2021 was a fantastic year for villains, especially if you’re a superhero fan. Out of all the many standout performances in last year’s various superhero movies and, several of them were from actors portraying villains — like Tony Leung as Wenwu in Shang-Chi, John Cena as Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad, and Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
TV was no exception either, as shown by the breakout performances of Kathryn Hahn as Agatha Harkness in WandaVision, Daniel Bruhl as Baron Zemo in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and J.K. Simmons as Omni-Man in Invincible, just to name a few. However, many of these beloved villains fall into one of two distinct categories — sympathetic villains who are humanized by the tragedy that created them, and pure evil villains who revel in the dastardly deeds they commit. And needless to say, the question of which style of villain is better is a matter of heated debate in many fan circles.
Paved With Good Intentions
One problem that plagued both Marvel and DC’s shared movie universes in their early days was a lack of compelling villains. The likes of Whiplash, Ronan the Accuser, Ares, and even Lex Luthor were often derided for being bland, underdeveloped, and poorly-written. Many films had main antagonists who felt more like plot devices than actual characters, existing solely to threaten the heroes while lacking any real depth of their own. However, this began to change once these villains started being portrayed with more nuance and humanity.
Some of the most beloved movie supervillains from recent years are notable for being depicted in a more sympathetic light than their predecessors. Take Killmonger from Black Panther, Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming, and of course Loki. Many of the MCU’s greatest villains are written as the hero of their own story, doing what they think is right no matter the cost. The likes of Baron Zemo and Wenwu are played as tragic figures, only performing evil deeds out of retaliation for the suffering they’ve endured. And stepping outside of the MCU, Magneto has earned acclaim for being a compelling, multifaceted antagonist who’s just as easy to root for as the heroes, whether he’s played by Ian McKellen or Michael Fassbender.
On the DC side of things, Joaquin Phoenix won an Oscar for providing the single most humanized iteration of the Joker ever put to film. James Gunn even managed to make audiences feel sorry for Starro the Conqueror in The Suicide Squad. Even Omni-Man of Invincible fame is shown to still care for his family despite his horrific actions. Of course, the love for sympathetic villains isn’t just limited to superhero movies either. Whether it’s pop culture icons like Darth Vader and Walter White or recent additions like Jinx and Silco from Arcane, some of the most beloved bad guys in fiction are the ones who are trying their best to do good — in their own twisted way, of course.
Bad To The Bone
But while the recent push for sympathetic villains is a reaction to a previous dearth of nuance, not all fans are impressed. After all, while skilled writing can create a magnificently tragic antagonist, a clumsy attempt to humanize a wicked character can leave a bad taste in the mouth — just look at Snape from Harry Potter or Kylo Ren from the Star Wars Sequels, whose attempted redemption arcs didn’t sit well with many fans. Plus, as much as everyone loved Moana and Encanto, it’s been a bit too long since there’s been a truly great Disney villain. Sometimes, a truly irredeemable villain who loves being bad is the most fun kind of antagonist there is.
Going back to superhero movies, it’s impossible to bring up pure evil villains without talking about Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin. In both the 2002 Spider-Man and last year’s No Way Home, Dafoe chews the scenery masterfully, playing up the Goblin’s ruthless, self-centered cruelty in the most over-the-top way he can. The Green Goblin derides Spider-Man’s selflessness and compassion as weakness as he schemes to attain greater power, cackling with sadistic glee all the while. He’s a vile, loathsome character who takes joy in the suffering of the innocent, yet there’s something truly electrifying about how Dafoe brings this monster to life.
The same can be said for another Oscar-winning Joker performance, this one provided by Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. Ledger’s Joker is a ruthless misanthrope who kills, tortures, and manipulates without any remorse. There’s nothing remotely sympathetic or human about him, yet he’s often hailed as one of the greatest villains ever put to film. While tragic villains can make you think or tug at your heartstrings, there’s something equally compelling about a villain driven by unfettered malice and greed, delighting in the death and destruction they cause. Being pure evil doesn’t have to make a villain bland, and being a bad person doesn’t have to make them a bad character.
Somewhere In Between
Of course, purely evil and purely sympathetic aren’t the only options — there are plenty of great villains who don’t fit neatly into either category. Peacemaker is initially presented as a coldhearted murderer with a brutal sense of justice in The Suicide Squad, but his spin-off series on HBO Max delves into his hidden insecurities and traumas, showing that there’s a lot more depth to him than there first appeared. Likewise, Thanos is a tyrannical conqueror who killed trillions, but his actions were driven by a corrupted desire to save the universe from meeting the same ruinous fate as his homeworld. Whether a villain’s humanity outweighs their cruelty is ultimately for the individual viewer to decide.
In the end, there’s no inherent superiority in either approach. It’s not being sympathetic or pure evil that determines whether a villain is great, but the skill of the writers and actors that bring them to life. The question of which kind of antagonist is best is simply a matter of personal taste — but thankfully, whether you like your bad guys tragic, irredeemable, or both, each category has more than enough great villains to go around.
