no redeeming qualities, that wants to destroy the myth of Batman and [[HopeCrusher every hope left in Gotham]]. In the end, [[HeelFaceTurn Jason saves Batman from Scarecrow]], and the latter is [[FateWorseThanDeath reduced to an eternally scared, shadow of himself]]. [[ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine With nothing more than his own fear toxin.]]

* BenevolentBoss

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold
* JerkassWoobie

* KnightTemplar
* ALighterShadeOfBlack
* LovableRogue

* PragmaticVillainy

* StartOfDarkness

* TragicMonster

* TheBully

* CardCarryingVillain

* {{Hypocrite}}

* {{Jerkass}}

* OpportunisticBastard

* VileVillainSaccharineShow

** ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Godzilla: King of the Monsters]]'': The movie attempts to portray the BigBadDuumvirate amongst the humans in such a light. Amongst the two [[EcoTerrorist eco-terrorists]] whom are conspiring to unleash the Titans and kill millions, Emma Russell is made out to be a tragic WellIntentionedExtremist who loves her daughter and is horrified by King Ghidorah's {{Omnicidal Mania|c}} when the dragon [[EvilerThanThou takes things out of their control, whereas Alan Jonah is a MisanthropeSupreme so consumed by hatred for mankind that he's willing to watch Ghidorah win and destroy ''everything''.

** The series finale is complete with two showdowns. [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderFireLordOzai Fire Lord Ozai]] is a ruthless leader who seeks to commit genocide on the Earth Kingdom. Zuko only further pales in comparison to his father because of how far he's willing to go to win, and everything Zuko did to earn his place had culminated in this very moment. While his daughter and Zuko's sister, [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderPrincessAzula Princess Azula]], was the one to suggest the idea and might seem worse than the latter, it's made clear that her upbringing stunted her ability to do the right thing, and she's devastated upon failing to stand up to her father's pressure.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': [[Characters/AmphibiaKingAndrias King Andrias]] is a conqueror seeking to destroy other planets to gain their resources. However, at heart, he's a friendly goofball manipulated by the Core, including his [[AbusiveParents father]], to close off his heart for [[Characters/AmphibiaTheCore the Core's]] selfish desires.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Done with the series [[BigBadDuumvirate two main antagonists]]; Tomura Shigaraki and All For One. Shigaraki as a child was born into an abusive home with a father who despised pro heroes and eventually beat Tomura (then known as Tenko) for his desire to be a hero. Eventually Tenko reached a RageBreakingPoint and killed his father along with the rest of his family leaving him homeless. Then he wandered the streets hoping someone would help him but the people [[BystanderSyndrome turned away from him telling him a hero would save him]]. And eventually when someone did find him it was All For One, who groomed him to become a nihilistic murderer. Shigaraki now wants to tear down society for its neglect of him. Meanwhile All For One is a narcissistic sociopath who was noted at birth to see the world as his to take. Growing up when Quirks first started manifesting All For One lived only for himself and his brother that he saw as his possession. Eventually he decided to become the world's greatest Demon Lord in order for the world to never forget his existence, believing that people remember the bad times far stronger then the good. This is even reflected in how they treat their minions; Shigaraki sees the League as his TrueCompanions, desiring for the members to be able to live how they choose to, and is a BenevolentBoss despite their eccentricates. All For One meanwhile has no problem abandoning even his most loyal minions once they're of no further use to him. Even the heroes can see the contrast between the two, as while Midoriya wants to save Shigaraki from himself, even All For One's own brother believes that he is BeyondRedemption and should be killed for the sake of the world.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'': The Skull Kid is a mischievous imp, but the flashes of his story make him a pitiable figure. His actions that cross the line from "mischievous" to "evil" are done under the influence of Majora's Mask, which is wholly malevolent and continues trying to destroy Termina once separated from the Skull Kid, becoming the final boss of the game. Once the Mask is defeated, the Skull Kid reconciles with his friends, including Link, with whom he parts on good terms.

* ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'': While the game's initial TheHeavy is Sage, who works for long-time villain Dr. Eggman, she's simply following her prime directive to save Eggman, who reciprocates with fatherly love. However, misunderstandings between her and Sonic allow a bigger threat to emerge. Said threat, The End, is a sadistically [[KnightTemplar self-righteous]] destroyer of civilizations.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'' have [[FallenAngel Corvus]], the best of the Celestrains and [[TheEmperor King Godwyn]], ruler of the Gittish Empire. Godwyn [[Patricide murdered Godfrey]] out of impatience of not being granted the House of Gitt, even though his father was going to give it to him anyway and created the Gittish Empire to [[TakeOverTheWorld take over the Protectorate]], even having his army capture Corvus at Wormwood Creak to torture him and empower his army with celestial power out of fear Corvus could surpass him. Corvus, by contrast, became evil after all the torture and being betrayed by Serena, albeit unwillingly for the latter, since her father sold him out in exchange for the Gittish Empire leaving Wormwood Creak alone, and would try to eliminate mortalkind upon Godwyn's defeat and being freed from the Oubliette, though the Hero stops him by becoming mortal, since Celestrains cannot act above their superiors.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': Many of the villains on the CIS side of the war have less sympathetic qualities; [[Characters/StarWarsGeneralGrievous General Grievous]] is a CardCarryingVillain who only seeks the extermination of all the Jedi (his more sympathetic ''Legends'' backstory having been discarded from canon), the entire Separatist Council and military leaders like Nute Gunray and Riff Tamson only exist to serve [[Characters/StarWarsCountDooku Count Dooku's]] whim and fulfill their own desires, and the traitorous Jedi Pong Krell is a HateSink who seeks only to gain standing in the new order. By contrast, Count Dooku (as elaborated upon in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTalesOfTheJedi'') was a genuinely good man who turned to villainy because his efforts to fight the corruption within the Republic and the Jedi Order failed and allowed himself to be swayed by [[Characters/StarWarsEmperorPalpatine Darth Sideous]], Asajj Ventress had a DarkAndTroubledPast where she was taken from her family, enslaved, and taken in by the Jedi until her master was killed and turned to the Dark Side as a result, and former Senator Lux Bonteri was once a staunch supporter until Dooku killed his mother for daring to try and bring about a peace treaty and had a HeelFaceTurn after a brief alliance with Death Watch fell through. This also holds true for the independent villain, [[Characters/StarWarsDarthMaul Darth Maul]], the former apprentice to Darth Sidious, who [[Film/ThePhantomMenace apparently died on Naboo over a decade ago]] and miraculously survived his bisection to seek revenge on Obi-Wan Kenobi. Despite going to such lengths as killing Obi-Wan's old lover, Duchess Satine of Mandalore, and enslaving her entire planet to his whim, he still had sympathetic motives due to the horrors he suffered in the years between his apparent death and his discovery at the hands of his brother Savage Oppress. Even as he builds a crime empire, he genuinely desires to stop his former master's plans to reshape the galaxy into an Empire, even if it's for revenge for his abandonment and the death of Savage.