History Main / VillainProtagonist

Sometimes (but not always), this villainous main character will even get the SympatheticPOV. On the other hand, it is not necessary for a villain to be sympathetic for them to be this trope. They simply need to be a villain whose morally reprehensible actions (however [[WellIntentionedExtremist well-intentioned]]) are in no way glossed over ''or'' justified within the context of the story. We are seeing the story from a villain's point of view.

* ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven'': While he doesn't do anything particularly evil and is very polite (so much so that he almost feels like a DesignatedVillain Protagonist) according to Charlie Barkin's [[OffstageVillainy life book in heaven, which involves every moment of his life from his birth to his untimely demise, he has been involved with blackmailing, racketeering, double-crossing and loan-sharking at least by association]] with his much more horrible partner-in-crime, mafia don Carface. While it appears that his crusade will be about life and revenge it actually [[spoiler:becomes one about character development and redemption.]]

* The Beast in ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast''. He started off as a young selfish prince who ruled his kingdom with an iron fist. One night, he refused to offer shelter to an old beggar woman, who turns out to be a powerful enchantress in disguise. The enchantress places a spell on the prince's castle, turning all of servants into household objects and the prince into the Beast, all to punish him for his selfishness, an act that left him guilt-ridden. Despite his short temper and fierce behavior, [[HiddenDepths he is not without redeemable qualities]] as the film revolves around him learning to reflect on his past behavior and exteriors to [[HeelFaceTurn become a better person]], with the help from Belle ([[LoveRedeems who breaks the spell by admitting her love for him after he saves her and tends to her genuine interests]]). Even before that, the Beast goes to face against a more selfish villain in the form of Gaston, who only serves nothing more than a [[EvilCounterpart dark reflection of the Beast if he hadn't abandon his selfishness]].

* The various adaptations of ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' have Ebenezer Scrooge as a rapacious and ruthless businessman, who thinks nothing of financially taking advantage of the poor and destitute, one of the more prominent being ''WesternAnimation/AChristmasCarol2009''.
* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'': Its protagonist is Gru. He's a villain, but he isn't the best in the world.
* Kuzco from ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove''. He's very mean and arrogant, and everyone hates him, but his EvilChancellor Yzma is way eviler than him, and the film revolves around him going on an odyssey that [[HeelFaceTurn helps him become a better person]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'' is played as the stereotypical Big Ham villain; however, he finds his life to be meaningless after he "defeats" Metroman. He then plays hero against a much worse villain of Tighten.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Gumball Watterson of ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' sometimes crosses the line from JerkWithAHeartOfGold to what can only be described as "[[ComedicSociopathy dangerous psychopath]] PlayedForLaughs".
** In "The Saint", he spends the entire episode harassing Alan, making all his friends and his girlfriend hate him, and ''sells his parents into slavery'' just because [[TallPoppySyndrome it annoys him that Alan is so perfect]].
** In "The Spoiler", he goes crazy trying to avoid hearing any spoilers about a movie he's going to watch, even knocking someone out with a shovel and eating another student alive.
** In "The Laziest", he and Darwin deliberately ruin Lazy Larry's life just so that he'll help them win a bet.
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad''.
** Roger. He started out as a sympathetic, vaguely hedonistic alien, but over time he has established himself as a volatile, dangerous sociopath.
** Stan also counts. Like Roger, he started out as more sympathetic albeit a little extreme. But as time went on, the lows he would stoop to in order to get his own way or hide his hypocrisies from the rest of his family turned him into this in about half the episodes of any given season. Episodes like "The Scarlett Getter", "Seizure Suit Stanny" and "Father's Daze" just to name a few are prime examples of him playing this trope 100% straight (and most of them are ones where [[DesignatedHero he's supposed to be seen as the hero by the end!]]).
* The antagonists of ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' range anywhere from {{Harmless Villain}}s to {{Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant}}s. Master Shake, however, is ''disgustingly'' heinous and completely unrepentant with every last action, his ability to [[LackOfEmpathy repel empathy]] outweighed only by his ability to attract [[LaserGuidedKarma poetic justice]].
* The first season in ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'' is just as much about Jinx's downfall from a sweet and innocent young girl into an AxCrazy terrorist as it is about Vi. What's more, it's Jinx's actions that drive the plot: her messing with hextech crystals in episode 1 causes the explosion which gets Jayce's experiment exposed and sets enforcers on the undercity, her bomb in episode 3 [[spoiler:kills her family]], her stealing the Hexstone kicks off the conflict between Piltover and Zaun and her repeated actions keep it from being resolved, and in the final episode [[spoiler:she kills Silco by accident and fires a hextech weapon at the Council, turning the cities' cold war hot and likely initiating weaponized hextech.]]
* A weird in-universe example mixed with DeliberateValuesDissonance in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', the [[ShowWithinAShow Play Within A Show]] "The Boy In The Iceberg" stars actors playing the Gaang as protagonists, with Ozai as the main antagonist. As all the characters are exaggerated parodies of the "real" people, the play version of Aang is a WideEyedIdealist with IncorruptiblePurePureness, whereas Ozai is a flamboyant CardCarryingVillain; however, at the end of the play, when Ozai brutally kills Aang, the audience gives it a standing ovation. Although the viewers know that Aang is TheHero and Ozai is a monster, due to a century of propaganda and cultural conditioning, as far as the Fire Nation rank and file is concerned, Aang is the play's Villain Protagonist, despite [[ButNotTooEvil not actually committing any evil acts onstage]].
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' parodies this trope by completely redoing the series as ''Joker: The Vile and the Villainous''. The storyline was adapted from an issue of the seventies ''Joker'' comic. The episode uses the standard "Batman teams up with random DC superhero to stop the VillainOfTheWeek" formula with SwappedRoles, in which the Joker teams up with fellow supervillain Weeper in order to stop Batman from building a machine that detects crime. Completing this RoleSwapPlot are the police, who are depicted as Batman's {{Mooks}} and Batman even does his own heroic version of the NothingCanStopUsNow speech.
* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' are two trouble-making delinquents and representatives of the decadence of their society whose idea of fun includes beating frogs and poodles to death with a baseball bat and committing wanton acts of violence and vandalism for their amusement (although they do it as often accidentally). And they are still downplayed examples because their mental deficiency prevents them from having a particularly developed understanding of evil and as a result they lean towards ChaoticStupid more than anything. Couple that with the fact that they end up as stooges to more capable scumbags who treat them like garbage despite their [[VillainCred admiration and worshipping]] and you get the cruelest five-year old-minded fourteen-year-old low-lives that one could ever meet.
%%* ''WesternAnimation/ChipAndDale'' also fill this role, for most of their appearances in the cartoon shorts. While Pluto, Donald, and even Mickey (to a lesser extent) were the main characters, the chipmunks often [[SpotlightStealingSquad stole the spotlight from them]]. In their cartoons, the chipmunks go out to provoke them, at any cost possible. Even when they are usually never provoked.
* Dan of ''WesternAnimation/DanVs'', is short-tempered, paranoid, and violent, and each episode is about him seeking revenge for even the slight offense, real or imagined. It's somewhat muddled by the fact that most of the people he seeks revenge against [[AssholeVictim turn out to deserve it]], however.
* Captain Hero from ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'' is a psychotic murder-rapist who wiped out the entire rest of his species out of spite. The entire cast qualifies for this, really, with the [[TokenGoodTeammate exceptions]] of Xandir, Foxxy, and [[DependingOnTheWriter sometimes]] Wooldoor.
* Zordrak and the Urpneys of ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone'' usually act this, in that each episode starts and ends from their perspective and we generally spend more time following them than the heroes. DependingOnTheWriter however, SympatheticPOV is sometimes given to the actual heroes.
* Eddy from ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'', while not evil, is still a cynical con artist who will do every dirty trick in the book for money. Including stealing Christmas presents from children. [[FreudianExcuse He has his reasons]], but still.
* Stewie Griffin from ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' started out as this in early seasons (he still has his moments, but it's more general ComedicSociopathy).
** Peter Griffin has turned into this thanks to {{Flanderization}}, having gone from "well-meaning but incredibly dumb" to "unbelievably selfish and callous".
* Killface of ''WesternAnimation/FriskyDingo'' is a ''super''villain protagonist who built a doomsday device designed to launch Earth into the sun, and he's still way more sympathetic than {{Jerkass}} superhero Xander Crews.
* ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'':
** Bender is a greedy and amoral criminal who constantly lies, cheats, and steals from everyone. Although Bender really does like his best friend Fry, he is not above swindling him as well.
** Professor Farnsworth is a MadScientist who has no qualms with building {{doomsday device}}s, using people for his experiments, and sending his employees ([[BadBoss whom he outright declares as being expendable]]) to go on dangerous missions which may lead to their deaths.
* ''WesternAnimation/GolanTheInsatiable''. The title character is a demigod from another dimension who has no problems with killing anyone and causing mayhem, but he's also a LargeHam who still wets the bed and tries to hang out with high schoolers and become homecoming king by pretending to be a teenager. The show's other main character, Dylan, is a young goth-looking girl who also finds joy in pain and misery, but also thinks turtles are cute, finds a [[ItMakesSenseInContext molted Golan to be adorable]], and deep down just wants her mom to be proud of her (though she doesn't like to admit it).
* Hector Con Carne is the CardCarryingVillain Protagonist of ''WesternAnimation/EvilConCarne'' and the literal brains of a terrorist organisation that aspires to take over the world. Keyword aspires as they would also aspire to be James Bond-caliber villains but he is just [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain not a very good one.]])
* Mandy of ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' is so evil and ruthless that she makes Grim, the personification of death, look like a nice guy in comparison.
** And so he ends up as a much more downplayed example than her, thanks to being passive and very AffablyEvil to boot, unless he goes on a power-trip and starts siccing monsters on people for laughs, committing murder for profit or as a plan to get rid of Billy and Mandy.
* Many episodes (but not all) of ''WesternAnimation/GrizzlyTalesForGruesomeKids'' center on horrible people who make life hell for others, children specifically.
* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'': Harley breaking away from the Joker is presented as a woman standing up for herself and taking control of her own life back. However, Harley's ultimate goal is to be a super-villain, upstage the Legion of Doom, and generally cause the downfall of Gotham City, along with the rest of the world. Harley has a lot of personal victories and CharacterDevelopment throughout the show, but she's still a bad person.
* The third book of the anthology series ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'' follows Grace and Simon, who were introduced in the previous book [[spoiler:as the leaders of the Apex, a cult of passengers that steals from and attacks the train's residences and strive on increasing the number on their hand, which reveals how much further away they are from solving the personal issues that brought them onto the train in the first place]].
* At her worst, Reagan of ''WesternAnimation/InsideJob2021'' can be considered this, given that she is a MadScientist working for TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness as part of [[EvilInc a company they run]] [[ConspiracyKitchenSink to oversee their conspiracies]]. However, despite the wildly unethical nature of her work (such as plotting to KillAndReplace the President of the United States in the first episode), she also genuinely wants to [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans make the world a better place]] by [[InternalReformist reforming Cognito into a benevolent conspiracy]], and has [[AntiVillain certain moral boundaries she will not cross]].
* Zim of ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'', an alien trying to TakeOverTheWorld. He is juxtaposed to Dib, a preteen paranormal investigator trying to stop him.
* Task Force X are focused on during their mission to infiltrate Justice League headquarters and [[spoiler:steal an invincible armor forged by the gods]] in the ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'' episode named after them.
* The titular ''WesternAnimation/LeagueOfSuperEvil''. Though calling them [[HarmlessVillain evil would be a bit of a misnomer.]]
* WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes:
** While WesternAnimation/BugsBunny was generally a sympathetic character, there have been several episodes where he became a straight up villain. Examples of this include ''WesternAnimation/ElmersCandidCamera'' (he picks on Elmer unprovoked), "WesternAnimation/ElmersPetRabbit" (where he heckles Elmer for no justifiable reason), "WesternAnimation/TortoiseBeatsHare" and its follow ups "WesternAnimation/TortoiseWinsByAHare" and "WesternAnimation/RabbitTransit" (where Bugs is portrayed as an egomaniac who's willing to harm and cheat just to beat a turtle[[note]]To be fair, though, Cecil wasn't any better[[/note]]), "WesternAnimation/WabbitTwouble" (again, picking on Elmer unprovoked), "WesternAnimation/TheWackyWabbit" (picking on an unprovoked Elmer again), "WesternAnimation/BuckarooBugs" (where he's a flat out thief and bully), and "WesternAnimation/RebelRabbit" (where he wreaks havoc on the US solely because the bounty for rabbits was so low, doing atrocities like filling up the grand canyon and ''sawing Florida off the mainland'', breaking into congress during session and physically assaulting a senator, and by the end of the short gets so out of control that the '''military''' is called in to bring him down). Out of the shorts listed, "Buckaroo Bugs" is the only one where he's officially recognized as the villain.
** WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck also had several bouts of this trope, such as "WesternAnimation/DaffyDuckInHollywood" (where he causes trouble in a Hollywood studio for the heck of it) and "WesternAnimation/BoobsInTheWoods" (where he heckles WesternAnimation/PorkyPig for the sake of causing trouble). This only intensified during his later meaner years where he evolved into a genuine villain, albeit still often with the primary spotlight (see above).
** "WesternAnimation/HoneysMoney" is the only Yosemite Sam short where Sam is the star, rather than playing antagonist to Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck.
** Wile E. Coyote is the main character of the "Coyote and Road Runner" shorts, where we follow his [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption constant failures]] at catching the Road Runner.
** Chester and Spike as Villain Protagonists target Sylvester who is in one of his few "pure victim roles". The fact that Spike [[spoiler:pays for his bullying ways by getting the snot beaten out of him by an escaped panther and ends up a NervousWreck and sucking up to Chester the same way that Chester was a [[SycophanticServant sycophant]] who was abused by Spike makes for some hilariously ironic LaserGuidedKarma.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack'' zigzags with this as the main character Flapjack is one of the most thoughtful and compassionate characters in the series and is at his worst a MinionWithAnFInEvil. The other main character who is he is a minion to however, Captain K'nuckles is a most definitely seedy and unsavoury type who makes a career out of being a lowly thief, cheat and criminal and who will commit all sorts of crimes in order to satisfy his candy addiction. By far his lowest moment must have been when he knowingly almost killed a mermaid just because of his petty whims. Also despite genuinely caring for Flap he is a terrible guardian and often verbally mistreats him. He is pitiable enough however and just often unfairly victimised.
* Clay Puppington is this in the third season of ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'', which focuses more on him than the other two seasons. Several episodes showcase his VillainousBreakdown.
* The TitleCharacter of ''WesternAnimation/MrPickles'' is a satanic dog who kills and tortures many people and has a number of human slaves. Since he still saves the day a number of times, he can be considered a mix of this and NominalHero.
* Late in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' Daring Do is revealed to be a VillainWithGoodPublicity when it's revealed that Ahuizotl is actually a guardian spirit assigned to protect the temples and treasures she steals and she's a thief capitalizing off of stealing from him and writing books that cast her as the hero. In her defense she's at least a good person who thought he was evil and his fierce behavior certainly didn't help sway that, but it's never-the-less brought up that she shouldn't have just assumed he was the bad guy. The fact was even subtly {{Foreshadow|ing}}ed in an earlier episode when she prevents him from unleashing an 800 year heat wave on a valley: [[RewatchBonus watch it again now]] and you'll notice all the native ponies who live in the valley are actively helping him accomplish it rather than being victimized by it.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Noveltoons}}'': In Out of This Whirl a Martian comes to visit Earth. During his stay he disintegrates a dog, causes a vacuum cleaner salesman to be attacked by his own product, shrinks a policeman to the size of a mouse, and destroys a toy-sellers store. [[note]] The salesman, policeman, and toy-seller were also AssholeVictims. [[/note]]
* Wolf from ''Animation/NuPogodi'' is one. Much like the Coyote from Chuck Jones' "Coyote and Roadrunner" shorts, the Wolf drives the plot... except that his entire ''raison d'etre'' is to eat the Rabbit, who more often than not is minding his own business.
* When ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' started out, Dr. Doofenshmirtz started out as a standard cartoon villain. But as time went on, he became more and more sympathetic, idiotic, and hilarious, to the point where he and Perry the Platypus were becoming the real stars of the show, even more so than the titular characters.
* The titular duo of ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain''. One is a [[DiabolicalMastermind genius]], the other's [[TheDragon insane!]] To prove their mousy worth, they'll [[TakeOverTheWorld overthrow the Earth]]! However, the Brain [[WellIntentionedExtremist genuinely believes the world will be better if he takes over]], and Pinky [[MinionWithAnFInEvil doesn't even realize they are doing evil]].
* In most every episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' there will a significant number of animation cels devoted to Ren physically mistreating Stimpy even if he isn't in one of his frequent con-man, hooligan or general miscreant roles.
* Rick Sanchez from ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' qualifies. A [[TheSociopath sociopathic]], [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]], MadScientist that frequently builds doomsday devices out of boredom or to take care of serious problems that he created. Said problems are often created because of the numerous enemies he's made throughout his misadventures across [[AlternateUniverse the Multiverse,]] which often end in a massive body count. A couple of episodes have also shown that Rick has no qualms with [[ArmsDealer selling wepaons to shady characters, or to make a quick buck.]] Rick also has no issues with putting his family in mortal danger, with his grandson, Morty, frequently acting as an UnwittingPawn in his schemes.
** Among the worst offenses Rick has done include: forcing Morty to gun down law enforcement officials in the pilot episode; giving Morty a LovePotion without warning of the side effects, and after trying to repair the damage results in the end of the world, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Rick takes Morty into a dimension where he managed to fix the situation,]] and take the place of those Rick and Morty that just happened to die recently; Ricks from multiple realities abandon their sons-in-law, Jerry, in planet designated a "Jerrys' daycare" and many of them have been abandoned there inadvertently (if their Rick and Morty died) or even purposefully; created a "Microverse" populated by sentient beings, [[SlaveRace whose sole reason to exist]] is [[HamsterWheelPower to generate the electricity needed to run his car,]] after he tricked them into thinking [[ETGaveUsWifi he was an alien]], ''destroying'' one of the said universes and threatening to destroy the other; encouraged Morty to witness a [[Film/ThePurge "Purge-like"]] carnival, which then results in Morty wantonly massacring a number of people; Slaughtered a superhero team to prove that he prizes the approval of the team's janitor; repeatedly erased memories from Morty's brain, both traumatic events, and memories that would put Rick in a negative light because of how he screwed up; revealing that he created the imaginary fantasy land that Beth remembers playing in [[ParentalNeglect (to keep her occupied while he worked on his inventions)]][[note]]even though Rick says that it was either create the fantasy land or entertaining her wishes of creating devices of mass destruction, it can be surmised that she knew what her father was capable of, and was trying to connect with Rick in any way that she could think of[[/note]] along her murdered childhood friend. Upon entering, they discover that after decades of accidentally being left there, [[GoneMadFromTheIsolation her friend went mad]] and became [[TheCaligula the de-facto incestuous-cannibalistic leader]]; indirectly destroying multiple planets in order to make a point about heists to Morty, massacring an alien civilization and sending them back to their Stone Age; cloning his daughter without her permission and sending one of them to space and not bothering to know who was who, which leads to said daughters disowning him.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** [[BumblingDad Homer Simpson]] occasionally drifts into this territory, especially when {{Flanderization}} kicked in and his JerkAss tendancies got amped up. One particularly extreme early example is "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E11HomerTheVigilante Homer the Vigilante]]", where he becomes the leader of an incompetent VigilanteMilitia that violently beats people for petty crimes and apparently plans on world domination.
** In-universe example: Itchy from ''JustForFun/TheItchyAndScratchyShow'', who's a mouse who brutally and sadistically murders the perfectly innocent Scratchy every episode.
* Cartman from ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''. He either serves as TheDragon for an even greater evil, or IS the BigBad in most episodes. Occasionally though, he functions as a NominalHero and, on one and only one occasion, he had genuinely heroic intentions when he saved cats in ''Major Boobage''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', Plankton usually fills this role, mainly in episodes where he attempts to steal the Krabby Patty formula.
** Depending on the episode, Mr. Krabs can occasionally be this in episodes focused on him, especially in the later seasons.
* Both {{WesternAnimation/Tom and Jerry}} can alternate between this role in [[DependingOnTheWriter any given theatrical short]], a fact ''especially'' glaring if the former ends up being a DesignatedVillain and the latter turns into a DesignatedHero.
* Chris [=McLean=], the [[DepravedKidsShowHost sadistic host]] of ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' ends up being the series' biggest villain. He doesn't care about the safety of the contestants or the interns, takes pleasure in seeing them suffering or ruining relationships [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and he doesn't even give Chef his salary]]. While all the seasons have a different BigBad, Chris is the only one who plays the villain role in every season (excluding Ridonculous Race), especially the later ones.
* [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Callie Maggotbone and Twayne Boneraper]] of ''WesternAnimation/UglyAmericans''. As far as the series is concerned, demons from Hell aren't AlwaysChaoticEvil, but are incredibly apathetic towards all humans in general. Combined with varying degrees of outright psychopathy, and the eerie fact that they seem to be planning TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt behind the scenes, it's a wonder the former is an AntiAntiChrist with standards, and the latter is an IneffectualSympatheticVillain without a spine.
* The ''[[WesternAnimation/VillainousCartoonNetwork Villainous]]'' shorts are centered around Black Hat, the wicked head of an evil company that produces inventions specifically meant to be used by villains. And that's not getting into the fact that he's the GreaterScopeVillain to ALL of Creator/CartoonNetwork.
* ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'' designated villain Dick Dastardly became this when [[WesternAnimation/DastardlyAndMuttleyInTheirFlyingMachines he got his own show a year later]]. Always noted as being devious and despicable but saddled with three charges who rank from inept to chronic backstabber, Dastardly would often wonder (in one episode) "what's a nice guy like me doing in a cooped-up outfit like this?"
* WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker went in and out of being this and an AntiHero in the original cartoons. Sometimes, he just goes about breaking the rules or causing trouble for the mere thrill of it or just out of ignorance, and is clearly shown to be a selfish glutton who will mow down or manipulate anyone who gets in the way of his food. On the other hand, he did occasionally star in a sympathetic light (i.e. "The Hollywood Matador") and by the late 40's his AntiHero traits were played up more by director Dick Lundy, especially when Buzz Buzzard entered the series. By the 50's, Woody veered between being a straight up hero, a villain and an anti-hero, and by the mid-50's both of the former traits were dropped altogether in favor of making Woody a straight up hero character.
[[/folder]]

* At her worst, Reagan of ''WesternAnimation/InsideJob2021'' can be considered this, given that she is a MadScientist working for TheIlluminati as part of [[EvilInc a company they run]] [[ConspiracyKitchenSink to oversee their conspiracies]]. However, Despite the wildly unethical nature of her work (such as plotting to KillAndReplace the President of the United States in the first episode), she also genuinely wants to [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans make the world a better place]] by [[InternalReformist reforming Cognito into a benevolent conspiracy]], and has [[AntiVillain certain moral boundaries she will not cross]].

* ''WebVideo/BarneyBunch'' stars [[WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}} Drew Pickles]] as the [[DepravedHomosexual gayest man in the universe]], with his videos having him going to places, only to go on rampages ranging from [[BlackComedyRape raping men]] or [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain beating women to death with his dick for being women]] often over [[DisproportionateRetribution minor inconveniences]] such as extremely long lines, workers refusing to make his disgusting meal requests, or just about anything that wrongs him.

* The ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' fan fiction ''Fanfic/TwoLetters'' deconstructs the "Saltinette" [[FandomSpecificPlot/MiraculousLadybug Fandom-Specific Plot]] (Marinette [[AccusationFic getting fed up with the rest of the cast bullying her or being incompetent]] by [[TookALevelInJerkass becoming an]] AlphaBitch) by [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerating]] said reaction and turning her into one of these. The titular two letters are a NoteToSelf in which she gloats to her post-quitting-being-a-Guardian-{{Laser Guided Amnesia}}c self how she orchestrated the downfall of all the other heroic Miraculous holders in Paris and allowed her biggest bully to become a SketchySuccessor who is currently causing mayhem with a MonsterProtectionRacket, all to get even with a city full of ([[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness alleged]]) {{Ungrateful Bastard}}s. As for the amnesiac Marinette, she is [[DisproportionateRetribution perfectly happy with this]].

* ''WebAnimation/GoryToons'' has the tendency of placing its character into villainous roles for plot's sake. Eric Cartman, Cuddles, and Pop are the most prominent examples, but there's other recurring cases as well, including Mr. Krabs, Plankton, Kirby, and Splendid.

[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]

* Walter White of ''Series/BreakingBad'' slowly [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain evolves toward this]] over the course of the first four seasons, especially under his "Heisenberg" alter-ego. Walter still remains an AntiHero, thus maintaining audience support, by always struggling against someone worse than him. By the fifth season, however, Walter has become a cold and cruel man, and his opposition is his own family, becoming the BigBad in his own story, [[spoiler: for the majority of the season up until his downfall in Ozymandias, after which he's relegated to ExBigBad and eventually a dark version of TheAtoner]].

* Walter White of ''Series/BreakingBad'' slowly [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain evolves toward this]] over the course of the first four seasons, especially under his "Heisenberg" alter-ego. Walter still remains an AntiHero, thus maintaining audience support, by always struggling against someone worse than him. By the fifth season, however, Walter has become a cold and cruel man, and his opposition is his own family, becoming the BigBad in his own story, [[for the majority of the season up until his downfall in Ozymandias, after which he's relegated to Ex-BigBad and eventually a dark version of TheAtoner]].

* Walter White of ''Series/BreakingBad'' slowly [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain evolves toward this]] over the course of the first four seasons, especially under his "Heisenberg" alter-ego. Walter still remains an AntiHero, thus maintaining audience support, by always struggling against someone worse than him. By the fifth season, however, Walter has become a cold and cruel man, and his opposition is his own family, becoming the BigBad in his own story, [[spoiler:at least in the first half of the season. In the second half, he undergoes a HeelRealization and turns against [[ThoseWackyNazis Those Wacky Neo-Nazis]] he was working with up until then]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Bender is a greedy and amoral criminal who constantly lies, cheats, and steals from everyone. Although Bender really does like his best friend Fry, he is not above swindling him as well.
** Professor Farnsworth is a mad scientist with no qualms building doomsday devices and using people for his experiments, lets crew after crew go on missions that result in their deaths.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Noveltoons}}'': In Out of This Whirl a Martian comes to visit Earth. During his stay he disintegrates a dog, causes a vacuum cleaner salesman to be attacked by his own product, shrinks a policeman to the size of a mouse, and destroys a toy-sellers store. [[note]] the salesman, policeman, and toy-seller were also AssholeVictims. [[/note]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Noveltoons}}'': In Out of This Whirl a Martian comes to visit Earth. During his stay he disintegrates a dog, causes a vacuum cleaner salesman to be attacked by his own product, shrinks a policeman to the size of a mouse, and destroys a toy-sellers store[[note: the salesman, policeman, and toy-seller were also AssholeVictims]].

* In the prequel segments of ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', the Freelancers fall in this category... but they're not portrayed as bad guys, just as guys being told the bad things they're doing are actually for good reasons.

It is vanishingly rare for these characters to be a CompleteMonster, as regardless of how much a bad dude a protagonist may be, the audience will generally still desire to have at least a degree of relatability and sympathy for them, although it has happened in very rare circumstances, often in stand-alone and experimental works. Very rarely, they might even show up in serialized series, which can lead to TooBleakStoppedCaring unless executed in a very careful fashion and are usually counterbalanced by either making it a HeWhoFightsMonsters story or adding a sympathetic {{Deutoragonist}} who shares near-equal screen time.

It is vanishingly rare for these characters to be a CompleteMonster, as regardless of how much a bad dude a protagonist may be, the audience will generally still desire to have at least a degree of relatability and sympathy for them, although it has happened in very rare circumstances, often in stand-alone and experimental works. Very rarely, they might even show up in serialized series, which can lead to TooBleakStoppedCaring unless executed in a very careful fashion and are usually counterbalanced by either making it a HeWhoFightsMonsters story or adding a sympathetic {{Deutaragonist}} who shares near-equal screen time.

It is vanishingly rare for these characters to be a CompleteMonster, as regardless of how much a bad dude a protagonist may be, the audience will generally still desire to have at least a degree of relatability and sympathy for them, although it has happened in very rare circumstances, often in stand-alone and experimental works. Very rarely, they might even show up in serialized series, which can lead to TooBleakStoppedCaring unless executed in a very careful fashion.

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