What makes a villain?
At one point, the good guy wore the white cowboy hat and the bad guy always wore a black hat. In modern entertainment it's not as black and white—literally—any longer.
Now villains are definitely more nuanced to the point that sometimes their villainy is justifiable.
Reddit user unitedfan6191 asked:
"With which villain do you most frequently think, 'well, he/she does have a point'?"
Leprechaun
"The Leprechaun from The Leprechaun horror franchise."
"The characters basically stole his gold. For a horror series, he's the easiest villain not to die to. All you have to do is not insult him and don't steal his gold."
"It's even been shown that he's more than willing to smoke, drink, dance, and otherwise party with people who don't antagonize him."
~ behindtimes
Squidward
"90% of the time, Squidward."
"As a child I never particularly found Spongebob all that appealing, was more into anime. Grown up, every now and then I see my best friend's daughter watch an episode of Spongebob as we talk."
"I genuinely feel for Squidward."
"I don't think he's necessarily the villain, but considering how he's kinda the anti-fun character juxtaposed to Spongebob and Patrick who is pro-fun, I feel like he sorta is."
~ exoventure
Carl Anheuser
"White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser in 2012."
"He was portrayed as utterly brutal and heartless, but he was laser-focused in ensuring the plan was executed with as few variables and hiccups as possible."
"Also, I think the world of Oliver Platt as an actor, so I'm a bit biased."
~ Vergenbuurg
Uh Oh Cooking GIF by The BearGiphy
Magua
"Magua in Micheal Mann's excellent take on The Last of the Mohicans."
"He's definitely the villain in the way he goes about things, and in wanting to murder Alice and Cora, who did him no wrong. He is however justified in his rage and wanting vengeance, just not in the manner he goes about it."
"In the film it's revealed that Colonel Munro, Alice & Cora's father, was responsible for an attack on Magua's village that destroyed it, with his children killed by British troops."
"Magua meanwhile was taken as a slave by their Mohawk allies, and his wife thought he was killed in the attack, so during the period while he was enslaved in a Mohawk village she married another Huron man. Basically his entire life and family was destroyed by Alice & Cora's father."
"Where he goes wrong in his swearing an oath not just to kill Colonel Munro, but to also kill Alice & Cora as revenge for his dead children, and in wanting to make the Huron strong to prevent similar tragedies, he wants them to war against other tribes and seize their land and resources to make them more powerful."
"Despite being the villain, it's hard not to cheer for Magua when he brutally kills Colonel Munro during the ambush of the British troops retreating from Ft. William Henry, as the first half of his plan for vengeance."
"He's also brilliantly played by Wes Studi, who is a tremendous actor."
~ Pixelated_Penguin808
Brigadier General Francis X. Hummel
"General Hummel from The Rock, he only wanted compensation for the families of fallen soildiers."
~ gusto_g73
"He even did it in the most non-lethal way possible."
"The only casualties in the film are Michael Biehn's Marines—who refused to stand down despite being in an untenable position—and Hummel's own men that are murdered by Cage/Connery."
~ crimsonkodiak
The Wicked Witch of the West
"The Wicked Witch from The Wizard Of Oz."
"She just wanted her sister's shoes. Glinda comes along, magics them onto Dorothy's feet, and antagonizes the witch."
~ Jillhardeners
Magneto
"Magneto from the movies till today is pretty justified in a lot of ways."
"Older comic book Magneto was just full on 'We need to wipe out humans to make way for the new superior race'."
~ scottyb83
"Agreed, but even then having the backstory of a Holocaust survivor kinda makes his 'it’s them or us' mentality a bit more understandable."
~ Didntlikedefaultname
Ed Rooney
"Ed Rooney knew Ferris Bueller was scamming the school and he was trying to do his job in stopping it."
~ GotMoFans
Walter Peck
"Walter Peck the EPA guy and later the New York mayor in the Ghostbusters movies."
"The Ghostbusters set up an unapproved, unregulated, unproven nuclear powered containment facility in the middle of a major city, then filled it with hostile entities. Then they abandoned it when their business wound down."
"They also built and carried man portable nuclear powered partical accelerators that were clearly capable of serious damage, which were then allowed to fall into the hands of children."
"It's not that Walter Peck was in their face. Where was every other agency tasked with public safety?"
~ cruiserman_80
Morris Day
"In Purple Rain, Morris Day had a profitable new band for First Avenue giving an opportunity to a new young singer that the Kid refused to help despite dating her."
~ GotMoFans
Tyler Durden
"Tyler Durden from Fight Club is an overall piece of sh*t with a small cluster of decent points."
~ OhTheHueManatee
Bruce The Shark
"The Great White from Jaws."
"He was just hungry."
~ Right-Ad8261
"Just a shark sharking as sharks do."
~ ThatCanadianLady
Lobo
"Lobo from Puss In Boots: The Last Wish."
"Puss wasted his precious lives on dumb sh*t, so it stands to reason that Lobo thought he'd waste the last one too."
~ vix_aries
"As a force of nature type antagonist he is super well done, and the movie recognizes this. He backs off once Puss learns his lessons and embraces life."
"Who'd have thought a sequel to a spin-off of another franchise's sequel would be so? Damn. Good."
~ Monteze
Amon
"Amon from Legend of Korra."
"Society in Avatar demonstrably favors benders—we're shown a ton of job opportunities available only to them, and they quite literally have more physical power than non-benders."
"The showrunners chickened out by having Amon turn out to be pure evil with ulterior, selfish motives. His core philosophy—that a society with benders and nonbenders is an inherently unfair one—wasn't wrong."
~ Notmiefault
Boyd Crowder
"Frequently—and I mean frequently—Boyd Crowder from Justified brings up good points."
~ beece16
Shut It Timothy Olyphant GIFGiphy
Well, points were certainly made here!
Do you have any to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.