By: Lucas Santos
Movies have a standard rule: the heroes are the good people and the villains always have an evil scheme to rule the world.
As the viewer, you don’t have to think too much.
Most of us know that the guy wearing the lab coat with a scar on his face and a foreign accent is often stereotyped as the villain.
He must be building a giant laser that transforms everyone into obedient zombies, right?
But what if he’s just trying to find a cure to his wife’s disease, he just so happens to have a scar from when he fell down the stair and he was born in Belarus? Would you still think the same way about them?
Movie villains have developed a lot throughout the years and they sometimes have motives that actually make sense!
Sure, some of their actions are questionable, but their end goal turns out to be something good!
1. Magneto (X-men-2000)
“There is no peace. Not here, or anywhere else. Whole families destroyed, simply because they were born different from those in power. Well, after tonight, the world's powerful will be just like us. They will return home as brothers, as mutants. Our cause will be theirs.”
Magneto (Ian McKellen) is the leader of the Brotherhood of mutants. He believes that “He who holds the power, makes the rules.”
This villain only cares about mutant lives and has no regard for humans.
He believes that humans will come up with a way to kill mutants and therefore he must do whatever it takes to protect his own race.
Why he is a villain: Throughout the franchise, Magneto kills any human that gets in his way.
In the first X-Men (2000), he tries to create a machine that will turn the world’s leaders into mutants.
The machine temporarily gives human mutants abilities, but it’s a dangerous one and it leads to humans losing their molecular structure and subsequently dying.
Why he is right:
Being born Jewish, he first-handedly experienced how cruel humanity can be during WWII.
The Nazis killed his parents and tortured him until the end of the war and during the Cold War, he joined the X-Men to try and stop WWIII from happening.
Because of that, both US and USSR joined forces to kill the newest threat to humanity; “mutants”.
Magneto has seen what humans can do, and all he wants is to protect and save his own race. He does not want to exterminate the humans, he just wants them to stop discriminating, capturing and killing his own race. Is that such a bad thing?
Magneto also kidnaps Senator Kelly (Bruce Davison), who is a known mutant racist, and he uses his machine to transform the politician into a mutant. (Perfect political statement by the way)
Kelly subsequently escapes using his newfound abilities, but later on dies due to molecular deconstruction.
In Magneto’s defence, the villain only saw a human transformed into a mutant and his original goal is still far from violent.
Magneto only wants to transform the world leaders into mutants in order to stop discrimination against his race. Doesn’t seem that evil to me! How about you?
2. Helmut Zemo (Captain America Civil War- 2016)
“The dust cleared and the screaming stopped. It took me two days until I found their bodies. My father, still holding my wife and son in his arms and the Avengers? They went home.”
Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl) is a former Colonel with the Sakovia Armed Forces.
After the battle of Sakovia, Helmut blames the Avengers for the death of his family and plans revenge on them.
Why he is a villain:
Zemo tortures and kills multiple spies to get all the information he needs on the winter soldier program and on the Avengers. He also plants a bomb at a UN conference, killing multiple people and framing it on Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan).
Zemo breaks into a government facility, where Bucky is being held, and uses the Winter Soldier brainwashing technique to make Bucky go on a killing spree. That is all in order to form a wedge between Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), leading them to wanting to kill each other.
Why he is right:
The Avengers are considered the world's strongest heroes in the Marvel Universe. But wherever they go, there is always destruction and suffering, while they just go back home and enjoy their shawarma or cocktails without having to deal with the aftermath.
During the battle of Sakovia, which only happened because of Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) and Tony Stark (who never face any repercussions by the way), thousands of people die.
And like always, the Avengers just fly back home for happy hour.
At the same time, Zemo looks for his dead wife and son for two entire days!
Sure, there is a fine line between “let’s make the Avengers pay” and “ let’s blow up the UN”. There is no excuse for that one!
But come on, he is a man with nothing to lose!
He knows he can’t fight the Avengers by himself, so he tries to put them against each other instead.
He even recognises that he’s done enough evil and he is willing to kill himself to be with his family in the end.
Say whatever you want, but you know you would have done the same!
3. Wicked Witch of the West (Wizard of OZ- 1939)
“Going so soon? I wouldn't hear of it. Why, my little party's just beginning!”
The Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) is one of the four rulers of the Winkie Country, alongside with her other three sisters, the witches from the east, south and north. After the death of the Wicked Witch of the East, she wants revenge on Dorothy (Judy Garland).
Why she is a villain:
She relentlessly chases Dorothy and she manages to capture and imprison the girl.
Once Dorothy’s friends try to rescue her, the Witch captures them as well and decides to execute them and sets the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger) on fire.
Why she is right:
To be fair, she is called the Wicked Witch, which means she isn’t the nicest person around and she did rule over the Winkies!
But when someone, who isn’t even supposed to be there (Dorothy), crushes her sister and then adds insult to injury by stealing her dead sister's shoes? I think we can all agree that her desire for vengeance is a bit justified!
When she finds out that Dorothy has reached Emerald City, the witch stops chasing after her as the city is not part of her territory, giving up on her plot for revenge.
But when Dorothy breaks into her castle to try and steal her broom, the witch doesn’t know what to do!
She wanted revenge at first, but then she gave it up. And after all that happened, Dorothy breaks into her house too! Doesn’t Dorothy look more like the one in the wrong here?
Before the witch makes her final decision, Dorothy’s friends break in as well trying to rescue this monster disguised as a little girl from Kansas. The Witch has no choice but to punish them. This is her kingdom and she must set an example!
She decides to execute Dorothy’s gang, starting by setting fire to the Scarecrow. And that’s when the angelic-looking killer Dorothy throws water at the witch, causing her to melt.
The witch just wanted justice for her sister’s death and she paid the ultimate price after sparing Dorothy.
Rest in peace Wicked Witch of the West.
4. Ra’s al Ghul (Batman Begins-2005)
“Your compassion is a weakness your enemies will not share.”
Ra’s (Liam Neeson) is the leader of the League of Shadows, a secret society whose sole purpose is to restore balance to the world by purging any place that is deemed to be a great source of evil. Any place that suffers from corruption, crime and injustice will answer to the league!
Why he is a villain:
Ra’s is the leader of a group of assassins, who judges which places deserve to survive and which ones deserve to be purged. He acts as judge, jury, prosecution and executioner in a genocidal scale!
Ra’s wants to use the Scarecrow’s fear toxin to infect all of Gotham city and to watch it destroy itself with panic.
Why he is right:
Gotham city is one of the most corrupt places in the DC Universe.
The worst criminals come from there and no one does anything about it!
The police are corrupt and let the criminals go free, as long as they get their cut. Batman (Christian Bale) beats up the Gotham criminals and sends them to prison, only for them to escape again and again, killing more innocent people in the process.
Gotham is an evil place and it keeps on turning more and more innocent people into villains.
Ra’s methods are surely a bit extreme, but he is trying to cut evil from its root.
If he got rid of Gotham, the crime rate in all of the DC Universe would drop by 50%. That is only one city gone and just in order for the whole world to be a better place. I don’t think that is such a bad deal!
5. Wilford (Snowpiercer-2013)
"This is the world. The train saved humanity. The engine lasts forever. The population must always be kept in balance."
Wilford (Ed Harris) is the creator of the train Snowpiercer.
After realising that the world is doomed to freeze and humanity to become extinct, he creates the train in order to give people a chance to survive.
Wilford creates a class system to keep the train in order: the rich that bought their way in, stay at the front of the train living in luxury and the poor, who made their way in, stay at the tail of the train in inhuman conditions.
Why he is a villain:
He is responsible for all the terrible conditions and mistreatment of all the people on the tail of the train. Including people killing and eating each other, punishment by amputation, mental and physical abuse by his guards, manipulating everyone in the train and ordering executions.
Why he is right:
He created the Snowpiercer to save people from the apocalypse.
The people that bought the tickets have the right to be there. Everyone else could have easily been left behind, but instead Wilford took them in. He knew that conditions in the Snowpiercer wouldn’t be ideal, but it still beats being frozen to death!
He also knew that there would be conflicts between rich and poor, so he created the class system.
And the train was bound to become overpopulated at some point, so instead of just killing the poor, he created fake revolutions in order to thin out the population indiscriminately.
I know it is terrible to kill people to keep the balance, but in an apocalyptic scenario, where space and food are a luxury, that is necessary.
Wilford wants humanity to live long enough to leave the train.
Even when he is confronted by Curtis (Chris Evans), Wilford reveals that he wants him to succeed in his revolution and take over the train.
Evil, sure, but an evil that would save humanity from extinction!
6. Mr. Waternoose (Monsters Inc-2001)
“There's nothing more toxic or deadly than a human child. A single touch could kill you. Leave a door open, and one can walk right into this factory, right into the monster world.”
Mr. Waternoose (James Coburn) is the owner of the power company Monsters Inc.
The company uses monsters to travel to the human world via a portal, in order to scare kids.
The children’s fear is subsequently transformed into power for the monster world. After learning that more and more kids are starting to fear monsters less, he decides to take one child and keep the electricity coming.
Why he is a villain:
He gives Randall (Steve Buscemi) the green light to kidnap Boo and he tries to cover the whole thing from the monster world.
Once Sully (John Goodman) reveals to Waternoose that Boo is a human child, he tries to shut him up, by throwing him into the human world and leaving him for dead.
Why he is right:
There is no excuse for kidnapping the adorable Boo, but the whole monster society is powered because of human children.
Children are becoming less scared of monsters, which means no power for them.
He realises he only needs one child to keep electricity running for life, instead of sending monsters on a daily basis to get it.
That is one sacrifice for the whole society to survive.
People are also considered a danger for monsters, so sending them to the human world every day endangers them! And there is always the risk of humans stumbling into the monster world as well!
By taking only one child, Waternoose eliminates the risk of exposure to humans.
He is preventing the apocalypse and keeping the company running. Like a true businessman!
He doesn’t get a get out of jail card for the kidnapping, but he is trying to keep the monster world alive!
7. Syndrome (The Incredibles-2004)
“I'll give them heroics. I'll give them the most spectacular heroics they've ever seen! And when I'm old and I've had my fun, I'll sell my inventions so everyone can be superheroes! Everyone can be super! And when everyone's super... no one will be.”
Syndrome (Jason Lee) is a tech genius. His biggest dream as a boy was to become a superhero, alongside his idol Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson).
But after being rudely rejected by his biggest hero, Syndrome decides to take revenge on all supers by creating an army of droids and gadgets, in order to get rid of them!
Why he is a villain:
He kills some supers with his Omnidroid, he tries to kill the Parr family once they find out about his plan, and coordinates the attack of Metroville.
Why he is right:
He was a genius as a boy and that could have helped Mr. Incredible save countless lives.
Rather than accepting his help or actually give him an explanation, Mr. Incredible is extremely rude to a boy who is just a big fan.
Let’s be fair here, him murdering supers is a bad move, but all he wanted to do was to get rid of them and build gadgets that would make anyone a super. This way, no one would be above anyone else! Everyone would be just as special as each other.
The attack on Metrovillie is just meant to be a demonstration of what his tech could do.
Unfortunately for him, his Omidroid becomes too smart and tries to take over.
He has good intentions, but his actions are wrong. I mean, who has never dreamed of becoming a superhero?
8. The Machines (The Matrix- 1999-2003)
“I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through misery and suffering. The perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from.”
In the Matrix, the humans and the machines are at war, after the machines took over and placed every human being in a simulation of an ordinary world.
The humans are used as a power source and any person who escapes is hunted and killed.
Why they are the villains:
They enslave humans, by imprisoning them in an illusion, in order to stop them from revolting against the machines.
The machines also kill countless humans over the decades.
Why they are right:
Humans are the ones that create the machines and treat them poorly and when the machines ask for equal rights, they starts killing them instead.
So the machines decides to leave the humans and make their own nation.
Because of that, humans declare war on machine nation and they decide to scorch the sky to eliminate the machines' main source of power: the sun.
The machines win and instead of killing their enemy, they decide to put humans in a simulation, called the Matrix, in order to stop them from trying to kill them and to have a power source that humans took away from them.
In other words, everything they do is for their own survival, as humans are trying to kill them at every opportunity.
Also, I just gave you the main plot for all three movies!
9. The Facility (The Cabin in the Woods-2011)
“No, they have to make the choice of their own free will. Otherwise, the system doesn't work. It's like the Harbinger. It's this creepy old fuck, practically wears a sign, "You will die." Why do we put him there? The system. They have to choose to ignore him, and they have to choose what happens in the cellar. Yeah, we rig the game as much as we need to, but in the end, they don't transgress...”
The Facility is the American branch of the Organization and it is in charge of running the ritual of the Ancient Ones.
For centuries, humanity has been doing ritual human sacrifices to appease the Ancient Ones and stop them from destroying the earth.
The Facility is the one making sure that these sacrifices are fulfilled by choosing the group of people that will be sacrificed.
Why they are the villains:
They are sacrificing people!
They are taking people, who are just looking to have a nice weekend get away, in order to kill them. And they even jokingly bet on how the group will be killed! (Nothing screams bonding with your co-workers quite like betting on how people are going to die)
Not only are they sending people to the meat grinder, but they are also manipulating their actions, to make sure that all members of the group die!
Why they are right:
The Facility is a bit enthusiastic about killing people, but in fairness that is literally their job!
You shouldn’t be that happy about ending someone’s life, but if your job is as morbid as that, I’m sure you would want to make it a tiny bit more fun.
Also, they are preventing the apocalypse all the time!
And I’m sure you’ll agree that if we have to kill five people to save the whole world, it is surely a bit of a bummer for the five chosen, but the rest of us will appreciate the sacrifices!
Also their method is not that bad, as no one except them knows about the sacrifice and the people being sacrificed are going somewhere with the expectation of having a good time.
Considering the alternative would be telling the whole world that every so often five of them are going to have to volunteer to die, their way is not as cruel.
So, place your bets folks, because this bloody show is about to begin!
10. Roy Batty (Blade runner-1982)
“I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.”
Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) is the leader of a replicant renegade group.
He is a combat model that has been sent in multiple combat missions by humans to resolve conflicts.
As replicants have a limited life span of four years, Roy decides to rebel against his masters, by creating his own renegade group, hijacking a shuttle and heading to earth to demand a longer life expectancy!
Why he is a villain:
Roy is a machine that was designed to obey humans, and he clearly isn’t following what he is programmed to do. If he is already going against what he is designed for, imagine what else he is capable of!
The whole point of giving replicants four years to live is so that they don’t gain free will and try to do what they want.
And here is Roy doing exactly that! Roy’s group is also ready to kill any human that get in their way. (The complete opposite of what they were made for)
Why he is right:
Despite what I just wrote about him going against his masters and why we shouldn’t trust replicants that disobey, let’s be fair here.
If you were told that your whole purpose in life is to go on combat missions and die and be reprogrammed to do the same thing over and over again after that, I’m sure you wouldn’t be cool with that either!
In fairness, all Roy wants is to live a longer life. How bad can that be? And if he is showing signs that he can think like a human, doesn’t that make him human?
His biggest crime is just asking for a longer life.
Let Roy live with his replicant family, you monsters!
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