Top 10 Most Relatable Villains

If you were a teenager when you saw “Fight Club,” there’s a good chance you sort of bought into Tyler’s whole deal. Not the literal underground fighting ring so much, but more the idea that you wanted to stick it to the man. Capitalism feels more and more like a prison everyday, and Tyler is the ultimate embodiment of that belief. What draws the narrator to Tyler is his lack of respect for authority and his desire to rebel against the system. And, well, the fact that Tyler might be his alter-ego. But that’s a story for another day! The audience is drawn to Tyler for those same reasons. Even when things get bad, you can’t help but admit he’s one cool guy.

The “Star Wars” franchise has a knack for turning villains into beloved characters. The prequel trilogy showed us Anakin Skywalker’s path to becoming Darth Vader, and made him (at least slightly) more sympathetic. But in the sequel trilogy, they did a much better job doing the same thing to a new character, Kylo Ren. Kylo is Leia and Han’s child who broke bad and becomes the big villain for the sequel series. But in “The Last Jedi,” we learn why. Turns out, Luke sensed that Kylo might have evil inside of him, and contemplated killing him. Hey, if you found out your uncle was considering taking you out in your sleep, you might hold a bit of a grudge.

You remember “The Jungle Book?” That fun kids movie where a kid named Mowgli is raised by wolves, and makes friends with a cuddly bear and reluctantly caring panther? And said bear and said panther have to try and save him from a terrifying tiger out to destroy everything human that comes across his path? That’s the one! But hear us out. Shere Khan might not have a reason to hold a grudge against Mowgli personally, but he has more than enough reasons to hate humans as a group. Historically, humans take over tiger habitats and reduce the amount of prey in the area. And the popularity of tiger hunting in the past? Don’t get us started.

“The Wizard of Oz” is one of those stories where there isn’t much nuance as far as good and evil go. When you literally nickname your opposing characters “Glinda the Good” and the “Wicked Witch of the West,” you’re not leaving much room for interpretation. But in all honesty, doesn’t the Wicked Witch sort of have a really good reason to be upset with Dorothy? After all, Dorothy’s house lands on top of her sister and kills (if you can’t use the word ‘kill’ for youtube, I said ‘destroy’ a few times) her. And with the way everyone celebrates after, it’s enough to make anyone feel a little prickly! If you think about it, she’s really just trying to honor her sister’s memory.

Sometimes, revenge is the most relatable motivation of all. In “Skyfall,” the third Daniel Craig-James Bond film, a new villain comes to light. But Raoul Silva has more than just destruction on his mind. He’s after a very specific thing, and that’s M, the leader of MI6. Turns out, before Bond came into the picture, Silva worked for MI6 and was M’s favorite. But when he was arrested in Hong Kong, she didn’t come to his defense. The result? He wasted away in prison for years, his face permanently scarred from a nasty encounter with cyanide. You can’t help but admit you would probably want to get back at the person who did that to you.

Who among us hasn’t fallen under the spell of something shiny? By the time we meet Gollum in the original “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, he’s a terrifying creature. But as he continues on his journey with Sam and Frodo, we start to see another side of him, literally. If you asked us how we feel about Gollum, we might not have very nice things to say. But, if you asked us how we feel about Sméagol, we might change our tune a bit. Sméagol was Gollum’s original name, and comes across as a sweet, if sometimes pathetic creature who lost in a fight with something much more powerful than he. And we all know what it’s like to fight a battle and lose.

Feeling used is one of the worst feelings in the world. And that’s a feeling that Roy Batty knows all too well in “Blade Runner.” In the film’s dystopian world, Batty is the leader of a group of rebel replicants who are sick and tired of being used to do humanity’s dirty work. When it comes down to it, Batty’s completely right. Some of his methods might be questionable, but he’s working to take down an evil empire that should be disposed of. Heck, even our ostensible hero, Rick Deckard, is reluctant to take Batty down. That has to count for something.

The idea of being a Grinch is omnipresent in our culture, and a name that nobody wants to be called around the holidays. But honestly? Holidays can be really hard! It’s normal to be sad around the holidays, especially if they bring up terrible memories for you. In the Grinch’s case, they do just that. When the Grinch was just a kid, a group of mean kids at school made fun of him for everything under the sun. It all came to a head around Christmas, causing the Grinch to lash out and leave Whoville forever. Now Christmas, something that’s supposed to be a time of joy, just brings up feelings of sadness.

You have to admit, he’s got a point. He might not go about in the right way (killing your girlfriend is a pretty deplorable move), but he’s got a point! In “Black Panther,” Erik Stevens, also known as Killmonger, loses his father at a young age. When he finds out he is Wakandan and makes it to the country, he decides something has to change. Killmonger is narcissistic and power hungry, and makes mistake after mistake when it comes to diplomacy. But his ideas about how Wakanda should reach out and help people in need across the world aren’t wrong. They’re so right, in fact, that the country ends up adopting them by the end of the movie.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

The Dinosaurs, “Jurassic Park” (1993)
You’d Be Upset if Puny Humans Ran Amok in Your Home, Too.

Eric Gordon, “Billy Madison” (1995)
Eric Might Suck, but He Should Not Need to Compete for CEO Against This Guy

Syndrome, “The Incredibles” (2004)
He Was Just a Kid, & Mr. Incredible Blew Him Off

The Sandman, “Spider-Man 3” (2007)
He Truly Became a Changed Man

Jobu Tupaki, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (2022)
The Lengths We Go to in Order to Make Our Parents Understand Us

Now it’s time to talk about our favorite trickster! Loki has been through a lot over the course of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He’s gone from villain to hero, back to villain again, and appeared in multiple different variants, literally. He’s usually a bit of a power hungry, sly jerk, but he has an underlying sense of insecurity that makes him all too relatable. Because all Loki has really ever wanted, from the very beginning, is somebody to love him. Whether that be Thor, or his father, or a million humans under his loyal command, love is the answer for this Norse god.

If we missed any of your problematic faves, let us know in the comments below.