12 Characters People Consider to be Villains Even Though They Aren’t That Black and White

There’s a saying that if a hero doesn’t die, he or she lives long enough to become a villain. Maybe, it also works the other way around. Antagonists also need time to turn to the light and start doing good deeds. And sometimes, you just need to look at the story from a different perspective to see that the bad guys are not all that bad. This article is going to have spoilers, so be warned.

Gorr, Thor: Love and Thunder

Gorr was Thor’s antagonist in the most recent Marvel movie. But was the God Butcher really so unjust? The villain, portrayed by Christian Bale, respected the gods and served them. But everything changed when they didn’t help him save his dying daughter.

There’s another argument supporting this idea. The gods in the latest Thor film seemed to be spoiled and cowardly. They didn’t care about people or other gods. For example, Zeus. When Thor comes to him for help, he doesn’t exactly rush to lend him a hand.

Meredith Blake, The Parent Trap

In the film about the twin sisters separated at birth, The Parent Trap, Elaine Hendrix portrayed the evil bride of the main characters’ father. 24 years later, the actress went viral on TikTok with a short video where she reconsidered the entire plot of the film. And now, people don’t think Meredith was really that bad.

The video clearly shows that Meredith’s fiancé is a red flag who lied about everything to her. “He’s a 10, but he had twins he secretly separated at birth when he broke up with their mother and didn’t tell you about it until the twins discovered each other at camp and swapped places to try and get their parents back together.”

Amy Dunne, Gone Girl

Amy Dunne is a complex and ambiguous character whose decisions do not always match common sense. However, let’s not forget about Nick Dunne — Amy’s husband, who drove her crazy. He forced Amy to move to his hometown where she didn’t know anyone. Instead of helping her socialize and make friends, he distanced himself and started cheating on her with younger women.

As a result, their marriage turned into a dysfunctional cohabitation. In response to the indifference of her bored husband, Amy stopped being “a cool girl” and instead became ready to do anything to take revenge on her husband for what she perceived as his betrayal.

Vulture, Spider-Man: Homecoming

In the film, Tony Stark is directly linked to the creation of Vulture. The thing is, it was his idea for the federal government to create a special department to control collateral damage. Adrian Toomes’ waste management company can’t fight the competition and has to shut down. And Toomes has no money and takes the wrong path as Vulture since he has to somehow provide for his family.

Мichael Кeaton, who portrayed Toomes, doesn’t think he’s pure evil. “He’s a really interesting — and more interesting than I thought — villain because there are parts of him that you go, ‘You know what? I might see his point.’ Really, really. It makes it interesting to play.”

Stepmother, Cinderella

The fairy tale, everyone knows from their childhood, got a new interpretation from director Kenneth Branagh. The arrogant stepmother, portrayed by the amazing Cate Blanchett, doesn’t look like an evil person, but like a woman that has no other choice. Lady Tremaine’s abuse of Cinderella is the result of the cruelties her own life has heaped upon her.

The film tells us that the stepmother had a husband she loved and with whom she 2 children. He died, and the world wasn’t very kind to the single mom. And then, Lady Tremaine got married for the money. The second husband could never accept the death of his first wife and spent all of his free time with his daughter. After he died, the stepmother directed all her bitterness to Cinderella.

The monster of Frankenstein, Frankenstein

Victor Frankenstein, who learned the secret of life, imagines that he is God and creates a monster. When consciousness appears, the doctor gets scared and abandons the monster. But what about, “You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.” So, looking for the parent, the Monster makes a lot of mistakes. Repelled by people, he suffers from loneliness and starts a war against humanity.

Gertrude, Hamlet

Hamlet’s mother has a bad reputation. Soon after the mysterious death of her husband, she got married to his brother. And the Prince of Denmark couldn’t forgive her for that. But what would have happened if they hadn’t gotten married? Claudius was hungry for power, so he could have killed all the other heirs.

The relationship between these 2 lovers has attracted a lot of writers and scriptwriters. And John Updike created an actual prequel for Hamlet. In his novel, Gertrude and Claudius, Hamlet’s father is a third wheel who is a tyrant that makes his wife and brother commit a crime.

Mother Gothel, Tangled

A Reddit user called Mother Gothel from Tangled a victim. According to the story, she found a magic flower that gave her eternal youth. After several hundreds of years, people that came to her lands stole it. Of course, Gothel wants back what was hers, so she steals a magic girl — Rapunzel.

And then Gothel raises the child as her own and tries to protect the girl from the world around her. It’s possible that the long life in solitude made Gothel agoraphobic, and she’s doing the same to her daughter.

Dr. Curt Connors, Spider-Man: No Way Home

Connors was a family man and a good person. However, in pursuit of a good cause, he got an uncontrollable alter-ego — an aggressive lizard. Curt was a scientist who was trying to find a serum to grow a missing arm. He wanted to use it to make other people’s lives better. By the way, Spider-Man did all he could to help the scientist, instead of beating him in their fight.

Cheryl Blossom, Riverdale

Cheryl is a great example of when the main antagonist can go to the light and win people’s love. In Riverdale season 1, Blossom looks rich and spoiled. But later, we find out that it was her family that made her like this. And over time, the ginger beauty shows her better side and becomes an ally of the main characters.

Alex Forrest, Fatal Attraction

Fatal Attraction, which has become an iconic movie, is still in the mind of the actress that played one of the main characters. Glenn Close insists that Alex Forrest is not a villain but a deeply disturbed woman. The actress complains that the creators made her character look like a psychopath murderer when she was psychologically unstable. “It’s so easy to make people who probably have one mental disorder diagnosis the antagonist, to make them the bad people. And it just feeds into the stigma.”

Butterflies, Peacemaker

While the Marvel universe has Thanos, DC has butterflies. These alien creatures are parasites on Earth living in human bodies. It sounds eerie, but these butterflies have their own motives. If you know them, it’s hard to tell who is good and who is bad in Peacemaker.

Their mission is to save the Earth from extinction. They lost their own home in the past, and, when they saw humanity going towards extinction, they decided not to let this happen. And they had to get rid of the most powerful people and take their places.

Jacqueline, Death on the Nile

The love triangle in Death on the Nile is a complicated one. In the very beginning, Simon is dating Jacqueline, and they are going to get married. And then, Linnet, a rich heir, appears and Simon quickly becomes her fiancé and later her husband.

At the end of the film, we find out that this marriage was a smart manipulation of Jacqueline and Simon. But Linnet had known Jacqueline for many years and thought she was her close friend. But she stole the fiancé from her anyway. So, she betrayed Jacqueline.

Which movie villain do you sympathize with and why?