Animals were harmed in these films
Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe) was just trying to do his job upholding the law. He might have been an enemy, but maybe not quite a villain.
Jake Houseman (Jerry Orbach) might have seemed a bit strict, but he was just a concerned, protective father. After all, his 17-year-old daughter Baby (Jennifer Grey) was getting romantically involved with a much older man, dance instructor Patrick Swayze.
Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) was the poster boy of Cobra Kai and ultimately the bad guy... Or was he? After all, new kid in town Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) was hitting on Lawrence's girlfriend Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue) and threatening his status as a karate champion, right?
Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) was a terrorist, but if it wasn't for his evil deeds, perhaps David Dunne (Bruce Willis) would've never become the superhero he was meant to be.
Authoritarian Assistant Principal Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason) may have seemed tough on students. But he too was spending his Saturday in school, trying to discipline difficult pupils who actually deserved detention.
Ivan Korshunov (Gary Oldman) was a straight-up terrorist, but instead of going after civilians, he targeted the leader of the country. In the end, he just had a tough life because the Soviet Union collapsed, which apparently ruined his country.
Sure, the Joker (Heath Ledger) is undoubtedly a ruthless sociopath, but he may have a point when he argues that humans were not born to live in a structured society like Gotham's.
Dr. René Belloq (Paul Freeman) was working for the Germans, so if he had brought the Ark of the Covenant to Germany, the dictator would have been melted to death once it was opened!
We all root for Elliot and his friend from outer space, but the US government was just doing its job. After all, there was an alien on Earth. His presence on our planet had to be investigated thoroughly, right?
Xenomorph Queen might have been nasty, but maybe having a bunch of humans trying to kill her unborn children and exterminate her species, didn't help.
Jeffers (Taye Diggs) might have been a jerk at times, but he was just doing his job, protecting Mr. Chidduck's child and his surrogate mother Robin.
Sources: (Ranked) (Looper) (Screen Rant) (IMDB)
See also: Movies with terrible moral lessons
The corrupt high-ranking CIA officer (played by Chris Cooper) wanted to kill Jason Bourne. It turns out that Bourne was in fact a liability to the CIA and potentially a threat to America.
Oil man Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) was as ruthless as it gets, but it was maybe a good thing that he had beef with preacher Eli Sunday. The Sundays were indeed nasty people.
The Captain of the USS Alabama (played by Gene Hackman) wanted to launch nuclear missiles. He butts heads with Commander Hunter, who wants to stop him. In the end, the Captain never received the orders not to launch the missiles, so he was just doing his job.
Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) spread havoc across New York City, but in the end he was just a mad scientist who was trying to create limitless energy. Had the rector worked, it would have probably been a good thing for the world.
Principal Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones) may have been a ruthless Dean of Students who tried to make Ferris Bueller's life hell. Truth be said, Ferris had skipped school nine times and managed to persuade two other students to join him. Maybe Principal Rooney just wanted to safeguard his students' academic year from ruin.
Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) grew up witnessing oppression and lost the throne of Wakanda to T'Challa. His plans may not have been perfect, but in the end, he was just a revolutionary fighting for change.
Ozymandias (Matthew Goode) may have detonated nuclear reactors, but in the end, he created a common enemy to unite superpowers and achieve world peace.
Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) was likable enough, but he was also pretty destructive. In the end though, Durden was just trying to free us all from evil corporations and the rat race.
The Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) may seem terrifying, but let's not forget that Dorothy killed her sister and took her slippers. That sounds like a fair reason to be angry, right?
General Hummel (Ed Harris) puts his soldiers' lives and the entire city of San Francisco at risk of a nuclear explosion. All he wanted was payment for the Marines' families, and he never really intended to use the chemical weapons.
The Marvel character, played by both Rebecca Romijn and Jennifer Lawrence, has to use her powers to hide her true self to avoid further trauma. Mystique was hunted and abused all her life, so it's easy to see why she doesn't have much sympathy for non-mutants.
Cyborg Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) is the leader of a renegade replicant group. He's a trained killer, but really, all he wanted was to live longer than he was programming allowed: four years. He targeted those responsible for the replicants, and not the world at large.
Police Captain Doyle (Morgan Freeman) orchestrates the kidnapping of a little girl from her problematic family. The girl eventually returns home, only to be neglected by her mother again. The moral dilemma is pretty divisive, but maybe Captain Doyle had a point.
POTUS Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt) may have closed the gates of the Ark, leaving many people behind, but this was a small price to pay to save humanity from the apocalyptic tsunami.
Meryl Streep plays the mean fashion magazine editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly. She's pretty tough on her new assistant Andy (Anne Hathaway), but in the end, she manages to pull the best out of her.
Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) is a criminal, yet, he refuses to steal a safety deposit box that contains evidence linking the bank's founder to the German political party. He's offered a lot of money and freedom from prison, but he still refuses to do so. In the end, he leaves enough evidence for the police to incriminate the sympathizer.
Sometimes things aren't so black and white, so in this gallery, we're going to delve into the nuances of some movie characters who are, apparently, bad guys. Ready to look at villains from a different perspective? Click on.
Film villains who might have had a point all along
Villains are visionaries in some sense
MOVIES Antagonists
The antagonist is a key element in any narrative. After all, the protagonist needs an obstacle to overcome, right? But what if some movie antagonists were right all along?
Sometimes things aren't so black and white, so in this gallery, we're going to delve into the nuances of some movie characters who are, apparently, bad guys. Ready to look at villains from a different perspective? Click on.