Whether it concerns comics, video games, movies, or TV shows, everyone has a favorite villain. Villains are easily more complex than their heroic adversaries, which is what makes them the more interesting characters. But it's the motives that separate agents of evil and chaos like Emperor Palpatine and the Joker from the likes of Victor Frankenstein or Gollum.
Some are evil by choice, some by vocation, but then there are those who are evil because they have no choice. Some of cinema's greatest villains are cast in their roles out of want, necessity, or circumstance. Underneath it all, they are still decent people in the end.
Dr. Henry Jekyll (Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde)
Casual viewers will be quick to say that Jekyll and Hyde are one and the same, but the point of the story is that they aren't. Jekyll is the antithesis of Hyde and Hyde is the evil other half of Dr. Jekyll. The meat of the matter is that neither one can exist without the other.
Hyde isn't just a monster of Jekyll's own creation, but Jekyll without all his reason, morals, and virtue. Jekyll is a good man, that much is established, but Hyde is every carnal and primal desire that lives inside the doctor's brilliant mind.
Magneto (X-Men)
While his methods might be radical and his desire is equally as genocidal as the monsters who tortured him as a child, Magneto's not a villain by his own desires, but rather because the world made him that way. Max Eisenhardt/Erik Lensherr doesn't have the cleanest record, but his reasoning for becoming a supervillain might not be excusable, but they are understandable.
While Ian McKellen's portrayal is possibly the most iconic, Michael Fassbender portrays more of a tragic figure in the First Class series. He wasn't born the mutant terrorist he became, but a trusted friend and colleague of Charles Xavier who wanted the same goals for mutantkind. It was only after parting doctrines with his friend did he walk the villainous path.
Mr. Freeze (Batman)
Although Arnold Schwarzenegger's portrayal was more over-the-top and cartoonish than the version in the Batman cartoon, Mr. Freeze's backstory is nothing less than Shakespearean. Unlike characters like Scarecrow, the Riddler, or the Mad Hatter, Dr. Victor Fries is not a chaotic criminal mastermind, but a man only wanting to save the life of the woman he loves.
Freeze doesn't mindlessly destroy Gotham, get involved with turf wars, or commit his crimes for personal gain, but to keep his beloved Nora alive while he develops a cure for her terminal illness. That's not exactly a motive the Joker or the Penguin might have.
The Outcasts (The Final)
It's an unusual situation when the villains of a slasher movie are the ones the audience should be rooting for, but that's exactly what happens in The Final. A group of high school misfits is tortured relentlessly by their popular peers, forcing them to enact some justice on Halloween night. It's only after a series of torture and violent acts do the lines between misfit and monster start to blur.
From the onset of the movie, it's clear that the bullies are merciless and remorseless. They are the ones doing wrong, and the Outcasts are indeed the victims in the scenario. They do nothing to agitate, provoke, or offend them, they're not evil by any means, they've just had enough.
Imhotep (The Mummy)
While he could have probably used the magical scrolls for more selfish and malicious intent, Imhotep's motives and reasonings aren't exactly evil, they're just against the ways of the Egyptian gods. Imhotep doesn't want to take over the world, lead an army of evil zombies, or invoke some undead wrath, all he wants is his dead princess back.
He's only the villain of the film because of his undead status, not because he does anything to purposefully or maniacally cause evil. Messing with the forces of life and death isn't exactly the noblest aspiration, but he's doing this out of love for Anck-Su-Namun.
The Monster (Frankenstein)
From one Boris Karlof creation to another, it's hard to say that most classic versions of Frankenstein's Monster are evil or 100% malicious. They're simply a product of environment and circumstance. Intelligence is knowing that Frankenstein isn't the monster, but wisdom is knowing that Frankenstein IS the monster, as the saying goes.
Dr. Frankenstien is indeed the villain of the story, but the creature still gets a bad reputation. In films like Bride of Frankenstein, it is shown that he has the ability to love, feel, and eventually understand. If given enough time and patience, the creature might have gone to live a more fulfilling life instead of being buried under tons of rubble.
The Corporation (Cabin In The Woods)
The suits in the iconic Che Cabin in the Woods are the living embodiments of the trolley-track paradox. Though they're not exactly pure entities in the scenario presented in the film, they have been keeping humanity safe from the "giant evil gods" for years.
If it's a numbers game, a handful of sacrifices slashed up by a selection of Cabin's signature monsters is small peanuts compared to the entire global population being destroyed. Their ritual of feeding the Old Ones' hunger isn't what many would call morally or ethically right, but the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.
Carrie White (Carrie)
Similar to the Outcasts of The Final, Stephen King's psychic prom queen was ruthlessly tortured and humiliated on a regular basis, and she finally got her justice with her X-Men-level powers at the Prom Night Massacre. While she does go on a violent and bloody rampage, she is not the spark that sets the gym ablaze.
Carrie is a shy and quiet girl at heart, she really wouldn't swat at a fly let alone torch a school full of students and faculty. That is if she hadn't have been bullied and abused to the point of such a devastating rage. Sue Snell and her gang of mean girls definitely had their comeuppance coming to them.
Captain Gantu (Lilo And Stitch)
Despite what the animated series portrayed, Gantu was by no means the villain of Lilo and Stitch. If anything, he was acting on the direct orders of the Galactic Grand Council. Essentially an officer of alien law enforcement, Gantu was a decorated authority simply carrying out his duties. In short, he was just a man doing his job.
Stitch is viewed as a dangerous creature in the eyes of the council, so it makes sense that they would send a trained professional for his capture when Jumbaa and Pleakley failed. Apart from insulting and fighting with Stitch, he really doesn't do anything illegal or immoral.
Shere Khan (The Jungle Book (2016))
2016's remake of The Jungle Book totally reimagined Shere Khan for the better, and that's not including the phenomenal performance from Idris Elba. Shere Khan is a deadly predator, that's not going to change, but he's one that has been wounded by a more dangerous threat, man. He knows the law of the jungle, but he also knows that man is a larger danger to their ecosystem.
He does what he does, not out of want of carnage, but out of self-preservation. Just as Shere Khan predicted, Mowgli does gain the power of fire and sets the jungle ablaze. In retrospect, the tiger could have saved more lives had Mowgli been turned over to the village sooner. Perhaps he's more of a concerned environmentalist than a villainous jungle cat.
