Friday Debate – Which villain was actually right?

It used to be easy to spot right from not-so-right. That fella over there, twirling his moustache and laughing maniacally as a train gets ready to mow down a damsel in distress? Chances are, he’s a pretty evil dude.These days, the line between good and evil is kind of blurry in media. There’s fifty shades of additional grey in the morality zone, albeit without the kinkiness.

I mean, it’s not exactly illegal to want to rule the world, but it’s the methods that a person uses to accomplish your goals that makes all the difference. Need a few examples? Take Syndrome from The Incredibles. An unbelievably talented child at the start of the film, who had the potential to not only change the world but make it a safer place as well with his genius that was just begging to be pointed in the right direction.

Pity about the whole baby abduction and cape malfunction though. Senator Armstrong from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, a politician whose sole aim was to demolish the status quo of the world and return power to the hands of the people instead of a select privileged few. Heck what about Brigadier General Francis X. Hummel from The Rock, a decorated war veteran who was forced to adopt drastic measures in order to get the US government to stop using the armed forces as disposable pawns on the global stage of war?

Maybe Walter Peck from Ghostbusters wasn’t such a bad guy. Here’s a chap, who works to protect the environment, and comes into Ghostbusters HQ with charm and manners, politely asking if he may inspect the premises, only for Peter Venkman to actually be a gigantic jackass and ridicule the guy constantly. He was just doing his job, before all hell broke loose. Hell, if I had a quartet of homeopaths barging their way into emergency scenes to deliver medically diluted water to accident victims, I’d sure as heck want someone from the government to maybe see if these quacks were up to code.

I can’t even find a reason as to why Sauron from The Lord of the Rings is so hated and feared. All he wanted to do was conquer Middle Earth, and if it meant burning a few Hobbit shires to the ground while ensuring that Orcs and Goblins were also free, was that really so bad to begin with? Maybe a more recent example could be found in Marvel’s Avengers films, with the introduction of Thanos to the big screen.

A scrotum-chinned Smurf on steroids, Thanos had a simple goal: Save the universe from itself. Thanos had a noble goal, albeit with a flawed conclusion that saw half of all life in existence wiped out with the single snap of his gold-plated fingers by the time the end credits rolled. While the methodology is up for debate, it’s hard to deny that his endgame wasn’t rooted in more altruistic ideals.

That’s just a few names off the top of my head though. You ever find yourself agreeing with a villain in pop culture, and thinking that maybe they had a point? Sound off below and let us know.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Critical Hit as an organisation.

Last Updated: February 22, 2019