10 of the Best Movie Villains Who Were Actually Heroes
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Everyone loves to hate the movie villain. Many times, no matter how good or bad the film is, we hate them without a second thought. However, many of the best movie villains are really in many ways the true heroes in the film. Check out below for 10 of the best movie villains who were actually heroes.
#10: Carl Anheuser from the movie 2012
The film 2012 is about how a natural disaster is bringing about the end of the earth. Due to a solar flare from the sun, the earth’s core is overheating. This causes natural disasters such as tsunamis and earth quakes. Therefore, the governments of the world decided to make a top secret project where they would build several arks, in order to try and save human civilization. However, because of the speed that the earth’s crust was heating up, they did not have enough resources or time to save everyone in the world. Therefore, he had to make hard choices in order to insure the survival of the human race.
Anheuser was the White House Chief of Staff responsible for the whole operation. Right at the end of the world, he had to close the doors to the ark before everyone could enter. The film portrayed this as extremely cruel. In fact, the film’s main character went against this command in order in order to help others get on. However, it’s important to consider this in context of the situation. At the time, there was a tidal wave that was about to engulf the ark. If he left the Ark doors open, he would have destroyed the ark. Anheuser was in charge of saving the human race so that it could continue.[1]IMBd – 2012 (I) (2009) Oliver Platt: Carl Anheuser In fact, he didn’t even let his own mother come on the ship. He was willing to make the greatest personal sacrifice in order to save humanity.
#9: Sauron from The Lord of the Rings
Sauron, with his eye, from The Lord of the Rings, is one of the best movie villains. The elves, humans, dwarves and hobbits had to team up together in order to defeat him. Furthermore, he created a ring that could enslave others.[2]Tolkien Library – Books by J.R.R.Tolkien – The Silmarillion
However, Sauron actually accomplished a lot of good. In The Lord of the Rings, the society separates itself along species lines. Elves and dwarves do not like each other. Humans have tenuous relations with the previous two. Everyone looks down at hobbits as second class citizens. Furthermore, hunting orcs and goblins is a sport for the elves. However, Sauron treated every species in an equal manner. He gave all the minor races a voice under his banner. The other races only wanted to kill him and his followers. However, Sauron just wanted was a place for his people to call their own.
#8: White Goodman the founder of Globo Gym in the movie Dodgeball
In Dodgeball, White Goodman is the evil big business trying to destroy the little guy. However, this is an unfair portrayal of one of the best movie villains. In reality, Goodman was a former fat boy with nothing to his name. Instead of moping around, he decided pull himself up by his own boot straps and better himself. In the process, he got in good physical shape. As a result, he decided to help other do so too.[3]WhatCulture – White Goodman Dodgeball In fact, White Goodman is the perfect example of the American dream. We should praise him not only for his hard work ethic, but also for wanting to use his experience and resources to help other people.
#7: The Red Queen in the movie series Resident Evil
The Red Queen appears to be a homicidal artificial intelligence, hell bent on killing all the main protagonists in the film. However, her logic behind her actions is quite sound and in fact quite heroic. In the film, she is trying to prevent the spread of a zombie virus. Therefore, in order to protect the rest of the world, it makes sense that killing a few people might be worth it. In fact, in several cases, the Red Queen even offers to let the protagonists go as long as they killed the infected members.[4]http://whatculture.com/film/10-movie-villains-who-were-clearly-just-misunderstood?page=6 However, the ‘good’ guys would not allow it. In the films, the result was that a zombie infection destroyed the whole world.
#6: Count Dooku in Star Wars
The Sith in Star Wars are iconic best movie villains. However, they are not all as bad as they seem. In fact, Count Dooku, leader of the Confederacy, is a perfect example of this. Dooku didn’t join the Dark side of the force for evil reasons. He only saw it as a means to an end. At the time, the Galactic Republic, one that the Jedi order was deeply a part of, was extremely inefficient and corrupt. Dooku wanted to fix the system.[5]WhatCulture – Count Dooku Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones Count Dooku’s greatest fault was that he didn’t realize that he was just a pawn in the Sith Emperor’s overall grand plan.
#5: Scar from The Lion King
Scar from the Disney cartoon Lion King is a great example of the phrase to not judge a book by its cover. One of the main reasons that Disney wants us to consider Scar as one of the best movie villains is because he looks ‘evil’. However, when looking closely at his political policies versus his predecessors, they are actual much fairer.[6]WhatCulture – Scar The Lion King Mufasa preached equality of all animals in his kingdom. However, it was clear that he was in favor of the lions at the top. Furthermore, he counted for all of the animals, except the hyenas. A strangely, racist (speciesist) policy. Under Scar’s rule, he ruled much more equally.
#4: Loki brother of Thor
In the movies, viewers see Loki as a trickster who stole the kingship from his brother Thor. While he did use devious means in order to gain power, it’s important to look at the context in order to understand why. Loki is a thinking man’s ruler. On the other hand, Thor prefers to act first. As history continually shows, Thor’s style of leadership can lead to catastrophic results. In fact, Thor’s actions as only a prince leads to war, destruction and the deaths of untold numbers of people.[7]WhatCulture – Loki Thor Loki realized that if Thor had the full power of a king, things would be even worse. Therefore, Loki heroically took the mantle of king despite knowing it meant betraying his only brother.
#3: Severus Snape – One of the best movie villains who was deeply misunderstood
Severus Snape was the Head Potions master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, head of House Slytherin, and seemingly sworn enemy of Harry Potter. No matter where Harry went and what Harry did, Snape was always there to oppose him. To the viewer, it appeared that Snape even had betrayed Harry’s family, school, and Head master to go to Voldermort’s side. However, in reality, at the end of the series we find out that Snape, the man everyone loved to hate, had in fact been a double agent all along. With his love for Lilly Potter guiding him, he was actually helping Harry Potter all along.[8]Business Insider – J.K. Rowling just set the record straight on the most controversial character in the ‘Harry Potter’ series
#2: President Snow from Hunger Games
Viewers consider President Snow as one of the best movie villains because he ruled from the Capitol with an iron fist. However, we need to look at his actions in a more objective light. The world of the Hunger Games was one of scarcity that had emerged from a war ravaged world. President Snow was trying to make sure that the society and people that remained could continue to survive.[9]C.S. Hand -Why President Snow is the Most Misunderstood Super Hero The World Has Ever Known In fact, District 13 was much more villainous than President Snow. They had managed to sue for peace with the Capitol, but only by pointing a bunch of nuclear missiles at them. In reality, they just wanted to take control themselves.
#1: The Machines from The Matrix Trilogy Film
Most people watching The Matrix consider the machines as some of the best movie villains. However, once again it’s important to understand their actions in context. Humans had initially created them in order to help them with their everyday lives. Eventually, they got smart enough and became sentient. Afterwards, humans became afraid of them. Therefore, in typical human fashion, humans attempted to kill the sentient robots that they created.[10]Thrillist –12 MOVIE VILLAINS WHO ACTUALLY HAD SOME VALID POINTS However, the robots wanted to live and fought back. At the time, the robots used solar energy. Therefore, the humans blocked out the sun, so that the robots could not power up. Despite this, the robots eventually won. However, instead of destroying the human race, they decided to create a virtual utopia for humans to live in.
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