20 Film/TV Villains Who Were Just Misunderstood

Despite what Hollywood would have us believe, not all villains are purely evil. In fact, many of them are often conflicted individuals who are horribly confused. Or, in some cases, they are forced to behave a certain way due to unfortunate circumstances. Of course, there's a multitude of other scenarios as well, but when it all comes down to it, there's no denying that many movie and television villains are simply misunderstood. There's so many, in fact, that compiling a list of just 20 was rather difficult. What started off as a collection of 50 was whittled down to just 20 iconic characters who we found to be great examples of villains who were portrayed as the primary antagonists of their respective stories, but weren't necessarily bad people. We know that you may have already seen this list elsewhere on the web, as it's a popular topic, but here's our own little spin on 20 film/TV villains who were just misunderstood. Enjoy, and feel free to comment below with your own picks. 20) Javert - Les Miserables Javert is a villain in the sense that he's the main antagonist of Les Miserables, but is he really much of an evildoer. When you think about it, throughout most adaptations of Victor Hugo's famous novel, the character is portrayed sympathetically and it's actually quite difficult not to feel bad for him by the end of his plot arc. Of course, as those who are familiar with the story, you'll know that Javert ends up committing suicide, unable to come to terms with the fact that the man who he has spent his whole life chasing, and the man who he always thought to be the "bad guy," has saved his life. It's something that the relentless inspector just can't accept and so, he throws himself off a bridge. "Who is this man, what sort of devil is he, to have me caught in his trap and choose to let me go free? It was his hour at last, to put a seal on my fate, wipe out the past and watch me clean out the slate. All it would take was a flick of his knife, vengenace was his and he gave me back my life" he sings. Javert is a popular character when it comes to the argument of whether or not a villain is really a villain. While he's certainly considered the antagonist, isn't he just doing his job? The law is the law, and Valjean committed a crime. Sure, he only stole to feed his family, but stealing is against the law and it's Javert's job to enforce it. 19) Doc Ock - Spider-Man 2 One of Spider-Man’s greatest enemies, the doctor was most memorably depicted in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2. Doctor Octavius had it all: a brilliant mind, a beautiful wife, and plenty of funding to continue his nuclear fusion experiments. Unfortunately, a tiny thing the Greeks liked to call “hubris” causes him to go against his normal safety procedures and keep his reactor humming past the point of no return. The reactor explodes, the doctor’s robotic arms become fused to his body, his wife dies, and the whole thing causes him to go a little crazy. Doc Ock (as the papers so eloquently begin to call him) only ever wanted to give the world clean renewable energy, but his efforts have instead led to his ruin. He is inspired to rob banks by “talking” to his robotic arms (crazy!), but it isn’t because he wants to buy lavish gifts or cars. He simply needs money to continue his experiments to give the world free energy. Spider-Man should just stay away and let him work! After all, this man could be the answer to our high energy prices. 18) Wile E. Coyote - Looney Tunes Look, it’s not malicious, he’s just hungry, okay? He lives in the middle of the desert, so just how much fresh bird do you think is available? There’s nothing evil about wanting something to eat, and the food chain isn’t meant to separate the good guys (the eaten) from the bad guys (the eaters). It’s like the Road Runner (Acceleratii incredibus) doesn’t know his place, and that place is in the stomach of Wile E. Coyote (Carnivorous vulgaris). For 65 years that coyote’s been chasing that geococcyx (the actual scientific name for the road runner) with little success. Actually, make that no success. Really, Wile E. Coyote is a hero, a figure who stands as a shining example of ingenuity and perseverance. He may not be a hit with the vegan crowd, but that doesn’t mean anything. You may think that Wile E. Coyote goes overboard with all the ACME stuff - dynamite, rockets, giant slingshots, etc. - but sometimes you can only get so far with the direct approach. Human hunters use high-powered rifles and scopes to hunt deer and other animals, is it so implausible that a coyote would go a little crazy with dehydrated boulders or earthquake pills? You can disagree, but it gets to a point where solving a problem is just a matter of principle. There’s only so many times you can be run off a cliff, flattened by a rock, or run into a wall before it gets personal. And how about that “beep, beep!” The freakin’ bird is mocking him, how is he not supposed to take that personally? Basically, the Road Runner’s a punk, and it’s not enough that he doesn’t recognize his place in the food chain, but he rubs Wile E. Coyote’s face in it. The Road Runner, frankly, is daring to be eaten, and if there’s any justice, then Wile E. Coyote will get his chance. 17) Jason Voorhees - Friday The 13th Michael was a sociopath, Freddy was a child killer, the Cenobites were demons, and Leatherface was a backwoods inbred hick. But what did poor Jason ever do? In the game of Life, Jason Voorhees kept rolling snake eyes: he was born deformed, he apparently drowned while swimming in the lake when the camp counselors were supposed to be watching him, and when his mom tried to get him some Old Testament justice, the surviving counselor chopped her head off. From that point on, what’s a man left to do, on his own, in the middle of the woods with no formal education, a deformed face, and no practical skills? Well, when idiots keeping moving within spitting distance of your hovel and causing a ruckus with all their drinking, drugging and sexing, how’s a backwoods simpleton supposed to act? Really though, Jason is a pitiable figure. In Friday the 13th Part II, Ginny uses the spirit of Jason’s mother to distract him, and stop Jason from whacking her (it’s the same strategy Whitney uses in the Friday remake). In Friday IV, Jason gets distracted when he sees that Tommy’s shaved his head in a kind of homage to the machete-wielding killer, and in Friday VIII, after being exposed to toxic waste, Jason mutates back into the weepy child version of himself. Basically, despite his mad skill with anything sharp and/or pointy and his ability to exploit even the most innocuous object and turn it into a deadly weapon, Jason’s kind of a big kid inside. All he wants is his mommy, or someone, to protect him from all the mean kids and their obsession with getting high and getting laid. Failing that, he’ll defend himself with extreme prejudice, and you know the best way to stop him? Don’t live anywhere near Crystal Lake. That’s his turf! 16) Prince Nuada - Hellboy II: The Golden Army Sometimes a villain is just a guy that’s been pushed too far. That’s the case with Prince Nuada, the so-called bad guy in Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and you’ve got to admit right off the top that when your hero’s called “Hellboy” it’s really kind of hard to qualify what makes a villain. Okay, so maybe not. But it’s still easy to comprehend Nuada’s anger. The world of humans has always been obsessed with ploughing paradise, and slowly but surely the realm of the supernatural creatures, led by Nuada’s father King Balor, was forced into a smaller share of the Earth. Pollution, resource extraction, over-population, drought, climate change, and man-made disasters are just of the few of the many reasons that Nuada has a beef, and just a few of the many reasons he wants to take over. People are bad, I think we all get that in some way, but a widespread takeover by the elves, fae and the trolls? Good thing we’ve got Hellboy to save us. Still, you have to wonder why a demon spawn would risk his life for us, and Nuada tries to make this argument when confronted by Hellboy; humans don’t like him, he’s got “Hell” in his name, and he’s sort of meant to bring about the end of the world. Seriously though, I think we all might agree that, as a people, humans are in the mood for new leadership at the top, but all this Golden Army nonsense is going a bit overboard. A society that’s more in tune with nature and where magic and the supernatural are completely real? Sounds pretty good to me. If Prince Nuada just ran for office the old-fashioned democratic way he might be in charge by now. 15) The Repo Man - Repo! The Genetic Opera In a bleak future where plague has made the commodification of organs necessary and profitable, and one tyrannical corporation has a literal monopoly and the right to repossess your body parts if you miss a payment, the only person a girl can trust is her father. Right? Maybe not so much. In the play, and later movie, Repo! The Genetic Opera, the young and naive Shilo has spent the first 17 years of her life as a shut-in, so ill that she can’t be exposed to anyone. Shilo, being a teenager, is naturally interested in exploring the outside world, even if it is a Tim Burton-esque nightmare of ceaseless doom. The boogeyman on this street is the Repo Man, and what Shilo doesn’t know is that the Repo Man everyone fears is her overprotective father, Nathan. And the secrets don’t end there. Shilo discovers that the source of her illness is her father, as Nathan has been intentionally poisoning her to make her sick and unable to go outside. One might consider that child abuse, especially when fused with Nathan’s Jekyll and Hyde life as the Repo Man, the soulless functionary of a corrupt, capitalist system. What we learn over the course of the story though is that Shilio’s mother Marni was not just the object of Nathan’s affection, but the object of GeneCo CEO Rotti’s too. It’s from his influence that Nathan sought to protect his daughter from, and in the end Shilio comes to understand her father’s sacrifice during the show’s climactic showstopper at the Opera. You may say that hardly absolves Nathan, I mean look at some of the numbers he performs: “Legal Assassin,” “Thankless Job,” and “Let the Monster Rise,” but tell me the work you do doesn’t make you feel a little bit nutty. (Except, of course, for writing for We Got This Covered, which is a that’s job consistently rated five-stars of awesomeness!) 14) Dalton Russell - Inside Man Not many cop dramas begin with the main criminal telling you he’s talking to you from within the walls of a cell, but as Inside Man’s Dalton Russell points out, “there's a vast difference between being stuck in a tiny cell and being imprisoned.” Indeed, right from the start of Inside Man Russell warns you to not take things at face value, “Pay strict attention to what I say because I choose my words carefully and I never repeat myself,” he says. He tells you who he is, he tells you where he is, and then he tells you that he recently set out to execute the perfect bank robbery. No such thing, you scoff dismissively. Don’t be so quick to judge though because what we realize as the movie unfurls is that Russell is, indeed, a man of his word, and sometimes the reason to hold up a bank has nothing to do with taking the money. It’s probably a spoiler to say that Russell does succeed in achieving his perfect robbery. He and his crew of fake-painters named Steve manage to execute their plan despite reasonable and insightful interference by NYPD Detective Keith Frazier, but the question is, what did they steal? Instead of taking an entire safe full of cash, the crooks rip off one safety deposit box belonging to bank owner Arthur Case. Case, as it turns out, got rich selling out Jewish friends and colleagues in World War II France, and has never been brought to justice for it. Russell, using Frazier’s curiosity and tenaciousness, leads the detective to the real villain, Case, by leaving clues in the bank. We won’t, perhaps, go so far as to say that Russell is a Robin Hood figure (he was paid very well by a war crimes lawyer to expose Case), but it is safe to say that Russell did his good deed for the day, and never let himself get tempted to skim a couple of bucks at the bank vault? He’s a robber with standards, a thief with a conscience. 13) Syndrome/Buddy Pine/Incredi-Boy - The Incredibles Syndrome is the villainous alter-ego of Buddy Pine, and is the main antagonist in the 2004 film, The Incredibles. As a young boy, Buddy Pine is the biggest fan of the superhero Mr. Incredible, and essentially stalks him as he performs his heroic deeds. Convinced he is destined to be his trusted sidekick, Pine appears at Mr. Incredible’s side one day as Incredi-Boy – ready to assist with his home-made rocket boots. Desperate to prove himself, Buddy/Incredi-Boy inserts himself into a showdown between Mr. Incredible and Bomb Voyage, which directly results in the escape of the bad guy. Mr. Incredible reports Buddy to the police, and he is arrested. When Buddy resurfaces as an adult, he is Syndrome – an evil genius with designs on being a super-villain. As superior intellect is the only tool in his bag, he uses his best inventions to simulate superpowers and to achieve his lifelong goal – revenge against Mr. Incredible, the hero that rejected him. It was that rejection by his hero - experienced as an impressionable young boy - that set Buddy Pine on the path to supervillain-y. Being constantly told by his idol that he was unwanted, not needed, and resolutely a hindrance rather than a help, created a deep well of resentment and hatred that began to boil over as his beloved Mr. Incredible handed him over to the police. In an almost text-book example of a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy,’ it was Mr Incredible’s off-hand designation of Buddy Pine as essentially a ‘bad guy’ that eventually created Syndrome – bent on Mr. Incredible’s destruction. 12) Frankenstein’s Monster - Various Appearing on film many times since the publication of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley in 1818, the unnamed monster is created by scientist Dr Victor Frankenstein who – horrified by the result of his experiment – leaves the creature and flees. This act of callousness sets the monster on a murderous path, as it becomes clear to him that his creator has abandoned him to a cruel and unkind world. Desiring only love and acceptance, the Monster is blamed by Frankenstein for the murder of his brother William, and the consequent hanging of his nanny, Justine. Fleeing to the woods, the Monster educates himself by watching a family living in a cottage, but is rejected when he tries to introduce himself. As the family escape in terror, the Monster burns the cottage to the ground and swears bloody revenge on his creator and all humankind. The Monster’s rampage continues with the murders of Dr Frankenstein’s close friend, Henry, and his wife, Elizabeth. The murders directly result in the death of Dr. Frankenstein’s father, and the ‘wrongful’ imprisonment and mental breakdown of Dr. Frankenstein. On release, Dr Frankenstein and his creation head toward an inevitable showdown. While Frankenstein’s Monster is certainly responsible for the death and destruction of life and property, he is perhaps the archetypal ‘Misunderstood Villain’ as his behaviour stems entirely from his initial rejection by his creator. In an early depiction of the ‘nature vs nurture’ debate, this scientific experiment faces only coldness and intolerance in every human encounter from the moment he opens his eyes. Seeking only connection and companionship, even his pleas for a ‘female’ to live out his days with provide opportunity for more psychological torture, as Frankenstein creates her, then destroys her in front of him, before she can be animated. Though Frankenstein believes he is protecting the world from the procreation of these abominations, he is reluctant to accept his own role in the destiny of his creature, and therefore, the deaths of his loved ones. 11) Agent Smith - The Matrix Trilogy Initially an AI program inside the Matrix, tasked with maintaining order throughout the system by terminating any entity that would potentially destabilize the simulated reality, Agent Smith is an efficient and motivated hunter. While he is clearly a leader among his fellow Agents, he shares their common abilities of being able to take control of the simulated embodiment of any human plugged into the Matrix, and being able to manipulate the Matrix in terms of gravity, speed and strength, to achieve his objective. The Agents can also communicate with each other instantly, being connected to a collective consciousness of sorts, making them – and Smith – essentially omnipresent. From the first time we meet him, however, Smith is slightly different from his peers. He is far more emotionally engaged, and often expresses rage when provoked by his prey. As his character evolves, he becomes the digital counterpart to humans seeking freedom from the machines – himself seeking to disconnect from the system that has him chasing down the human “virus” that disgusts him so much. With the control of the machines over him symbolized by his ear-piece, he begins to remove it with increasing frequency, eventually sending it to his nemesis Neo as a way of announcing his change to being entirely independent and free. As a nihilistic, rogue program, Smith essentially becomes a virus himself – able to multiply and copy himself onto as many people inside the Matrix as he pleases. It is his move to copy himself onto a human in the process of disconnecting from the Matrix that marks his greatest evolution, however, as this enables him to cross the divide from the digital to the real world. In essence, while Agent Smith is relentless in his ultimate mission to destroy both the machines and the humans, he becomes the exact opposite of Neo. While Neo becomes ‘The One,’ Agent Smith becomes ‘The Many.’ While Neo represents hope and a desire for truth and peace, Agent Smith represents death and destruction. While Neo is a positive force, Agent Smith is most resoundingly negative. But yet, he is simply a product of his environment – created by the machines for a limited existence of rules and servitude. If that’s not good enough for the humans, why should it be good enough for him? 10) Bane - The Dark Knight Rises The Dark Knight Rises was arguably one of the most hyped films of 2012, and rightfully so. After the immense success of The Dark Knight and a groundbreaking performance by the late Heath Ledger as The Joker, viewers were thirsty for an even more complex villain. Director Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan’s answer was Bane...sort of. Bane had it all: the flair, the power, and the reeking of pure fear. Portrayed by the talented Tom Hardy, everything leading up to the final moments of The Dark Knight Rises proved that this masked “liberator” would quench viewers’ thirst for an exceptional villain. However, all was for naught when it was revealed he was effectively a lap dog for Talia al Ghul, driven by the curse of the friend zone. Other than the fact that he was only evil by association, his only one true act of malice was when he chose to kill Batman even after Talia al Ghul asked him to wait. But the one time Bane showed some sort of agency, he proved himself a hero: when he helped a young innocent Talia escape the prison, subsequently having his face disfigured by the inmates. Unfortunately for him, his heroic actions aided a true villain, and so his path was set. Had his valiant efforts helped someone else, he might have been on the other side of a motorcycle gun blast. 9) The Facility - The Cabin In The Woods The Cabin in the Woods quietly conjured itself up into one of the most revered horror films of all time. Its satirical take on horror film clichés, and clever breaking of the fourth wall, turned it into an instant classic. At the heart of the film was the Facility, whose intentions were unclear at first. It was obvious that they were something more than sadistic cold-hearted company men bidding on a twisted game of murder, though. As the victims were killed off one by one, there was a general sense of remorse shown by everyone working, even when they helped the redneck zombie family slash their way into the cabin. But even through all these glimmers of humanity, when the monsters invaded the Facility, it was relieving seeing them getting a taste of their own medicine. That is, until it was revealed why they were giving up their humanity for a front row in viewing death: to prevent the destruction of mankind. Suddenly, the tables are turned and viewers are cheering for both the group of unlucky youngsters and the saviors of the planet. With the true villains of the film being the “Ancient Ones,” the Facility is left with the scraps of being the hero disguised by villainous tactics. Even now, the Facility probably doesn’t get the recognition they deserve. 8) Xenomorph Queen - Aliens Much larger, more intelligent and more powerful than the regular face-huggers and extra-terrestrial monsters that populate the Alien franchise, the Queen is, quite literally, the mother of all Xenomorphs. Like an ant queen, or a queen bee, she resides in the centre of the hive – protected by her legion offspring while producing hundreds more eggs. From the perspective of any other species that has the misfortune to encounter the Xenomorph Queen or her spawn, these creatures are deadly predators to be feared and destroyed. They do not share space, or co-exist. They multiply and inhabit – adapting their environment to suit their needs and utilizing available living organisms – humans included – as incubators for their young. From the perspective of the Xenomorph Queen, however, she has a singular objective: to ensure the continuation of her species. When her carefully laid eggs are threatened, the Xenomorph Queen is compelled to protect them. Giving chase as Ripley beats a hasty retreat with the child ‘Newt’, what follows is an epic battle of maternal instinct, with Ripley using a Power Loader to level the playing field in terms of physical size and strength. While Ripley fights for survival and escape for her and the child, the enraged Xenomorph Queen is all about retribution – seeking to avenge the murder of her progeny. These two opposing mother figures, locked in a battle to the death, create a tragedy of operatic proportions. Their situation is not of their making, but rather that of the nefarious Weyland Corporation and their long-term, underhanded manipulation of events. Though, when juxtaposed with any other species, the Xenomorph Queen is a living nightmare, ultimately her actions boil down to her natural instinct to survive and protect. Just like the rest of us. 7) Dad Meiks - Frailty Dad Meiks is the “God’s Hand” serial killer hunted by the FBI in Bill Paxton’s 2001 directorial debut, Frailty. A widowed father-of-two, he is also a religious fanatic, insisting that God has tasked him and his sons with the slaying of demons. With an angel supposedly providing names, Meiks acquires his victims, by force or coercion, then knocks them unconscious and decapitates them while training his sons to participate. The character of Meiks is a fascinating one – brilliantly written by screenwriter Brent Hanley, and perfectly portrayed by Bill Paxton. He is an intimidating, determined man, run through with a dark, unsettling channel of barely contained chaos. Amidst his murderous ramblings, we are left to wonder the extent to which Dad Meiks is actually detached from reality. Does he truly believe he is doing God’s work, or is this simply a convenient delusion constructed to excuse his bloodlust? The answer to that question hinges upon his refusal to decapitate his own son. The cynical view would be that the pronouncement of the child being a demon to destroy is simply an attempt at manipulation to bring the rebellious son back in line. To coldly convince his son that he is prepared to defy God to save him, and then confine him to a basement and starve him as a better alternative, is to persuade his questioning son that they are on the same side - that the father is actually good at heart, though tasked with an unfortunate job. The sympathetic view would be that Dad Meiks finds himself battling his own demons, caught between his role as protective father, and his role as “God’s Hand” One view has him as a homicidal maniac, making excuses to satisfy his need to kill, and manipulating his own children to support those excuses. The other has him as a victim of the sickness in his mind, with the danger to the life of his child briefly pricking part of his long-buried rational self. The beauty of this character is that we can never be truly sure – which puts us right in the deeply disturbed shoes of his children. 6) Catwoman - The Dark Knight Rises/Batman Returns Let’s pretend that the 2004 travesty that was Pitof’s Catwoman (starring Halle Berry) never happened, and instead focus on Batman Returns and The Dark Knight Rises, shall we? Catwoman is the villainous alter-ego of Selina Kyle, and is a long-term fixture in Batman’s city of Gotham. She is a complicated, unpredictable character, as likely to align herself with a villain as a hero – it all depends on what’s in it for her. While Batman Returns presents her as the victimised “lowly secretary” that rises up to seek revenge against those that wronged her, The Dark Knight Rises adheres to the most popular comic-book source material, in which Selina is an orphaned cat-burglar who has had to learn to fend for herself on the mean streets of Gotham. Though all versions of Catwoman cause extensive problems for our Caped Crusader, Selina’s motives are often ethically complex. When she teams up with The Penguin in Batman Returns, it is for the ultimate purpose of clearing a path to her target – the evil bully, Max Shreck. When she steals Bruce Wayne’s fingerprints and unwittingly leads him into Bane’s trap in The Dark Knight Rises, it is to earn a “Clean Slate” computer program that will expunge her criminal record and allow her to start afresh. Selfish? Yes. But where Catwoman comes from, her number one priority always had to be herself. 5) General Zod - Man Of Steel Though General Zod featured heavily as the villain in Superman II, very little was made of his motivations as he set about trying to conquer the world. It was not until Man Of Steel, that we discovered what really drives this evil character. As Zack Snyder’s Superman re-boot begins, we discover that the planet of Krypton has been living far beyond its means for many years. While creating ‘outposts’ by terra-forming other planets, population control was introduced, with genetically-engineered Kryptonians being ‘grown’ in special chambers. Each Kryptonian is bred for a specific purpose – to be a worker, a scientist, a leader, a warrior – filling all the needs of a productive society. General Zod was bred for the specific purpose of defending his people. As the natural resources of Krypton are depleted, and the destruction of that world imminent, the future generations of Krypton are taken by scientist Jor-El when he steals the Codex containing their genetic imprints. He infuses the cells of his newborn son with this genetic information and dispatches him to Earth. Zod and his followers are imprisoned in the Phantom Zone for the murder of Jor-El and for attempting a coup against the Ruling Council. Thirty years later, with his home planet long destroyed, and no people to defend, Zod arrives at Earth to reclaim the genetic imprint of his people, and transform the planet into a new Krypton through terra-forming. Though his intentions are monstrous, and his methods terrifying – in a particularly powerful performance by Michael Shannon – General Zod is simply carrying out the job for which he was created. Finding himself without a home, and without a people, he has no choice but to try to recreate those things elsewhere – and where better than on the planet that has unknowingly sheltered the object of his thirty year hateful obsession: Kal-El. 4) Elijah Price - Unbreakable The 2000 M. Night Shyamalan film, Unbreakable, introduces us to Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) as a young child. Suffering from the rare disease Type I osteogenesis imperfecta - which causes bones to break easily - he spends most of his time confined to a hospital bed, resulting in his complete immersion into the world of comic books. He acquires the nick-name ‘Mr. Glass,’ due to his condition and, over time, begins to theorize that the existence of someone as extremely fragile as himself, must indicate the existence of someone extremely strong – his polar opposite. He makes it his life’s mission to find this person and clue them in to their superhero status, eventually focusing his search on David Dunn (Bruce Willis). Having spent an entire lifetime interpreting the world through the lens of comic books, Elijah Price applies that working knowledge to his desperate search for meaning and purpose in an existence filled with physical and psychological pain. His compulsion to locate his ‘opposite’ is borne of the burning desire to feel connected to a world that he is otherwise isolated from, lying in his hospital bed. His determination that he is fated to become the villainous arch-nemesis to his opposite’s pure-of-heart superhero stems from his own self-loathing, which he perpetuates with every distant manipulation of David Dunn. His own need to effect and impact upon the world around him eclipses all thought of the needs of others. In the end, however, it is his own sacrifice that goes straight to heart of this misunderstood villain. For, although Elijah Price is undoubtedly responsible for many horrors, he is also responsible for the blossoming of David Dunn into a honed, tuned-in superhero who ultimately saves lives. Price steeps himself in evil to allow Dunn to realize his true potential as his opposite, thereby creating a legacy that is incontrovertibly good. Cutting to the central premise of every comic book universe, Elijah Price believes – to the core of his being – that there is evil, and there is good. You cannot have one without the other, and that is the meaning of his life. 3) Khan - Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan Expertly played by Ricardo Montalban, Khan Noonien Singh is an evil dictator, whose terrible actions are fuelled by rage and vengeance. A genetically bred ‘super-human’ from late 20th century India, his innate sense of superiority led to his attempt at conquering the world, often referenced as the Eugenics Wars. With defeat inevitable, Khan and his followers fled the Earth aboard the SS Botany Bay, placing themselves in cryogenic sleep and blasting off into space. The ship was discovered by the USS Enterprise, drifting in space, two centuries later. Again, Khan attempted a coup and was exiled by Captain James T. Kirk to the uninhabited planet Ceti Alpha V, where he attempted to build his own civilization. Disaster struck, however, when neighbouring planet Ceti Alpha VI exploded, turning Khan’s planet into a wasteland and killing 20 of his followers. Consumed with anger, Khan blamed Kirk for the loss of his people and set his engineered-heart on revenge. When another federation ship arrived on the devastated Ceti Alpha V, to test The Genesis Device – a terra-forming machine – Khan commandeers the vessel and the technology, and sets out to find his target. An epic battle ensues, with Khan ultimately facing destruction from his own plan. Terrible though he is, Khan has the perfect defence: he was built to do it. Medically enhanced for superior strength, intellect and strategy skills, it is entirely the result of these procedures that he demonstrates a superior desire for power and influence. Though Kirk was not responsible for the destruction of Ceti Alpha VI, he was responsible for Khan being on the neighbouring Ceti Alpha V, and so becomes the focus for Khan’s intense anger. The combination of his perceived subjugation, and his inability to recognize his own culpability in the situation places him on a direct collision course with James T. Kirk. 2) CGB Spender/The Smoking Man/Cancer Man - The X-Files TV audiences were first introduced to CGB Spender as a sinister, shadowy figure, lurking behind closed doors at the FBI and chain-smoking his Morley cigarettes in The X-Files. By the time season two hit its stride, however, he was a fully fledged arch-nemesis of Special Agent Fox Mulder in his unrelenting quest for The Truth. Spender is revealed to be a leading member of a government conspiracy, referred to as The Syndicate - the purpose of which is to hide the existence of alien life from the general public and prepare the Earth for colonization. During the course of The X-Files, Spender’s terrible crimes are suggested, in some cases, and confirmed in others. For example, it is suggested that he was assigned the task of assassinating President John F. Kennedy, and that he actually assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. He is said to have had a long history in ‘Black Ops’ for the American Intelligence community and almost certainly betrayed his close friend, Bill Mulder, by fathering a child with his wife – the child that would grow up to be Agent Mulder. He forced his own then-wife to undergo many horrific medical treatments, which ultimately led to her mental breakdown and, after attempting to kill his own son, Jeffrey Spender, subjected him to medical experiments, too. He is also the dark figure behind the abduction of Agent Scully, her subsequent cancer, the murder of her sister and also the murder of Agent Mulder’s father. His actions also, allegedly, directly contributed to the disappearance of Agent Mulder’s younger sister, Samantha. Make no mistake, this is an evil and dastardly villain, if ever there was one. But, his explanation for his actions paints him as the only true hero. His approach to “the game” is one of acceptance of the inevitable, and simply finding the most effective way to ease the transition that he knows is coming. He presents himself as the defender of Earth and all the people on it – as the keeper of secrets that would destroy civilized society. He is the person that makes the terrible choices others cannot face. But still, he is a contradiction unto himself. For, while he is condemning those closest to him to death and torture, he is working for his definition of the greater good – trying to develop a vaccine to protect people from the Black Oil used by the alien colonists. With such a complex resume of evil deeds and questionable motives, it is easy to see why he is a misunderstood villain. 1) Loki - Thor/The Avengers/Thor: The Dark World One of the wittiest characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and also one of the most popular, Loki is caught in an eternal dilemma over his birth, which causes him to fluster out of control in all three of the films that he’s tricked his way into: Thor, The Avengers, and Thor: The Dark World. At the heart of it, though Loki can be stripped down to an insecure, envious little boy with a power complex, he proves time and time again that his family means more to him than anything else. After all, being told you’re adopted is one thing, but being told your “real” family is the sworn enemy of the realm you wish to rule is another. No one can blame Loki for lashing out and reawakening the war between the Asgardians and the Frost Giants, but at the same time, it was a bit excessive, even if it was fuelled by his desire to prove himself a true Asgardian or a true member of the family. Even after his stint on Earth, he agrees to help Thor take down Malekith, giddily addressing him as “brother” the entire time, a sentiment that Thor shares as well. Interesting to note is that none of the Warriors Three or Sif seem particularly threatened by Loki. They’re cautious of him, but probably know that he isn’t inherently evil. And yet, he remains a villain, as the last scene of Thor: The Dark World reveals. Tell us, which villains from film and television do you think were misunderstood? Did we miss any picks? Sound off below!