20 Film/TV Villains Who Were Just Misunderstood

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.