Villainous Crush / Live-Action TV

• Grant Ward from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has a pretty obsessive one on Skye, especially in season 2. Though he finally seems to snap out of it after she shoots him in the back.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • Spike in Season 5 onwards has this trope down to a tee. When he first (canonically) falls for Buffy, he's still in total opposition to her and the Scoobies' goals, and yet is blatantly head over heels for her. Buffy's mom asks if she might have led him on unintentionally, to which Buffy replies that she beats him up a lot. Which for Spike is pretty much the same thing.
    • Joss Whedon himself noted that he didn't know why he didn't realize sooner that Spike's obsession with defeating Buffy was from him being in love with her. It came as a "well duh" moment.
  • Angelus (Angel's evil alter ego) in Season 2 is as obsessed with Buffy (and hurting her) as Spike would later be, doing everything from terrorizing her and her friends to breaking into her house at night to draw pictures of her while she sleeps. He claims to be "punishing" her for making him remember Angel's love for her, though one might argue his obsession comes from another place. And of course his famous quote: "In order to kill this girl, you have to love her."
    • Interestingly enough, Angelus only calls off his long-drawn out plan of emotionally torturing Buffy after sharing a kiss with her while possessed by spirit lovers. Now he suddenly wants to destroy the world. And his extreme reaction of disgust and complaining of "love" is also worth mentioning.
    • This argument may actually be canon, as Angel lampshades this on his own show:
      Angel: The guy's a trainwreck when it comes to love. Almost destroyed the world. I can relate.
• Doctor Who: Fans had long speculated about the Unresolved Sexual Tension between the Doctor and his Arch-Enemy, The Master. Over the years, the writers decided more and more often to have a bit of fun with it, eventually developing the storyline into a narrative full of Foe Romance Subtext. It took a couple of decades, but the Master (now a woman) eventually pushed the Doctor up against the nearest wall and got in a nice long proper snog.
  • There have been numerous cases of the Doctor's female companions catching the eye of villains. Examples include Sharaz Jek's infatuation with Peri in "The Caves of Androzani" and the Sheriff taking a shine to Clara Oswald in "Robot of Sherwood."
  • Lady Cassandra develops this towards the Doctor after possessing Rose Tyler in New Earth. It's implied It's not entirely out of her own will, since she might have gained some of Rose's personality traits as a side effect of the possession. When she meets the Doctor as Rose, she is apparently so overwhelmed by her new feelings that she makes out with him. She also seems to enjoy her role as his companion, smirking in excitement after they discover the secret room of the cat nuns and doesn't bother to reveal her facade. It is unknown if she may have tried to turn him into her servant/lover.
  • Cassandra also develops a grudging, and yet deep admiration towards Rose and her beauty, to the point of going out of her way to expose her new figure after possessing her. She still calls herself "The Last Human" when possessing her because she thinks Rose fits her conservative views and despite her classist hatred against Rose she eventually becomes drunk on her new sex appeal. If given the opportunity to regain her wealth, Cassandra may have even fully embraced Rose as an equal and continued to live on through her for decades.
• The Flash (2014): In Season 2, Hunter Zolomon, aka Zoom, developed one towards Caitlin Snow during the brief time he spent impersonating Jay Garrick and aiding Team Flash. The attraction was mutual until Caitlin found out his true identity — then she wanted nothing to do with him. As for Hunter, it was implied he was only seducing her at first so he could gain more of their trust, but Caitlin's similarities to his mother (who was murdered by his father right in front of him when he was just a child) caused him to project said mother onto Caitlin and obsess over her.
• Game of Thrones:
  • Joffrey seems genuinely attracted to Margaery Tyrell in his own way, more so than his original betrothed Sansa Stark. While he seems eager to impress Margaery, everyone believes he would turn abusive once he married her.
  • Once he lays eyes on her, Ramsay is absolutely delighted to be betrothed to Sansa.
  • Littlefinger is also in love with Sansa himself, seeing her as a Replacement Goldfish to her mother whom he loved in their childhood. His greatest desire is to rule Westeros with her at his side as his queen, but to that end, he is not afraid to sell her out to Ramsay and endangering her life in the process. His example turns into a deconstruction: his attraction to her blinds him to the very prospect of Sansa turning on him, which he never entertained because he always believed she would be dependent on his resources and couldn't afford to kill him. When she decides to expose his crimes before a court of nobles, he is completely off-guard and with no way to talk his way out of being executed.
• Unfortunately for Kurt on Glee, David Karofsky, his main homophobic bully, has one on him, and he only finds out when he's given a Forceful Kiss.
  • Yet again to Kurt's misfortune, Season 3 introduces Sebastian Smythe, who is adamant on taking Blaine, Kurt's boyfriend, for himself.
• Gotham:
  • As time goes on, Jeremiah Valeska’s feelings for Bruce Wayne seem to go from Stalker without a Crush to Stalker with a Crush. By the end of the series, he refers to him as “the one, the only thing [he] love[s]”, despite the fact that he had a longtime girlfriend. *Had* a longtime girlfriend because she dies probably less than an hour before Jeremiah admits that he loves Bruce. Jeremiah seems unfazed by her death.
  • There are hints of this in Oswald Cobblepot’s interactions with Jim Gordon at first. Part of the reason for this seems to be that Jim saves his life at one point. Their interactions cool significantly over the course of the series after multiple betrayals between them, though, and by the finale, Oswald attempts to murder Jim.
  • Barbara Keen, Jim’s former fiancé, still has feelings for him for a while after she becomes a criminal.
  • Jervis Tetch is horrifyingly convinced that his sister is the love of his life.
• The Handmaid's Tale: Despite the nature of their relationship, Commanders are not supposed have this with their Handmaids, since their only purpose is to have children and no pleasure should take place between them. This doesn't stop some of them like Waterford expressing a creepy interest on June (which appropriately creeps her out and disgusts his wife Serena) or Putnam for Janine, whom he treats like a Sex Slave that performs all depraved acts that not even his own wife would agree to.
• Hannibal: Hannibal has one for Will who ultimately ends up returning it in a case of If It's You, It's Okay.
• On Heroes, even though he'd already taken her power, Sylar appears to have a creepy thing for Claire.
• Kilgrave from Jessica Jones (2015) has believed himself to be in love with Jessica ever since she broke free of his power the first time. He's under the delusion that it's partly mutual, completely oblivious to the fact that all his happy memories of their "relationship" took place when Jessica was mind-controlled and desperate to escape.
• Killing Eve: After a few episodes of Foe Romance Subtext, the show drops all pretense and makes it clear that Villanelle has got it bad for Eve, in spite of the fact that they're trying to kill each other. Villanelle is utterly obsessed with her; calling a random woman she's sleeping with "Eve," following Eve around stealing her clothes, breaking into her apartment to have dinner with her... she even straight-up admits to thinking about Eve when she masturbates! It's unclear if the attraction is mutual, but the obsession certainly is.
• On Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Detective Goren's arch-nemesis Nicole Wallace seems to have some romantic feelings for him (confirmed by his mentor Declan Gage in the Season Six finale).
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: While traveling in his fair form as Halbrand, Sauron develops a great deal of respect and affection for Galadriel, to the point he gives her a We Can Rule Together offer when he finally reveals himself.
• On Luther the eponymous detective has to deal with the uncomfortable fact that his closest friend and confidante, and most reliable source of help, is Nietzsche Wannabe Manipulative Bastard and thorough psychopath Alice Morgan. That alone would be bad enough, but as many of Alice's lines suggest, she may well have a thing for Luther.
• Oz: Adebisi initially seems to regard Saïd as a Worthy Opponent and think that they would make a great team, but it's increasingly implied to be something more, which is confirmed when he tries to talk Saïd into kissing him.
• Pataclaun: Tony is the self-styled villain of the show and is insanely into Wendy. However, most of his courting on her doesn't work since she's often uninterested in what he offers, considering him often rude and stupid.
• Powerpuff: Jojo's hatred for Blossom is complimented by fantasies of asking her out. Lampshaded by Buttercup, who refers to it as a hate-boner.
• Power Rangers:
  • There were indications in Season Two that how Lord Zedd felt about Kimberly in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers was not just Foe Romance Subtext, especially with the episode he tried to make her his queen.
  • A filler episode of Power Rangers Ninja Storm suggests comic relief villain Choobo had one on Tori, the only female ranger on that team. It came out of nowhere and he never at any point in the series ever expresses any attraction or interest towards her again.
  • Power Rangers Dino Charge: Heckyl is hinted to at least find Kendall attractive, given his constant calling her "pretty lady".
• Mr. Robot: Tyrell, a Depraved Bisexual villain, is obviously interested in Elliot and tells another character that he loves Elliot.
  • Later, Vera himself ends up getting attracted to Elliot as well, but much worse than Tyrell's obsession with the latter.
• Murdoch Mysteries: It's implied that the young psychopath James Gillies is attracted to Detective William Murdoch after the former kisses the latter on the mouth for a full three seconds in "Midnight Train to Kingston." It has been hinted throughout the series that Gillies is gay, and it seems natural that he would be drawn to a handsome, intelligent man like Murdoch. Robert Perry, who was presumably James' boyfriend in an earlier episode, is somewhat similar to the detective in that he was also dark-haired, comely, mild-mannered, and smart.
• The Musketeers: Comte de Rochefort is obsessed with Queen Anne and the idea of her returning his feelings. He's seen frequenting a prostitute who dresses up as Anne so he can act out being with her. When he finally reveals his feelings to the real Anne she's horrified and immediately rejects him. He responds by trying to force himself on her and when that fails he frames her for the attempted assassination of King Louis.
• Psychopath Diary: In-woo possibly has one on either (or both) Dong-sik or Bo-kyung. He's very interested in Dong-sik, and he strokes Bo-kyung's face while saying he has feelings for her. But then he's also willing to kill both of them, so it's up for debate if he's sincere.
• On the Sitcom Arch-Nemesis level, Newman's crush on Elaine in Seinfeld.
• Smallville
  • Meteor freaks on Lana. Oh so many times. Even lampshaded once.
    Random student: Lana Lang. How original.
  • Davis Bloome on Chloe in Season 8 although it is later revealed to be part of Brainiac's programming.
  • Sometimes Tess Mercer seems to have one on Clark. It is a lot more explicit in some deleted scenes.
    Tess: You have to stop thinking me as just your boss.
  • And then there was the whole Lex / Lana mess in Seasons 5 & 6.
    • Not to mention his noticable obsession with Kara.
  • Lionel's unrequited crush on Martha which ran for most of the show.
• Appears to be the case with Michael in Stargate Atlantis. Since Teyla was the only person to treat him nicely during his introductory episode, Michael becomes attached to her and, even after she has betrayed him repeatedly (in his own words), he still hopes he can convince her to come away with him.
• Stargirl (2020) : Jordan Mahkent/Icicle for Barbara Whitmore, Courtney's mom. He develops feelings for her (while his son has a crush on Courtney) even though she is married. He even drags her to the roof of his building, tells her that he wants to leave and start anew with Barbara and Courtney. Barbara tells him that he is out of his mind and he tries to throw her off the roof. She is saved by Pat and Courtney, and Jordan is ultimately killed by Mike, her step-son.
• Gul Dukat's very complicated feelings about Kira Nerys in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He calls her a "fascinating woman", and at the very least believes that it's worth trying to earn her respect, and get her to see him as something other than a symbol of the Bajoran Occupation. This becomes explicit when he takes over the station again, and makes direct advances, which she naturally rejects. It gets even more twisted after that with the revelation that he used to have a relationship with her mother, his attempt to get her to join his Pah-wraith cult, and flashbacks in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Relaunch novels to his even more messed-up relationship with Kira's Cardassian Identical Stranger. Note that, throughout all this, he still basically hates Bajorans.
• Strangers From Hell: Moon-jo for Jong-woo. He spies on Jong-woo through a hole in the wall, he stalks him when he's meeting his girlfriend, he calls him "honey", he kills someone for being rude to him...
• Meg from Supernatural has one for Castiel, which is also an Interspecies Romance.
• The Vampire Diaries
  • Klaus Mikaelson has one on Caroline Forbes.
  • Damon for Elena.
  • Katherine for Stefan and also Matt, although she never does more than talk about how hot he is.
• Ares has it bad for Xena: Warrior Princess, to the point where his motivation throughout the show is to win her love.

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