History for Main/VillainProtagonist - TV Tropes (2024)

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[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* The eponymous ''Franchise/LupinIII'' [[CaperCrew and his gang]] are the longest-running, most successful, and ''still'' one of the most popular examples of the trope. Whether it's the television series, or the annual MadeForTV movies, the plot always centers on Lupin's pursuit of his next big score, with [[HeroAntagonist Inspector Zenigata]] always hot on his trail to slap the cuffs on 'em.
* Light Yagami in ''Manga/DeathNote'', who kills people for his KnightTemplar dreams of a better world [[AGodAmI and godhood]]. He ''consistently'' sees himself as a WellIntentionedExtremist, and doesn't seem to realise that he's crossing {{Moral Event Horizon}}s. [[spoiler:During his MotiveRant, he still legitimately seems to believe that he's doing the right thing]].
* As it turns out, ''Manga/{{Judge}}'' has this with [[spoiler: Hiro an Hikari, too]]. [[spoiler: He and Hikari created the ''Judge'' game as a sad*stic RevengeByProxy towards the jury and judge, who gave the drunk driver who ran over and killed Atsuya a milder sentence.]]
* Lucy from ''Manga/ElfenLied'' is a cold-blooded killer. She has killed armed men and innocent children, for reasons ranging from "trying to kill me" to "You killed my dog" to "I envy your happy, normal life, and I need a place to crash." She [[ColdBloodedTorture kicks people quite sad*stically]] when they are down. She hears voices and tries to infest humans with her diclonius genes, which will lead to the extinction of mankind. No effort is spared to let the viewer feel sympathy for her plight. [[spoiler:In the end, she sacrifices herself to save the one guy who was nice to her. [[FridgeLogic And then you look in the fridge]] and realize that by the time the series started, years after her most horrific deeds, she never explicitly killed anyone who was unarguably innocent, and got Mayu, whom she'd never met before, out of harm's way when fighting another diclonius...]]
* Haruko Haraharu is very much the face of ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'', acting as one of the premier {{Manic Pixie Dream Girl}}s in all of media. Energetic, spontaneous and hammy as hell, but manipulative, selfish and ruthless, to the point where there's a distinct LackOfEmpathy. She cements it by trying to feed Naota into the Terminal Core and endangering the Earth's existence out of her desire to absorb Amtosk's infinite power. By the end, however, she's mellowed out considerably. Or at least seen that shes lost this round.
* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'', as a sort of GrandFinale to the ''Puella'' series, elevates [[spoiler:Akemi Homura]] into the position of a GodOfEvil, due to her belief that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans partly due to her love for her friends. She's also the most proactive character in the movie and the one with the most focus. As ''Puella'' is well-known for its deconstruction of the MagicalGirl genre, [[spoiler:Homura]]'s promotion to protagonist... unfortunately means that she ''[[TheBadGuyWins actually succeeds in her goal]]'' and has to brainwash her friends to get it to work. [[TragicVillain Even she's not happy over it]], [[WellIntentionedExtremist even though she fully believes it was justified and necessary]].
* ''Anime/TransformersArmada'': Starscream was this in Armada and to a lesser extent, Cybertron.
* ''Anime/MDGeist'' is revealed to be a Villain Protagonist (or SociopathicHero) when it turns out he's such a BloodKnight that he's willing to ''start'' the RobotWar he was sent to prevent, just to ensured [[BloodKnight he'll always have strong opponents to fight]]. The second OAV gives strong implications he's still following orders from the Earth Government, who have decided to wipe out the colonists on Jerra and start over.
* Mireille Bouquet from ''Anime/{{Noir}}'' who never questions her job of killing people (although she's more NominalHero).
* The very end of LightNovel/{{Katanagatari}} shows that [[spoiler:Togame]] ''always'' intended to sacrifice people, swords, friends, even her own feelings in a mindless pursuit for revenge. Period, end of story. She still genuinely loves Shichika, and she has [[DarkAndTroubledPast a very good reason for her behavior]], but she never managed to let go of her desire for RevengeBeforeReason, to the point where she often goes against her very nature in order to achieve it.
* ''Manga/MiraiNikki'' is interesting as the true protagonist is reasonably moral (though not truly heroic), but all of his allies seem to have rather questionable morals. One is a terrorist who thinks nothing of blowing up a school while it's occupied, while his closest ally and potential girlfriend is [[{{Yandere}} dangerous]]. [[spoiler: Over the course of the series, he does eventually become more immoral and becomes [[StartOfDarkness as nutty as his girlfriend]]. Many characters call him out on his villainous behaviour as he gets worse and worse.]]
* Tanaka Punie of ''Anime/DaiMahouTouge'' is definitely not as good as her "princess of Magical Land" persona makes her appear to be. Her incantation says it all: "Lyrical Tokarev, kill them all!"
* Yuuhi and Sami, the main duo of ''Manga/TheLuciferAndBiscuitHammer''. Sami has vowed to destroy the Earth herself after saving it from the eponymous hammer, and Yuuhi is extremely loyal to her for that end. The other Knights besides Yuuhi don't know about Sami's intention; Yuuhi and Sami plot to turn against them as soon as the world is saved. [[spoiler:After much CharacterDevelopment for both of them, they get better. Yuuhi eventually 'defeats' Sami, who didn't really want to destroy the Earth at that point, and the two go on to live HappilyEverAfter.]]
* The protagonist, Ryo Narushima, in ''Manga/{{Shamo}}''. He murders his parents in the first 3 pages of the book, and throughout the series commits (or at least attempts to commit) multiple acts of murder and rape.
* Mayo Sasaki in ''Manga/FushigiYuugi: Eikoden''. While she's not truly ''evil'', she is [[JerkAss extremely selfish and unsympathetic]], and her obsession with stealing Miaka's beloved husband Taka/Tamahome, coupled with her irresponsible behavior, causes a lot of trouble for the warriors of Suzaku.
* Yosh*taka, the male lead of ''Manga/HeIsMyMaster'' is a sociopathic pervert with little to no redeeming qualities.
* ''GundamSEED Stargazer'' does this with the pilot of the Strike Noir, Sven Cal Vayan. He is the character with the most focus and the only one that (due to the length of the story) got any degree of backstory. He's also shown to be extremely cold, more than willing to gun down entire crowds of refugees on the off-chance that one is a terrorist, and shows no trace of remorse or grief when a wingman gets killed. He does eventually get better, but not before getting into a ChainedHeat situation with the HeroAntagonist of the series and the pilot of the Stargazer.
* The Count of Monte Cristo aka Edmond Dantes from ''Anime/{{Gankutsuou}}''. [[spoiler:Especially when the title monster is in control of him.]]
* Alucard from ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' . The first anime leans towards AntiHero, but the manga and OVA series depict him as more of a self-declared monster: terrifying, vicious, and wholly in the business because he loves killing people.
* ''Manga/OokamiNoKuchiWolfsmund'' is a series of tragic stories only connected by the presence of Wolfram and the eponymous border pass that he oversees. As of the first volume, no one has gotten past Wolfsmund alive or unscathed thanks to him.
* Sheila of ''Manga/{{Superior}}'' wants to achieve a future where humans will never again slaughter demons. However, she believes that the war will never end so long as both humans and demons continue to exist. Naturally, her solution is a bit . . . [[WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide final]]. (Exa's near-absolute pacifism provides the jolt she needs to stop killing, at least temporarily, but matters aren't helped by the fact that ''she's'' the one person Exa wants to kill, as vengeance for slaughtering his entire village.)
* ''Manga/TentaiSenshiSunred'' focuses mainly on day-to-day life of the title character's ArchEnemy Vamp of Florsheim and all his EvilMinions. Vamp is a HarmlessVillain (and his minions moreso) and obeys ContractualGenreBlindness, and the whole thing is one long string of VillainsOutShopping. It's very much PlayedForLaughs.
* ''[[Literature/WarriorCats The Rise of Scourge]]'' focuses on bloodthirsty murderer Scourge, as he commits murder, [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment murderously]].
* Ling Xiaoyu from ''Film/TekkenBloodVengeance'' is probably ''the'' most heroic example of this trope ''ever'', seeing that she was only in it because her target is a hottie. After her opponent goes out of her way to save her life following a showdown, she pulls a HeelFaceTurn and allies herself with her so they can get to the bottom of what their superiors are really up to.
* ''Manga/ExcelSaga'' is a humorous take on this that can be argued to be an outright parody. The eponymous [[TheDitz Excel]] willingly serves Il Palazzo and his "ideological" organization [[OddlySmallOrganization ACROSS]], whose express goal is to TakeOverTheWorld, but is ''in'' ACROSS ''because'' of [[{{Bishounen}} Il Palazzo]]. Excel's services to ACROSS are marked by her GenkiGirl status mixing with [[AffablyEvil her cheerful]] and often loud proclamations that ACROSS will subjugate [[{{Muggle}} the ignorant masses]] under their will, [[HilarityEnsues alongside her incompetence usually preventing ACROSS from achieving anything substantial towards reaching their goal, all the while showcasing its incredibly quirky humor]] [[PunchClockVillain consisting of attempting to fit in Il Palazzo's plans amidst her and her partner Hyatt's part-time jobs]] due to living in PerpetualPoverty. The humor is, however, [[SuddenDownerEnding toned down quite a lot during the last episodes of the anime]], and is in lower quantity in general in the manga (compared to the anime, which is even ''titled'' 'Quack Experimental Anime: Excel Saga'). In the anime, however, it's more the fact that [[spoiler: Excel was kicked out of ACROSS without her knowing then shot by Il Palazzo, then lost her memory]] than her becoming truly evil. It doesn't stop Excel from totting a large blade down [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight the middle of a street in plain sight]] in the night while cheerfully singing about murdering the author.
* Natsuo of ''Manga/{{Teppu}}'' definitely qualifies. The realistic high school setting of the manga means that she's probably not going to be murdering anyone, but she has demonstrated herself to be ruthless, selfish, arrogant and frequently sad*stic. For example, she initiates a fight with her future rival just because she's bored, and her rival's cheerfulness and self-confidence pisses her off. Natsuo has gotten a little less arrogant over the course of the series so far, but otherwise she's still just as much of a bitch as she was at the start.
* In ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' almost all the main characters are villain''ous'', and some arcs (like the first arc, and the initial Roberta arc) sees them take the actual villain's role by doing stuff like kidnapping, or doing stuff like supporting Balalaika, who is the BigBad of the Yakuza arc (with the Washimine clan and Yukio being the closest thing to 'the hero', [[spoiler:up until the point where TheBadGuyWins]]).
* In ''{{Canaan}}'' the main character Canaan is a gun-for-hire that kills mercilessly, [[spoiler:even when her innocent soul mate Maria lays witness to her line of work]]. Albeit her cold personality is softened in Maria's presence.
* [[TheBeautifulElite Iason]] [[BastardBoyfriend Mink]] of ''Lightnovel/AiNoKusabi'' while the {{Deuteragonist}}, is the initial villain of the story because of his [[AbductionIsLove kidnapping]] [[MadeASlave and brutal]] [[RomanticizedAbuse abuse]] of Riki but is ultimately an AntiVillain with TragicVillain traits.
* Michio Yuki from ''{{Manga/MW}}''. He is the main focus on the manga as he spends his time committing murder, not to mention collecting ransom money on his victims. He also crossdress women in his plot. His goal is to find MW and use it to end the world in vengeance for his own mortality.
* ''MyBrideIsAMermaid:'' It's quite easy to forget that Sun and the rest of her family are Yakuza, albeit Yakuza [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything who aren't seen doing any villainy aside from trying to ruin Nagasumi's life]].
* Yes she's adorable, but Ika Musume from ''Manga/ShinryakuIkaMusume'' ''is'' trying to conquer the surface world. She's just really, really bad at it.
* Chimera Ant King Meryem from ''Manga/HunterXHunter'' receives so much CharacterDevelopment and focus during the Chimera Ant Arc that he ends up being this and the BigBad at the same time.
* Though a fairly brutal WellIntentionedExtremist, Oriko Mikuni of ''Manga/PuellaMagiOrikoMagica'' gets by far the most focus and development of any character, is involved in a conflict where GreyAndGreyMorality is the order of the day, and eventually [[spoiler:wins]]. She's considered the villain due largely to being a CanonForeigner who opposes [[PuellaMagiMadokaMagica the original characters]]. Spinoff ''Symmetry Diamond'' [[PetTheDog drops the "Villain" part]].
** [[spoiler: 'Wins' is a very generous interpretation of events given Homura's SaveScumming. The best case scenario is that this single timeline is safe, providing it continues to exist after Homura hits the reset, but FridgeHorror sets in when you start to wonder why Oriko doesn't appear in any of the other timelines. Given that 'save Madoka' is Homura's entire reason for continuing to exist, once she is fully aware that Oriko's goal is to kill Madoka, the answer becomes clear. Homura assassinates Oriko in every future timeline, ending the threat before it starts.]]
* The main protagonists in the WWII [[BlackComedy comedy]] ''HetaliaAxisPowers'' are [[ThoseWackyNazis Germany]], [[UsefulNotes/FascistItaly Italy]], and [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan Japan]].
* While Kurosu in ''Manga/AnaSatsujin'' may not be a perfect example of this, he does count solely because of who his girlfriend is: Miyaichi, a not only unrepentant, but proud serial killer, who definitely does count. He counts because he finds this out ''before'' he decides to start dating her, and while not agreeing with her activities, doesn't do much to stop her and sticks with her after she starts roping him into helping her with her kills.
* Two of the protagonists in ''Anime/ZankyouNoTerror'' are terrorists who are planting bombs all over Tokyo. [[spoiler: Granted they aren't trying to actually kill anyone .]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* The eponymous ''Franchise/LupinIII'' [[CaperCrew and his gang]] are the longest-running, most successful, and ''still'' one of the most popular examples of the trope. Whether it's the television series, or the annual MadeForTV movies, the plot always centers on Lupin's pursuit of his next big score, with [[HeroAntagonist Inspector Zenigata]] always hot on his trail to slap the cuffs on 'em.
* Light Yagami in ''Manga/DeathNote'', who kills people for his KnightTemplar dreams of a better world [[AGodAmI and godhood]]. He ''consistently'' sees himself as a WellIntentionedExtremist, and doesn't seem to realise that he's crossing {{Moral Event Horizon}}s. [[spoiler:During his MotiveRant, he still legitimately seems to believe that he's doing the right thing]].
* As it turns out, ''Manga/{{Judge}}'' has this with [[spoiler: Hiro an Hikari, too]]. [[spoiler: He and Hikari created the ''Judge'' game as a sad*stic RevengeByProxy towards the jury and judge, who gave the drunk driver who ran over and killed Atsuya a milder sentence.]]
* Lucy from ''Manga/ElfenLied'' is a cold-blooded killer. She has killed armed men and innocent children, for reasons ranging from "trying to kill me" to "You killed my dog" to "I envy your happy, normal life, and I need a place to crash." She [[ColdBloodedTorture kicks people quite sad*stically]] when they are down. She hears voices and tries to infest humans with her diclonius genes, which will lead to the extinction of mankind. No effort is spared to let the viewer feel sympathy for her plight. [[spoiler:In the end, she sacrifices herself to save the one guy who was nice to her. [[FridgeLogic And then you look in the fridge]] and realize that by the time the series started, years after her most horrific deeds, she never explicitly killed anyone who was unarguably innocent, and got Mayu, whom she'd never met before, out of harm's way when fighting another diclonius...]]
* Haruko Haraharu is very much the face of ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'', acting as one of the premier {{Manic Pixie Dream Girl}}s in all of media. Energetic, spontaneous and hammy as hell, but manipulative, selfish and ruthless, to the point where there's a distinct LackOfEmpathy. She cements it by trying to feed Naota into the Terminal Core and endangering the Earth's existence out of her desire to absorb Amtosk's infinite power. By the end, however, she's mellowed out considerably. Or at least seen that shes lost this round.
* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'', as a sort of GrandFinale to the ''Puella'' series, elevates [[spoiler:Akemi Homura]] into the position of a GodOfEvil, due to her belief that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans partly due to her love for her friends. She's also the most proactive character in the movie and the one with the most focus. As ''Puella'' is well-known for its deconstruction of the MagicalGirl genre, [[spoiler:Homura]]'s promotion to protagonist... unfortunately means that she ''[[TheBadGuyWins actually succeeds in her goal]]'' and has to brainwash her friends to get it to work. [[TragicVillain Even she's not happy over it]], [[WellIntentionedExtremist even though she fully believes it was justified and necessary]].
* ''Anime/TransformersArmada'': Starscream was this in Armada and to a lesser extent, Cybertron.
* ''Anime/MDGeist'' is revealed to be a Villain Protagonist (or SociopathicHero) when it turns out he's such a BloodKnight that he's willing to ''start'' the RobotWar he was sent to prevent, just to ensured [[BloodKnight he'll always have strong opponents to fight]]. The second OAV gives strong implications he's still following orders from the Earth Government, who have decided to wipe out the colonists on Jerra and start over.
* Mireille Bouquet from ''Anime/{{Noir}}'' who never questions her job of killing people (although she's more NominalHero).
* The very end of LightNovel/{{Katanagatari}} shows that [[spoiler:Togame]] ''always'' intended to sacrifice people, swords, friends, even her own feelings in a mindless pursuit for revenge. Period, end of story. She still genuinely loves Shichika, and she has [[DarkAndTroubledPast a very good reason for her behavior]], but she never managed to let go of her desire for RevengeBeforeReason, to the point where she often goes against her very nature in order to achieve it.
* ''Manga/MiraiNikki'' is interesting as the true protagonist is reasonably moral (though not truly heroic), but all of his allies seem to have rather questionable morals. One is a terrorist who thinks nothing of blowing up a school while it's occupied, while his closest ally and potential girlfriend is [[{{Yandere}} dangerous]]. [[spoiler: Over the course of the series, he does eventually become more immoral and becomes [[StartOfDarkness as nutty as his girlfriend]]. Many characters call him out on his villainous behaviour as he gets worse and worse.]]
* Tanaka Punie of ''Anime/DaiMahouTouge'' is definitely not as good as her "princess of Magical Land" persona makes her appear to be. Her incantation says it all: "Lyrical Tokarev, kill them all!"
* Yuuhi and Sami, the main duo of ''Manga/TheLuciferAndBiscuitHammer''. Sami has vowed to destroy the Earth herself after saving it from the eponymous hammer, and Yuuhi is extremely loyal to her for that end. The other Knights besides Yuuhi don't know about Sami's intention; Yuuhi and Sami plot to turn against them as soon as the world is saved. [[spoiler:After much CharacterDevelopment for both of them, they get better. Yuuhi eventually 'defeats' Sami, who didn't really want to destroy the Earth at that point, and the two go on to live HappilyEverAfter.]]
* The protagonist, Ryo Narushima, in ''Manga/{{Shamo}}''. He murders his parents in the first 3 pages of the book, and throughout the series commits (or at least attempts to commit) multiple acts of murder and rape.
* Mayo Sasaki in ''Manga/FushigiYuugi: Eikoden''. While she's not truly ''evil'', she is [[JerkAss extremely selfish and unsympathetic]], and her obsession with stealing Miaka's beloved husband Taka/Tamahome, coupled with her irresponsible behavior, causes a lot of trouble for the warriors of Suzaku.
* Yosh*taka, the male lead of ''Manga/HeIsMyMaster'' is a sociopathic pervert with little to no redeeming qualities.
* ''GundamSEED Stargazer'' does this with the pilot of the Strike Noir, Sven Cal Vayan. He is the character with the most focus and the only one that (due to the length of the story) got any degree of backstory. He's also shown to be extremely cold, more than willing to gun down entire crowds of refugees on the off-chance that one is a terrorist, and shows no trace of remorse or grief when a wingman gets killed. He does eventually get better, but not before getting into a ChainedHeat situation with the HeroAntagonist of the series and the pilot of the Stargazer.
* The Count of Monte Cristo aka Edmond Dantes from ''Anime/{{Gankutsuou}}''. [[spoiler:Especially when the title monster is in control of him.]]
* Alucard from ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' . The first anime leans towards AntiHero, but the manga and OVA series depict him as more of a self-declared monster: terrifying, vicious, and wholly in the business because he loves killing people.
* ''Manga/OokamiNoKuchiWolfsmund'' is a series of tragic stories only connected by the presence of Wolfram and the eponymous border pass that he oversees. As of the first volume, no one has gotten past Wolfsmund alive or unscathed thanks to him.
* Sheila of ''Manga/{{Superior}}'' wants to achieve a future where humans will never again slaughter demons. However, she believes that the war will never end so long as both humans and demons continue to exist. Naturally, her solution is a bit . . . [[WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide final]]. (Exa's near-absolute pacifism provides the jolt she needs to stop killing, at least temporarily, but matters aren't helped by the fact that ''she's'' the one person Exa wants to kill, as vengeance for slaughtering his entire village.)
* ''Manga/TentaiSenshiSunred'' focuses mainly on day-to-day life of the title character's ArchEnemy Vamp of Florsheim and all his EvilMinions. Vamp is a HarmlessVillain (and his minions moreso) and obeys ContractualGenreBlindness, and the whole thing is one long string of VillainsOutShopping. It's very much PlayedForLaughs.
* ''[[Literature/WarriorCats The Rise of Scourge]]'' focuses on bloodthirsty murderer Scourge, as he commits murder, [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment murderously]].
* Ling Xiaoyu from ''Film/TekkenBloodVengeance'' is probably ''the'' most heroic example of this trope ''ever'', seeing that she was only in it because her target is a hottie. After her opponent goes out of her way to save her life following a showdown, she pulls a HeelFaceTurn and allies herself with her so they can get to the bottom of what their superiors are really up to.
* ''Manga/ExcelSaga'' is a humorous take on this that can be argued to be an outright parody. The eponymous [[TheDitz Excel]] willingly serves Il Palazzo and his "ideological" organization [[OddlySmallOrganization ACROSS]], whose express goal is to TakeOverTheWorld, but is ''in'' ACROSS ''because'' of [[{{Bishounen}} Il Palazzo]]. Excel's services to ACROSS are marked by her GenkiGirl status mixing with [[AffablyEvil her cheerful]] and often loud proclamations that ACROSS will subjugate [[{{Muggle}} the ignorant masses]] under their will, [[HilarityEnsues alongside her incompetence usually preventing ACROSS from achieving anything substantial towards reaching their goal, all the while showcasing its incredibly quirky humor]] [[PunchClockVillain consisting of attempting to fit in Il Palazzo's plans amidst her and her partner Hyatt's part-time jobs]] due to living in PerpetualPoverty. The humor is, however, [[SuddenDownerEnding toned down quite a lot during the last episodes of the anime]], and is in lower quantity in general in the manga (compared to the anime, which is even ''titled'' 'Quack Experimental Anime: Excel Saga'). In the anime, however, it's more the fact that [[spoiler: Excel was kicked out of ACROSS without her knowing then shot by Il Palazzo, then lost her memory]] than her becoming truly evil. It doesn't stop Excel from totting a large blade down [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight the middle of a street in plain sight]] in the night while cheerfully singing about murdering the author.
* Natsuo of ''Manga/{{Teppu}}'' definitely qualifies. The realistic high school setting of the manga means that she's probably not going to be murdering anyone, but she has demonstrated herself to be ruthless, selfish, arrogant and frequently sad*stic. For example, she initiates a fight with her future rival just because she's bored, and her rival's cheerfulness and self-confidence pisses her off. Natsuo has gotten a little less arrogant over the course of the series so far, but otherwise she's still just as much of a bitch as she was at the start.
* In ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' almost all the main characters are villain''ous'', and some arcs (like the first arc, and the initial Roberta arc) sees them take the actual villain's role by doing stuff like kidnapping, or doing stuff like supporting Balalaika, who is the BigBad of the Yakuza arc (with the Washimine clan and Yukio being the closest thing to 'the hero', [[spoiler:up until the point where TheBadGuyWins]]).
* In ''{{Canaan}}'' the main character Canaan is a gun-for-hire that kills mercilessly, [[spoiler:even when her innocent soul mate Maria lays witness to her line of work]]. Albeit her cold personality is softened in Maria's presence.
* [[TheBeautifulElite Iason]] [[BastardBoyfriend Mink]] of ''Lightnovel/AiNoKusabi'' while the {{Deuteragonist}}, is the initial villain of the story because of his [[AbductionIsLove kidnapping]] [[MadeASlave and brutal]] [[RomanticizedAbuse abuse]] of Riki but is ultimately an AntiVillain with TragicVillain traits.
* Michio Yuki from ''{{Manga/MW}}''. He is the main focus on the manga as he spends his time committing murder, not to mention collecting ransom money on his victims. He also crossdress women in his plot. His goal is to find MW and use it to end the world in vengeance for his own mortality.
* ''MyBrideIsAMermaid:'' It's quite easy to forget that Sun and the rest of her family are Yakuza, albeit Yakuza [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything who aren't seen doing any villainy aside from trying to ruin Nagasumi's life]].
* Yes she's adorable, but Ika Musume from ''Manga/ShinryakuIkaMusume'' ''is'' trying to conquer the surface world. She's just really, really bad at it.
* Chimera Ant King Meryem from ''Manga/HunterXHunter'' receives so much CharacterDevelopment and focus during the Chimera Ant Arc that he ends up being this and the BigBad at the same time.
* Though a fairly brutal WellIntentionedExtremist, Oriko Mikuni of ''Manga/PuellaMagiOrikoMagica'' gets by far the most focus and development of any character, is involved in a conflict where GreyAndGreyMorality is the order of the day, and eventually [[spoiler:wins]]. She's considered the villain due largely to being a CanonForeigner who opposes [[PuellaMagiMadokaMagica the original characters]]. Spinoff ''Symmetry Diamond'' [[PetTheDog drops the "Villain" part]].
** [[spoiler: 'Wins' is a very generous interpretation of events given Homura's SaveScumming. The best case scenario is that this single timeline is safe, providing it continues to exist after Homura hits the reset, but FridgeHorror sets in when you start to wonder why Oriko doesn't appear in any of the other timelines. Given that 'save Madoka' is Homura's entire reason for continuing to exist, once she is fully aware that Oriko's goal is to kill Madoka, the answer becomes clear. Homura assassinates Oriko in every future timeline, ending the threat before it starts.]]
* The main protagonists in the WWII [[BlackComedy comedy]] ''HetaliaAxisPowers'' are [[ThoseWackyNazis Germany]], [[UsefulNotes/FascistItaly Italy]], and [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan Japan]].
* While Kurosu in ''Manga/AnaSatsujin'' may not be a perfect example of this, he does count solely because of who his girlfriend is: Miyaichi, a not only unrepentant, but proud serial killer, who definitely does count. He counts because he finds this out ''before'' he decides to start dating her, and while not agreeing with her activities, doesn't do much to stop her and sticks with her after she starts roping him into helping her with her kills.
* Two of the protagonists in ''Anime/ZankyouNoTerror'' are terrorists who are planting bombs all over Tokyo. [[spoiler: Granted they aren't trying to actually kill anyone .]]

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[[folder:Comic Books]]
* The protagonist of the eponymous ''Comicbook/BombQueen'' is a {{supervillain}}ess-turned-EvilOverlord. There are no apparent efforts to justify a SympatheticPOV In the beginning it showed her character in a more humorous light, but now there is no doubt that she is a monster (she crushes Obama's nuts just for fun in the latest volume, murders all of her "friends", and rapes George Bush. Her actions would make Johan Liebert blush)
* ''Comicbook/TheTombOfDracula'' and its SpinOff ''Comicbook/DraculaLives'' have stories focusing on the Count, and all the evil deeds he commits.
* Creator/MarkMillar's ''Comicbook/{{Wanted}}'', clearly, since nearly all of the main characters are stand-ins for DC and Marvel supervillains. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, most of those guys (including the protagonist) were too busy accelerating past the MoralEventHorizon to take notice of how they crossed it years ago. And they're still going faster.
* A lot of DC villains get this treatment.
** SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker had his own short-lived series back in the '70s in which he cheerfully offed various other characters.
** SelfDemonstrating/LexLuthor had his own graphic novel, ''ComicBook/LexLuthorManOfSteel'', in which he presents himself as a brave man trying to let humanity take its own course by freeing us from the influence of that meddling alien, ComicBook/{{Superman}}. He was also the star of Creator/PaulCornell's "[[ComicBook/TheBlackRing Black Ring]]" story arc in ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' (concurrent with ''ComicBook/BrightestDay''), which further explored his motivations.
** Eclipso, a B-squad villain upgraded in a CrisisCrossover to the God of Vengeance, was the narrator and main villain in said crossover, "The Darkness Within", after which he was given his own series which lasted nearly two years.
** ComicBook/HarleyQuinn, Poison Ivy, and naturally, {{Lobo}}, have starred in their own titles too.
* Around the time of the 1970s ''Joker'' comic, DC also broached the trope (depending on your point of view) by launching ''Blitzkreig'', a WWII comic featuring a group of Nazi soldiers as sympathetic protagonists.
* The seven issue miniseries ''ComicBook/{{Empire}}'' centers around a DoctorDoom-esque protagonist finalizing his conquest of the Earth, and dealing with the question "what next?"
* {{Etrigan}}, the titular Demon of DC comics, manages at least in his own series to have you rooting for him despite being ExactlyWhatit*aysOnTheTin. He remains a sympathetic protagonist mainly by frequently allying himself with more, y'know, ''heroic'' heroes against demons who are either even worse than Etrigan, or who at least have more ''immediate'' actively evil plans in motion.
* In the original comic book version of ''ComicBook/TheMask'', the central character (who is called "Bighead", because most people don't know he's wearing a mask) is a sociopathic serial murderer, akin to SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker given powers (which got even scarier in the ''Joker Mask'' miniseries, where this actually happened). Let's just say that in the comics, the early scene in the movie where the Mask shoved mufflers up the asses of the mechanics who ripped him off would have involved a lot of red ink being used in the coloring process. Very often, the actual people wearing the mask are treated as little more than hosts whose bodies are being used to commit Bighead's comedic killing sprees... and they'll still gladly kill each other for the chance to wear it.
** One wearer of the mask was a little girl (in 5th grade or something) who was bullied at school, and so when she puts the mask on (a dream come true for her) she goes to a school party and burns the school down.
** This aspect of the comic series may have been [[ShoutOut referenced]] in [[WesternAnimation/TheMask the animated series]], when a 4000 year old [[TheFairFolk sociopathic fey]] who claims to have known all of the Mask's previous hosts (who included the likes of UsefulNotes/AttilaTheHun and UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan) returns to Earth to team up with the latest Mask, but soon realizes he's "not like the others."
* ''JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac'', an AxCrazy SerialKiller with touches of the SociopathicHero. In his more collected moments, he's all too aware of it, once even breaking the fourth wall to remind readers that he is the villain in the story.
* ''[[ComicBook/NeilGaimansTeknophage Teknophage]]'', a short-lived comic by forgotten mid-90's publisher Tekno Comix, was a story about a 65 million year old, [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent reptilian]], SteamPunk DimensionLord / MagnificentBastard who fed strife, misery, and tyranny merely to enjoy the chance to eat the souls of those with the killer instinct to struggle against him. Nominally, the comics were about the people trying to stop him, but everyone knew who to root for.
* The eponymous ''Lord Havok and the Extremists'' are all deadly {{supervillain}}s bent on dominating the world that denied them... and are in fact portrayed much more sympathetically than the "heroic" Americommando, who is inarguably a danger to all around him. Lord Havok in particular is given a heartbreaking StartOfDarkness.
* Hunter Rose, the original ''ComicBook/{{Grendel}}'', was an assassin/crimelord who did a lot of bad stuff [[PsychoForHire for kicks and giggles]]. The later Grendels were more Anti Heroes, fighting against even worse individuals, particularly Japanese Kabuki Vampire Tujiro XIV.
* {{Deadpool}}, the lovable FourthWall-breaking psychotic killer. Same goes for many other mercenary- or hitman-based comics, such as ''ScudTheDisposableAssassin''.
** He's put effort into being heroic later on, just no one [[CassandraTruth takes that any more seriously than everything else about him]].
* According to WordOfGod, the ''{{Comicbook/Legion| Of Super-Heroes}} of 3 Worlds'' miniseries is focused on its main villain Superboy-Prime.
* ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}, the eponymous hero of the [[PrintLongRunners long-running]] Italian comic series. He is a ruthlessly violent jewel-thief who indifferently kidnaps, tortures, brainwashes and kills the innocent and guilty alike. His lover/partner-in-crime Eva Kant happily assists with all of the above, ''and'' throws obsessive sexual jealousy into the mix.
* ''ComicBook/{{Incognito}}'''s main character, Zack, is an ex-super villain who got put into a witness protection program. He does do ''some'' heroic acts in secret, but only for selfish reasons.
* ''ComicBook/SecretSix'': It has Bane, the man who ''broke [[Franchise/{{Batman}} the Bat]]'', Scandal Savage, the psychotic daughter of ''the first murderer'', and Ragdoll, who is just freaky. Add to that Catman (an honorable but crazy hired killer), Deadshot (a sociopathic hitman) and an actual freakin' ''Banshee'' and you know this is not a team of nice people. Nice to look ''at'', [[FetishFuel sure]], but not nice. ''Definitely'' not nice.
* ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'''s nemesis Thoth-Amon had a comic.
* TheDCU villain Kobra, the MadScientist leader of a ReligionOfEvil, was originally introduced in an eponymous comic series that followed his efforts to TakeOverTheWorld, which were invariably foiled by his good twin brother. The series was cancelled after just seven issues (but Kobra would return).
* ''[[http://www.risekraken.com/ RISE, KRAKEN!]]'' is a comic about a [[GIJoe Cobra]] / [[Film/JamesBond SPECTRE]]-like global organization "with the stated goal of raising a giant sea creature that will [[TakeOverTheWorld rule the world]] by iron fist and slimy tentacle", and what kind of person joins up to build lasers on the Moon and get beaten up by the heroes. The protagonist discovers that most of the people involved aren't in it ForTheEvulz, but to advance their own ''possibly'' more reasonable agendas.
* ''Comicbook/ThePunisher'', to an extent, when written by Creator/GarthEnnis.
** When not written by Ennis there's a chance that an author will write him as a cool but gritty person who does what needs to be done.
* ''ComicBook/MarvelZombies'' focuses on the eponymous [[OurZombiesAreDifferent superhero zombies]]. A few are portrayed sympathetically, while others aren't.
* ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad'': DC's comic about [[BoxedCrook supervillains offered a pardon in exchange for completing missions]] that are... [[ExactlyWhatit*aysOnTheTin rather difficult]].
* Creator/MarvelComics ''loves'' this Trope. Villains who've had their own mini-series include {{Venom}}, SelfDemonstrating/{{Loki}}, Sabertooth, Mystique, Baron Zemo, SelfDemonstrating/{{Magneto}}, [[GreenGoblin Norman Osborn]], and ''especially'' SelfDemonstrating/DoctorDoom, who's had many starring roles over the years.
** The series ''Comicbook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' stars DoctorOctopus after he has pulled a GrandTheftMe on Peter Parker and secretly taken his place as Spider-Man, determined to prove himself a "superior" crimefighter to his arch-enemy via [[PayEvilUntoEvil actually killing his rogues]] and using his super-science to change the world. As the series goes on it becomes clear that he's still the same old Doc Ock at heart and his heroic activities become increasingly supervillainous, utilising SinisterSurveillance all over New York and sliding further and further into megalomania. It all comes crashing down when the Green Goblin reappears and [[EvilerThanThou casually and completely decimates everything Octavius built]], along with Peter returning and getting his body back.
* There was a Marvel mini-series called ''Deadly Foes of Spider-Man'' was that was like this. The series focused on the Sinister Syndicate (a villain team made up of guys usually thought of as [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Ineffectual Sympathetic Villains]] and actually gave them complex personalities, motivations, and in one case, a love interest. SpiderMan was a HeroAntagonist through the whole thing. Unfortunately, the story ended up with the villains splitting into two factions and an EnemyCivilWar breaking out, where ultimately, the only real winner was [[spoiler: [[TheManBehindTheMan the Kingpin]], the guy who had been funding them.]]
** They had a sequel called ''Lethal Foes of Spider Man'', but while it still fit the Trope, all it really did this time was show how incompetent the villains were. It started with a gang of them (some from the previous series) stealing a powerful weapon, then progressed to two gangs of them fighting over it, and finally to an every-man-for-himself fight over it with Spidey caught in the middle. At the end, Spidey was the last one standing, looking at the dozen super-villains who had pummeled themselves unconscious (wrecking the whole neighborhood in the process) and wondering just what the Hell the whole point of the whole thing had been.
** ''ComicBook/TheSuperiorFoesOfSpiderMan'' is a more comedic take on this, starring an iteration of the Sinister Six composed of [[NonIndicativeName five C-Listers]] as they simply try to make it through their lives while still trying to get paid/not get killed.
* {{ComicBook/Daken}} in his own ongoing. It's made pretty clear he is not a good person (He kills people for kicks after all), but he is charismatic though.
* Most iterations of the ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}, although ''how'' villainous they are depends on the iteration and the villains involved.
* ''Chaos! Comics'', a horror comics company whose heyday was in the '90s, specialized in villain protagonists. Their most successful "hero" and a downright extreme example of this trope was ComicBook/LadyDeath, who in her first story won over a boy who had suffered severe child abuse with promises of love and then coaxed him into going on a killing spree. After seizing the opportunity to turn him into the "super-zombie" Evil Ernie, she encouraged him to wipe out the entire human race, all just to free her from a curse that kept her from returning to Earth. Over the course of his various mini-series Evil Ernie did indeed succeed in wiping out millions through hijacked nuclear bombs and his own zombie plague. Unsurprisingly, Lady Death softened up quite a bit even before Chaos! went under and more when she was licensed out to other companies; at least there was no more goading abuse victims into committing genocide.
** Although he was given a sympathetic backstory, Evil Ernie remained a classic example of this all through the Chaos! days. Most of his mini-series began with him brutally slaughtering the populace of an entire city (one story started off just after he had killed the people of Manhattan ''single-handedly'' over the period of several months), and then having to ward off attacks from his RoguesGallery, people who would be considered the protagonists in your typical ZombieApocalypse story, or from someone who was the villain by default. One mini-series, ''War of the Dead'', was about his attempts to wipe out humanity by hijacking the United States' nuclear arsenal.
* [[Characters/GLRedLanternCorps Atrocitus]] in the ''Comicbook/GreenLantern'' books walks the line between this, AntiVillain, and AntiHero ([[SociopathicHero -ic Sociopath]]). He's an eternally wrathful berserker on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge (and willing to visit DisproportionateRetribution on other criminals he comes across), but his rage was sparked by a very serious injustice and makes it a point to [[PayEvilUntoEvil punish only the guilty]]. In the 2011 DC reboot, he and his Red Lanterns received their own series.
** As of June 2013, [[Characters/GLOrangeLanternCorps Larfleeze]] is likewise getting his own series.
* Paperinik (a DonaldDuck alter-ego created in Italy) had no problem committing thefts and fighting the police to get revenge on who wronged him in his early stories. He however [[CharacterDevelopment evolved]] into a much more heroic character [[HeelFaceTurn with time]], especially in PaperinikNewAdventures.
* ''ComicBook/{{Iznogoud}}'' has Iznogoud as your stereotypical EvilChancellor. Virtually ''all'' his adventures are about him trying the craziest schemes to replace the Caliph of a mythological Baghdad, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption each time failing hilariously]]. He [[GratuitousEnglish Iz no goud]].
* ComicBook/JudgeDredd:
** Dredd himself can be like this, although it's a case of DependingOnTheWriter. Some of the antagonists can be downright heroic compared to Dredd, such as the ''Democracy Now!'' storyline, but he does often go up against villains such as the [[OmnicidalManiac Dark Judges]] and [[SerialKiller P.J.]][[EvilGenius Maybe]].
** Some stories feature Judge Death as the protagonist, as he goes around murdering everything in sight on his quest to destroy the human race.
** Elusive psychopathic serial killer PJ Maybe is the focus character of quite a lot of the stories he appears in.
** Various one shot villains (or {{Anti Villain}}s depending on the story) are the focus of the story with Dredd as a HeroAntagonist. Notable examples are [[TheWoobie Bennett]] [[AllLoveIsUnrequited Beeny]], [[{{Cyborg}} Nate]] [[AwesomeMcCoolname Slaughterhouse]] and [[SkySurfing Marlon]] "[[RedBaron Chopper]]" [[ActionSurvivor Shakespeare]].
* The following ''ComicBook/SinCity'' stories. The other stories typically feature [[BlackandGreyMorality very dark anti-heroes]].
** The "Blue Eyes" stories, in which the protagonist is a ProfessionalKiller pursuing her marks.
** "The Salesman Is Always Right", in which the Salesman is revealed at the end to have come to murder the woman he strikes up a conversation with.
** "Rats" centers on an escaped Nazi war criminal who is living incognito in the United States, and [[ReminiscingAboutYourVictims reminisces]] about all the people he murdered during the war.
* Max from the Eagle Comic Strip 'The Thirteenth Floor'. Admittedly he straddled the line between AntiHero and Villain Protagonist, a computer AI designed to protect and care for the tenants of the block of flats he was installed in, punishing (and several times accidentally killing) those who would harm them. He was often portrayed as a [[DracoInLeatherPants straight hero]] but was initially given several moments where his actions backfired horribly ([[NiceJobBreakingItHero once getting one of his favorite tenants accused of a murder Max had committed]]), and was opposed by several openly [[HeroAntagonist heroic characters]]. Later on however he started to get into more action based scenarios and became a straight GuileHero, with the whole [[KarmaHoudini 'multiple homicide']] thing brushed under the carpet.
* ''Terror, Inc.'' was a Marvel Comic centered around a hitman who could [[PowerCopying copy the abilities of others]] by ripping off their limbs and grafting them to his own body. Yes.
* The title character from ComicBook/{{Nemesis}}.
* Overman from ''[[ComicBook/TheMultiversity Mastermen #1]]''. He began as a Nazi ComicBook/{{Superman}}, but he's actually incredibly guilt-ridden over what he did in their name, and realizes the world he created needs to be destroyed.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* The protagonist of the eponymous ''Comicbook/BombQueen'' is a {{supervillain}}ess-turned-EvilOverlord. There are no apparent efforts to justify a SympatheticPOV In the beginning it showed her character in a more humorous light, but now there is no doubt that she is a monster (she crushes Obama's nuts just for fun in the latest volume, murders all of her "friends", and rapes George Bush. Her actions would make Johan Liebert blush)
* ''Comicbook/TheTombOfDracula'' and its SpinOff ''Comicbook/DraculaLives'' have stories focusing on the Count, and all the evil deeds he commits.
* Creator/MarkMillar's ''Comicbook/{{Wanted}}'', clearly, since nearly all of the main characters are stand-ins for DC and Marvel supervillains. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, most of those guys (including the protagonist) were too busy accelerating past the MoralEventHorizon to take notice of how they crossed it years ago. And they're still going faster.
* A lot of DC villains get this treatment.
** SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker had his own short-lived series back in the '70s in which he cheerfully offed various other characters.
** SelfDemonstrating/LexLuthor had his own graphic novel, ''ComicBook/LexLuthorManOfSteel'', in which he presents himself as a brave man trying to let humanity take its own course by freeing us from the influence of that meddling alien, ComicBook/{{Superman}}. He was also the star of Creator/PaulCornell's "[[ComicBook/TheBlackRing Black Ring]]" story arc in ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' (concurrent with ''ComicBook/BrightestDay''), which further explored his motivations.
** Eclipso, a B-squad villain upgraded in a CrisisCrossover to the God of Vengeance, was the narrator and main villain in said crossover, "The Darkness Within", after which he was given his own series which lasted nearly two years.
** ComicBook/HarleyQuinn, Poison Ivy, and naturally, {{Lobo}}, have starred in their own titles too.
* Around the time of the 1970s ''Joker'' comic, DC also broached the trope (depending on your point of view) by launching ''Blitzkreig'', a WWII comic featuring a group of Nazi soldiers as sympathetic protagonists.
* The seven issue miniseries ''ComicBook/{{Empire}}'' centers around a DoctorDoom-esque protagonist finalizing his conquest of the Earth, and dealing with the question "what next?"
* {{Etrigan}}, the titular Demon of DC comics, manages at least in his own series to have you rooting for him despite being ExactlyWhatit*aysOnTheTin. He remains a sympathetic protagonist mainly by frequently allying himself with more, y'know, ''heroic'' heroes against demons who are either even worse than Etrigan, or who at least have more ''immediate'' actively evil plans in motion.
* In the original comic book version of ''ComicBook/TheMask'', the central character (who is called "Bighead", because most people don't know he's wearing a mask) is a sociopathic serial murderer, akin to SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker given powers (which got even scarier in the ''Joker Mask'' miniseries, where this actually happened). Let's just say that in the comics, the early scene in the movie where the Mask shoved mufflers up the asses of the mechanics who ripped him off would have involved a lot of red ink being used in the coloring process. Very often, the actual people wearing the mask are treated as little more than hosts whose bodies are being used to commit Bighead's comedic killing sprees... and they'll still gladly kill each other for the chance to wear it.
** One wearer of the mask was a little girl (in 5th grade or something) who was bullied at school, and so when she puts the mask on (a dream come true for her) she goes to a school party and burns the school down.
** This aspect of the comic series may have been [[ShoutOut referenced]] in [[WesternAnimation/TheMask the animated series]], when a 4000 year old [[TheFairFolk sociopathic fey]] who claims to have known all of the Mask's previous hosts (who included the likes of UsefulNotes/AttilaTheHun and UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan) returns to Earth to team up with the latest Mask, but soon realizes he's "not like the others."
* ''JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac'', an AxCrazy SerialKiller with touches of the SociopathicHero. In his more collected moments, he's all too aware of it, once even breaking the fourth wall to remind readers that he is the villain in the story.
* ''[[ComicBook/NeilGaimansTeknophage Teknophage]]'', a short-lived comic by forgotten mid-90's publisher Tekno Comix, was a story about a 65 million year old, [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent reptilian]], SteamPunk DimensionLord / MagnificentBastard who fed strife, misery, and tyranny merely to enjoy the chance to eat the souls of those with the killer instinct to struggle against him. Nominally, the comics were about the people trying to stop him, but everyone knew who to root for.
* The eponymous ''Lord Havok and the Extremists'' are all deadly {{supervillain}}s bent on dominating the world that denied them... and are in fact portrayed much more sympathetically than the "heroic" Americommando, who is inarguably a danger to all around him. Lord Havok in particular is given a heartbreaking StartOfDarkness.
* Hunter Rose, the original ''ComicBook/{{Grendel}}'', was an assassin/crimelord who did a lot of bad stuff [[PsychoForHire for kicks and giggles]]. The later Grendels were more Anti Heroes, fighting against even worse individuals, particularly Japanese Kabuki Vampire Tujiro XIV.
* {{Deadpool}}, the lovable FourthWall-breaking psychotic killer. Same goes for many other mercenary- or hitman-based comics, such as ''ScudTheDisposableAssassin''.
** He's put effort into being heroic later on, just no one [[CassandraTruth takes that any more seriously than everything else about him]].
* According to WordOfGod, the ''{{Comicbook/Legion| Of Super-Heroes}} of 3 Worlds'' miniseries is focused on its main villain Superboy-Prime.
* ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}, the eponymous hero of the [[PrintLongRunners long-running]] Italian comic series. He is a ruthlessly violent jewel-thief who indifferently kidnaps, tortures, brainwashes and kills the innocent and guilty alike. His lover/partner-in-crime Eva Kant happily assists with all of the above, ''and'' throws obsessive sexual jealousy into the mix.
* ''ComicBook/{{Incognito}}'''s main character, Zack, is an ex-super villain who got put into a witness protection program. He does do ''some'' heroic acts in secret, but only for selfish reasons.
* ''ComicBook/SecretSix'': It has Bane, the man who ''broke [[Franchise/{{Batman}} the Bat]]'', Scandal Savage, the psychotic daughter of ''the first murderer'', and Ragdoll, who is just freaky. Add to that Catman (an honorable but crazy hired killer), Deadshot (a sociopathic hitman) and an actual freakin' ''Banshee'' and you know this is not a team of nice people. Nice to look ''at'', [[FetishFuel sure]], but not nice. ''Definitely'' not nice.
* ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'''s nemesis Thoth-Amon had a comic.
* TheDCU villain Kobra, the MadScientist leader of a ReligionOfEvil, was originally introduced in an eponymous comic series that followed his efforts to TakeOverTheWorld, which were invariably foiled by his good twin brother. The series was cancelled after just seven issues (but Kobra would return).
* ''[[http://www.risekraken.com/ RISE, KRAKEN!]]'' is a comic about a [[GIJoe Cobra]] / [[Film/JamesBond SPECTRE]]-like global organization "with the stated goal of raising a giant sea creature that will [[TakeOverTheWorld rule the world]] by iron fist and slimy tentacle", and what kind of person joins up to build lasers on the Moon and get beaten up by the heroes. The protagonist discovers that most of the people involved aren't in it ForTheEvulz, but to advance their own ''possibly'' more reasonable agendas.
* ''Comicbook/ThePunisher'', to an extent, when written by Creator/GarthEnnis.
** When not written by Ennis there's a chance that an author will write him as a cool but gritty person who does what needs to be done.
* ''ComicBook/MarvelZombies'' focuses on the eponymous [[OurZombiesAreDifferent superhero zombies]]. A few are portrayed sympathetically, while others aren't.
* ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad'': DC's comic about [[BoxedCrook supervillains offered a pardon in exchange for completing missions]] that are... [[ExactlyWhatit*aysOnTheTin rather difficult]].
* Creator/MarvelComics ''loves'' this Trope. Villains who've had their own mini-series include {{Venom}}, SelfDemonstrating/{{Loki}}, Sabertooth, Mystique, Baron Zemo, SelfDemonstrating/{{Magneto}}, [[GreenGoblin Norman Osborn]], and ''especially'' SelfDemonstrating/DoctorDoom, who's had many starring roles over the years.
** The series ''Comicbook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' stars DoctorOctopus after he has pulled a GrandTheftMe on Peter Parker and secretly taken his place as Spider-Man, determined to prove himself a "superior" crimefighter to his arch-enemy via [[PayEvilUntoEvil actually killing his rogues]] and using his super-science to change the world. As the series goes on it becomes clear that he's still the same old Doc Ock at heart and his heroic activities become increasingly supervillainous, utilising SinisterSurveillance all over New York and sliding further and further into megalomania. It all comes crashing down when the Green Goblin reappears and [[EvilerThanThou casually and completely decimates everything Octavius built]], along with Peter returning and getting his body back.
* There was a Marvel mini-series called ''Deadly Foes of Spider-Man'' was that was like this. The series focused on the Sinister Syndicate (a villain team made up of guys usually thought of as [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Ineffectual Sympathetic Villains]] and actually gave them complex personalities, motivations, and in one case, a love interest. SpiderMan was a HeroAntagonist through the whole thing. Unfortunately, the story ended up with the villains splitting into two factions and an EnemyCivilWar breaking out, where ultimately, the only real winner was [[spoiler: [[TheManBehindTheMan the Kingpin]], the guy who had been funding them.]]
** They had a sequel called ''Lethal Foes of Spider Man'', but while it still fit the Trope, all it really did this time was show how incompetent the villains were. It started with a gang of them (some from the previous series) stealing a powerful weapon, then progressed to two gangs of them fighting over it, and finally to an every-man-for-himself fight over it with Spidey caught in the middle. At the end, Spidey was the last one standing, looking at the dozen super-villains who had pummeled themselves unconscious (wrecking the whole neighborhood in the process) and wondering just what the Hell the whole point of the whole thing had been.
** ''ComicBook/TheSuperiorFoesOfSpiderMan'' is a more comedic take on this, starring an iteration of the Sinister Six composed of [[NonIndicativeName five C-Listers]] as they simply try to make it through their lives while still trying to get paid/not get killed.
* {{ComicBook/Daken}} in his own ongoing. It's made pretty clear he is not a good person (He kills people for kicks after all), but he is charismatic though.
* Most iterations of the ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}, although ''how'' villainous they are depends on the iteration and the villains involved.
* ''Chaos! Comics'', a horror comics company whose heyday was in the '90s, specialized in villain protagonists. Their most successful "hero" and a downright extreme example of this trope was ComicBook/LadyDeath, who in her first story won over a boy who had suffered severe child abuse with promises of love and then coaxed him into going on a killing spree. After seizing the opportunity to turn him into the "super-zombie" Evil Ernie, she encouraged him to wipe out the entire human race, all just to free her from a curse that kept her from returning to Earth. Over the course of his various mini-series Evil Ernie did indeed succeed in wiping out millions through hijacked nuclear bombs and his own zombie plague. Unsurprisingly, Lady Death softened up quite a bit even before Chaos! went under and more when she was licensed out to other companies; at least there was no more goading abuse victims into committing genocide.
** Although he was given a sympathetic backstory, Evil Ernie remained a classic example of this all through the Chaos! days. Most of his mini-series began with him brutally slaughtering the populace of an entire city (one story started off just after he had killed the people of Manhattan ''single-handedly'' over the period of several months), and then having to ward off attacks from his RoguesGallery, people who would be considered the protagonists in your typical ZombieApocalypse story, or from someone who was the villain by default. One mini-series, ''War of the Dead'', was about his attempts to wipe out humanity by hijacking the United States' nuclear arsenal.
* [[Characters/GLRedLanternCorps Atrocitus]] in the ''Comicbook/GreenLantern'' books walks the line between this, AntiVillain, and AntiHero ([[SociopathicHero -ic Sociopath]]). He's an eternally wrathful berserker on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge (and willing to visit DisproportionateRetribution on other criminals he comes across), but his rage was sparked by a very serious injustice and makes it a point to [[PayEvilUntoEvil punish only the guilty]]. In the 2011 DC reboot, he and his Red Lanterns received their own series.
** As of June 2013, [[Characters/GLOrangeLanternCorps Larfleeze]] is likewise getting his own series.
* Paperinik (a DonaldDuck alter-ego created in Italy) had no problem committing thefts and fighting the police to get revenge on who wronged him in his early stories. He however [[CharacterDevelopment evolved]] into a much more heroic character [[HeelFaceTurn with time]], especially in PaperinikNewAdventures.
* ''ComicBook/{{Iznogoud}}'' has Iznogoud as your stereotypical EvilChancellor. Virtually ''all'' his adventures are about him trying the craziest schemes to replace the Caliph of a mythological Baghdad, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption each time failing hilariously]]. He [[GratuitousEnglish Iz no goud]].
* ComicBook/JudgeDredd:
** Dredd himself can be like this, although it's a case of DependingOnTheWriter. Some of the antagonists can be downright heroic compared to Dredd, such as the ''Democracy Now!'' storyline, but he does often go up against villains such as the [[OmnicidalManiac Dark Judges]] and [[SerialKiller P.J.]][[EvilGenius Maybe]].
** Some stories feature Judge Death as the protagonist, as he goes around murdering everything in sight on his quest to destroy the human race.
** Elusive psychopathic serial killer PJ Maybe is the focus character of quite a lot of the stories he appears in.
** Various one shot villains (or {{Anti Villain}}s depending on the story) are the focus of the story with Dredd as a HeroAntagonist. Notable examples are [[TheWoobie Bennett]] [[AllLoveIsUnrequited Beeny]], [[{{Cyborg}} Nate]] [[AwesomeMcCoolname Slaughterhouse]] and [[SkySurfing Marlon]] "[[RedBaron Chopper]]" [[ActionSurvivor Shakespeare]].
* The following ''ComicBook/SinCity'' stories. The other stories typically feature [[BlackandGreyMorality very dark anti-heroes]].
** The "Blue Eyes" stories, in which the protagonist is a ProfessionalKiller pursuing her marks.
** "The Salesman Is Always Right", in which the Salesman is revealed at the end to have come to murder the woman he strikes up a conversation with.
** "Rats" centers on an escaped Nazi war criminal who is living incognito in the United States, and [[ReminiscingAboutYourVictims reminisces]] about all the people he murdered during the war.
* Max from the Eagle Comic Strip 'The Thirteenth Floor'. Admittedly he straddled the line between AntiHero and Villain Protagonist, a computer AI designed to protect and care for the tenants of the block of flats he was installed in, punishing (and several times accidentally killing) those who would harm them. He was often portrayed as a [[DracoInLeatherPants straight hero]] but was initially given several moments where his actions backfired horribly ([[NiceJobBreakingItHero once getting one of his favorite tenants accused of a murder Max had committed]]), and was opposed by several openly [[HeroAntagonist heroic characters]]. Later on however he started to get into more action based scenarios and became a straight GuileHero, with the whole [[KarmaHoudini 'multiple homicide']] thing brushed under the carpet.
* ''Terror, Inc.'' was a Marvel Comic centered around a hitman who could [[PowerCopying copy the abilities of others]] by ripping off their limbs and grafting them to his own body. Yes.
* The title character from ComicBook/{{Nemesis}}.
* Overman from ''[[ComicBook/TheMultiversity Mastermen #1]]''. He began as a Nazi ComicBook/{{Superman}}, but he's actually incredibly guilt-ridden over what he did in their name, and realizes the world he created needs to be destroyed.

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[[folder:Fan Fic]]
* Played with in [[FanFic/DungeonKeeperAmi DKA]]: The land is torn with war, the forces of Light embattled with the vile Keepers- heralds and servants of dark gods. The Avatar of all that is good has [[TheEndOrIsIt been slain]]. So it has been for fifteen years when, suddenly, out of nowhere, a sorceress of unfathomable power emerges. [[FanFic/DungeonKeeperAmi Keeper Mercury]]. Takeing the form of a [[Anime/SailorMoon lovely young woman]], this semi-demon seems to posses the antithesis of the Light's power. [[NotWhatItLooksLike Amoral]] and feindishly [[MadScientist intelligent]], who knows what manner of [[RunningGag cunning]] works behind that deceptive smile...
** [[AvertedTrope That's what the story would]] [[UnreliableNarrator sound like]] if [[BlatantLies narrated by]] [[RunningGag Baron Leoplond]].
* Naruto in the Manga/{{Naruto}} Manga/{{Bleach}} crossover Fanfic/{{Amenaza}} swiftly becomes this despite his status as the HeroProtagonist in his canon universe.
* Justin as Kira in ''FanFic/KiraIsJustice''. However, his motive is that he is using the Death Note because he feels like "it is his duty".
* ''FanFic/KingSuperman'': Each and every one of the protagonists qualify, for acts including using the children of Little Lamplight as slaves and human shields, repeatedly leaving behind friends and allies to save their own asses, and convincing Cliff Briscoe to chug radioactive sludge.
* Tyrin Lieph, a WellIntentionedExtremist who believes that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans is the protagonist equivalent in the EvilVersusEvil plotline of the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' fanfic The Council Era, his WorthyOpponent and antagonist being Halak Marr.
* Dark Yagami in ''Fanfic/LightAndDarkTheAdventuresOfDarkYagami''. While he's once referred to as the "hero" of the story (mainly to justify his PlotArmor), unlike many fanfics with sociopathic main characters, the author seems to acknowledge that he's almost pure evil.
* The ''Manga/KimagureOrangeRoad'' fanfic ''Fanfic/RevengeRoad'' is told from the perspective of [[{{Yandere}} Hik]][[AxCrazy aru]], who [[MoralEventHorizon murders]] [[MurderTheHypotenuse Madoka]] and [[IfICantHaveYou Kyôsuke]] out of [[GreenEyedMonster jealousy]].
* [[AwesomeMcCoolname Ghost]] in the Armored Core cooperative fanfic [[FanFic/ArmoredCoreFromTheAshes From the Ashes]] is this turned UpToEleven. Relatively early on in the story, he [[spoiler:kills ''one hundred million people'']]. It's implied that he's been running a ''huge'' EvilPlan for a long, long time, and is most definitely a MagnificentBastard and TheChessmaster; he seems to believe that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans, but in this case, the 'means' are genocide of the highest order. He gradually turns all the members of the rebuilt ORCA Brigade against him, and when his MoralityChain Holly [[spoiler:came out of a coma and didn't remember him... well, it's going to get a lot worse]]. Given that he's an [[spoiler:OmnicidalManiac]] already... the world should probably start running. Especially given that he's got the king of all SuperPrototype [=NEXTs=] and is a PersonOfMassDestruction when on foot... well, this is bad. ''Really'' bad.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' fanfic trilogy ''FanFic/MyHostageNotYours'', Zim and Gaz spend the first two stories as {{Anti Hero}}es (with some SociopathicHero thrown in), but switch to this in the final story (see page for details).
* The ''FanFic/PonyPOVSeries'', being [[ExactlyWhatit*aysOnTheTin a POV series]], does this on occasion. But the example that stands out is [[spoiler:Princess Luna during her second POV. She starts out as a hero, but eventually performs a FaceHeelTurn due to her overpossessiveness of Pip. She gets into an argument with Celestia, resulting in her killing and bringing Pip back to life as an immortal undead so she can have him forever. When Celestia tries to convince her against making him immortal, she tries to murder her, killing a number of innocent ponies in the process. This leads to Celestia being a HeroAntagonist and fighting back to stop her now insane sister, ultimately killing her. It was AllJustADream, but still!]]
** A milder example, but one that shouldn't be overlooked regardless, is any of the chapters set in the [[BadFuture Epilogue timeline]]. Being a VillainWorld where [[TheBadGuyWins Discord won]], it's to be expected that about 99% of the story is told from the POV of either Discord himself or the [[BrainwashedAndCrazy discorded Mane Six]], who now serve as his CoDragons. [[spoiler:At least until Twilight Tragedy performs a HeelFaceTurn, followed shortly there after by Liarjack. They then redeem Rarigreed and, much later, Traitor Dash and Angry Pie.]]
** Queen Chrysalis' OriginsEpisode is entirely from her point of view, showing what a [[TheSociopath sociopath]] she was even from birth.
* SonicTheHedgehog fanfic ''Fanfic/PrisonIslandBreak'' has all the main cast as violent convicted criminals. They don't even have a particuarly heroic goal; they just want to escape. But because the story is centered on them, they get the SympatheticPOV and you completely forget they're a collection of terrorists, serial killers and rapists (even though the writer never lets you forget).
* In the short story series [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8700173/1/Lex-Luthor-Triumphant Lex Luthor Triumphant]] Lex Luthor gives Lois Lane an interview 8 months after Superman [[spoiler: vanished without a trace.]] Then it goes places.
* Jade's FaceHeelTurn in ''FanFic/QueenOfAllOni'' is what kicks off the entire plot in the first place, and she gets more much more focus than the heroes trying to stop her (though the author's started to rectify that in the latest chapters).
* Loki in some episodes of ''Fanfic/AgentLokiInternationalManOfMayhem''.
* Is [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9311942/1/Cultist-chan-Destroyer-of-Worlds Cultist-chan of Warhammer40k fame adorably stupid?]] Maybe. [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9426250/1/Cultist-chan-and-the-Re-re-re-re-re-re%C3%ABlection-of-Ronald-Reagan Does she have any redeeming features?]] Arguably. [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9384175/1/Cultist-chan-and-the-Glorious-BolognaTown-Groxburger-Crusade Is she still a genocidal, infanticidal, buffoonish pervert who causes catastrophic destruction everywhere she goes?]] Without a doubt.
* [[http://discorderlyconduct.tumblr.com/ Discorderly Conduct]] is just about the best example you can find for good old Discord.
* ''Fanfic/PagesOfHarmony'' has Twilight Sparkle, who [[spoiler: kidnaps, [[ColdBloodedTorture tortures]], and [[MindRape Mind Rapes]] her friends to extract their Elements]]. She is a WellIntentionedExtremist who sincerely believes her plan to destroy chaos and let Harmony rule are good, even if it means [[spoiler: killing her friends, coldly murdering ponies who get in her way before her plans are set, and utterly destroying every disharmonious being in all of reality]].
* Maylu Sakurai from ''[[FanFic/MaylusRevenge Maylu's Revenge]]''. She wanted to get revenge against Roll for her actions as Empress in "Evil Empress Roll", the two-parter episode this fanfic takes place after. And she's willing to get it, even [[FaceHeelTurn siding with World Three]].
* Played with and ultimately subverted in ''Fanfic/StoryOfTheCentury''. L is actually the [[AntiHero Anti-]]HeroProtagonist (or the closest out of anyone in the fanfic to a protagonist) but he tends [[RonTheDeathEater to get the villain treatment]] in [[OriginalCharacter Erin's]] point of view, with Light, Misa and the whole task force as his long-suffering and far more heroic workmates. [[spoiler: Higuchi looks like the real villain at first, but the REAL villains and antagonists turn out to be Light and Misa, like L had been saying all along.]]
* While [[Franchise/AceAttorney Klavier and Apollo]] sometimes [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone regret the]] [[IDidWhatIHadToDo lengths they go to]], [[WhatYouAreInTheDark will do what is right given a chance]] [[TheDogBitesBack and have]] [[DomesticAbuse understandable]] [[BadBoss reasons]] [[LoveMakesYouEvil for their]] StrangersOnATrainPlotMurder they are this in ''FanFic/DirtySympathy''. They are willing to manipulate others to get the results they want or to not dirty their hands. Klavier was willing to kill Phoenix to frame Kristoph until [[AssholeVictim Shadi Enigmar]] gave him an opportunity. Apollo is willing to [[AmoralAttorney manipulate witnesses]], attempted to get Machi to give himself to Daryan fully knowing the latter would abuse or kill him, tampered with a crime scene [[FrameUp to implicate someone else]] and let the murderer off with a lesser crime.
* Ted/Darth Vulcan from ''Fanfic/TheRiseOfDarthVulcan''. A human who is brought to [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Equestria]] by the [[ArtifactOfDoom Alicorn Amulet]] (which he [[GrailInTheGarbage purchased at a pawn shop]]), his disdain for the SugarBowl environment and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero a series of altercations with the Mane 6]] drive him into [[FromNobodyToNightmare becoming the next major villain of Equestria]], with the power of the Amulet and the Diamond Dogs at his command. And since the story is told mainly from his perspective, it fits.
* The {{Anime/Bleach}}, WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic crossover fanfic FanFic/AHollowInEquestria has Ulquiorra Cifer, a literal villain of Bleach, and the reluctant anti-hero protagonist of Equestria.
* Charles Cooper from ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' fanfiction ''FanFic/YouSeemAcquaintedWithThoseDoors'' is a murderous psychopath who is responsible for the deadly conditions of [[SuckECheese Freddy Fazbear's]].

[[folder:Fan Fic]]
* Played with in [[FanFic/DungeonKeeperAmi DKA]]: The land is torn with war, the forces of Light embattled with the vile Keepers- heralds and servants of dark gods. The Avatar of all that is good has [[TheEndOrIsIt been slain]]. So it has been for fifteen years when, suddenly, out of nowhere, a sorceress of unfathomable power emerges. [[FanFic/DungeonKeeperAmi Keeper Mercury]]. Takeing the form of a [[Anime/SailorMoon lovely young woman]], this semi-demon seems to posses the antithesis of the Light's power. [[NotWhatItLooksLike Amoral]] and feindishly [[MadScientist intelligent]], who knows what manner of [[RunningGag cunning]] works behind that deceptive smile...
** [[AvertedTrope That's what the story would]] [[UnreliableNarrator sound like]] if [[BlatantLies narrated by]] [[RunningGag Baron Leoplond]].
* Naruto in the Manga/{{Naruto}} Manga/{{Bleach}} crossover Fanfic/{{Amenaza}} swiftly becomes this despite his status as the HeroProtagonist in his canon universe.
* Justin as Kira in ''FanFic/KiraIsJustice''. However, his motive is that he is using the Death Note because he feels like "it is his duty".
* ''FanFic/KingSuperman'': Each and every one of the protagonists qualify, for acts including using the children of Little Lamplight as slaves and human shields, repeatedly leaving behind friends and allies to save their own asses, and convincing Cliff Briscoe to chug radioactive sludge.
* Tyrin Lieph, a WellIntentionedExtremist who believes that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans is the protagonist equivalent in the EvilVersusEvil plotline of the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' fanfic The Council Era, his WorthyOpponent and antagonist being Halak Marr.
* Dark Yagami in ''Fanfic/LightAndDarkTheAdventuresOfDarkYagami''. While he's once referred to as the "hero" of the story (mainly to justify his PlotArmor), unlike many fanfics with sociopathic main characters, the author seems to acknowledge that he's almost pure evil.
* The ''Manga/KimagureOrangeRoad'' fanfic ''Fanfic/RevengeRoad'' is told from the perspective of [[{{Yandere}} Hik]][[AxCrazy aru]], who [[MoralEventHorizon murders]] [[MurderTheHypotenuse Madoka]] and [[IfICantHaveYou Kyôsuke]] out of [[GreenEyedMonster jealousy]].
* [[AwesomeMcCoolname Ghost]] in the Armored Core cooperative fanfic [[FanFic/ArmoredCoreFromTheAshes From the Ashes]] is this turned UpToEleven. Relatively early on in the story, he [[spoiler:kills ''one hundred million people'']]. It's implied that he's been running a ''huge'' EvilPlan for a long, long time, and is most definitely a MagnificentBastard and TheChessmaster; he seems to believe that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans, but in this case, the 'means' are genocide of the highest order. He gradually turns all the members of the rebuilt ORCA Brigade against him, and when his MoralityChain Holly [[spoiler:came out of a coma and didn't remember him... well, it's going to get a lot worse]]. Given that he's an [[spoiler:OmnicidalManiac]] already... the world should probably start running. Especially given that he's got the king of all SuperPrototype [=NEXTs=] and is a PersonOfMassDestruction when on foot... well, this is bad. ''Really'' bad.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' fanfic trilogy ''FanFic/MyHostageNotYours'', Zim and Gaz spend the first two stories as {{Anti Hero}}es (with some SociopathicHero thrown in), but switch to this in the final story (see page for details).
* The ''FanFic/PonyPOVSeries'', being [[ExactlyWhatit*aysOnTheTin a POV series]], does this on occasion. But the example that stands out is [[spoiler:Princess Luna during her second POV. She starts out as a hero, but eventually performs a FaceHeelTurn due to her overpossessiveness of Pip. She gets into an argument with Celestia, resulting in her killing and bringing Pip back to life as an immortal undead so she can have him forever. When Celestia tries to convince her against making him immortal, she tries to murder her, killing a number of innocent ponies in the process. This leads to Celestia being a HeroAntagonist and fighting back to stop her now insane sister, ultimately killing her. It was AllJustADream, but still!]]
** A milder example, but one that shouldn't be overlooked regardless, is any of the chapters set in the [[BadFuture Epilogue timeline]]. Being a VillainWorld where [[TheBadGuyWins Discord won]], it's to be expected that about 99% of the story is told from the POV of either Discord himself or the [[BrainwashedAndCrazy discorded Mane Six]], who now serve as his CoDragons. [[spoiler:At least until Twilight Tragedy performs a HeelFaceTurn, followed shortly there after by Liarjack. They then redeem Rarigreed and, much later, Traitor Dash and Angry Pie.]]
** Queen Chrysalis' OriginsEpisode is entirely from her point of view, showing what a [[TheSociopath sociopath]] she was even from birth.
* SonicTheHedgehog fanfic ''Fanfic/PrisonIslandBreak'' has all the main cast as violent convicted criminals. They don't even have a particuarly heroic goal; they just want to escape. But because the story is centered on them, they get the SympatheticPOV and you completely forget they're a collection of terrorists, serial killers and rapists (even though the writer never lets you forget).
* In the short story series [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8700173/1/Lex-Luthor-Triumphant Lex Luthor Triumphant]] Lex Luthor gives Lois Lane an interview 8 months after Superman [[spoiler: vanished without a trace.]] Then it goes places.
* Jade's FaceHeelTurn in ''FanFic/QueenOfAllOni'' is what kicks off the entire plot in the first place, and she gets more much more focus than the heroes trying to stop her (though the author's started to rectify that in the latest chapters).
* Loki in some episodes of ''Fanfic/AgentLokiInternationalManOfMayhem''.
* Is [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9311942/1/Cultist-chan-Destroyer-of-Worlds Cultist-chan of Warhammer40k fame adorably stupid?]] Maybe. [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9426250/1/Cultist-chan-and-the-Re-re-re-re-re-re%C3%ABlection-of-Ronald-Reagan Does she have any redeeming features?]] Arguably. [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9384175/1/Cultist-chan-and-the-Glorious-BolognaTown-Groxburger-Crusade Is she still a genocidal, infanticidal, buffoonish pervert who causes catastrophic destruction everywhere she goes?]] Without a doubt.
* [[http://discorderlyconduct.tumblr.com/ Discorderly Conduct]] is just about the best example you can find for good old Discord.
* ''Fanfic/PagesOfHarmony'' has Twilight Sparkle, who [[spoiler: kidnaps, [[ColdBloodedTorture tortures]], and [[MindRape Mind Rapes]] her friends to extract their Elements]]. She is a WellIntentionedExtremist who sincerely believes her plan to destroy chaos and let Harmony rule are good, even if it means [[spoiler: killing her friends, coldly murdering ponies who get in her way before her plans are set, and utterly destroying every disharmonious being in all of reality]].
* Maylu Sakurai from ''[[FanFic/MaylusRevenge Maylu's Revenge]]''. She wanted to get revenge against Roll for her actions as Empress in "Evil Empress Roll", the two-parter episode this fanfic takes place after. And she's willing to get it, even [[FaceHeelTurn siding with World Three]].
* Played with and ultimately subverted in ''Fanfic/StoryOfTheCentury''. L is actually the [[AntiHero Anti-]]HeroProtagonist (or the closest out of anyone in the fanfic to a protagonist) but he tends [[RonTheDeathEater to get the villain treatment]] in [[OriginalCharacter Erin's]] point of view, with Light, Misa and the whole task force as his long-suffering and far more heroic workmates. [[spoiler: Higuchi looks like the real villain at first, but the REAL villains and antagonists turn out to be Light and Misa, like L had been saying all along.]]
* While [[Franchise/AceAttorney Klavier and Apollo]] sometimes [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone regret the]] [[IDidWhatIHadToDo lengths they go to]], [[WhatYouAreInTheDark will do what is right given a chance]] [[TheDogBitesBack and have]] [[DomesticAbuse understandable]] [[BadBoss reasons]] [[LoveMakesYouEvil for their]] StrangersOnATrainPlotMurder they are this in ''FanFic/DirtySympathy''. They are willing to manipulate others to get the results they want or to not dirty their hands. Klavier was willing to kill Phoenix to frame Kristoph until [[AssholeVictim Shadi Enigmar]] gave him an opportunity. Apollo is willing to [[AmoralAttorney manipulate witnesses]], attempted to get Machi to give himself to Daryan fully knowing the latter would abuse or kill him, tampered with a crime scene [[FrameUp to implicate someone else]] and let the murderer off with a lesser crime.
* Ted/Darth Vulcan from ''Fanfic/TheRiseOfDarthVulcan''. A human who is brought to [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Equestria]] by the [[ArtifactOfDoom Alicorn Amulet]] (which he [[GrailInTheGarbage purchased at a pawn shop]]), his disdain for the SugarBowl environment and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero a series of altercations with the Mane 6]] drive him into [[FromNobodyToNightmare becoming the next major villain of Equestria]], with the power of the Amulet and the Diamond Dogs at his command. And since the story is told mainly from his perspective, it fits.
* The {{Anime/Bleach}}, WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic crossover fanfic FanFic/AHollowInEquestria has Ulquiorra Cifer, a literal villain of Bleach, and the reluctant anti-hero protagonist of Equestria.
* Charles Cooper from ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' fanfiction ''FanFic/YouSeemAcquaintedWithThoseDoors'' is a murderous psychopath who is responsible for the deadly conditions of [[SuckECheese Freddy Fazbear's]].

Changed line(s) 161,166 (click to see context) from:

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'': Its protagonist is Gru. He's a villain, but he isn't the best in the world.
* Kuzco from ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove''. He's very mean and arrogant, and everyone hates him, but his EvilChancellor Yzma is way eviler than him, and the film revolves around him going on an odyssey that [[HeelFaceTurn helps him become a better person]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'' counts. (Well, if you consider him a villain at all...)
* The eponymous ''Disney/WreckItRalph'' stars an oldschool arcade villain who's tired of being ostracized for being the bad guy. He goes on a quest to prove that he can be just as heroic as his good-guy rival, Fix-It Felix Jr.
** Ralph is actually a bit of a subversion, since he's [[PunchClockVillain the villain]] [[MeanCharacterNiceActor in name only]]. He's actually just as much of a hero as Felix, but because it's his job to be the bad guy, the [=NPCs=] are [[{{Jerkass}} assholes]] to him [[spoiler:until the end of the film, when they grow to respect him.]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'': Its protagonist is Gru. He's a villain, but he isn't the best in the world.
* Kuzco from ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove''. He's very mean and arrogant, and everyone hates him, but his EvilChancellor Yzma is way eviler than him, and the film revolves around him going on an odyssey that [[HeelFaceTurn helps him become a better person]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'' counts. (Well, if you consider him a villain at all...)
* The eponymous ''Disney/WreckItRalph'' stars an oldschool arcade villain who's tired of being ostracized for being the bad guy. He goes on a quest to prove that he can be just as heroic as his good-guy rival, Fix-It Felix Jr.
** Ralph is actually a bit of a subversion, since he's [[PunchClockVillain the villain]] [[MeanCharacterNiceActor in name only]]. He's actually just as much of a hero as Felix, but because it's his job to be the bad guy, the [=NPCs=] are [[{{Jerkass}} assholes]] to him [[spoiler:until the end of the film, when they grow to respect him.]]

Changed line(s) 169,270 (click to see context) from:

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Darth Vader himself, from the ''Franchise/StarWars'' franchise. According to GeorgeLucas, the film franchise is fundamentally about Anakin and his progression from innocence to a force of good, his fall to evil, and subsequent redemption.
* Louis Bloom in ''Film/{{Nightcrawler}}'' is a sociopathic video journalist who has no problem with worsening local crimes happening around him.
* Creator/MartinScorsese's films are always accompanied by a great cynicism. Here are his examples of this trope:
** In ''Film/GoodFellas'': Henry Hill, Jimmy Conway and Tommy [=DeVito=].
** In ''Film/{{Casino}}'': Sam "Ace" Rothstein and Nicky Santoro.
** In ''Film/TheWolfOfWallStreet'': Jordan Belfort.
* ''Film/TheGodfather'' has the Corleone Family as the main protagonists, more specifically: Vito and Michael Corleone.
* All four of the main characters are of LittleSweetheart various forms of criminals, with the one with the most screentime being the worse.
* Titular character of "Film/JohnWick". We may be rooting for Wick, but it doesn't change the fact that he's a (former) mob hitman with a body count that would make John Rambo blanche.
* The subtext of the ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' trilogy is that the humans are the evil invading aliens. On the surface, however, you're still supposed to be rooting for the humans.
* Most gangster films, from ''ThePublicEnemy'' (1931) to ''Film/PublicEnemies'' (2009).
* Creator/SergioLeone's examples of this include:
** Max and Noodles from ''Film/OnceUponATimeInAmerica''.
** Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Remirez from ''TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'' (if not an AntiHero).
* Yuri Orlov in ''Film/LordOfWar'' is a gunrunner who sells weapons to ''anybody'', including violent dictators and human rights violators. We're shown what a disaster his love life and family relationships are in such a way that you have to stop and feel sorry for him.
* ''AShockToTheSystem'' follows an average joe (played by MichaelCaine) who, after accidentally killing a hobo, decides to also ingeniously murder his wife and boss, seduce his secretary, and get that job he's always wanted. [[spoiler:And he [[KarmaHoudini gets away with it all]], too.]]
* ''Deathtrap'': MichaelCaine as a man who murders his wife and seduces his secretary.
* ''Film/ReservoirDogs'' follows several thieves after a heist. Although one of them is actually a cop, they are all more or less equal in screen time.
* ''NaturalBornKillers'', though the film muddies things by making the law enforcement officers creeps and murderers as well.
* ''BigJimMcLain'' features a "hero" who works for Senator Joseph [=McCarthy=] (yes, that [=McCarthy=]), and beats the living snot out of liberals in Hawaii. Made worse by the fact that this "hero" is played by JohnWayne. To be fair he is targeting "communists", but the definition seems to be more than a little... general.
* ''The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu'', Peter Sellers' final film, is an AffectionateParody (with roots in ''TheGoonShow'') that makes FuManchu charming and a bit sympathetic in his [[MagnificentBastard unrepentant wickedness]]. Having been thwarted so many times by the British, and on the brink of death, the whole plot hinges on him creating a youth elixir to save himself.
* Nick Naylor of ''ThankYouForSmoking'' is the "Sultan of Spin" and chief spokesperson for the tobacco industry. His CrowningMomentOfAwesome comes when he testifies before a Congressional hearing that when his son, possibly the only other sympathetic character, turned eighteen and wanted a cigarette, he would buy him his first pack. The story softens his character considerably by making plain that he ''realizes'' the fact that many people see him as a villain, and good-naturedly takes this in stride.
* Diabolik, Italian comic book "hero" and main character of the film ''Film/DangerDiabolik'' (spoofed on ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'''s final episode) is definitely a Villain Protagonist. At first rub, Diabolik may come off as a GentlemanThief, but throughout the film he indulges in purely selfish acts, stealing millions and killing indiscriminately just to satisfy his girlfriend Eva's tastes or his own whims. He doesn't even have the caveat of fighting a greater evil; he's simply indulging himself with every act in the film. Let it not be said that he doesn't behave like he did in the first comics.
-->'''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Crow]]:''' Well ''I'm'' sorry if ''you're'' offended by my random killings.\\
'''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Servo]]:''' Once again they triumph in the name of sex!\\
'''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Mike]]:''' (''fake joviality'') So ''more'' innocent people killed because of Diabolik's whims!
** Actually, Ginko is supposed to be the protagonist. Unfortunately, the movie makes its allegiances unclear because it revels in Diabolik's evildoings, and Ginko himself tends to come across as a HeroAntagonist with his support of a draconian death penalty law.
* Chuck Tatum (Kirk Douglas) in ''Film/AceInTheHole'' (1951). He's a washed-up, amusingly cynical, charismatic, and brilliantly manipulative newspaper writer who dooms a man to death in a collapsed cave by prolonging and milking the rescue attempt - he's confident the man will make it through ''several days'' in there - just so he can report on it and restore his career. ''He'' regrets what he does in the end, but it's doesn't much matter because it's a WorldHalfEmpty where most of the characters don't care about the life at stake, and instead take his lead and encouragement to profit off of the ''literal'' media carnival that springs up in its wake of this "HumanInterestStory".
* ''HardCandy''. You can choose either one or both of protagonists. WordOfGod is that it's both. Jeff is a predatory hebephile, and Hayley is a fledgling SerialKiller.
* Peyton, the {{Yandere}} from ''Film/TheHandThatRocksTheCradle''.
* ''TheLeagueOfGentlemen'' - ex British Army officers turned bank robbers.
* Hannibal Lecter in ''[[Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs Hannibal Rising]]'', although it's more of a RoaringRampageOfRevenge at that stage.
* The main character from Creator/WoodyAllen's ''Film/MatchPoint'' gets married to a rich woman mostly for her money while having an affair with his brother-in-law's girlfriend. Ultimately [[spoiler:he gets the mistress pregnant, so to cover it up he kills her and her neighbor to make it look like a botched robbery]].
* Both the protagonists from ''Film/MrAndMrsSmith'', ''probably''. Both were assassins, but there was really no clue as to just who their employers reported to or whether either organization was good or evil, or just what overall goals they had. (Jane did mention something to one target about "selling big guns to bad people" before she killed him, but there's no way of knowing if that was in any way typical of her hits.) Seeing as each of them seemed pretty decent to anyone who wasn't on his or her list, you might call them "[[PunchClockVillain Punch Clock Villain Protagonists]]".
* Creator/WoodyAllen loves the Trope, as [[MeaningfulName Judah]] of ''Crimes & Misdemeanors'' follows a similar path to the protagonist of ''Match Point''. Judah wrings his hands a lot, but he's still evil.
* Babs Johnson, the main character of ''Film/PinkFlamingos''. She's a serial killer, robber, thief [[ImAHumanitarian among other things]], but you just have to love her.
* Henry, the eponymous character from ''Film/HenryPortraitOfASerialKiller'' Unlike other examples of this trope, though, he's not AffablyEvil or an AntiVillain in the slightest. In fact, he's so cold and emotionless that he comes across as barely human, and routinely commits some of the most horrific murders in film history.
* In the Norwegian film ''Film/{{Insomnia}}'', the protagonist Engström begins as a moderately corrupt detective (though he's highly regarded by his peers). By the end, he's descended into pure evil, partially caused by the madness of working in 24-hour sunlight above the Arctic Circle but mostly due to his own inner lack of humanity. The final shot of [[spoiler:his dead, haunted eyes]] is one of the creepier endings in film.
** AlPacino's character in the American remake is portrayed as having more of a IDidWhatIHadToDo motivation, though he still performs some very selfish and morally questionable acts over the course of the film.
* ''Literature/{{Perfume}}: The Story of a Murderer'' is ExactlyWhatit*aysOnTheTin. Protagonist Jean-Baptiste Grenouille kills women in order to create the perfect perfume.
* ''Film/KindHeartsAndCoronets'': The protagonist's mother, the daughter of a duke, is disowned by her family after eloping with an opera singer. In revenge, the protagonist plots to murder every relative standing between himself and the dukedom. While simultaneously leading on both BettyAndVeronica. And it's all played for laughs.
* Frank Abagnale Jr., the protagonist of ''Film/CatchMeIfYouCan'', is an adrift and young counterfeiter and con man who uses his natural cleverness to make some money, and [[HeroAntagonist his antagonist]], Hanratty, is an FBI agent trying to, well, Catch Him if He Can. In the end Frank [[spoiler:with Hanratty's support eventually goes straight.]]
* ''Film/TheProducers'' (either version) is about two guys who spend the whole movie not only scamming old ladies assembling a BatmanGambit that [[SoBadItsGood bites them in the ass]], and is also the TropeNamer for SpringtimeForHitler, and it is hinted that after they got their (much deserved) sentence, they intended to scam the police in prison with a theatrical play.
* ''Film/CecilBDemented'' and his [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Sprocket Holes]]. [[MaggieGyllenhaal One of them]] is a [[HotAsHell satanist]]!
* Theo, the protagonist of ''Film/DerFreieWille'', is a serial rapist.
* The eponymous character of ''Charley Varrick'' is a career bank robber, who we first see robbing a bank. However, given that the movie is about him trying to escape the consequences when the bank he hits turns out to be a money laundry for the Mob, he played entirely fair with his fellow gang members until they tried to screw him over (at which point he unhesitatingly arranged for them to fall into the hands of the antagonists), avoided killing innocent bystanders (again unlike the antagonists), tragically lost his (fellow bank robber) wife in the opening scene, and faced off against a Mafia hitman, he's easy to root for.
* ''Film/{{Otis}}'', which features a deranged serial killer who targets young women in order to relive his high school memories (or more accurately, his brother's). However, he apparently doesn't rape them.
* ''Film/KingOfNewYork'' is the heartwarming saga of a couple of violent drug dealers (played by ChristopherWalken and LaurenceFishburne) who just want to sell drugs, kill people that cross them, and [[ArsonMurderAndLifesaving build a few hospitals for poor people]].
* In ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'' you follow the psychopathic killer Patrick Bateman.
* ''Film/ShatteredGlass'' follows Stephen Glass, a rising journalist who makes up half of what he writes.
* Benoit, from the mockumentary about a serial killer, ''Film/ManBitesDog''.
* Title character Leslie Vernon of ''Film/BehindTheMaskTheRiseOfLeslieVernon'' spends much of the movie preparing for a killing spree and demonstrating how the killers in [[SlasherMovie slasher flicks]] do what they do.
* The Australian psychological thriller ''Restraint'' has a female example in Teresa Palmer's character Dale, a stripper on a crime spree with her murderous boyfriend. She remains sympathetic due to a kind streak.
* The "father/daughter" con-artist team of ''Film/PaperMoon''.
* Tony Wendice in Creator/AlfredHitchco*ck's ''Film/DialMForMurder'' and Steven Taylor in the pseudo-remake ''Film/APerfectMurder''. Both discover that their wives (who are each independently wealthy) are cheating on them and, not wanting to divorce them and lose out on the money, cook up elaborate schemes to murder them instead.
* ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'' revolves around a group of criminals, trying to get out from under the finger of the villain, Keyser Soze. It turns out that [[spoiler:the protagonist, Verbal Kint, was the villain all along]].
* Creator/JodieFoster's character from ''The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane.'' An interesting case, because her killing is more of a survival tactic than a true villainy, but her actions are a little too extreme to describe as "antihero". Plus, it's not (usually) so much a matter of physical survival, but of preserving what amounts to a set of hippie values. Which is subversive in all kinds of great ways.
* ''Film/FourLions'': a comedy about aspiring jihadist suicide bombers.
* The eponymous main character of ''Mini's First Time'' is an utterly remorseless [[spoiler:parricide]]. She is probably as close to soulless as a person could be, which is precisely what makes her so compelling to watch.
* The protagonist of ''Film/TheBadAndTheBeautiful'' is a ruthless movie producer who scruples not to lie, cheat, steal, seduce, and con to get his movies made. The film is narrated by three of the people whom he chewed up and spat out on his way to the top.
* Bridget Gregory of ''Film/TheLastSeduction'', a ConArtist who steals $700,000 from her equally crooked (but much less clever) husband and spends the rest of the movie scheming to bump him off and get away with it. [[spoiler:She succeeds, and her UnwittingPawn goes to prison in her place.]]
* Tony Curtis's Sidney Falco of ''Film/SweetSmellOfSuccess''. He screws over and uses everyone he meets in the film, with the exception of his master, J.J. Hunsecker (as portrayed by Burt Lancaster).
* Earl Brooks (Creator/KevinCostner) of ''Film/MrBrooks'', a caring family man and philanthropist with a secret addiction to serial murder. Unlike a lot of examples, the good sides of his persona are real and not just a mask, making him highly sympathetic. Despite that, he's still a monster.
* Matsu from the ''[[Film/JoshuuSasori Female Prisoner Scorpion]]'' films is, not too surprisingly, a prisoner. Put away for attempted murder, she goes on to kill and cause to be killed many more times before the series ends, her victims including the prison warden at least two detectives and several other policemen. The facts that one of the detectives, the man she tried and failed to kill, seduced her and arranged her rape purely to allow him to arrest the rapists and corruptly take over their business, that the prison warden tortured her, locked her underground in chains for a year, had her raped and ultimately tried to stage her death, and that she never kills senselessly, only makes her less villainous relatively speaking.
* The trio of the protagonists in Fassbinder's FilmNoir ''Love Is Colder Than Death''. The first of them is a pimp and rapist, the second is a violent killer-for-hire working for Mob, and seemingly the least evil of them is a prostitute, but she also doesn't disdain of murdering people, including {{Innocent Bystander}}s.
* Maindrian Pace in ''Film/GoneInSixtySeconds1974'' steals cars for a living, though he makes sure that the cars are insured. [[Film/GoneInSixtySeconds2000 The remake]] averts the trope. Although the protagonist is also a car thief, he's being blackmailed into performing the heist by the real villains.
* Film/TheBlingRing from Sofia Coppola's biopic is most definitely this. What makes Nicki stand out is that [[PlayingAgainstType she's portrayed by]] Creator/EmmaWatson.
* Subverted by ''Film/AClockworkOrange''. The first act of the film has Alex [=DeLarge=], our protagonist, as a blatant villain. In the rest of the film, however, he's a helpless victim. In the film version of the story, the real villain turns out to be [[spoiler:the government, who try to play God with a man's mind, screw up, and ultimately sweep it under the rug and make a deal with a psychopath]].
* The protagonist of ''Film/IStandAlone'' is a violent ex-butcher who pummels his pregnant girlfriend into a miscarriage, plans to murder random people who cross him, and molests his daughter.
* Sue Shiomi as Yumi Higaki from ''Creator/SonnyChiba's Film/DragonPrincess'' is a killing machine with violent revenge the one thing on her agenda. She also fits into the Type III AntiVillain category and [[spoiler:gets a BittersweetEnding in that while she suffers the same fate as her father in avenging the loss of his arm, she survives and is able to live a more normal life.]]
* The title character from ''Caligula'', which depicts the reign of the AxCrazy Roman emperor.
* O-Dog in ''Film/MenaceIISociety''. Unlike some other examples of villains protagonists, he is not sympathic or nice, has no redeeming qualities, and has very few traits of AffablyEvil. Rather he is a sad*stic AxCrazy who does not hesitate to kill.
* Admiral General Shabazz Aladeen in ''Film/TheDictator'', played by SachaBaronCohen. He's a racist, sexist, antisemitic terrorist-supporting autocratic oppressor of a fictional third world nation. [[spoiler:He wins in the end by defeating his equally evil treacherous advisor, while little has changed about his behavior.]]
* Ryunosuke in ''Film/TheSwordOfDoom'' is an amoral samurai who's cruelty earns him the hatred of almost everyone around him.
* Neil [=McCauley=] (played by Robert De Niro) in ''Film/{{Heat}}'' is a ruthless bank robber, but he has an equal role in the story as Vincent Hanna (played by Al Pacino), the cop trying to catch him.
* Frank Morris in ''Film/EscapeFromAlcatraz'', who is a robber and a multiple prison escapee.
* Lou Ford in ''Film/TheKillerInsideMe'' is an accomplished serial killer and domestic abuser masquerading as an honest cop, and genuinely enjoys all the murders he commits.
* All the protagonists ''and'' antagonists in the Spanish movie ''[[AccionMutante Acción Mutante]]'' are villains, [[EvilVersusEvil fighting each other]] for selfish reasons like money, sex or spite - not even because the other villain's kind of evil is worse. Even the minor characters are unsympathetic (e.g. the misogynist hillbilly miners; the ridiculously-posh, biased TV journalists).
* Chad from ''Film/InTheCompanyOfMen'' is a rude sexist {{Jerkass}} who gets a woman to fall in love with him just so he can break her heart later on for his own amusem*nt. He runs a business and treats his employees like dirt. He later betrays his "friend" Howard, getting him demoted at work and driving him and his girlfriend to depression.
* While her quirkiness does make her endearing at certain points, Mavis Gary from ''Film/YoungAdult'' spends most of the film doing everything she can to break up a happy, wholesome marriage (with a newborn girl, no less). Not to mention she is absolutely horrible and demeaning to most people who are unfortunate enough to come across her.
* Terrence [=McDonaugh=] in ''Film/TheBadLieutenantPortOfCallNewOrleans''. He's a RabidCop who also a drug and gambling addict, steals from other cops and suspects, tortures people he interrogates, and blackmails female suspects to have sex with him. The only redeeming qualities he has is that he still loves his family and girlfriend, and draws the line at point blank murder. [[spoiler:By the time the film's ending comes around, he still hasn't changed his drug-inducing habits one little bit and goes largely unpunished for all his crimes.]]
* Paul from ''Film/TheManhattanProject'', when he's not bullying the school nerd with chemical explosives, he's building nuclear weapons that he then uses to hold the military hostage until he gets his way.
* The Horsem*n, and [[spoiler: Dylan Rhodes]] in ''Film/NowYouSeeMe''.
* The Firefly Family are the villains of ''Film/HouseOf1000Corpses'', but the sequel, ''Film/TheDevilsRejects'', makes them the protagonists of the movie. They're utterly depraved and valueless serial killers, but the audience is able to relate to their deep emotional ties as a family. To spice things up, the movie has a particularly crazy KnightTemplar hero who is himself quite compelling.
* Riddick is a much darker character in ''Film/PitchBlack'' than in [[Franchise/TheChroniclesOfRiddick subsequent movies]] (where he's more of an AntiHero), partly because this film is the story of his redemption. While the first half treats him more as an antagonist, Riddick's opening monologue and the increasing focus on him for the latter half make it quite clear that it's as much his story as Carolyn's. He's introduced as a murderous criminal, and does little to dispell it. He's utterly opportunistic throughout the story, sociopathically indifferent to all the death around him, and [[spoiler:is fully ready to leave the other survivors behind on the alien planet when they're no longer of use to him.]] He even tries to corrupt Carolyn to make the selfish choice [[spoiler:to join him and forget about the others, threatening to leave her to die if she doesn't.]] It's Carolyn's quest to ultimately be a better person that motivates his HeelFaceTurn by the end.
* Daniel from ''Film/PainAndGain''. The interesting thing is the survivors and family accused the filmmakers of portraying Lugo and his co-horts as "antiheroes who just made a few mistakes," which is about as far as the trailers got. In reality the film doesn't make them out to be good people in the least, and instead shows that they are stupid, selfish people who torture and kill others for their money (Paul is an exception, who is a devout Christian dragged into this scheme, also being a combination of two other characters).
* Alonzo the Armless is the central character in ''Film/TheUnknown''. He is a murderous and obsessive knife-thrower who leaves a trail of bodies in his wake and has his arms amputated in an attempt to possess the woman he loves.
* Cactus Jack Slade in the Western parody ''Film/TheVillain'', though he's a thoroughly inept and bungling one.
* ''Film/CabinByTheLake'' centers around horror movie writer Stanley Cauldwell, who's knowingly and obviously evil as a depraved serial killer of women.
* The protagonists of ''Film/TheEagleHasLanded'' are a group of German commandos trying to assassinate Winston Churchill under orders from Heinrich Himmler. The film does establish that the commandos themselves are honorable men [[MyCountryRightOrWrong concerned only with their mission]] and are disgusted by the war crimes they witness, even if their bosses might be mass murderers.
* Every character in ''Film/{{Conspiracy}}'' (which features an EnsembleCast) is a high-ranking official of a totalitarian regime engaging in wars of conquest and extermination, while their objective is to organize a continental genocide.
* The Psychlo leader Terl from ''Film/BattlefieldEarth''. He gets a larger role in the film than in the book because the character was played by Creator/JohnTravolta, who also produced and financed the movie, which was something of a pet project for him.
* William "D-FENS" Foster from ''Film/FallingDown''. He's dangerously insane and becomes increasingly violent, but at the same time he's also clearly a victim of powers beyond his control, and the audience is encouraged to feel catharsis through his actions even as the movie condemns them.
* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' has been this through half of his films.
* Magneto to some extent in ''Film/XMenFirstClass''.
* Frank Weld of ''Film/RobotAndFrank'' is a mild example; he's a former burglar and convicted felon who's living his sunset years fighting off boredom and the onset of Alzheimer's.
* ''Film/AmericanMe'': The main character Montoya Santana is a leading member of the Mexican Mafia.
* Archie Channing from ''Film/{{Quigley}}'' started out as a {{Jerkass}} CorruptCorporateExecutive who was rather unforgiving to his employees, but after a car crash gets him sent to Heaven, he comes back to Earth in the form of a Pomeranian in order to make up for all of the selfish things that he did, which is what incites his HeelFaceTurn as the movie goes on.
* Te Wheke, the {{rebel leader}} protagonist of ''{{Film/Utu}}'' wants to kill every white person in New Zealand. These include the women and children, and any Maori who won't join his rebellion.
* Bill Wiliamson of ''Film/{{Rampage}}'' is a trigger happy lunatic who goes on a killing spree, shooting up his home town and killing many people before skipping town with stolen money to start another rampage. In the sequel, he takes a studio hostage and later blows it up and kills everyone, before giving a little girl a gun and telling her to go home and kill her parents and herself. He claims he kills to strave off overpopulation and fight against the corrupt government, but his aditude toward his victims reveals this to be a shallow excuse.
* In ''Film/KissOfTheTrantula'', Susan is a spider-obsessed CreepyChild (who grows into a creepy teen) with a SympatheticPOV: her first victim is her mother, who was plotting her father's murder. The next set were teens who broke into her house, threatened to rape her and killed one of her pet spiders. (and it's implied she was just trying to scare them). Bo, on the other hand, she killed to shut him up.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Darth Vader himself, from the ''Franchise/StarWars'' franchise. According to GeorgeLucas, the film franchise is fundamentally about Anakin and his progression from innocence to a force of good, his fall to evil, and subsequent redemption.
* Louis Bloom in ''Film/{{Nightcrawler}}'' is a sociopathic video journalist who has no problem with worsening local crimes happening around him.
* Creator/MartinScorsese's films are always accompanied by a great cynicism. Here are his examples of this trope:
** In ''Film/GoodFellas'': Henry Hill, Jimmy Conway and Tommy [=DeVito=].
** In ''Film/{{Casino}}'': Sam "Ace" Rothstein and Nicky Santoro.
** In ''Film/TheWolfOfWallStreet'': Jordan Belfort.
* ''Film/TheGodfather'' has the Corleone Family as the main protagonists, more specifically: Vito and Michael Corleone.
* All four of the main characters are of LittleSweetheart various forms of criminals, with the one with the most screentime being the worse.
* Titular character of "Film/JohnWick". We may be rooting for Wick, but it doesn't change the fact that he's a (former) mob hitman with a body count that would make John Rambo blanche.
* The subtext of the ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' trilogy is that the humans are the evil invading aliens. On the surface, however, you're still supposed to be rooting for the humans.
* Most gangster films, from ''ThePublicEnemy'' (1931) to ''Film/PublicEnemies'' (2009).
* Creator/SergioLeone's examples of this include:
** Max and Noodles from ''Film/OnceUponATimeInAmerica''.
** Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Remirez from ''TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'' (if not an AntiHero).
* Yuri Orlov in ''Film/LordOfWar'' is a gunrunner who sells weapons to ''anybody'', including violent dictators and human rights violators. We're shown what a disaster his love life and family relationships are in such a way that you have to stop and feel sorry for him.
* ''AShockToTheSystem'' follows an average joe (played by MichaelCaine) who, after accidentally killing a hobo, decides to also ingeniously murder his wife and boss, seduce his secretary, and get that job he's always wanted. [[spoiler:And he [[KarmaHoudini gets away with it all]], too.]]
* ''Deathtrap'': MichaelCaine as a man who murders his wife and seduces his secretary.
* ''Film/ReservoirDogs'' follows several thieves after a heist. Although one of them is actually a cop, they are all more or less equal in screen time.
* ''NaturalBornKillers'', though the film muddies things by making the law enforcement officers creeps and murderers as well.
* ''BigJimMcLain'' features a "hero" who works for Senator Joseph [=McCarthy=] (yes, that [=McCarthy=]), and beats the living snot out of liberals in Hawaii. Made worse by the fact that this "hero" is played by JohnWayne. To be fair he is targeting "communists", but the definition seems to be more than a little... general.
* ''The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu'', Peter Sellers' final film, is an AffectionateParody (with roots in ''TheGoonShow'') that makes FuManchu charming and a bit sympathetic in his [[MagnificentBastard unrepentant wickedness]]. Having been thwarted so many times by the British, and on the brink of death, the whole plot hinges on him creating a youth elixir to save himself.
* Nick Naylor of ''ThankYouForSmoking'' is the "Sultan of Spin" and chief spokesperson for the tobacco industry. His CrowningMomentOfAwesome comes when he testifies before a Congressional hearing that when his son, possibly the only other sympathetic character, turned eighteen and wanted a cigarette, he would buy him his first pack. The story softens his character considerably by making plain that he ''realizes'' the fact that many people see him as a villain, and good-naturedly takes this in stride.
* Diabolik, Italian comic book "hero" and main character of the film ''Film/DangerDiabolik'' (spoofed on ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'''s final episode) is definitely a Villain Protagonist. At first rub, Diabolik may come off as a GentlemanThief, but throughout the film he indulges in purely selfish acts, stealing millions and killing indiscriminately just to satisfy his girlfriend Eva's tastes or his own whims. He doesn't even have the caveat of fighting a greater evil; he's simply indulging himself with every act in the film. Let it not be said that he doesn't behave like he did in the first comics.
-->'''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Crow]]:''' Well ''I'm'' sorry if ''you're'' offended by my random killings.\\
'''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Servo]]:''' Once again they triumph in the name of sex!\\
'''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Mike]]:''' (''fake joviality'') So ''more'' innocent people killed because of Diabolik's whims!
** Actually, Ginko is supposed to be the protagonist. Unfortunately, the movie makes its allegiances unclear because it revels in Diabolik's evildoings, and Ginko himself tends to come across as a HeroAntagonist with his support of a draconian death penalty law.
* Chuck Tatum (Kirk Douglas) in ''Film/AceInTheHole'' (1951). He's a washed-up, amusingly cynical, charismatic, and brilliantly manipulative newspaper writer who dooms a man to death in a collapsed cave by prolonging and milking the rescue attempt - he's confident the man will make it through ''several days'' in there - just so he can report on it and restore his career. ''He'' regrets what he does in the end, but it's doesn't much matter because it's a WorldHalfEmpty where most of the characters don't care about the life at stake, and instead take his lead and encouragement to profit off of the ''literal'' media carnival that springs up in its wake of this "HumanInterestStory".
* ''HardCandy''. You can choose either one or both of protagonists. WordOfGod is that it's both. Jeff is a predatory hebephile, and Hayley is a fledgling SerialKiller.
* Peyton, the {{Yandere}} from ''Film/TheHandThatRocksTheCradle''.
* ''TheLeagueOfGentlemen'' - ex British Army officers turned bank robbers.
* Hannibal Lecter in ''[[Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs Hannibal Rising]]'', although it's more of a RoaringRampageOfRevenge at that stage.
* The main character from Creator/WoodyAllen's ''Film/MatchPoint'' gets married to a rich woman mostly for her money while having an affair with his brother-in-law's girlfriend. Ultimately [[spoiler:he gets the mistress pregnant, so to cover it up he kills her and her neighbor to make it look like a botched robbery]].
* Both the protagonists from ''Film/MrAndMrsSmith'', ''probably''. Both were assassins, but there was really no clue as to just who their employers reported to or whether either organization was good or evil, or just what overall goals they had. (Jane did mention something to one target about "selling big guns to bad people" before she killed him, but there's no way of knowing if that was in any way typical of her hits.) Seeing as each of them seemed pretty decent to anyone who wasn't on his or her list, you might call them "[[PunchClockVillain Punch Clock Villain Protagonists]]".
* Creator/WoodyAllen loves the Trope, as [[MeaningfulName Judah]] of ''Crimes & Misdemeanors'' follows a similar path to the protagonist of ''Match Point''. Judah wrings his hands a lot, but he's still evil.
* Babs Johnson, the main character of ''Film/PinkFlamingos''. She's a serial killer, robber, thief [[ImAHumanitarian among other things]], but you just have to love her.
* Henry, the eponymous character from ''Film/HenryPortraitOfASerialKiller'' Unlike other examples of this trope, though, he's not AffablyEvil or an AntiVillain in the slightest. In fact, he's so cold and emotionless that he comes across as barely human, and routinely commits some of the most horrific murders in film history.
* In the Norwegian film ''Film/{{Insomnia}}'', the protagonist Engström begins as a moderately corrupt detective (though he's highly regarded by his peers). By the end, he's descended into pure evil, partially caused by the madness of working in 24-hour sunlight above the Arctic Circle but mostly due to his own inner lack of humanity. The final shot of [[spoiler:his dead, haunted eyes]] is one of the creepier endings in film.
** AlPacino's character in the American remake is portrayed as having more of a IDidWhatIHadToDo motivation, though he still performs some very selfish and morally questionable acts over the course of the film.
* ''Literature/{{Perfume}}: The Story of a Murderer'' is ExactlyWhatit*aysOnTheTin. Protagonist Jean-Baptiste Grenouille kills women in order to create the perfect perfume.
* ''Film/KindHeartsAndCoronets'': The protagonist's mother, the daughter of a duke, is disowned by her family after eloping with an opera singer. In revenge, the protagonist plots to murder every relative standing between himself and the dukedom. While simultaneously leading on both BettyAndVeronica. And it's all played for laughs.
* Frank Abagnale Jr., the protagonist of ''Film/CatchMeIfYouCan'', is an adrift and young counterfeiter and con man who uses his natural cleverness to make some money, and [[HeroAntagonist his antagonist]], Hanratty, is an FBI agent trying to, well, Catch Him if He Can. In the end Frank [[spoiler:with Hanratty's support eventually goes straight.]]
* ''Film/TheProducers'' (either version) is about two guys who spend the whole movie not only scamming old ladies assembling a BatmanGambit that [[SoBadItsGood bites them in the ass]], and is also the TropeNamer for SpringtimeForHitler, and it is hinted that after they got their (much deserved) sentence, they intended to scam the police in prison with a theatrical play.
* ''Film/CecilBDemented'' and his [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Sprocket Holes]]. [[MaggieGyllenhaal One of them]] is a [[HotAsHell satanist]]!
* Theo, the protagonist of ''Film/DerFreieWille'', is a serial rapist.
* The eponymous character of ''Charley Varrick'' is a career bank robber, who we first see robbing a bank. However, given that the movie is about him trying to escape the consequences when the bank he hits turns out to be a money laundry for the Mob, he played entirely fair with his fellow gang members until they tried to screw him over (at which point he unhesitatingly arranged for them to fall into the hands of the antagonists), avoided killing innocent bystanders (again unlike the antagonists), tragically lost his (fellow bank robber) wife in the opening scene, and faced off against a Mafia hitman, he's easy to root for.
* ''Film/{{Otis}}'', which features a deranged serial killer who targets young women in order to relive his high school memories (or more accurately, his brother's). However, he apparently doesn't rape them.
* ''Film/KingOfNewYork'' is the heartwarming saga of a couple of violent drug dealers (played by ChristopherWalken and LaurenceFishburne) who just want to sell drugs, kill people that cross them, and [[ArsonMurderAndLifesaving build a few hospitals for poor people]].
* In ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'' you follow the psychopathic killer Patrick Bateman.
* ''Film/ShatteredGlass'' follows Stephen Glass, a rising journalist who makes up half of what he writes.
* Benoit, from the mockumentary about a serial killer, ''Film/ManBitesDog''.
* Title character Leslie Vernon of ''Film/BehindTheMaskTheRiseOfLeslieVernon'' spends much of the movie preparing for a killing spree and demonstrating how the killers in [[SlasherMovie slasher flicks]] do what they do.
* The Australian psychological thriller ''Restraint'' has a female example in Teresa Palmer's character Dale, a stripper on a crime spree with her murderous boyfriend. She remains sympathetic due to a kind streak.
* The "father/daughter" con-artist team of ''Film/PaperMoon''.
* Tony Wendice in Creator/AlfredHitchco*ck's ''Film/DialMForMurder'' and Steven Taylor in the pseudo-remake ''Film/APerfectMurder''. Both discover that their wives (who are each independently wealthy) are cheating on them and, not wanting to divorce them and lose out on the money, cook up elaborate schemes to murder them instead.
* ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'' revolves around a group of criminals, trying to get out from under the finger of the villain, Keyser Soze. It turns out that [[spoiler:the protagonist, Verbal Kint, was the villain all along]].
* Creator/JodieFoster's character from ''The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane.'' An interesting case, because her killing is more of a survival tactic than a true villainy, but her actions are a little too extreme to describe as "antihero". Plus, it's not (usually) so much a matter of physical survival, but of preserving what amounts to a set of hippie values. Which is subversive in all kinds of great ways.
* ''Film/FourLions'': a comedy about aspiring jihadist suicide bombers.
* The eponymous main character of ''Mini's First Time'' is an utterly remorseless [[spoiler:parricide]]. She is probably as close to soulless as a person could be, which is precisely what makes her so compelling to watch.
* The protagonist of ''Film/TheBadAndTheBeautiful'' is a ruthless movie producer who scruples not to lie, cheat, steal, seduce, and con to get his movies made. The film is narrated by three of the people whom he chewed up and spat out on his way to the top.
* Bridget Gregory of ''Film/TheLastSeduction'', a ConArtist who steals $700,000 from her equally crooked (but much less clever) husband and spends the rest of the movie scheming to bump him off and get away with it. [[spoiler:She succeeds, and her UnwittingPawn goes to prison in her place.]]
* Tony Curtis's Sidney Falco of ''Film/SweetSmellOfSuccess''. He screws over and uses everyone he meets in the film, with the exception of his master, J.J. Hunsecker (as portrayed by Burt Lancaster).
* Earl Brooks (Creator/KevinCostner) of ''Film/MrBrooks'', a caring family man and philanthropist with a secret addiction to serial murder. Unlike a lot of examples, the good sides of his persona are real and not just a mask, making him highly sympathetic. Despite that, he's still a monster.
* Matsu from the ''[[Film/JoshuuSasori Female Prisoner Scorpion]]'' films is, not too surprisingly, a prisoner. Put away for attempted murder, she goes on to kill and cause to be killed many more times before the series ends, her victims including the prison warden at least two detectives and several other policemen. The facts that one of the detectives, the man she tried and failed to kill, seduced her and arranged her rape purely to allow him to arrest the rapists and corruptly take over their business, that the prison warden tortured her, locked her underground in chains for a year, had her raped and ultimately tried to stage her death, and that she never kills senselessly, only makes her less villainous relatively speaking.
* The trio of the protagonists in Fassbinder's FilmNoir ''Love Is Colder Than Death''. The first of them is a pimp and rapist, the second is a violent killer-for-hire working for Mob, and seemingly the least evil of them is a prostitute, but she also doesn't disdain of murdering people, including {{Innocent Bystander}}s.
* Maindrian Pace in ''Film/GoneInSixtySeconds1974'' steals cars for a living, though he makes sure that the cars are insured. [[Film/GoneInSixtySeconds2000 The remake]] averts the trope. Although the protagonist is also a car thief, he's being blackmailed into performing the heist by the real villains.
* Film/TheBlingRing from Sofia Coppola's biopic is most definitely this. What makes Nicki stand out is that [[PlayingAgainstType she's portrayed by]] Creator/EmmaWatson.
* Subverted by ''Film/AClockworkOrange''. The first act of the film has Alex [=DeLarge=], our protagonist, as a blatant villain. In the rest of the film, however, he's a helpless victim. In the film version of the story, the real villain turns out to be [[spoiler:the government, who try to play God with a man's mind, screw up, and ultimately sweep it under the rug and make a deal with a psychopath]].
* The protagonist of ''Film/IStandAlone'' is a violent ex-butcher who pummels his pregnant girlfriend into a miscarriage, plans to murder random people who cross him, and molests his daughter.
* Sue Shiomi as Yumi Higaki from ''Creator/SonnyChiba's Film/DragonPrincess'' is a killing machine with violent revenge the one thing on her agenda. She also fits into the Type III AntiVillain category and [[spoiler:gets a BittersweetEnding in that while she suffers the same fate as her father in avenging the loss of his arm, she survives and is able to live a more normal life.]]
* The title character from ''Caligula'', which depicts the reign of the AxCrazy Roman emperor.
* O-Dog in ''Film/MenaceIISociety''. Unlike some other examples of villains protagonists, he is not sympathic or nice, has no redeeming qualities, and has very few traits of AffablyEvil. Rather he is a sad*stic AxCrazy who does not hesitate to kill.
* Admiral General Shabazz Aladeen in ''Film/TheDictator'', played by SachaBaronCohen. He's a racist, sexist, antisemitic terrorist-supporting autocratic oppressor of a fictional third world nation. [[spoiler:He wins in the end by defeating his equally evil treacherous advisor, while little has changed about his behavior.]]
* Ryunosuke in ''Film/TheSwordOfDoom'' is an amoral samurai who's cruelty earns him the hatred of almost everyone around him.
* Neil [=McCauley=] (played by Robert De Niro) in ''Film/{{Heat}}'' is a ruthless bank robber, but he has an equal role in the story as Vincent Hanna (played by Al Pacino), the cop trying to catch him.
* Frank Morris in ''Film/EscapeFromAlcatraz'', who is a robber and a multiple prison escapee.
* Lou Ford in ''Film/TheKillerInsideMe'' is an accomplished serial killer and domestic abuser masquerading as an honest cop, and genuinely enjoys all the murders he commits.
* All the protagonists ''and'' antagonists in the Spanish movie ''[[AccionMutante Acción Mutante]]'' are villains, [[EvilVersusEvil fighting each other]] for selfish reasons like money, sex or spite - not even because the other villain's kind of evil is worse. Even the minor characters are unsympathetic (e.g. the misogynist hillbilly miners; the ridiculously-posh, biased TV journalists).
* Chad from ''Film/InTheCompanyOfMen'' is a rude sexist {{Jerkass}} who gets a woman to fall in love with him just so he can break her heart later on for his own amusem*nt. He runs a business and treats his employees like dirt. He later betrays his "friend" Howard, getting him demoted at work and driving him and his girlfriend to depression.
* While her quirkiness does make her endearing at certain points, Mavis Gary from ''Film/YoungAdult'' spends most of the film doing everything she can to break up a happy, wholesome marriage (with a newborn girl, no less). Not to mention she is absolutely horrible and demeaning to most people who are unfortunate enough to come across her.
* Terrence [=McDonaugh=] in ''Film/TheBadLieutenantPortOfCallNewOrleans''. He's a RabidCop who also a drug and gambling addict, steals from other cops and suspects, tortures people he interrogates, and blackmails female suspects to have sex with him. The only redeeming qualities he has is that he still loves his family and girlfriend, and draws the line at point blank murder. [[spoiler:By the time the film's ending comes around, he still hasn't changed his drug-inducing habits one little bit and goes largely unpunished for all his crimes.]]
* Paul from ''Film/TheManhattanProject'', when he's not bullying the school nerd with chemical explosives, he's building nuclear weapons that he then uses to hold the military hostage until he gets his way.
* The Horsem*n, and [[spoiler: Dylan Rhodes]] in ''Film/NowYouSeeMe''.
* The Firefly Family are the villains of ''Film/HouseOf1000Corpses'', but the sequel, ''Film/TheDevilsRejects'', makes them the protagonists of the movie. They're utterly depraved and valueless serial killers, but the audience is able to relate to their deep emotional ties as a family. To spice things up, the movie has a particularly crazy KnightTemplar hero who is himself quite compelling.
* Riddick is a much darker character in ''Film/PitchBlack'' than in [[Franchise/TheChroniclesOfRiddick subsequent movies]] (where he's more of an AntiHero), partly because this film is the story of his redemption. While the first half treats him more as an antagonist, Riddick's opening monologue and the increasing focus on him for the latter half make it quite clear that it's as much his story as Carolyn's. He's introduced as a murderous criminal, and does little to dispell it. He's utterly opportunistic throughout the story, sociopathically indifferent to all the death around him, and [[spoiler:is fully ready to leave the other survivors behind on the alien planet when they're no longer of use to him.]] He even tries to corrupt Carolyn to make the selfish choice [[spoiler:to join him and forget about the others, threatening to leave her to die if she doesn't.]] It's Carolyn's quest to ultimately be a better person that motivates his HeelFaceTurn by the end.
* Daniel from ''Film/PainAndGain''. The interesting thing is the survivors and family accused the filmmakers of portraying Lugo and his co-horts as "antiheroes who just made a few mistakes," which is about as far as the trailers got. In reality the film doesn't make them out to be good people in the least, and instead shows that they are stupid, selfish people who torture and kill others for their money (Paul is an exception, who is a devout Christian dragged into this scheme, also being a combination of two other characters).
* Alonzo the Armless is the central character in ''Film/TheUnknown''. He is a murderous and obsessive knife-thrower who leaves a trail of bodies in his wake and has his arms amputated in an attempt to possess the woman he loves.
* Cactus Jack Slade in the Western parody ''Film/TheVillain'', though he's a thoroughly inept and bungling one.
* ''Film/CabinByTheLake'' centers around horror movie writer Stanley Cauldwell, who's knowingly and obviously evil as a depraved serial killer of women.
* The protagonists of ''Film/TheEagleHasLanded'' are a group of German commandos trying to assassinate Winston Churchill under orders from Heinrich Himmler. The film does establish that the commandos themselves are honorable men [[MyCountryRightOrWrong concerned only with their mission]] and are disgusted by the war crimes they witness, even if their bosses might be mass murderers.
* Every character in ''Film/{{Conspiracy}}'' (which features an EnsembleCast) is a high-ranking official of a totalitarian regime engaging in wars of conquest and extermination, while their objective is to organize a continental genocide.
* The Psychlo leader Terl from ''Film/BattlefieldEarth''. He gets a larger role in the film than in the book because the character was played by Creator/JohnTravolta, who also produced and financed the movie, which was something of a pet project for him.
* William "D-FENS" Foster from ''Film/FallingDown''. He's dangerously insane and becomes increasingly violent, but at the same time he's also clearly a victim of powers beyond his control, and the audience is encouraged to feel catharsis through his actions even as the movie condemns them.
* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' has been this through half of his films.
* Magneto to some extent in ''Film/XMenFirstClass''.
* Frank Weld of ''Film/RobotAndFrank'' is a mild example; he's a former burglar and convicted felon who's living his sunset years fighting off boredom and the onset of Alzheimer's.
* ''Film/AmericanMe'': The main character Montoya Santana is a leading member of the Mexican Mafia.
* Archie Channing from ''Film/{{Quigley}}'' started out as a {{Jerkass}} CorruptCorporateExecutive who was rather unforgiving to his employees, but after a car crash gets him sent to Heaven, he comes back to Earth in the form of a Pomeranian in order to make up for all of the selfish things that he did, which is what incites his HeelFaceTurn as the movie goes on.
* Te Wheke, the {{rebel leader}} protagonist of ''{{Film/Utu}}'' wants to kill every white person in New Zealand. These include the women and children, and any Maori who won't join his rebellion.
* Bill Wiliamson of ''Film/{{Rampage}}'' is a trigger happy lunatic who goes on a killing spree, shooting up his home town and killing many people before skipping town with stolen money to start another rampage. In the sequel, he takes a studio hostage and later blows it up and kills everyone, before giving a little girl a gun and telling her to go home and kill her parents and herself. He claims he kills to strave off overpopulation and fight against the corrupt government, but his aditude toward his victims reveals this to be a shallow excuse.
* In ''Film/KissOfTheTrantula'', Susan is a spider-obsessed CreepyChild (who grows into a creepy teen) with a SympatheticPOV: her first victim is her mother, who was plotting her father's murder. The next set were teens who broke into her house, threatened to rape her and killed one of her pet spiders. (and it's implied she was just trying to scare them). Bo, on the other hand, she killed to shut him up.

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[[folder:Literature]]
* Creator/MichaelMoorco*ck created Colonel Pyatt - a cocaine-addicted, self-aggrandising, violently anti-semitic Jewish engineer who worships Fascism and may or may not be a rapist. He's also the narrator of his series of novels, [[UnreliableNarrator despite being an outrageous liar]].
* In George Orwell's ''Literature/1984'', Winston Smith becomes this by the book's end [[spoiler: after his time in the Ministry of Love, by embracing the Party and betraying his girlfriend Julia.]]
* In Kim Newman's ''Literature/TheHoundOfTheDurbervilles'', Colonel Moran and Professor Moriarty are the main characters, with Moran being the narrator. Moran is a thief, misanthrope, cheat, thrill-junkie who kills animals for sport and men for pay. As a protagonist, he's somewhat sympathetic due to being kind of funny, and even though he's very capable, Moriarty often manipulates him for his own reasons. Likewise, Moriarty is shown as taking joy in solving problems (either scientific ones or seemingly impossible crimes), but he has very little in the way of positive emotions or impulses. Both have FreudianExcuses, Moran had a mean angry dad so he became a mean angry man, and Moriarty's father was even worse.
* ''BarryLyndon''. The title character is based on a real-life cad, and William Makepeace Thackaray hides no joy in having his villain protagonist gets what's coming to him, including a KarmicDeath. Creator/StanleyKubrick's adaptation makes Barry far more sympathetic (though still a jerk).
* The abominable Protagonists, from the novel HellsChildren, by Andrew Boland, are this.
* Thornhill is one of these by the end of ''Literature/TheSecretRiver'', having [[spoiler:facilitated a genocide in order to avoid having to sell a hundred acres.]]
* Lucius Cornelius Sulla from Colleen [=McCullough=]'s ''MastersOfRome'' series is a pretty mean guy. He [[spoiler:brings about the deaths of his stepmother, her nephew and his stepmother's lover in order to inherit their fortune (and kills ''another'' man to frame the deaths on him), treats his wife harshly to the point of driving her to suicide, and travels up north to spy on a group of Germans where he meets and impregnates a woman, he later arranges for his German family to be protected and leaves them]]. And that's all in the first book.
* Doctor Impossible from ''SoonIWillBeInvincible'' is pretty comfortable with being the Evil MadScientist, albeit with a sort of flamboyant SilverAge kind of villainy. But even if he turns out to be a fairly nice and somewhat misunderstood guy, he ''is'' [[CardboardPrison breaking out of jail for the thirteenth time]] to launch yet another EvilPlan to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroy]] or TakeOverTheWorld, and that's not even counting ones [[VillainExitStageLeft where he got away]].
* Subverted by Alex from ''Literature/AClockworkOrange''. He spends the first part of the book as an obvious villain, but once he's given the Ludivico Treatment, he becomes a helpless victim at the mercy of others. Ultimately it turns out that [[spoiler:the government was the villain for trying to rob him of moral choice. Alex ultimately reforms ''himself'' at the end of the book]].
* Humbert Humbert from Creator/VladimirNabokov's ''Literature/{{Lolita}}''. Altogether a charming, well-spoken and eloquent young historian of French literature, liked by the reader and nearly anyone who meets him. Too bad he is also a pedophile who marries a woman in order to abuse her daughter, then proceeds to lie to said daughter about the death of her mother while taking her on a not-quite-consensual road trip, on which he tries to drug and then have intercourse with her.
* ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' ''is'' in the first book. A [[AmbitionIsEvil greedy]], MagnificentBastard [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]].
* Lord Soth of Dargaard Keep, a death knight, was originally a villain in the ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' novels. Three novels were later released starring Soth as the main character: ''Knight of the Black Rose'' and ''Spectre of the Black Rose'' by James Lowder and Voronica Whitney Robinson, and the eponymous ''Lord Soth'' by Edo van Belkom.
* ''ParadiseLost''. Half of the story follows the War in Heaven, in which Satan is the protagonist. Putting Satan center stage and allowing him to work his diabolical charisma on the reader is a major source of the poem's appeal.
* ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''' ''WarOfTheSpiderQueen'' series. ''All'' characters walking along the plot are fit in range from casual backstabbers to neighbour-sacrificing Lloth priestesses, and violent half-demons. Which does not prevent some of them from being charming and all of them from having more or less good points.
* ''{{Ravenloft}}'s'' ''I, Strahd'', is a novel about the history of - who else? - Strahd, a vampire overlord who was cursed after killing his brother to take his bride, forcing the woman into suicide to escape him.
* This is usually the case in ''Literature/TheVampireChronicles''. Some protagonists are sympathetic characters, some have a few good qualities, but most are villains, at least in the traditional sense.
* Patrick Bateman from ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'' is a deliciously AxCrazy SerialKiller who tortures and murders a wide variety of innocent people in the story, simply because he likes the feeling. [[spoiler:But even if he's just imagining that, he's still an unlikable, self-centered, elitist, racist, shallow bastard.]]
* ''Film/TheEagleHasLanded'' follows a group of Nazi agents attempting to assassinate WinstonChurchill. You'll still likely find yourself rooting for them at a few points.
* Donald E. Westlake:
** Literature/{{Parker}}, the central protagonist of a series of novels by Westlake wrote under the pseudonym Richard Stark. Several of these have been filmed (most famously as ''Film/PointBlank'' starring Creator/LeeMarvin, and ''Film/{{Payback}}'' starring Creator/MelGibson), although the central character is never named Parker in these adaptations due to the author's request. Parker has no moral hang ups about killing, stealing, or torturing to get what he wants, and what he wants is usually money or revenge for not getting money.
** Westlake also wrote a series of novels under his real name about John Dortmunder, a professional burglar. The books are much LighterAndSofter than the Parker series, and generally PlayedForLaughs. Several of these have also been turned into movies, including ''Film/TheHotRock''.
* Wyatt is the thief protagonist of a series of novels (starting with ''Kickback'') by Australian author Garry Disher. You will end up barracking for Wyatt as his schemes bring him into conflict with worse criminals who lack even Wyatt's basic sense of honour and ethics.
* Mary Gentle's ''Literature/{{Grunts}}'' tells the story of a group of orcs just trying to make their way in the world. After they loot a [[DragonHoard dragon's hoard]] that has weapons from assorted universes, including some from the US Marines and assorted literature (including ''Das Kapital'', which turns one female orc into a Communist Commissar). The book is an acid-tipped parody of ''Lord of the Rings'', and ''none'' of the characters are heroes in the traditional sense.
* A number of the books by Gregory Maguire (author of ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'') feature villains from well-known stories as the protagonist. For example, the queen from ''Literature/{{Snow White|AndTheSevenDwarfs}}'' (in ''Mirror, Mirror''), and one of the stepsisters from ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}'' (in ''Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister'').
* ''Literature/{{Grendel}}'' by John Gardner is a TwiceToldTale, retelling ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'' with Grendel as the protagonist.
* The Hitman from Thomas Perry's first novel ''Literature/TheButchersBoy''. He is a sociopathic, amoral killer of considerable ability who has to evade both government agents and Mafia thugs when a Mafia boss tries to have him killed after a successful hit on a U.S. Senator that can be traced back to the latter.
* MercedesLackey, in one of her stories featuring fantasy elves in the real world, had a cold-hearted, ruthless bitch of an antagonist who was quite willing to kill children if the job required it. The only problem was that she was going after a family that were protected by those same, very powerful, elves acting in secret to protect them. The shear magnitude of her hapless floundering around as she was constantly thwarted in one long HumiliationConga would make you feel sorry for her if you didn't remind yourself that she was a murderous sociopath.
* Strahd von Zarovich, the sociopathic vampire in ''I, Strahd'' (and TSR's ''[[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons Ravenloft]]'' campaign world).
* Soltan Gris, narrator of Creator/LRonHubbard's ''MissionEarth'', is also the series antagonist (although you can't really call him sympathetic) who is secretly trying to stop the mission of his incorruptible, heroic MartyStu counterpart Jettero Heller.
* Hester Shaw, from Philip Reeve's ''MortalEngines'' quartet (really, she's only the protagonist of the second book "Predator's Gold;" the first focuses on her husband and the third and fourth on her daughter), hovers between this and anti-hero. On the one hand, she is completely and incontrovertibly evil (she sells a city into slavery or death just to get rid of her rival for her husband-to-be, and actively enjoys killing people); on the other, one somehow can't help sympathising with her regardless, and because of her genuine love for Tom, her interests generally coincide with those of the other (not so evil) protagonists.
* [[spoiler:The narrator]] of ''The Debt to Pleasure'', although his villainy is only gradually revealed over the course of the book.
* ''The Cleaner'' by Paul Cleave is written from the first person perspective of a psychotic serial killer who considers killing, mutilating, and raping women "just a hobby."
* Horace Dorrington from the short stories by Arthur Morrison is a corrupt detective who won't hesitate to cut deals with the villains or even kill his own clients, if he can profit from it.
* ''Literature/ReynardTheFox'': In this medieval tale Reynard is the protagonist, but hardly an admirable character. He lies, cheats, murders, rapes, steals and betrays everybody and manages to get away with all of it in the end.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse''
** ''Literature/DeathStar'' focuses on the various people on the first Death Star. Most of them are {{Punch Clock Villain}}s, really, who either think that TheEmpire is flawed but good or don't think they can join [[LaResistance the Rebellion]], either because they are [[ResignationsNotAccepted stuck]] or they think it would just be curb stomped (they ''are'' on the Death Star). The cast includes the gunner who pulled the trigger to destroy Alderaan, a pilot who shot down enough X-Wings to become an AcePilot, a Force-Sensitive [[CulturedWarrior cultured stormtrooper]], a surgeon who'd been stuck in service since the start of the Clone Wars, Grand Moff Tarkin, and Darth Vader. The [[ForegoneConclusion survivors]] all either join the Rebellion (it blew up the Death Star! Maybe there's a chance!), flee to somewhere far away, or are Darth Vader. The Rebels aren't seen much - they're out there, but they don't show up for long. Leia's in the novel long enough to impress and guilt the surgeon who's treating her for torture, but the others don't get voices or faces, let alone names.
** The DarthBane trilogy follows the exploits of Darth Bane, a ''[[ExactlyWhatit*aysOnTheTin dark lord]] [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment of the Sith]]''. It is interesting in that it follows the mythical hero's journey, as made famous by the films, but with a negative character.
** Literature/DarthPlagueis follows both [[EmperorScientist Plagueis]] himself and (even more so, ironically considering the title) the rise of his apprentice, [[BigBad Palpatine]].
** ''[[Literature/StarWarsTarkin Tarkin]]'' follows the rise of Wilhuff Tarkin through the Empire's ranks.
* Tom Ripley in Patricia Highsmith's ''[[Literature/{{Ripliad}} The Talented Mr. Ripley]]'' and its sequels. His most significant acts include murder for the purposes of identity theft, art forgery, and [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome taking revenge on a random guy who pissed him off]] by [[ManipulativeBastard tricking him into thinking that he's dying of cancer, then persuading him to become a hitman]]. The Ripley books were Highsmith's only series, but the central characters of her books are almost always either Villain Protagonists or [[CrapsackWorld pathetic losers who suffer horribly]].
* Steerpike is the protagonist of the first ''Literature/{{Gormenghast}}'' novel, while he either manipulates or assassinates the Groan family and their associates.
* To at least one other protagonist's surprise, Clem's motives for assembling the ''Literature/HandOfMercy'' are only a part the problem- as a Fallen angel, he's the villain by default. To a lesser extent, Nana Sophie and Salve aren't loyalists either, so it could be argued that most of the main characters are, at the very least, officially morally grubby.
* Baron Harkonen from ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' during his POV segments. You ''so'' want him dead for his crimes and perversions, but while waiting for his comeuppance, you can't help but admire his brilliant political maneuvering and epic-level {{Magnificent Bastard}}ry.
** Subverted in [[Literature/GodEmperorOfDune Book 4]], where Leto II says that the Baron wasn't really evil at all, just a very excessive individual. And Leto II knows evil better than anyone, [[spoiler:since he has most of humanity living in his head.]]
** A popular AlternativeCharacterInterpretation is that Paul and Leto themselves are villains, or as Creator/DavidBrin put it "everyone in Dune deserves to die". Paul starts a religion and unleashes the bloodiest holy war in human history for revenge, even if [[spoiler: he later starts preaching against the faith when he loses control of it.]] While Leto II oppresses humanity for 3,500 years in order to make them conform to his prophecies.
* Catherine de' Medici is the protagonist of Jean Plaidy's trilogy ''Madame Serpent'', ''The Italian Woman'', and ''Queen Jezebel''. Plaidy paints her as a monster who has her brother-in-law and one of her own sons murdered, and orders courtiers to sexually abuse another son to "turn him gay" and ensure that her favourite would reach the throne. She also shows the abuse Catherine endured as a child - in one scene, a 6-year old Catherine is forced to watch her beloved dog die in agony because her aunt disapproved of her crying over her other dog's death (all TruthInTelevision, sadly).
* For most of the book ''The Woad to Wuin'', the normally cowardly AntiHero SirAproposOfNothing descends into this. And fully enjoys it.
* Gerald Tarrant of the ColdfireTrilogy is the true embodiment of a villain hero. From the beginning of the first book he is foreshadowed as the boogieman of a country. He is what parents threaten their children with to get them to go to their beds on time, and it is completely justified. The only reason he is a protagonist is because the thing that is threatening the world just happens to be a threat to him as well. He is a MagnificentBastard who feeds on suffering and fear. But he also has an amusing side, in a state of near exhaustion in a land where he might be attacked at any moment, he still uses a part of his magic to fix his clothes and hair to look dashing.
* Creator/AEVanVogt's classic sci-fi novel ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheSpaceBeagle'' opens with his previously published story "Black Destroyer", recounting the powerful, feline predator Coeurl's battle of wits against the crew of human space explorers who arrive on his planet. Partly because the story's told largely through Coeurl's eyes, and partly because the human characters' ExpoSpeak dialogue makes them seem bland and uninteresting in comparison, his eventual defeat almost comes across as a DownerEnding. In the end, though, perhaps Coeurl had the last laugh: the Space Beagle's crew has passed on into obscurity, while he's gotten a ShoutOut as an enemy in practically every ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' game.
* In the second book of ''TheBartimaeusTrilogy'', Nathaniel becomes one of these as part of his CharacterDevelopment, especially unfortunate seeing as how he had previously been disgusted with the behavior of magicians who acted similarly to how he started to in the book.
* Brendan Stokes in Edmund Power's ''The Last Chapter'' starts out as an "aspiring novelist", i.e. a pathetic, conceited, talentless hack. He finds a manuscript while ''looting his dead neighbor's apartment'', promptly ''steals and plagiarizes'' it, lies his way to success, and on the way expands his repertoire with adultery, blackmail, and eventually, double homicide.
* In the second book in the ''Literature/NightWatch'' series, ''Day Watch'', part of the story is narrated by Alysa, who is the series protagonist Anton's opposite number/EvilCounterpart in the forces of darkness (They start at the same level of power; while the BigGood is Anton's mentor, the BigBad was Alysa's lover), and she is one of the protagonists of the book.
* ''Literature/TheEyeOfTheNeedle'' has a villain co-protagonist, since it spends far more pages following the spy's progress across England than it spends with the heroine who eventually brings him down.
* Most Gothic horror fiction features a Villain Protagonist:
** Ambrosio, the villainous priest of Matthew G. Lewis's ''Literature/TheMonk'', who gives in to his desire for his pupil Matilda, a woman disguised as a monk, and then is overcome by lust for the innocent Antonia. With Matilda's sorcerous help, Ambrosio seduces her, then later rapes and murders her. He is delivered into the hands of the Inquisition and makes a DealWithTheDevil to avoid the death sentence that awaits him. Only after getting tortured to death does he learn that Antonia was actually his sister.
** The title character of ''Literature/LesChantsDeMaldoror'' by Lautréamont, a figure of absolute evil who is opposed to God and humanity, and has renounced conventional morality and decency.
** Edward Montague's ''Literature/DemonOfSicily'', who promises two holy people fulfillment of their wanton sexual urges in exchange for their souls.
** Manfred, the lord of ''Literature/TheCastleOfOtranto'', who tries to forcibly marry his own son's fiancee in order to avert the destruction of his line.
** ByronicHero Heathcliff in ''Literature/WutheringHeights''. His life ambition is to wreak vengeance on all who have (in his opinion) stood between him and his would-be lover Cathy Earnshaw. He achieves this by mentally and physically abusing them, and embezzling their property. He extends his revenge to the children of his enemies.
** The unnamed protagonist of Georges Bataille's ''Story of the Eye'', which is full of {{squick}}.
* While some would argue that ''every'' ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' novel has a Villain Protagonist [[CrapsackWorld by]] [[BlackAndGrayMorality default]], the Chaos Space Marine viewpoint characters of Creator/GrahamMcNeill's ''Storm of Iron'' and Anthony Reynolds' ''Literature/WordBearers'' trilogy definitely qualify.
** As do Andy Chambers' books, ''Literature/PathOfTheRenegade'' and ''Path of the Incubus'', which feature the Dark Eldar as protagonists.
* Lady Susan Vernon of Creator/JaneAusten's epistolary novel ''Literature/LadySusan''. Despite being the novel's central, most prominent figure, she is an unscrupulous, manipulative [[TheVamp Vamp]] engaged in a sort of pre-affair with a married man while at the same time trying to snare the man her daughter is in love with as she struggles to force said daughter to marry a man against her will. Unlike Austen's ''Literature/{{Emma}}'', Lady Susan does not change at all over the curse of her story. Her daughter Frederica is the more sympathetic heroine.
* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': Edmund Pevensie for the first half of ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe''. He intended to commit something vile against his siblings, even before the witch persuaded him into doing it. Fortunately, he does a HeelFaceTurn and becomes an AntiHero later.
* Simon Darcourt from ''Literature/ASnowballInHell'' spends an awful lot of time narrating his crimes to the reader with glee.
* Lysander in the last ''Literature/ApprenticeAdept'' book, ''Phaze Doubt''. Much of the book is spent trying to lure Lysander over to Phaze/Photon's cause (doubling as distracting him from his "real" mission as TheMole). [[spoiler:Even though he's essential in the good guys' eventual triumph, [[HonorBeforeReason he never actually switches sides]].]]
* Creator/UmbertoEco's novel ''Literature/ThePragueCemetery'' stars a racist, misogynistic forger whose only redeeming feature is his love of good food. The book starts with him penning down why he hates Germans, Italians, French, women, Jews, Catholics, Freemasons and many others, and ends with him [[spoiler:penning ''Literature/TheProtocolsOfTheEldersOfZion'' as his magnum opus.]]
* Jill from ''Literature/{{Blubber}}'' has no qualms in [[TheBully bullying]] an ActualPacifist classmate. [[KidsAreCruel She never seems to think of her as a sensitive human being]].
* In JohnCWright's ''[[Literature/TheGoldenOecumene The Golden Age]]'', Ao Aeon points at Phaethon's behavior and assures him he is obviously the villain of the piece. In ''The Golden Transcendence'', Phaethon cites this to explain his behavior to Daphne, who is obviously, he explains, the heroine.
* We spend so much time experiencing ''[[Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings The Liveship Traders]]'' through Captain Kennit's POV that it sometimes becomes hard to remember that he really ''is'' the villain of the piece. Just an extremely charismatic, sympathetic villain who tends to overshadow his more heroic fellow-protagonists.
* Haplo of ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'' begins as one of these. In addition to being the main character, he is also a member of the Patryn race, which seeks to subjugate all the worlds under Patryn rule. [[spoiler:Later, he becomes less of a villain.]]
** Specifically, his progression goes thusly- in the first two books, he's the flat-out [[TheDragon Dragon]] to [[EvilOverlord Lord Xar]], and though his backstory makes him sympathetic, there's no real doubt that he's a bad guy. Then, in books 3 and 4, he starts getting pitted against people ''much'' worse than he is, moving to more of a Type V AntiHero. [[spoiler: From the fifth book onward, Haplo has reevaluated his purpose and place in the universe, and though he never loses his ruthlessness or hard edges, he softens up enough to settle in as a Type III AntiHero]].
* The ''Literature/{{Private}}'' series SpinOff ''Privilege'' is from the point of view of Ariana Osgood, the villain of one of the books in the series.
* Most of the protagonists in ''[[Literature/ArabianNights Tales of 1001 Nights]]'' are thieves.
* ''ThereseRaquin'' is all about a woman who murdered her husband to be with her lover.
* In ''Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray'', Dorian Gray is corrupted by Lord Henry's ideas of [[TheHedonist hedonism]] and becomes a cruel man who does whatever he wants, regardless of the consequences, and ends up causing pain and death to several people. His [[ArtifactOfDoom portrait]] reflects Dorian's inner soul (and ages for him as well) and becomes uglier and uglier with each evil act he commits until it becomes monstrous.
* Thought we don't find out until halfway through ''Literature/WithinRuin'' [[spoiler: Virgil]] is the reason behind nearly every awful thing that has happened throughout the novel, including the plague.
* The central character of Alberto Moravia's ''Literature/TheConformist'', is a member of UsefulNotes/FascistItaly's SecretPolice.
* Aside from the boatman and the epilogue's police, every character in ''AndThenThereWereNone'' is culpable in someone's death, ranging from negligent homicide to premeditated murder. The one who seems most sympathetic and protagonist-like within the ensemble ([[spoiler:Vera]]) turns out to be the ''most'' culpable. Subverted in most adaptations.
* Creator/NeilGaiman's "AStudyInEmerald" [[spoiler:sets up Moran and Moriarty as the heroes in a TwistEnding. Throughout most of the story the reader thought Moran was Watson and Moriarty was Holmes.]]
* Creator/RobertReed's short story, ''The Hoplite'' has the protagonist being a thoroughly brutal warrior of AlexanderTheGreat's army, who was ResurrectedForAJob - subjugating rebellious countries through use of massive firepower and a suit of PoweredArmor. The protagonist murders several innocent people and children in revenge for being betrayed.
* The monstrous sorcerer Yasunori Kato is generally labeled as the protagonist of Hiroshi Aramata's epic fantasy/alternate history novel ''Teito Monogatari'' (''Tale of the Imperial Capital''), although the story does focus on the perspectives of many other characters including a disillusioned Yukio Mishima.
* Kaizan Nakazato's classic literary work ''Dai-bosatsu Tōge'' (''The Great Bodhisattva Pass''), generally considered one of the longest works ever written in world literature, revolves around the exploits of Tsukue Ryonosuke, a psychopathic samurai who commits several evil deeds.
* In ''Literature/HouseOfChains'', the fourth book in ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'', the first quarter of the book is, atypically, spent following the single PointOfView of Karsa Orlong, a careful {{Deconstruction}} of the "[[BarbarianHero barbarian fantasy]]". Karsa comes from a society that glorifies violence, rape and bullying, but even his closest friends find him to be almost too aggressive for them.
* John Barnes' "Kaleidescope Century'' is told from the fractured viewpoint of jashua Ali Quare, a mercenary in an alternate future who works for what used to be the KGB before it took over bothe TheMafia and The Mafiya.
* Because Creator/OHenry spent time in jail, many of his stories, like ''The Ransom of Red Chief'', focus on (relatively low-time) criminals.
* The protagonists of JamesEllroy's Underworld USA trilogy. While most of Ellroy's main characters are simply dark {{Anti Hero}}es who PayEvilUntoEvil, Kemper Boyd, Ward Littell, Wayne Tedrow Jr., Dwight Holly, and Pete Bondurant are a motley crew of extortionists, drug peddlers, mercenaries, con men, and assassins who are out for nothing but their own enrichment.
* In the ''Literature/{{Parker}}'' novels by Richard Stark, Parker is a ruthless career criminal with almost no traditional redeeming qualities, aside from efficiency and professionalism. Parker is cold, methodical, and perfectly willing to commit murder to get what he wants.
* ''Literature/TheTwits'' are a variation, as they are introduced before Muggle-Wump and get a lot more of the focus in the first half of the book. The position of protagonist is later given to Muggle-Wump.
* The ''Liar'' series written by a Polish author Jakub Ćwiek take place in modern time Earth where all of the main religions of the past and present are real - there are Greek, Hindu, African gods and many mythological creatures that were either very powerful at some point or still live in the hearts of men (for instance, Santa Claus and his Slavic counterpart). The protagonist of the story is the Norse god Loki, who was imprisoned by his father out of fear of making Ragnarok come true. Unknown to Odin, Asgard was about to be attacked by the army of Heaven after God disappeared without a word and left angels in charge. They allied themselves with Loki and thanks to his treason easily wiped out the Norse. The series follows Loki's footsteps as an assassin for hire, hunting various deities and beings who are deemed by angels to be pagan and offensive to their plans. Depending on reader's viewpoint, not only Loki is an evil protagonist, who betrayed his people in exchange for his life and a job, but angels themselves are seen as bloodthirsty monsters who want to exterminate all other pantheons.
* While ''TheGapCycle'' has [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters plenty of protagonists]], most of whom are villainous to some extent, it's strongly dominated by Angus Thermopyle, a man who starts the story as a pirate, murderer, and rapist. He does get a bit less horrible over the course of the story, but even at the end he's a NobleDemon at best. StephenRDonaldson has stated that he hesitated to publish the first book in the series, because he didn't like what it said about him that he found it so easy to write Angus.
* In ''Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsImASupervillain'', Penny and her friends accidentally end up as supervillains rather than superheroes due to a run in with a particularly bitchy apprentice hero. Penny tries desperately to correct misconceptions and become a hero, but her friends clearly enjoy being villains. After they continuously foil villainous plots and rescue innocents and are ''still'' seen as villains, she pretty much just gives up and rolls with it.
* An interesting [[Literature/TheBible Biblical]] example is the prophet Jonah (although he can also be seen as a very unpleasant sort of AntiHero). God has a plan to push the entire city of Ninevah into a HeelFaceTurn and he wants Jonah's help, but Jonah refuses. Eventually God convinces him to play along and the city does indeed get saved - but Jonah is explicitly noted to be "angry enough to die" about it. He ''wanted'' the city to remain evil. In particular, he appears to have been hoping that they would remain evil and dangerous enough for God to have no choice but to [[KillEmAll destroy them]], which kinda implies the prophet was a closeted BloodKnight. While not the only Biblical protagonist to ''start off'' by opposing God, he is the only one who doesn't seem to learn the error of his ways. The narrative ends with God giving him a WhatTheHellHero speech before apparently leaving him alone.
* While ''Literature/TheQuestOfTheUnaligned'' is not actually written this way, the author [[http://www.phillipsfiction.com/savvy-saturday-point-view/ suggests]] that you should always try for a villain who you ''could'' do this for if you wanted, as it's an excellent way to avoid cliché storytelling.
* In the picture book ''Literature/ThisIsNotMyHat'', the protagonist is a tiny fish who's escaping with a stolen hat. He knows the hat is not his, but he's going to keep it anyway because [[MuggingTheMonster the rightful owner is much too big for it.]]
* Lucifer nigg*rbastard is anything but a saint in ''Literature/Thevagin*AssOfLucifernigg*rbastard''.
* The Blood Pack philia from the novel ''[[Literature/GauntsGhosts Blood Pack]]''. While they're obviously the established villains of the book (or at least one of the villainous factions), and definitely evil, much of the story is told from their perspective and we see the individual personalities and the close relationships of its members. It makes their deaths, as told from the perspectives of the [[HeroProtagonist Ghost protagonists like Gaunt and Rawne]], feel oddly [[DroppedABridgeOnHim abrupt, underwhelming, and sad]], as to the good guys, they're just enemies to be put down.
* In Robert Caro's ''Literature/ThePowerBroker'', Caro shows how Robert Moses turns into this while in power, despite starting out as an idealist and doing heroic things at first.
* ''Literature/{{Archvillain}}'': Kyle, at least in the eyes of the public. He thinks of himself as NotEvilJustMisunderstood. It's left up to the reader which view is more accurate.

[[folder:Literature]]
* Creator/MichaelMoorco*ck created Colonel Pyatt - a cocaine-addicted, self-aggrandising, violently anti-semitic Jewish engineer who worships Fascism and may or may not be a rapist. He's also the narrator of his series of novels, [[UnreliableNarrator despite being an outrageous liar]].
* In George Orwell's ''Literature/1984'', Winston Smith becomes this by the book's end [[spoiler: after his time in the Ministry of Love, by embracing the Party and betraying his girlfriend Julia.]]
* In Kim Newman's ''Literature/TheHoundOfTheDurbervilles'', Colonel Moran and Professor Moriarty are the main characters, with Moran being the narrator. Moran is a thief, misanthrope, cheat, thrill-junkie who kills animals for sport and men for pay. As a protagonist, he's somewhat sympathetic due to being kind of funny, and even though he's very capable, Moriarty often manipulates him for his own reasons. Likewise, Moriarty is shown as taking joy in solving problems (either scientific ones or seemingly impossible crimes), but he has very little in the way of positive emotions or impulses. Both have FreudianExcuses, Moran had a mean angry dad so he became a mean angry man, and Moriarty's father was even worse.
* ''BarryLyndon''. The title character is based on a real-life cad, and William Makepeace Thackaray hides no joy in having his villain protagonist gets what's coming to him, including a KarmicDeath. Creator/StanleyKubrick's adaptation makes Barry far more sympathetic (though still a jerk).
* The abominable Protagonists, from the novel HellsChildren, by Andrew Boland, are this.
* Thornhill is one of these by the end of ''Literature/TheSecretRiver'', having [[spoiler:facilitated a genocide in order to avoid having to sell a hundred acres.]]
* Lucius Cornelius Sulla from Colleen [=McCullough=]'s ''MastersOfRome'' series is a pretty mean guy. He [[spoiler:brings about the deaths of his stepmother, her nephew and his stepmother's lover in order to inherit their fortune (and kills ''another'' man to frame the deaths on him), treats his wife harshly to the point of driving her to suicide, and travels up north to spy on a group of Germans where he meets and impregnates a woman, he later arranges for his German family to be protected and leaves them]]. And that's all in the first book.
* Doctor Impossible from ''SoonIWillBeInvincible'' is pretty comfortable with being the Evil MadScientist, albeit with a sort of flamboyant SilverAge kind of villainy. But even if he turns out to be a fairly nice and somewhat misunderstood guy, he ''is'' [[CardboardPrison breaking out of jail for the thirteenth time]] to launch yet another EvilPlan to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroy]] or TakeOverTheWorld, and that's not even counting ones [[VillainExitStageLeft where he got away]].
* Subverted by Alex from ''Literature/AClockworkOrange''. He spends the first part of the book as an obvious villain, but once he's given the Ludivico Treatment, he becomes a helpless victim at the mercy of others. Ultimately it turns out that [[spoiler:the government was the villain for trying to rob him of moral choice. Alex ultimately reforms ''himself'' at the end of the book]].
* Humbert Humbert from Creator/VladimirNabokov's ''Literature/{{Lolita}}''. Altogether a charming, well-spoken and eloquent young historian of French literature, liked by the reader and nearly anyone who meets him. Too bad he is also a pedophile who marries a woman in order to abuse her daughter, then proceeds to lie to said daughter about the death of her mother while taking her on a not-quite-consensual road trip, on which he tries to drug and then have intercourse with her.
* ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' ''is'' in the first book. A [[AmbitionIsEvil greedy]], MagnificentBastard [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]].
* Lord Soth of Dargaard Keep, a death knight, was originally a villain in the ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' novels. Three novels were later released starring Soth as the main character: ''Knight of the Black Rose'' and ''Spectre of the Black Rose'' by James Lowder and Voronica Whitney Robinson, and the eponymous ''Lord Soth'' by Edo van Belkom.
* ''ParadiseLost''. Half of the story follows the War in Heaven, in which Satan is the protagonist. Putting Satan center stage and allowing him to work his diabolical charisma on the reader is a major source of the poem's appeal.
* ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''' ''WarOfTheSpiderQueen'' series. ''All'' characters walking along the plot are fit in range from casual backstabbers to neighbour-sacrificing Lloth priestesses, and violent half-demons. Which does not prevent some of them from being charming and all of them from having more or less good points.
* ''{{Ravenloft}}'s'' ''I, Strahd'', is a novel about the history of - who else? - Strahd, a vampire overlord who was cursed after killing his brother to take his bride, forcing the woman into suicide to escape him.
* This is usually the case in ''Literature/TheVampireChronicles''. Some protagonists are sympathetic characters, some have a few good qualities, but most are villains, at least in the traditional sense.
* Patrick Bateman from ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'' is a deliciously AxCrazy SerialKiller who tortures and murders a wide variety of innocent people in the story, simply because he likes the feeling. [[spoiler:But even if he's just imagining that, he's still an unlikable, self-centered, elitist, racist, shallow bastard.]]
* ''Film/TheEagleHasLanded'' follows a group of Nazi agents attempting to assassinate WinstonChurchill. You'll still likely find yourself rooting for them at a few points.
* Donald E. Westlake:
** Literature/{{Parker}}, the central protagonist of a series of novels by Westlake wrote under the pseudonym Richard Stark. Several of these have been filmed (most famously as ''Film/PointBlank'' starring Creator/LeeMarvin, and ''Film/{{Payback}}'' starring Creator/MelGibson), although the central character is never named Parker in these adaptations due to the author's request. Parker has no moral hang ups about killing, stealing, or torturing to get what he wants, and what he wants is usually money or revenge for not getting money.
** Westlake also wrote a series of novels under his real name about John Dortmunder, a professional burglar. The books are much LighterAndSofter than the Parker series, and generally PlayedForLaughs. Several of these have also been turned into movies, including ''Film/TheHotRock''.
* Wyatt is the thief protagonist of a series of novels (starting with ''Kickback'') by Australian author Garry Disher. You will end up barracking for Wyatt as his schemes bring him into conflict with worse criminals who lack even Wyatt's basic sense of honour and ethics.
* Mary Gentle's ''Literature/{{Grunts}}'' tells the story of a group of orcs just trying to make their way in the world. After they loot a [[DragonHoard dragon's hoard]] that has weapons from assorted universes, including some from the US Marines and assorted literature (including ''Das Kapital'', which turns one female orc into a Communist Commissar). The book is an acid-tipped parody of ''Lord of the Rings'', and ''none'' of the characters are heroes in the traditional sense.
* A number of the books by Gregory Maguire (author of ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'') feature villains from well-known stories as the protagonist. For example, the queen from ''Literature/{{Snow White|AndTheSevenDwarfs}}'' (in ''Mirror, Mirror''), and one of the stepsisters from ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}'' (in ''Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister'').
* ''Literature/{{Grendel}}'' by John Gardner is a TwiceToldTale, retelling ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'' with Grendel as the protagonist.
* The Hitman from Thomas Perry's first novel ''Literature/TheButchersBoy''. He is a sociopathic, amoral killer of considerable ability who has to evade both government agents and Mafia thugs when a Mafia boss tries to have him killed after a successful hit on a U.S. Senator that can be traced back to the latter.
* MercedesLackey, in one of her stories featuring fantasy elves in the real world, had a cold-hearted, ruthless bitch of an antagonist who was quite willing to kill children if the job required it. The only problem was that she was going after a family that were protected by those same, very powerful, elves acting in secret to protect them. The shear magnitude of her hapless floundering around as she was constantly thwarted in one long HumiliationConga would make you feel sorry for her if you didn't remind yourself that she was a murderous sociopath.
* Strahd von Zarovich, the sociopathic vampire in ''I, Strahd'' (and TSR's ''[[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons Ravenloft]]'' campaign world).
* Soltan Gris, narrator of Creator/LRonHubbard's ''MissionEarth'', is also the series antagonist (although you can't really call him sympathetic) who is secretly trying to stop the mission of his incorruptible, heroic MartyStu counterpart Jettero Heller.
* Hester Shaw, from Philip Reeve's ''MortalEngines'' quartet (really, she's only the protagonist of the second book "Predator's Gold;" the first focuses on her husband and the third and fourth on her daughter), hovers between this and anti-hero. On the one hand, she is completely and incontrovertibly evil (she sells a city into slavery or death just to get rid of her rival for her husband-to-be, and actively enjoys killing people); on the other, one somehow can't help sympathising with her regardless, and because of her genuine love for Tom, her interests generally coincide with those of the other (not so evil) protagonists.
* [[spoiler:The narrator]] of ''The Debt to Pleasure'', although his villainy is only gradually revealed over the course of the book.
* ''The Cleaner'' by Paul Cleave is written from the first person perspective of a psychotic serial killer who considers killing, mutilating, and raping women "just a hobby."
* Horace Dorrington from the short stories by Arthur Morrison is a corrupt detective who won't hesitate to cut deals with the villains or even kill his own clients, if he can profit from it.
* ''Literature/ReynardTheFox'': In this medieval tale Reynard is the protagonist, but hardly an admirable character. He lies, cheats, murders, rapes, steals and betrays everybody and manages to get away with all of it in the end.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse''
** ''Literature/DeathStar'' focuses on the various people on the first Death Star. Most of them are {{Punch Clock Villain}}s, really, who either think that TheEmpire is flawed but good or don't think they can join [[LaResistance the Rebellion]], either because they are [[ResignationsNotAccepted stuck]] or they think it would just be curb stomped (they ''are'' on the Death Star). The cast includes the gunner who pulled the trigger to destroy Alderaan, a pilot who shot down enough X-Wings to become an AcePilot, a Force-Sensitive [[CulturedWarrior cultured stormtrooper]], a surgeon who'd been stuck in service since the start of the Clone Wars, Grand Moff Tarkin, and Darth Vader. The [[ForegoneConclusion survivors]] all either join the Rebellion (it blew up the Death Star! Maybe there's a chance!), flee to somewhere far away, or are Darth Vader. The Rebels aren't seen much - they're out there, but they don't show up for long. Leia's in the novel long enough to impress and guilt the surgeon who's treating her for torture, but the others don't get voices or faces, let alone names.
** The DarthBane trilogy follows the exploits of Darth Bane, a ''[[ExactlyWhatit*aysOnTheTin dark lord]] [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment of the Sith]]''. It is interesting in that it follows the mythical hero's journey, as made famous by the films, but with a negative character.
** Literature/DarthPlagueis follows both [[EmperorScientist Plagueis]] himself and (even more so, ironically considering the title) the rise of his apprentice, [[BigBad Palpatine]].
** ''[[Literature/StarWarsTarkin Tarkin]]'' follows the rise of Wilhuff Tarkin through the Empire's ranks.
* Tom Ripley in Patricia Highsmith's ''[[Literature/{{Ripliad}} The Talented Mr. Ripley]]'' and its sequels. His most significant acts include murder for the purposes of identity theft, art forgery, and [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome taking revenge on a random guy who pissed him off]] by [[ManipulativeBastard tricking him into thinking that he's dying of cancer, then persuading him to become a hitman]]. The Ripley books were Highsmith's only series, but the central characters of her books are almost always either Villain Protagonists or [[CrapsackWorld pathetic losers who suffer horribly]].
* Steerpike is the protagonist of the first ''Literature/{{Gormenghast}}'' novel, while he either manipulates or assassinates the Groan family and their associates.
* To at least one other protagonist's surprise, Clem's motives for assembling the ''Literature/HandOfMercy'' are only a part the problem- as a Fallen angel, he's the villain by default. To a lesser extent, Nana Sophie and Salve aren't loyalists either, so it could be argued that most of the main characters are, at the very least, officially morally grubby.
* Baron Harkonen from ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' during his POV segments. You ''so'' want him dead for his crimes and perversions, but while waiting for his comeuppance, you can't help but admire his brilliant political maneuvering and epic-level {{Magnificent Bastard}}ry.
** Subverted in [[Literature/GodEmperorOfDune Book 4]], where Leto II says that the Baron wasn't really evil at all, just a very excessive individual. And Leto II knows evil better than anyone, [[spoiler:since he has most of humanity living in his head.]]
** A popular AlternativeCharacterInterpretation is that Paul and Leto themselves are villains, or as Creator/DavidBrin put it "everyone in Dune deserves to die". Paul starts a religion and unleashes the bloodiest holy war in human history for revenge, even if [[spoiler: he later starts preaching against the faith when he loses control of it.]] While Leto II oppresses humanity for 3,500 years in order to make them conform to his prophecies.
* Catherine de' Medici is the protagonist of Jean Plaidy's trilogy ''Madame Serpent'', ''The Italian Woman'', and ''Queen Jezebel''. Plaidy paints her as a monster who has her brother-in-law and one of her own sons murdered, and orders courtiers to sexually abuse another son to "turn him gay" and ensure that her favourite would reach the throne. She also shows the abuse Catherine endured as a child - in one scene, a 6-year old Catherine is forced to watch her beloved dog die in agony because her aunt disapproved of her crying over her other dog's death (all TruthInTelevision, sadly).
* For most of the book ''The Woad to Wuin'', the normally cowardly AntiHero SirAproposOfNothing descends into this. And fully enjoys it.
* Gerald Tarrant of the ColdfireTrilogy is the true embodiment of a villain hero. From the beginning of the first book he is foreshadowed as the boogieman of a country. He is what parents threaten their children with to get them to go to their beds on time, and it is completely justified. The only reason he is a protagonist is because the thing that is threatening the world just happens to be a threat to him as well. He is a MagnificentBastard who feeds on suffering and fear. But he also has an amusing side, in a state of near exhaustion in a land where he might be attacked at any moment, he still uses a part of his magic to fix his clothes and hair to look dashing.
* Creator/AEVanVogt's classic sci-fi novel ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheSpaceBeagle'' opens with his previously published story "Black Destroyer", recounting the powerful, feline predator Coeurl's battle of wits against the crew of human space explorers who arrive on his planet. Partly because the story's told largely through Coeurl's eyes, and partly because the human characters' ExpoSpeak dialogue makes them seem bland and uninteresting in comparison, his eventual defeat almost comes across as a DownerEnding. In the end, though, perhaps Coeurl had the last laugh: the Space Beagle's crew has passed on into obscurity, while he's gotten a ShoutOut as an enemy in practically every ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' game.
* In the second book of ''TheBartimaeusTrilogy'', Nathaniel becomes one of these as part of his CharacterDevelopment, especially unfortunate seeing as how he had previously been disgusted with the behavior of magicians who acted similarly to how he started to in the book.
* Brendan Stokes in Edmund Power's ''The Last Chapter'' starts out as an "aspiring novelist", i.e. a pathetic, conceited, talentless hack. He finds a manuscript while ''looting his dead neighbor's apartment'', promptly ''steals and plagiarizes'' it, lies his way to success, and on the way expands his repertoire with adultery, blackmail, and eventually, double homicide.
* In the second book in the ''Literature/NightWatch'' series, ''Day Watch'', part of the story is narrated by Alysa, who is the series protagonist Anton's opposite number/EvilCounterpart in the forces of darkness (They start at the same level of power; while the BigGood is Anton's mentor, the BigBad was Alysa's lover), and she is one of the protagonists of the book.
* ''Literature/TheEyeOfTheNeedle'' has a villain co-protagonist, since it spends far more pages following the spy's progress across England than it spends with the heroine who eventually brings him down.
* Most Gothic horror fiction features a Villain Protagonist:
** Ambrosio, the villainous priest of Matthew G. Lewis's ''Literature/TheMonk'', who gives in to his desire for his pupil Matilda, a woman disguised as a monk, and then is overcome by lust for the innocent Antonia. With Matilda's sorcerous help, Ambrosio seduces her, then later rapes and murders her. He is delivered into the hands of the Inquisition and makes a DealWithTheDevil to avoid the death sentence that awaits him. Only after getting tortured to death does he learn that Antonia was actually his sister.
** The title character of ''Literature/LesChantsDeMaldoror'' by Lautréamont, a figure of absolute evil who is opposed to God and humanity, and has renounced conventional morality and decency.
** Edward Montague's ''Literature/DemonOfSicily'', who promises two holy people fulfillment of their wanton sexual urges in exchange for their souls.
** Manfred, the lord of ''Literature/TheCastleOfOtranto'', who tries to forcibly marry his own son's fiancee in order to avert the destruction of his line.
** ByronicHero Heathcliff in ''Literature/WutheringHeights''. His life ambition is to wreak vengeance on all who have (in his opinion) stood between him and his would-be lover Cathy Earnshaw. He achieves this by mentally and physically abusing them, and embezzling their property. He extends his revenge to the children of his enemies.
** The unnamed protagonist of Georges Bataille's ''Story of the Eye'', which is full of {{squick}}.
* While some would argue that ''every'' ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' novel has a Villain Protagonist [[CrapsackWorld by]] [[BlackAndGrayMorality default]], the Chaos Space Marine viewpoint characters of Creator/GrahamMcNeill's ''Storm of Iron'' and Anthony Reynolds' ''Literature/WordBearers'' trilogy definitely qualify.
** As do Andy Chambers' books, ''Literature/PathOfTheRenegade'' and ''Path of the Incubus'', which feature the Dark Eldar as protagonists.
* Lady Susan Vernon of Creator/JaneAusten's epistolary novel ''Literature/LadySusan''. Despite being the novel's central, most prominent figure, she is an unscrupulous, manipulative [[TheVamp Vamp]] engaged in a sort of pre-affair with a married man while at the same time trying to snare the man her daughter is in love with as she struggles to force said daughter to marry a man against her will. Unlike Austen's ''Literature/{{Emma}}'', Lady Susan does not change at all over the curse of her story. Her daughter Frederica is the more sympathetic heroine.
* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': Edmund Pevensie for the first half of ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe''. He intended to commit something vile against his siblings, even before the witch persuaded him into doing it. Fortunately, he does a HeelFaceTurn and becomes an AntiHero later.
* Simon Darcourt from ''Literature/ASnowballInHell'' spends an awful lot of time narrating his crimes to the reader with glee.
* Lysander in the last ''Literature/ApprenticeAdept'' book, ''Phaze Doubt''. Much of the book is spent trying to lure Lysander over to Phaze/Photon's cause (doubling as distracting him from his "real" mission as TheMole). [[spoiler:Even though he's essential in the good guys' eventual triumph, [[HonorBeforeReason he never actually switches sides]].]]
* Creator/UmbertoEco's novel ''Literature/ThePragueCemetery'' stars a racist, misogynistic forger whose only redeeming feature is his love of good food. The book starts with him penning down why he hates Germans, Italians, French, women, Jews, Catholics, Freemasons and many others, and ends with him [[spoiler:penning ''Literature/TheProtocolsOfTheEldersOfZion'' as his magnum opus.]]
* Jill from ''Literature/{{Blubber}}'' has no qualms in [[TheBully bullying]] an ActualPacifist classmate. [[KidsAreCruel She never seems to think of her as a sensitive human being]].
* In JohnCWright's ''[[Literature/TheGoldenOecumene The Golden Age]]'', Ao Aeon points at Phaethon's behavior and assures him he is obviously the villain of the piece. In ''The Golden Transcendence'', Phaethon cites this to explain his behavior to Daphne, who is obviously, he explains, the heroine.
* We spend so much time experiencing ''[[Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings The Liveship Traders]]'' through Captain Kennit's POV that it sometimes becomes hard to remember that he really ''is'' the villain of the piece. Just an extremely charismatic, sympathetic villain who tends to overshadow his more heroic fellow-protagonists.
* Haplo of ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'' begins as one of these. In addition to being the main character, he is also a member of the Patryn race, which seeks to subjugate all the worlds under Patryn rule. [[spoiler:Later, he becomes less of a villain.]]
** Specifically, his progression goes thusly- in the first two books, he's the flat-out [[TheDragon Dragon]] to [[EvilOverlord Lord Xar]], and though his backstory makes him sympathetic, there's no real doubt that he's a bad guy. Then, in books 3 and 4, he starts getting pitted against people ''much'' worse than he is, moving to more of a Type V AntiHero. [[spoiler: From the fifth book onward, Haplo has reevaluated his purpose and place in the universe, and though he never loses his ruthlessness or hard edges, he softens up enough to settle in as a Type III AntiHero]].
* The ''Literature/{{Private}}'' series SpinOff ''Privilege'' is from the point of view of Ariana Osgood, the villain of one of the books in the series.
* Most of the protagonists in ''[[Literature/ArabianNights Tales of 1001 Nights]]'' are thieves.
* ''ThereseRaquin'' is all about a woman who murdered her husband to be with her lover.
* In ''Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray'', Dorian Gray is corrupted by Lord Henry's ideas of [[TheHedonist hedonism]] and becomes a cruel man who does whatever he wants, regardless of the consequences, and ends up causing pain and death to several people. His [[ArtifactOfDoom portrait]] reflects Dorian's inner soul (and ages for him as well) and becomes uglier and uglier with each evil act he commits until it becomes monstrous.
* Thought we don't find out until halfway through ''Literature/WithinRuin'' [[spoiler: Virgil]] is the reason behind nearly every awful thing that has happened throughout the novel, including the plague.
* The central character of Alberto Moravia's ''Literature/TheConformist'', is a member of UsefulNotes/FascistItaly's SecretPolice.
* Aside from the boatman and the epilogue's police, every character in ''AndThenThereWereNone'' is culpable in someone's death, ranging from negligent homicide to premeditated murder. The one who seems most sympathetic and protagonist-like within the ensemble ([[spoiler:Vera]]) turns out to be the ''most'' culpable. Subverted in most adaptations.
* Creator/NeilGaiman's "AStudyInEmerald" [[spoiler:sets up Moran and Moriarty as the heroes in a TwistEnding. Throughout most of the story the reader thought Moran was Watson and Moriarty was Holmes.]]
* Creator/RobertReed's short story, ''The Hoplite'' has the protagonist being a thoroughly brutal warrior of AlexanderTheGreat's army, who was ResurrectedForAJob - subjugating rebellious countries through use of massive firepower and a suit of PoweredArmor. The protagonist murders several innocent people and children in revenge for being betrayed.
* The monstrous sorcerer Yasunori Kato is generally labeled as the protagonist of Hiroshi Aramata's epic fantasy/alternate history novel ''Teito Monogatari'' (''Tale of the Imperial Capital''), although the story does focus on the perspectives of many other characters including a disillusioned Yukio Mishima.
* Kaizan Nakazato's classic literary work ''Dai-bosatsu Tōge'' (''The Great Bodhisattva Pass''), generally considered one of the longest works ever written in world literature, revolves around the exploits of Tsukue Ryonosuke, a psychopathic samurai who commits several evil deeds.
* In ''Literature/HouseOfChains'', the fourth book in ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'', the first quarter of the book is, atypically, spent following the single PointOfView of Karsa Orlong, a careful {{Deconstruction}} of the "[[BarbarianHero barbarian fantasy]]". Karsa comes from a society that glorifies violence, rape and bullying, but even his closest friends find him to be almost too aggressive for them.
* John Barnes' "Kaleidescope Century'' is told from the fractured viewpoint of jashua Ali Quare, a mercenary in an alternate future who works for what used to be the KGB before it took over bothe TheMafia and The Mafiya.
* Because Creator/OHenry spent time in jail, many of his stories, like ''The Ransom of Red Chief'', focus on (relatively low-time) criminals.
* The protagonists of JamesEllroy's Underworld USA trilogy. While most of Ellroy's main characters are simply dark {{Anti Hero}}es who PayEvilUntoEvil, Kemper Boyd, Ward Littell, Wayne Tedrow Jr., Dwight Holly, and Pete Bondurant are a motley crew of extortionists, drug peddlers, mercenaries, con men, and assassins who are out for nothing but their own enrichment.
* In the ''Literature/{{Parker}}'' novels by Richard Stark, Parker is a ruthless career criminal with almost no traditional redeeming qualities, aside from efficiency and professionalism. Parker is cold, methodical, and perfectly willing to commit murder to get what he wants.
* ''Literature/TheTwits'' are a variation, as they are introduced before Muggle-Wump and get a lot more of the focus in the first half of the book. The position of protagonist is later given to Muggle-Wump.
* The ''Liar'' series written by a Polish author Jakub Ćwiek take place in modern time Earth where all of the main religions of the past and present are real - there are Greek, Hindu, African gods and many mythological creatures that were either very powerful at some point or still live in the hearts of men (for instance, Santa Claus and his Slavic counterpart). The protagonist of the story is the Norse god Loki, who was imprisoned by his father out of fear of making Ragnarok come true. Unknown to Odin, Asgard was about to be attacked by the army of Heaven after God disappeared without a word and left angels in charge. They allied themselves with Loki and thanks to his treason easily wiped out the Norse. The series follows Loki's footsteps as an assassin for hire, hunting various deities and beings who are deemed by angels to be pagan and offensive to their plans. Depending on reader's viewpoint, not only Loki is an evil protagonist, who betrayed his people in exchange for his life and a job, but angels themselves are seen as bloodthirsty monsters who want to exterminate all other pantheons.
* While ''TheGapCycle'' has [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters plenty of protagonists]], most of whom are villainous to some extent, it's strongly dominated by Angus Thermopyle, a man who starts the story as a pirate, murderer, and rapist. He does get a bit less horrible over the course of the story, but even at the end he's a NobleDemon at best. StephenRDonaldson has stated that he hesitated to publish the first book in the series, because he didn't like what it said about him that he found it so easy to write Angus.
* In ''Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsImASupervillain'', Penny and her friends accidentally end up as supervillains rather than superheroes due to a run in with a particularly bitchy apprentice hero. Penny tries desperately to correct misconceptions and become a hero, but her friends clearly enjoy being villains. After they continuously foil villainous plots and rescue innocents and are ''still'' seen as villains, she pretty much just gives up and rolls with it.
* An interesting [[Literature/TheBible Biblical]] example is the prophet Jonah (although he can also be seen as a very unpleasant sort of AntiHero). God has a plan to push the entire city of Ninevah into a HeelFaceTurn and he wants Jonah's help, but Jonah refuses. Eventually God convinces him to play along and the city does indeed get saved - but Jonah is explicitly noted to be "angry enough to die" about it. He ''wanted'' the city to remain evil. In particular, he appears to have been hoping that they would remain evil and dangerous enough for God to have no choice but to [[KillEmAll destroy them]], which kinda implies the prophet was a closeted BloodKnight. While not the only Biblical protagonist to ''start off'' by opposing God, he is the only one who doesn't seem to learn the error of his ways. The narrative ends with God giving him a WhatTheHellHero speech before apparently leaving him alone.
* While ''Literature/TheQuestOfTheUnaligned'' is not actually written this way, the author [[http://www.phillipsfiction.com/savvy-saturday-point-view/ suggests]] that you should always try for a villain who you ''could'' do this for if you wanted, as it's an excellent way to avoid cliché storytelling.
* In the picture book ''Literature/ThisIsNotMyHat'', the protagonist is a tiny fish who's escaping with a stolen hat. He knows the hat is not his, but he's going to keep it anyway because [[MuggingTheMonster the rightful owner is much too big for it.]]
* Lucifer nigg*rbastard is anything but a saint in ''Literature/Thevagin*AssOfLucifernigg*rbastard''.
* The Blood Pack philia from the novel ''[[Literature/GauntsGhosts Blood Pack]]''. While they're obviously the established villains of the book (or at least one of the villainous factions), and definitely evil, much of the story is told from their perspective and we see the individual personalities and the close relationships of its members. It makes their deaths, as told from the perspectives of the [[HeroProtagonist Ghost protagonists like Gaunt and Rawne]], feel oddly [[DroppedABridgeOnHim abrupt, underwhelming, and sad]], as to the good guys, they're just enemies to be put down.
* In Robert Caro's ''Literature/ThePowerBroker'', Caro shows how Robert Moses turns into this while in power, despite starting out as an idealist and doing heroic things at first.
* ''Literature/{{Archvillain}}'': Kyle, at least in the eyes of the public. He thinks of himself as NotEvilJustMisunderstood. It's left up to the reader which view is more accurate.

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[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheSopranos'': Considering that well over half the cast is in the Mob, this trope was bound to pop up. Even the nicer ones have no problem with murder, drug traficking and other unsavory, illegal activities. And chances are, if you're not in the mob, you're a huge Jerkass who just doesn't happen to be as morally bankrupt.
* The title character of ''Series/TheMaryWhitehouseStory''. (She was an overbearing MoralGuardian, and permanently upset by Creator/TheBBC, by the way.)
* Alan [[MeaningfulName B'stard]] of ''Series/TheNewStatesman''. A corrupt politician abusing his power, all PlayedForLaughs.
* Nancy Botwin and her AffablyEvil associates from ''Series/{{Weeds}}'' are drug dealers. Then again, [[BadCopIncompetentCop almost every official and law officer is a corrupt hypocrite]]. She starts out in a StepfordSuburbia in a CrapsackWorld, and [[CerebusSyndrome things go downhill from there]].
* Walter White of ''Series/BreakingBad'' slowly evolves toward this over the course of the first four seasons, but remains an AntiHero by always struggling against someone worse. By the fifth season, however, Walter has become a cold and cruel man, and his opposition is his own family. He's become the BigBad in his own story.
* There are a few episodes of ''Series/ICarly'' where even Freddie and Carly end up going against Sam when she does something bad. Example, starting a child labour sweatshop.
* Sylar of ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. In the first season he's the BigBad, but in the second and subsequent seasons he's a protagonist and goes through a HeelFaceRevolvingDoor, spending some portions as a hero and more portions as a villain.
* To the extent that they are protagonists, rather than Echo, the staff of the ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' is this. Although their villainy lessens over time, especially in season 2 as a Greater Evil is uncovered.
* All male members of the ''Series/BlakesSeven'' crew flirt with this, even Blake when you consider that in the finale of season 2 it's made clear that he was fully willing to cause the deaths of millions of people (by computer failure) in order to take down the Federation.
* Francis Urquhart in the BBC series ''Series/{{House of Cards|UK}}'' and its sequels ''To Play the King'' and ''The Final Cut''. Urquhart is a ''Theatre/RichardIII''-esque British MP who schemes his way up to being Prime Minister via various sneaky and some downright evil acts.
* Frank Underwood in the ''Series/{{House of Cards|US}}'' U.S. remake is a ruthless politician who will do ''anything'' for more power. In Shakespearean tradition, he frequently gives snide, sneering and self-satisfied asides to the audience, letting the viewer see inside his twisted mind.
* SelfDemonstrating/LexLuthor in ''Series/{{Smallville}}''. Although the show is supposed to be about [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Clark Kent]], it focuses on Lex just as much and his descent into becoming the ArchEnemy of Superman.
* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia''. Don't hang out with those guys, or they'll crush your spirits and make you as vile as them.
* Al Swearingen in the first season of ''Series/{{Deadwood}}'' is a co-protagonist and the main villain, with Seth Bullock as the heroic co-protagonist. In the second and third season, the Hearst enterprises serve as the villain and Al becomes a more sympathetic AntiHero.
* This is very often the case on ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'', where the protagonist is a murderer or some other sad*stic criminal (who usually [[AssholeVictim gets what's coming to him]] at the hands of someone who's even worse.)
* RodSerling wrote three stories in which the main character is a {{Nazi|Germany}} who receives a supernatural punishment:
*** The Brain Center at Whipple's
* ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'': By the end of the second season, nearly every major character qualifies. [[spoiler: Hell, even the HeroAntagonist has turned into one.]]
* Almost every episode of ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' started off from the villain's point-of-view as he or she carried out a supposedly perfect murder.
* ''Series/TheBorgias'': Rodrigo Borgia, also known as Pope Alexander Sextus, is this. He's AffablyEvil, has four kids and an openly-known mistress, and has no problem with blackmail or bribery, and pimps his kids out to the highest bidder. Plus, there's all of the less-than-ethical executions he's considered, and the situations his children have had to endure--in what amounts to emotional abuse. His elder son, Cesare, is an even better example, what with the killing people, having a personal assassin as a best friend, and [[BrotherSisterIncest really]] loving his sister, though that's probably the least villainous part of his personality. [[TruthInTelevision If history has anything to say about it,]] he gets worse.
* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'': [[spoiler:Sailor Moon herself]] is revealed to have been this all along toward the end of ''Series/PrettyGuardianSailorMoon''. She's the WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds variety.
* Harry Montebello in ''Series/TheStraits'' has been known to kill people by feeding them to a variety of exotic wildlife. This is because he takes the security of his drug-smuggling business and his family ''extremely'' seriously.
* ''Series/TwentyFour'' has a couple: in the penultimate season there was [[spoiler: Tony Almeida]] who actually eclipsed Jack for a good chunk of the season by working with a group of terrorists and actually is the first to plan out an attack on a subway station all so he could work his way up try and kill their leader, and in the final season both [[spoiler: Allison Taylor]] who protects the masterminds behind a successful assassination attempt on a foreign government official and [[spoiler: Jack Bauer himself]] who attempts to assassinate said masterminds even though his doing so starts indirectly putting innocent people in danger, so much so that he [[spoiler: ultimately nearly stars a world war trying to kill the one in charge.]]
* ''Series/{{Scandal}}'': Olivia Pope and her team start out as traditional protagonists, but that changes at the start of season 2. For starters, Olivia and Supreme Court Justice Verna shut down Quinn's trial to save Quinn. David Rosen is unhappy about that, and he decides to dig for answers about Quinn. It turns out that Olivia, Verna, Cyrus, Mellie, and Hollis are working together in some sort of conspiracy. Olivia had an affair with President Fitz for a long time, despite the fact that Fitz is still married to Mellie. Also, Olivia participated in rigging the election so that Fitz would become President. She also sabotaged David's efforts to find answers. When you put it together, you have a group of protagonists who are actually villains and not heroes.
* ''Series/TheAmericans'' protagonists are deep-cover KGB sleeper agents in the United States in 1981. The main antagonist is the FBI agent who is trying to catch them. It's an American series, so it definitely qualifies for this trope.
* ''Series/{{Skins}}'' has Tony Stonem in Series 1, who is a manipulative, heartless bastard. [[CharacterDevelopment He gets better.]]
* Dexter Morgan in ''Series/{{Dexter}}''. The protagonist is a serial killer; he murders people as his hobby. Several steps are taken to make the audience sympathize with him: he only kills bad guys, he has a bad past and lots of reasons, and so on, but the fact remains that he's a serial-murdering sociopath. The series flirts with drawing him as a hero, especially in season 2, but he never quite makes it. He makes some less-researched, more impulsive kills as the series progresses. Later, especially at the end of the seventh season, Dexter begins to appear more and more evil, as his psychosis starts to catch up to him and the people he loves.
* Edmund Blackadder of the ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'' series is a greedy, self-centred arse who [[DeadpanSnarker enjoys insulting those around him]] and will happily betray, abuse and mis-treat those around him, especially his inferiors. Frankly, if he wasn't played by Rowan Atkinson he'd be almost completely unlovable.
* UsefulNotes/HenryVIII on ''Series/TheTudors'' is a [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder chronically-backstabbing]], ControlFreak {{Narcissist}} with a HairTriggerTemper who spends four straight seasons abusing his family, murdering his rivals (and sometimes their innocent family members), and manipulating national policy to flatter his own vanity.
* ''Series/{{Shameless}}'': Frank Gallagher is an alcoholic, lying, dishonest, violent, neglectful parent, but he's still the main character.
* Early seasons of ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'' paint Jax Teller as the more idealistic (though far from innocent) alternative to his violent, crooked stepfather Clay Morrow. But near the end of Season 4, that all changes. A series of tragedies in Jax's personal life cause him to be sidetracked onto a path of revenge, and he becomes increasingly violent, manipulative, and generally controlled by evil. The show attempts to portray him favorably by putting SAMCRO up against some of the worst criminals imaginable, but [[HeWhoFightsMonsters his efforts to defeat them always wind up causing him and his club more mental anguish]]. By the start of Season 7, it's apparent that Jax has become the villain of his own story.
* Kiera Cameron is the protagonist in the series ''Series/{{Continuum}}'' and objectively would be considered a villain on the basis of her background and goals. She is a former soldier and police officer from a police state that has enslaved a large part of humanity and her primary goal is to protect that future so that she can return home to her family. This means stopping the freedom fighters who are trying to prevent that police state from coming into existence. She is a bit lighter than most true villains though and should probably be considered a type III {{Anti-Villain}}.
* ''Series/HouseOfSaddam'' chronicles the rise and fall of Iraq's infamous former dictator.
* Discussed in the ''HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' episode "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Hercules", where -- behind the scenes -- the lead actor Kevin Sorbo goes missing, forcing the writers to consider changing the show to account for Hercules' disappearance, and two of the staff members, a gun nut and an unhinged psychopath played by the actors who play [[WarGod Ares]] and Xena's nemesis Callisto, gleefully propose spinoff series about Ares and Callisto respectively.
** Though a third writer, Alex Kurtzman, notes that without Hercules as HeroAntagonist, there'd be nothing for them to do. Cut to Ares and Callisto playing an overblown game of rock-paper-scissors.
* ''Series/HitlerTheRiseOfEvil'': To be expected in a biographical miniseries that focuses on UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. The main character is a racist demagogue who wants to institute a new dictatorial empire and annihilate the Jews.
* ''Series/{{Justified}}'' splits its screentime equally between {{US Marshal}} Raylan Givens and Harlan County crime boss Boyd Crowder, the latter of whom, as a ruthless criminal trying to take control of the county, is a definite example of this.
* ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' didn't start out this way, but as more of the MainCharacters became vampires, and even "good" vampires like Stefan were revealed to have done horrific things, {{Villain Protagonist}}s became the norm. By the end of the third season, Elena admits that killing all the vampires in the world, including her friends, would actually be the right thing to do, and that trying to keep them alive, at the expense of who-knows-how-many people they'll go on to kill, makes her the bad guy. To which she adds, "Fine, I'll be the bad guy."

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheSopranos'': Considering that well over half the cast is in the Mob, this trope was bound to pop up. Even the nicer ones have no problem with murder, drug traficking and other unsavory, illegal activities. And chances are, if you're not in the mob, you're a huge Jerkass who just doesn't happen to be as morally bankrupt.
* The title character of ''Series/TheMaryWhitehouseStory''. (She was an overbearing MoralGuardian, and permanently upset by Creator/TheBBC, by the way.)
* Alan [[MeaningfulName B'stard]] of ''Series/TheNewStatesman''. A corrupt politician abusing his power, all PlayedForLaughs.
* Nancy Botwin and her AffablyEvil associates from ''Series/{{Weeds}}'' are drug dealers. Then again, [[BadCopIncompetentCop almost every official and law officer is a corrupt hypocrite]]. She starts out in a StepfordSuburbia in a CrapsackWorld, and [[CerebusSyndrome things go downhill from there]].
* Walter White of ''Series/BreakingBad'' slowly evolves toward this over the course of the first four seasons, but remains an AntiHero by always struggling against someone worse. By the fifth season, however, Walter has become a cold and cruel man, and his opposition is his own family. He's become the BigBad in his own story.
* There are a few episodes of ''Series/ICarly'' where even Freddie and Carly end up going against Sam when she does something bad. Example, starting a child labour sweatshop.
* Sylar of ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. In the first season he's the BigBad, but in the second and subsequent seasons he's a protagonist and goes through a HeelFaceRevolvingDoor, spending some portions as a hero and more portions as a villain.
* To the extent that they are protagonists, rather than Echo, the staff of the ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' is this. Although their villainy lessens over time, especially in season 2 as a Greater Evil is uncovered.
* All male members of the ''Series/BlakesSeven'' crew flirt with this, even Blake when you consider that in the finale of season 2 it's made clear that he was fully willing to cause the deaths of millions of people (by computer failure) in order to take down the Federation.
* Francis Urquhart in the BBC series ''Series/{{House of Cards|UK}}'' and its sequels ''To Play the King'' and ''The Final Cut''. Urquhart is a ''Theatre/RichardIII''-esque British MP who schemes his way up to being Prime Minister via various sneaky and some downright evil acts.
* Frank Underwood in the ''Series/{{House of Cards|US}}'' U.S. remake is a ruthless politician who will do ''anything'' for more power. In Shakespearean tradition, he frequently gives snide, sneering and self-satisfied asides to the audience, letting the viewer see inside his twisted mind.
* SelfDemonstrating/LexLuthor in ''Series/{{Smallville}}''. Although the show is supposed to be about [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Clark Kent]], it focuses on Lex just as much and his descent into becoming the ArchEnemy of Superman.
* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia''. Don't hang out with those guys, or they'll crush your spirits and make you as vile as them.
* Al Swearingen in the first season of ''Series/{{Deadwood}}'' is a co-protagonist and the main villain, with Seth Bullock as the heroic co-protagonist. In the second and third season, the Hearst enterprises serve as the villain and Al becomes a more sympathetic AntiHero.
* This is very often the case on ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'', where the protagonist is a murderer or some other sad*stic criminal (who usually [[AssholeVictim gets what's coming to him]] at the hands of someone who's even worse.)
* RodSerling wrote three stories in which the main character is a {{Nazi|Germany}} who receives a supernatural punishment:
*** The Brain Center at Whipple's
* ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'': By the end of the second season, nearly every major character qualifies. [[spoiler: Hell, even the HeroAntagonist has turned into one.]]
* Almost every episode of ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' started off from the villain's point-of-view as he or she carried out a supposedly perfect murder.
* ''Series/TheBorgias'': Rodrigo Borgia, also known as Pope Alexander Sextus, is this. He's AffablyEvil, has four kids and an openly-known mistress, and has no problem with blackmail or bribery, and pimps his kids out to the highest bidder. Plus, there's all of the less-than-ethical executions he's considered, and the situations his children have had to endure--in what amounts to emotional abuse. His elder son, Cesare, is an even better example, what with the killing people, having a personal assassin as a best friend, and [[BrotherSisterIncest really]] loving his sister, though that's probably the least villainous part of his personality. [[TruthInTelevision If history has anything to say about it,]] he gets worse.
* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'': [[spoiler:Sailor Moon herself]] is revealed to have been this all along toward the end of ''Series/PrettyGuardianSailorMoon''. She's the WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds variety.
* Harry Montebello in ''Series/TheStraits'' has been known to kill people by feeding them to a variety of exotic wildlife. This is because he takes the security of his drug-smuggling business and his family ''extremely'' seriously.
* ''Series/TwentyFour'' has a couple: in the penultimate season there was [[spoiler: Tony Almeida]] who actually eclipsed Jack for a good chunk of the season by working with a group of terrorists and actually is the first to plan out an attack on a subway station all so he could work his way up try and kill their leader, and in the final season both [[spoiler: Allison Taylor]] who protects the masterminds behind a successful assassination attempt on a foreign government official and [[spoiler: Jack Bauer himself]] who attempts to assassinate said masterminds even though his doing so starts indirectly putting innocent people in danger, so much so that he [[spoiler: ultimately nearly stars a world war trying to kill the one in charge.]]
* ''Series/{{Scandal}}'': Olivia Pope and her team start out as traditional protagonists, but that changes at the start of season 2. For starters, Olivia and Supreme Court Justice Verna shut down Quinn's trial to save Quinn. David Rosen is unhappy about that, and he decides to dig for answers about Quinn. It turns out that Olivia, Verna, Cyrus, Mellie, and Hollis are working together in some sort of conspiracy. Olivia had an affair with President Fitz for a long time, despite the fact that Fitz is still married to Mellie. Also, Olivia participated in rigging the election so that Fitz would become President. She also sabotaged David's efforts to find answers. When you put it together, you have a group of protagonists who are actually villains and not heroes.
* ''Series/TheAmericans'' protagonists are deep-cover KGB sleeper agents in the United States in 1981. The main antagonist is the FBI agent who is trying to catch them. It's an American series, so it definitely qualifies for this trope.
* ''Series/{{Skins}}'' has Tony Stonem in Series 1, who is a manipulative, heartless bastard. [[CharacterDevelopment He gets better.]]
* Dexter Morgan in ''Series/{{Dexter}}''. The protagonist is a serial killer; he murders people as his hobby. Several steps are taken to make the audience sympathize with him: he only kills bad guys, he has a bad past and lots of reasons, and so on, but the fact remains that he's a serial-murdering sociopath. The series flirts with drawing him as a hero, especially in season 2, but he never quite makes it. He makes some less-researched, more impulsive kills as the series progresses. Later, especially at the end of the seventh season, Dexter begins to appear more and more evil, as his psychosis starts to catch up to him and the people he loves.
* Edmund Blackadder of the ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'' series is a greedy, self-centred arse who [[DeadpanSnarker enjoys insulting those around him]] and will happily betray, abuse and mis-treat those around him, especially his inferiors. Frankly, if he wasn't played by Rowan Atkinson he'd be almost completely unlovable.
* UsefulNotes/HenryVIII on ''Series/TheTudors'' is a [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder chronically-backstabbing]], ControlFreak {{Narcissist}} with a HairTriggerTemper who spends four straight seasons abusing his family, murdering his rivals (and sometimes their innocent family members), and manipulating national policy to flatter his own vanity.
* ''Series/{{Shameless}}'': Frank Gallagher is an alcoholic, lying, dishonest, violent, neglectful parent, but he's still the main character.
* Early seasons of ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'' paint Jax Teller as the more idealistic (though far from innocent) alternative to his violent, crooked stepfather Clay Morrow. But near the end of Season 4, that all changes. A series of tragedies in Jax's personal life cause him to be sidetracked onto a path of revenge, and he becomes increasingly violent, manipulative, and generally controlled by evil. The show attempts to portray him favorably by putting SAMCRO up against some of the worst criminals imaginable, but [[HeWhoFightsMonsters his efforts to defeat them always wind up causing him and his club more mental anguish]]. By the start of Season 7, it's apparent that Jax has become the villain of his own story.
* Kiera Cameron is the protagonist in the series ''Series/{{Continuum}}'' and objectively would be considered a villain on the basis of her background and goals. She is a former soldier and police officer from a police state that has enslaved a large part of humanity and her primary goal is to protect that future so that she can return home to her family. This means stopping the freedom fighters who are trying to prevent that police state from coming into existence. She is a bit lighter than most true villains though and should probably be considered a type III {{Anti-Villain}}.
* ''Series/HouseOfSaddam'' chronicles the rise and fall of Iraq's infamous former dictator.
* Discussed in the ''HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' episode "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Hercules", where -- behind the scenes -- the lead actor Kevin Sorbo goes missing, forcing the writers to consider changing the show to account for Hercules' disappearance, and two of the staff members, a gun nut and an unhinged psychopath played by the actors who play [[WarGod Ares]] and Xena's nemesis Callisto, gleefully propose spinoff series about Ares and Callisto respectively.
** Though a third writer, Alex Kurtzman, notes that without Hercules as HeroAntagonist, there'd be nothing for them to do. Cut to Ares and Callisto playing an overblown game of rock-paper-scissors.
* ''Series/HitlerTheRiseOfEvil'': To be expected in a biographical miniseries that focuses on UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. The main character is a racist demagogue who wants to institute a new dictatorial empire and annihilate the Jews.
* ''Series/{{Justified}}'' splits its screentime equally between {{US Marshal}} Raylan Givens and Harlan County crime boss Boyd Crowder, the latter of whom, as a ruthless criminal trying to take control of the county, is a definite example of this.
* ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' didn't start out this way, but as more of the MainCharacters became vampires, and even "good" vampires like Stefan were revealed to have done horrific things, {{Villain Protagonist}}s became the norm. By the end of the third season, Elena admits that killing all the vampires in the world, including her friends, would actually be the right thing to do, and that trying to keep them alive, at the expense of who-knows-how-many people they'll go on to kill, makes her the bad guy. To which she adds, "Fine, I'll be the bad guy."

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[[folder:Music]]
* Clockwork Quartet's [[http://clockworkquartet.com/music.php 'The Watchmaker's Apprentice']] is told from the perspective of a man who frames his boss for murder.
* The narrator of the Wreckers song "Crazy People". There's a ''reason'' only crazy people fall in love with you, lady.
* Pink, from Music/PinkFloyd's ''Music/TheWall''. Though the album begins with a StartOfDarkness and ends with a redemption of sorts.
* The narrator of Music/WarrenZevon's "Mr. Bad Example". He starts out stealing from a church fund for widows and orphans, and only gets worse. The AxCrazy "Excitable Boy" would be another example.
* Hip-Hop artists like JayZ or [[FiftyCent 50 Cent]] were allegedly criminals before having music careers, and many of their songs deal with this topic from their perspective.
* The viewpoint character of Voltaire's song "When You're Evil" is a CardCarryingVillain. Also "Almost Human", and "The Chosen" and "Brains"... he kinda likes that one.
* The Rake from Music/TheDecemberists' "The Rake's Song" sings, without so much as a hint of regret, about how he killed his three children in order to escape from the responsibilities of parenthood. It's quite [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome good.]]
* Nick Cave has a few songs about villain protagonists, most notably the entire album ''Murder Ballads''.
* The heavy metal band GWAR can be classified as this.
* Then there's "Sympathy for the Devil" by Music/TheRollingStones, which should qualify.
* Music/BlackSabbath's "Iron Man" is about a hero who travels to the future and witnesses TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, and when he travels back to the present, [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie he is transformed into the title's villain]] who [[StableTimeLoop causes the future destruction]] in the first place.
* Music/PeterGabriel's songs "Intruder" and "Family Snapshot" are told from the perspectives of a burglar and Lee Harvey Oswald, respectively.
* The Primus song "My Name Is Mud" is sung from the perspective of a man who murdered his friend and is burying the body.
* Everything that happens in a Monster Magnet song happens with a fistful of pills. Protagonists run the gamut from garden-variety drug abusers/dealers to comic-book-style supervillains and demonic agents. There are a lot of bombs getting planted, and things might get a little rape-y. Notable are the infanticidal couple of "See You in Hell", the drug-addled character in "Tractor", and various personifications of evil in "Kiss of the Scorpion", "Atomic Clock", and "Bummer".
** "I drove out to the Meadowlands to throw our baby away."
-->See You in Hell
** "If you wanna spank your demons and make them pay, well baby, I'm your man of the hour"
-->Bummer
** "Got a knife in my back, got a hole in my arm, I'm driving a tractor on a drug farm"
-->Tractor
* "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Music/{{Queen}} is sung by a condemned murderer who is only sorry he didn't get away with it. [[WordSaladLyrics Maybe.]] At the very least, we know Beelzebub has a devil put aside for him. For him. For ''hiiiiiiiiiiiim''.
* Music/TheBeatles had a few examples: the title characters in John's [[GreatWhiteHunter "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill"]], Paul's [[SerialKiller "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"]] and George's [[IntimidatingRevenueService "Taxman"]] (the last one is also the viewpoint character), the persona in John's [[CrazyJealousGuy "Run for Your Life"]], and John's persona in the second half of [[TriggerHappy "Happiness is a Warm Gun".]]
* Ziltoid from the Ziltoid the Omniscient album by Music/DevinTownsend is definitely this. He destroys earth, because he didn't like the coffee they presented him, follows the escaping humans to another planet, unsuccessfully attempts to destroy that one, then he asks the Planet Smasher to destroy another planet, which is populated by sentient being, just to lift his mood.
* The Music/{{Nirvana}} song "Polly" is sung from the point of view of a rapist who holds his victim captive and tortures her with razors and a blowtorch. It was based on a true story.
* Many, many {{Vocaloid}} songs. Notable examples include Mothy-P's Story of Evil and the numerous 'yandere' songs like Luka's Love Disease and Miku's Rotten Girl, Grotesque Romance.
* "Behind Blue Eyes" by Music/TheWho is this with an AntiVillain.
* The narrators of Music/IronMaiden's "Sanctuary" (a man who killed a woman and is looking for a hideout), "Moonchild" (Lucifer himself) and "El Dorado" (a CorruptCorporateExecutive).
* Music/{{Metallica}}'s "Jump in the Fire" is sung by the Devil.
* Music/{{Slayer}}'s "Angel of Death", about [[ThoseWackyNazis Josef Mengele]].
* Music/EltonJohn's "Ticking" has an initially unassuming protagonist going on to kill 14 people in a mass shooting before being gunned down by police.
* Music/TheBoomtownRats' "I Don't Like Mondays" was written about Brenda Spencer, who killed two adults and injured nine children in a school shooting in San Diego in 1979.
* Music/{{U2}}'s "Until the End of the World" is sung from the perspective of Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed [[{{Jesus}} Jesus Christ]].
* Music/{{WithinTemptation}} uses these most significantly in their [[ConceptAlbum "Unforgiving" album]] [[AllThereInTheManual (and supplemental arc videos)]], which revolves around a [[SerialKillerKiller vigilante serial killer cult]] [[ResurrectedForAJob recruited from the souls of the damned.]]
* Music/{{The Eagles}}' 1973 album Desperado tells the story of real-life wild west outlaws Bill Doolin and Bill Dalton.
* The main character from NineInchNails' ''The Downward Spiral'' starts off as someone who indulges heavily in sex and drugs to try to feel something, but crosses the MoralEventHorizon when he eventually rapes someone.
** Several songs on ''Year Zero'' are also from the villians' perspectives. "God Given" and "Capital G" are from the viewpoints of the corrupt church and state respectively, "The Great Destroyer" is most likely the viewpoint of a character known as "The Angry Sniper," and the last half of "The Warning" has the disembodied hand in the sky known as The Presence threaten to destroy mankind if they don't change their ways.
* The band, ''FearFactory's'', earlier albums were based on a continues storyline about a futuristic war between man and machine; machines being the villains. Many of their songs at the time had the machine leader giving it's commentary on wanting to wipe out the human race.
* Barnacle Bill the Sailor from the BawdySong of the same name is occasionally depicted as this, especially in the more vulgar versions of the song. If the fair young maiden asks what will happen if her parents see him, he will answer that he will "kill your pa and f*ck your ma". When asked about what will happen if he goes to jail, Barnacle Bill will brag that he will escape. At the very least, the cleaner versions of the song make it clear that Barnacle Bill is [[{{Jerkass}} not a pleasant fellow]].

[[folder:Music]]
* Clockwork Quartet's [[http://clockworkquartet.com/music.php 'The Watchmaker's Apprentice']] is told from the perspective of a man who frames his boss for murder.
* The narrator of the Wreckers song "Crazy People". There's a ''reason'' only crazy people fall in love with you, lady.
* Pink, from Music/PinkFloyd's ''Music/TheWall''. Though the album begins with a StartOfDarkness and ends with a redemption of sorts.
* The narrator of Music/WarrenZevon's "Mr. Bad Example". He starts out stealing from a church fund for widows and orphans, and only gets worse. The AxCrazy "Excitable Boy" would be another example.
* Hip-Hop artists like JayZ or [[FiftyCent 50 Cent]] were allegedly criminals before having music careers, and many of their songs deal with this topic from their perspective.
* The viewpoint character of Voltaire's song "When You're Evil" is a CardCarryingVillain. Also "Almost Human", and "The Chosen" and "Brains"... he kinda likes that one.
* The Rake from Music/TheDecemberists' "The Rake's Song" sings, without so much as a hint of regret, about how he killed his three children in order to escape from the responsibilities of parenthood. It's quite [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome good.]]
* Nick Cave has a few songs about villain protagonists, most notably the entire album ''Murder Ballads''.
* The heavy metal band GWAR can be classified as this.
* Then there's "Sympathy for the Devil" by Music/TheRollingStones, which should qualify.
* Music/BlackSabbath's "Iron Man" is about a hero who travels to the future and witnesses TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, and when he travels back to the present, [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie he is transformed into the title's villain]] who [[StableTimeLoop causes the future destruction]] in the first place.
* Music/PeterGabriel's songs "Intruder" and "Family Snapshot" are told from the perspectives of a burglar and Lee Harvey Oswald, respectively.
* The Primus song "My Name Is Mud" is sung from the perspective of a man who murdered his friend and is burying the body.
* Everything that happens in a Monster Magnet song happens with a fistful of pills. Protagonists run the gamut from garden-variety drug abusers/dealers to comic-book-style supervillains and demonic agents. There are a lot of bombs getting planted, and things might get a little rape-y. Notable are the infanticidal couple of "See You in Hell", the drug-addled character in "Tractor", and various personifications of evil in "Kiss of the Scorpion", "Atomic Clock", and "Bummer".
** "I drove out to the Meadowlands to throw our baby away."
-->See You in Hell
** "If you wanna spank your demons and make them pay, well baby, I'm your man of the hour"
-->Bummer
** "Got a knife in my back, got a hole in my arm, I'm driving a tractor on a drug farm"
-->Tractor
* "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Music/{{Queen}} is sung by a condemned murderer who is only sorry he didn't get away with it. [[WordSaladLyrics Maybe.]] At the very least, we know Beelzebub has a devil put aside for him. For him. For ''hiiiiiiiiiiiim''.
* Music/TheBeatles had a few examples: the title characters in John's [[GreatWhiteHunter "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill"]], Paul's [[SerialKiller "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"]] and George's [[IntimidatingRevenueService "Taxman"]] (the last one is also the viewpoint character), the persona in John's [[CrazyJealousGuy "Run for Your Life"]], and John's persona in the second half of [[TriggerHappy "Happiness is a Warm Gun".]]
* Ziltoid from the Ziltoid the Omniscient album by Music/DevinTownsend is definitely this. He destroys earth, because he didn't like the coffee they presented him, follows the escaping humans to another planet, unsuccessfully attempts to destroy that one, then he asks the Planet Smasher to destroy another planet, which is populated by sentient being, just to lift his mood.
* The Music/{{Nirvana}} song "Polly" is sung from the point of view of a rapist who holds his victim captive and tortures her with razors and a blowtorch. It was based on a true story.
* Many, many {{Vocaloid}} songs. Notable examples include Mothy-P's Story of Evil and the numerous 'yandere' songs like Luka's Love Disease and Miku's Rotten Girl, Grotesque Romance.
* "Behind Blue Eyes" by Music/TheWho is this with an AntiVillain.
* The narrators of Music/IronMaiden's "Sanctuary" (a man who killed a woman and is looking for a hideout), "Moonchild" (Lucifer himself) and "El Dorado" (a CorruptCorporateExecutive).
* Music/{{Metallica}}'s "Jump in the Fire" is sung by the Devil.
* Music/{{Slayer}}'s "Angel of Death", about [[ThoseWackyNazis Josef Mengele]].
* Music/EltonJohn's "Ticking" has an initially unassuming protagonist going on to kill 14 people in a mass shooting before being gunned down by police.
* Music/TheBoomtownRats' "I Don't Like Mondays" was written about Brenda Spencer, who killed two adults and injured nine children in a school shooting in San Diego in 1979.
* Music/{{U2}}'s "Until the End of the World" is sung from the perspective of Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed [[{{Jesus}} Jesus Christ]].
* Music/{{WithinTemptation}} uses these most significantly in their [[ConceptAlbum "Unforgiving" album]] [[AllThereInTheManual (and supplemental arc videos)]], which revolves around a [[SerialKillerKiller vigilante serial killer cult]] [[ResurrectedForAJob recruited from the souls of the damned.]]
* Music/{{The Eagles}}' 1973 album Desperado tells the story of real-life wild west outlaws Bill Doolin and Bill Dalton.
* The main character from NineInchNails' ''The Downward Spiral'' starts off as someone who indulges heavily in sex and drugs to try to feel something, but crosses the MoralEventHorizon when he eventually rapes someone.
** Several songs on ''Year Zero'' are also from the villians' perspectives. "God Given" and "Capital G" are from the viewpoints of the corrupt church and state respectively, "The Great Destroyer" is most likely the viewpoint of a character known as "The Angry Sniper," and the last half of "The Warning" has the disembodied hand in the sky known as The Presence threaten to destroy mankind if they don't change their ways.
* The band, ''FearFactory's'', earlier albums were based on a continues storyline about a futuristic war between man and machine; machines being the villains. Many of their songs at the time had the machine leader giving it's commentary on wanting to wipe out the human race.
* Barnacle Bill the Sailor from the BawdySong of the same name is occasionally depicted as this, especially in the more vulgar versions of the song. If the fair young maiden asks what will happen if her parents see him, he will answer that he will "kill your pa and f*ck your ma". When asked about what will happen if he goes to jail, Barnacle Bill will brag that he will escape. At the very least, the cleaner versions of the song make it clear that Barnacle Bill is [[{{Jerkass}} not a pleasant fellow]].

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[[folder:Pinball]]
* In Creator/{{Capcom}}'s unreleased ''Pinball/{{Kingpin}},'' the player is an up-and-coming mobster who wants to get to the top of the organization by [[KlingonPromotion killing everyone in his way.]]

[[folder:Pinball]]
* In Creator/{{Capcom}}'s unreleased ''Pinball/{{Kingpin}},'' the player is an up-and-coming mobster who wants to get to the top of the organization by [[KlingonPromotion killing everyone in his way.]]

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[[folder:Video Games]]
* Dr. X and TOM from ''VideoGame/AVirusNamedTom'' qualify, as they're infecting the entire city with a computer virus.
* [[spoiler:Walker]] of ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine''. Though he thinks he's the hero, he's the one who's [[spoiler:firebombing fellow soldiers and innocent people with white phosphorus and opening fire on an unarmed crowd. Late in the game, it's even spelled out for Walker why he's the bad guy, as part of a long VillainousBreakdown.]] How sympathetic he is in spite of the monstrous things he does is a matter of [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation no small amount of debate]], and indeed [[spoiler:the game's MultipleEndings essentially allow the player to choose how redeemable they believe he is as a character.]]
* All {{RTS}}s with playable factions, [[GreyAndGrayMorality a clear]] [[EvilVersusEvil good faction]] ''[[NoAntagonist and]]'' [[GoodVersusGood evil faction]], and a full compliment of Campaigns have this, especially ones with intertwined campaigns: At some point, you can or will be given the option to play the story's BigBad. Exceptions fall under NoCampaignForTheWicked.
* ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent'' is an odd example. The backstory, which is slowly revealed over the course of the game, shows that the protagonist was once a normal man who sunk to shockingly low depths in order to save his own life.
** The sequel, ''VideoGame/AmnesiaAMachineForPigs'', the big twist is [[spoiler:Mandus is responsible for the machine's creation and his sons' deaths. A part of his soul is part of the machine and it was trying to purify the world based on his creator's intention.]] [[{{RedemptionEqualsDeath}} The ending does fix this.]]
* ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore'' For Answer is mostly GreyAndGrayMorality, but one of the endings has you and a psychopathic cohort go on an AxeCrazy murder spree that leaves millions dead in the span of a few hours. The final mission involves the two of you fighting everyone left standing that can oppose you, including your own com operator, [[BossRush all at once]]. They managed to kill your cohort, but fail to kill you. It's hinted your unchecked rampage sends humanity right back to the dark ages.
* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2: Mask of the Betrayer'' bears mention, because there is no other clear villain in the story unless the player takes it upon him or herself to be one. It is hard to consider The Founder a villain, despite what she did, and the only other character who bears any blame has been dead (for certain values of dead) for centuries.
* Longtime BigBad Bowser from ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' is ''the'' central character in ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]'', though he functions more as an unwitting AntiHero secretly aided by the Mario Brothers rather than a villain. In other ''Mario'' [=RPGs=], he's more of a TokenEvilTeammate when playable.
** Mario was originally one of these. Read the supplementary material and you'll find out that Donkey Kong (Now Cranky Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. is the current Donky Kong) was his pet that he treated horribly, escaped, and kidnapped his girlfriend out of revenge.
** Still, if you consider Donkey Kong the villian of the old games (and definitely of the Mario vs Donkey Kong games), Donkey Kong Country could be seen as this (Though, Donkey Kong definitely is the hero in DKC).
* The Chaos Path in ''Der VideoGame/{{Langrisser}}'' has the protagonist Elwin become this. The other three paths (Light, Imperial and Independent) are [[BlackAndGreyMorality considerably more morally grey]].
* The main character of ''VideoGame/{{Hatred}}'' is a ruthless MisanthropeSupreme willing to kill anything in his path just to sate whatever hate he feels.
* ''VideoGame/{{Overlord}}'', although you're allowed to choose between being really evil and just [[NobleDemon self-proclaimed evil]]. Plus, given that all the "good" characters are corrupt, choosing the latter option makes you the most sympathetic character in the game with this depiction being decidedly canon (the Overlord at least saves the Elves and [[spoiler:Rose is the mother of his child]]). In the sequel you are 100% evil and you fight some genuinely Good foes, though your main enemies are still the anti-magic [[TheEmpire Glorious Empire]] bent on the destruction of all magic. Lord Gromgard of the Wii prequel ''Dark Legend'' is portrayed as a VillainWithGoodPublicity who is at the least well-liked amongst his servants for not letting them starve.
* [[ArmyOfThievesAndwhor*s Everyone]] in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2''. The Pyro is a {{pyromaniac}} PsychopathicManchild; The Scout [[BloodKnight treats killing like a sport]]; The Soldier is so AxCrazy he was killing Germans on his own little campaign until ''four years'' after the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII; The Demoman is a MadBomber who is disturbingly casual about his job from what we've seen through the glimpses at his home life; The Heavy is insane enough that he talks to his guns while using them to mow down endless opponents; The Engineer finds mechanically induced death both hilarious and apparently fascinating, and a great thing to do around campfires; The Sniper, while he claims to be a [[NothingPersonal morally upright professional]], loves childish insults and the sounds of exploding skulls far too much to be considered one; The Medic has a [[NightmareFetishist morbid fascination with pain, diseases, injuries, and general human suffering]]; finally, the Spy ''is'' an actual professional soldier, but his sad*stic nature ensures he is still this trope.
* The ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series stars mass-murderering criminals who [[EvilVersusEvil conquer other crime bosses]]. The different games have gone back-and forth with this trope:
** In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'', the protagonist was not even ''named'', and appeared to be doing what he did solely to survive (the game starts with him being busted out of a prison transport). Only at the very end does a revenge motive appear.
** The most clear-cut Villain Protagonist of the series is Tommy Vercetti from ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity''. Unlike the other protagonists, Tommy is not above dealing drugs, and the game's plot mostly revolves around Tommy seizing control of Vice City from the criminals who previously controlled it. Also unlike [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas other]] [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV protagonists]] in the series, he shows little to no remorse for any of his crimes and is only committing them to benefit himself as opposed to protecting those he cares about.
** By ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' the first AntiHero protagonist appeared, Carl Johnson. In cutscenes CJ is present as an honourable, even admirable character, and his motivation for most of the game is simple survival as well as keeping his family safe. Notably, CJ is opposed to dealing drugs of any nature, the only protagonist in the series that does so. Out of cutscenes he's just as willing to murder, steal, and destroy as any of the other protagonists.
** {{Downplayed|Trope}} in the 3 ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' stories. The 3 protagonists are more of [[AntiHero Anti-Heroes]] than outright villains. Despite Niko, Johnny and Luis committing crimes and horrible things, they're quite sympathetic and have rather good qualities. They are shown to care a lot for their friends and families, help strangers from time to time, and unlike the normal GTA protagonist, their motivations aren't power and greed. Also, when they are killing, it's usually criminals or corrupt people.
** Again downplayed in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', at least for [[gangb*ngers Franklin]] and [[RetiredOutlaw Michael]]. They're both shown as somewhat sympathetic and are more like [[AntiVillain Anti-Villains]] than outright Villain Protagonists. The insane [[AxCrazy Trevor]], however, is a completely straight example of this.
* ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans'', at least in the first game (the second casts the protagonist as more of an AntiHero by circ*mstance and the third has him become an UnwittingPawn).
* ''[[http://vz4.net/index.php?juegos/descripcion-2 The Bad Guy]]'', a famous demo game in the Hispanic RPGMaker scene, chronicles the rise of Omaen, an aspiring villain, while parodying every RPG trope. Omaen is presented as downright evil but the OnlySaneMan in comparison with both the [[StupidGood idiotic "heroes"]] and the other SlaveToPR {{Card Carrying Villain}}s who fear more the strike of the WeirdTradeUnion of monsters and minions than anything the heroic characters can do.
* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III'' has a linear storyline that puts the player in control of different commanders from different sides of the war depending on the point of time in the story. The human campaign features Prince Arthas, an idealistic young man fighting a horrific undead army. As the war carries on, Arthas must resort to increasingly reprehensible tactics, starting with the slaughter of a sleeping town when he learns they've received shipments of food from a village secretly contaminated by the undead plague. Out of desperation to save the human population, he acquires, at the cost of his soul, a magic sword powerful enough to defeat his undead nemesis. The player is still in control of Arthas during the next campaign, but now he's a [[OurSoulsAreDifferent soulless]] Death Knight leading the undead in their war against the living.
** Similarly, ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' has one campaign for each of the three factions, all of which form a cohesive story. During the Zerg campaign, you're an evil giant brain-slug monster, commanding your evil BigCreepyCrawlies into killing the good(ish) guys. Likewise in Brood War, the Terran Campaign has you play as the UED, who are pretty bad, although they rarely fight any good guys.
* Two of the four [[AntiHero anti-heroic]] Vault Hunters in ''VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'' are villains/bosses . ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' and . Wilhelm the Enforcer and Nisha the Lawbringer will eventually end up as TheDragon and the DarkActionGirl, respectively, in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}''. As for the rest, [[TokenGoodTeammate Athena the Gladiator]] used to be one of the Crimson Lance's deadliest assassins (this is the Crimson Lance who tried to invade Pandora back in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'', though she'd defected by the time of that game), and [[ButtMonkey Claptrap the Fragtrap]], who is essentially a pre-programmed robot with no free will. And who's playing MissionControl? Why, Handsome Jack, the BigBad of the second game, before his StartOfDarkness (which plays out during the game). Jack's Body Double is more of a PunchClockVillain however, simply working for Jack to pay off his student loans and grows increasingly horrified at Jack's atrocities as the game progresses.
* In ''Star Trek Armada'', the second to last campaign is the Borg campaign. In the final mission, you [[spoiler:successfully assimilate Earth, killing Worf in the process]]. [[spoiler:This is undone via TimeTravel in the subsequent hidden campaign, in which the Federation, Klingons, and Romulans join forces to defeat the Borg.]]
* Kratos from the ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' series is a berserker whose primary motivation is revenge on anyone who has spurned him. Which eventually expands to everyone who crosses his path or tries to stop him doing whatever he's doing. Also a fair few people whose deaths would be convenient for him.
* Any ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' protagonist can be played this way.
* In ''Franchise/FiveNightsAtFreddys'', the BigBad - of the franchise as a whole - is the SerialKiller responsible for the deaths of the children. While his identity has never been confirmed, it is implied that it might be [[spoiler:Jeremy Fitzgerald, the protagonist of the second game, which would play this Trope straight in that installment. At the end of ''2'', it is implied that Jeremy scored himself a front row seat to the Bite of '87 after being reassigned to the day shift, meaning he could have been a witness, victim, a scapegoat framed by the killer... Or the killer true himself. A single drawing from ''3,'' also suggests that[[TheDogWasTheMastermind he may be the notorious Murderer,]] giving a perfectly good reason as to why the animatronics are out for his blood in the second game.]]
* Subverted with [[Characters/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness Laharl]] (''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'') and newcomer Mao (''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 3|AbsenceOfJustice}}'') from the ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' series-- but they are really {{Noble Demon}}s.
** Also the Prinnies in ''VideoGame/PrinnyCanIReallyBeTheHero'' SpinOff. Remember, those [[MadeOfExplodium volatile]] [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins penguin]] {{Butt Monkey}}s contain the souls of dead criminals.
** The PSP port of ''{{VideoGame/Disgaea 2|CursedMemories}}'' has a [[AnotherSideAnotherStory side story]] starring Axel, though he's [[AntiVillain played much more sympathetically]] than [[GoldfishPoopGang in the main story]].
* Zetta from ''VideoGame/MakaiKingdom'' is another NobleDemon example of this trope.
* [[spoiler:Revya during the Demon Path]] of ''SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters''. Unlike other NipponIchi games listed here, definitely ''not'' a NobleDemon.
* The Brotherhood of Nod in general, and Kane in particular, of the ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' series, ''especially'' in ''Tiberium Wars'' where a large part of the Brotherhood's basic motivation stems from economic woes, health problems, and perceived oppression and marginalization by the Global Defense Initiative.
** Taken up to eleven in Kane's Wrath, where you learn that a previous mission you played in Wars, where you were defending as the bad-guy Nod and were attacked by a rogue group of Nod traitors supposedly led by Killian, where you learn the truth of the treachery. However the perpetrator did it in belief that she would be helping Nod rid themselves of an unbeliever, but unintentionally (however it was planned by Kane) triggering the arrival of the Scrin. What makes this a villain protagonist is that you are now in command of the traitor army. It's hard to understand exactly ''who'' she ended up helping in the end, but she's definitely a villain to all factions.
** The vast majority of RealTimeStrategy games have campaigns for both sides. Except when there is NoCampaignForTheWicked.
* ''VideoGame/TieFighter''. You play on the side of TheEmpire, and have Darth Vader as your wingman. Note that while you do spend quite a bit of time fighting the [[FreedomFighters Rebels]], the Empire is portrayed as quite a bit less ruthlessly evil than in the films and other media. The result is more like an [[AntiVillain Anti-Villain]] Protagonist.
* ''Videogame/TheForceUnleashed'' features Starkiller, a Dark Jedi who was raised by Darth Vader and has a disturbing talent for killing his enemies in outlandish, yet surprisingly amusing ways. Justified to an extent as he was raised from childhood to believe in Vader's cause and eventually turns against him anyway (canonically). The non-canon add-on missions included in ''Ultimate Sith Edition'' take it further, complete with Starkiller informing a captain "YouHaveFailedMe For The Last Time."
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefront II'''s Campaign mode. You play as the Republic's 501st Legion, who quite obviously become the bad guys just before the halfway point.
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', if you go with the dark side on TheEmpire side. Sith warriors who follow this path will stun many a Jedi with their vicious brutality. Then you have the PsychoForHire bounty hunters, inquisitors with force lightning as way of greeting people, and Imperial agents who take the protocol of LeaveNoWitnesses to heart.
* ''VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesGrimm'' features a dwarf named Grimm who despises the {{Disneyfication}} of fairy tales and whose goal is to [[{{Grimmification}} return them into the dark stories that they were]]. His CatchPhrase in the ads is:
-->'''Grimm:''' Happily ever after ends NOW!
* The critically acclaimed freeware game ''VideoGame/EmilyEnough'' revolves around a [[EnfanteTerrible little girl who has slaughtered her entire family]] and who proceeds to kill several innocent people over the course of the game.
* ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' has the player becoming this, with the goal of the game being 'take over the city over the corpses of rival gangs, cops and any innocent civilians that get in the way'. The only reason the Saints look sympathetic is via the ''even worse'' antics of their enemies and the UndyingLoyalty the Saints develop to each other. This continues into the [[VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird next game]], though much more downplayed in favour of chaos and stunts than outright villainy.
* ''VideoGame/TheMisadventuresOfTronBonne'' has you play as GoldfishPoopGang member from ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends'', Tron Bonne in her quest to steal one million zenny worth of goods to save her kidnapped air pirate family.
* In ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'', Travis Touchdown creates [[EvenEvilHasStandards the line in the sand]] for a character who either just ''barely'' counts as a Villain Protagonist (he has very few, if any, likable qualities, and kills people for a living) or is not ''quite'' evil enough to be a Villain Protagonist (the people he kills are, for the most part, even ''more'' [[AssholeVictim sick and twisted]] than he is, or at the very least other assassins). Which side he is actually on is up for debate. He veers completely away from this in the sequel, however.
* Servant Avenger from ''VisualNovel/FateHollowAtaraxia'' is definitely a Villain Protagonist - he ''is'' supposed to Evil Incarnate, after all. His soul itself is twisted and AlwaysChaoticEvil, and he actively pursues murder and rape to [[ForTheEvulz pass the time]]. This does not prevent him from becoming a character you can sympathise with, especially after the flashback to his horrific StartOfDarkness and some very poignant conversations with other characters. Despite hating humanity, he still shoulders the responsibility [[HumansAreBastards that was forced onto him]] - [[spoiler:to bear every sin ever committed and will be committed by a human]] and forever serve as a twisted 'champion' of humanity. The ending is complete with a {{Tear Jerk|er}}ing HeroicSacrifice.
-->"Even if humanity is worthless, the history that has been laid down until now has meaning.\\
(...) It is not a sin to exist."
* In ''VideoGame/ThreadsOfFate'', you can choose to play as either Rue, the hero, or Mint, the IneffectualSympatheticVillain.
* The unreleased arcade game ''Videogame/ChimeraBeast'' is about ruthless and mindless HordeOfAlienLocusts who [[PowerCopying reabsorb the DNA of what they eat to become stronger]]... ''and you play as one of them'', digging your way through the food chain of your homeplanet starting from bacteria. If you win against the final boss [[spoiler:you end up [[EarthShatteringKaboom blowing up the planet]] and going through a killing spree across the universe, eventually reaching Earth... [[NoFourthWall Even the game mocks you]] for this. To get the "good" ending, you must lose to the final boss and opt not to continue.]]
* Firebrand of ''[[VideoGame/GargoylesQuest Demon's Crest]]'' is, for starters, a Red Arremer from ''[[VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins Ghouls 'n Ghosts]]'' (the original DemonicSpider). The game starts with him as a prisoner of the demon Phalanax, who interrupted his attempt to take over the world and stole the Crests he was using to do so. Once he breaks out, the rest of the game concerns him reclaiming his stolen property and kill Phanalax so that he can TakeOverTheWorld as previously planned.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'', the main character, Alex Mercer is quite unrepentant about the horrible things he does throughout the game. Unlike ''VideoGame/InFamous'', a game with a roughly similar premise, ''Prototype'' has no KarmaMeter, and automatically assumes [[PersonOfMassDestruction the player will choose to behave]] [[AxCrazy the way players ''always'' behave]] in a WideOpenSandbox game.
* Wylfred of ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfileCovenantOfThePlume'' is one of these on the C path, if you use the Plume to sacrifice more than a certain number of your teammates. Otherwise, he's either a ByronicHero, or an AntiHero.
* ''VisualNovel/AtlachNacha'', where the protagonist is a [[ImAHumanitarian humanitarian]] GiantSpider who lusts after [[GirlsLove tender young schoolgirls]].
* In the ''Franchise/SilentHill'' series, which ending you get often determines whether your main character is a tortured hero or this trope. ''VideoGame/SilentHill4'' takes it one step further by having the plot revolve entirely around the BigBad ImplacableMan antagonist instead of the borderline FeaturelessProtagonist [[DullSurprise Henry Townshend]].
* ''VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'' loves to play with this trope, at least in-universe. Namely, in the 5th Arc, [[spoiler:Battler become the [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie Endless Sorcerer]]]] while a Mary Sue of [[spoiler:Bernkastel]]'s creation takes up the 'protagonist' role. (That is, has a reliable perspective.) In reality, though, no face heels or heel faces occur. The 'protagonist' role simply gets taken over by the two most evil characters in the series while they force the good guys into the 'antagonist' role.
* In the ''VideoGame/{{Rampage}}'' games you score points by destroying as much property as possible and eating people, and most of the people haven't done anything to you or are just soldiers doing their job. You can also kick them to death or knock them off building/tear off parachutes and watch them splat.
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' has the Dark Brotherhood quest line, in which the player takes the role of an assassin. It mixes in clearly deserving targets (The very first one is lightly implied to be either a rapist or a murderer) with somewhat-deserving ones (A pirate, who's clearly killed people 'on the job' before) with clearly innocent people. You also get to kill [[spoiler:your entire 'family' of assassins]], which may or may not qualify for the MoralEventHorizon. Several of the Daedric quests in the game are also pretty villainous, ranging from gleeful sociopathy to diabolic evil: In Molag Bal's Daedric quest, the player is asked to goad a ReluctantWarrior into murder. Obviously, being a sandbox game it also features VideoGameCrueltyPotential aplenty.
* ''VideoGame/EvilGenius''. You play a typical {{supervillain}}, sending out henchmen from your [[SupervillainLair lair in a hollowed-out volcano]] (or somewhere like that) to commit evil deeds, working towards the culmination of EvilPlan, setting off your DoomsdayDevice or [[TakeOverTheWorld taking over the world]].
* ''VideoGame/DungeonKeeper'': Build your sprawling dungeon, employ creatures of darkness, spread your dark influence over the land. Don't forget to deal with those adventuring heroes who want to slay your army and steal your treasure. If the imps or the traps don't kill the them, have them tortured.
* [[TheGunslinger Caleb]], the main character in the ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'' series, is a psychotic undead cowboy killing his way through his former cult so he can get revenge on their god, Tchernobog. What pushes Caleb into true villainy is just how much he ''loves'' his RoaringRampageOfRevenge; when he isn't wisecracking or snarking, he's cackling like a madman while chucking dynamite at anything that gets in his way. And then, in the second game, [[spoiler:his disuse of Tchernobog's powers begins to unravel the very stability of the universe; he's quite happy to let the totality of existence collapse out of '''boredom'''.]]
* In the flash game ''Videogame/ArmedWithWings'', you play as the exiled king Vandheer Lorde, the main villain of the series, who is undeniably {{Badass}}.
* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry 3: [[UpdatedRerelease Special Edition]]'' adds the ability to play through the story as Dante's EvilTwin, Vergil. However, this is solely a gameplay feature as aside from a new intro cutscene Vergil doesn't have a special story mode and simply goes through Dante's missions as usual, with the only difference being that the Vergil boss battles have a PaletteSwap.
* ''VideoGame/{{Centipede}}'': The comic book adaptation has the playable character (a wizard) in the role of the bad guy, with a boy trying to stop him.
* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' too. Seriously, Mario was the villain of the story, [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19321_5-classic-games-you-didnt-know-had-wtf-backstories.html if the backstory is to be believed.]]
* ''VideoGame/SandsOfDestruction'' has us follow the adventures of the [[ExactlyWhatit*aysOnTheTin World Destruction Committee]]. Although only one is actively seeking the destruction of the world, the other is tagging along because he likes our [[AxeCrazy crazed]] lady protagonist, and the third is going with to protect him.
* ''VideoGame/{{Okage}}'''s main character is a slave of the evil king Stan, and through the game, you're trying to take the power of the other evil kings that showed up while Stan was in a jar, so he can take over the world. It's not very prominent though, what with Stan being a HarmlessVillain who spends more time fighting evil than causing it.
* The title character in ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' is quite the nasty piece of work. The series starts with him becoming a vampire so he can avenge his death. He then decides to destroy the town he was murdered in. And then he gets a list of people to kill, and just settles for slaughtering every man, woman, and child he sees. And right as he's finished, he ruins the whole point of the quest and just decides to rule over Nosgoth's dying remains. In ''Blood Omen 2'', he mind controls bystanders to their deaths, kills every human he sees, [[spoiler:and murders his LoveInterest when she realizes what a monster he is]], all in the name of regaining his empire. It takes Nosgoth itself dying in the ''Soul Reaver'' series for him to simmer down, and then, he's a ManipulativeBastard to his vampire offspring Raziel, and is only out to save himself.
* [[spoiler:Scott Shelby]] in ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' especially when it is revealed that [[spoiler:he ''is'' the Origami Killer masquerading as a private investigator.]]
* ''VideoGame/TransformersWarForCybertron'' has a campaign where you play as the Decepticons, and control [[BigBad Megatron]] for most of the levels.
* The ''[[VideoGame/{{Descent}} Descent 3: Mercenary]]'' ExpansionPack casts you on the side of the BigBad CorruptCorporateExecutive Dravis, as the leader of his Black Pyro squadron.
* This happens in ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' when you play as Hazama in story mode, he's the story's Villain Protagonist, with no past or reasons to justify his villainy. Also the same goes to Relius Clover.
* ''[[VideoGame/{{Wizardry}} Wizardry IV]]'' is an atypical entry in the series: it has the player take control of Werdna, the EvilSorcerer of the first episode, now resurrected and thirsty for revenge... If he manages to just leave the dungeon where he was buried first, which is [[NintendoHard not an easy task]].
* ''VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist'' has you as a crook taking part in various heists, complete with taking hostages and shooting a whole lot of cops.
* Jinkuro, the malevolent ghost possessing Momohime's body, in ''VideoGame/MuramasaTheDemonBlade''. He's outright only into the whole ordeal to get his chosen weapon back and find a better target in his GrandTheftMe scheme to live forever, and does a lot of villainous actions (such as invading Heaven) in order to find alternate routes to immortality.
* ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity'':
** The Voinian campaign in ''Escape Velocity: Override'' is about as unambiguously evil as they come. The Voinians are a race of vicious [[AlienInvasion alien warlords]] bent on conquering the galaxy and enslaving everything in their path. The player has the option to help the Voinians break their stalemate with the human United Earth[[note]]Word of God is it fails and the stalemate ends up broken in favour of the UE[[/note]], and crippling the attempts of a ''previously'' conquered race to rebel against their overlords. Rewards for doing so include access to a variety of powerful Voinian military vessels and the unsettling satisfaction of committing genocide against your own race.
** ''All'' ''Escape Velocity'' games have at least one storyline where the player character can be called a villain: in ''Classic'', working for the Confederation and trying to bring the Rebels back to heel, in ''Override'', the Voinian and the two Renegade storylines, and in ''Nova'', the Federation storyline (after a certain point of no return).
* Brice, a UFO-obsessed ghost and one of the playable characters in the adventure game, ''VideoGame/AmberJourneysBeyond''. [[spoiler:After you complete his level he is sent to Hell in a particularly horrifying way - granted, he did murder at least 3 people in the game's backstory.]]
* Demitri Maximoff from ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}''. He wants to TakeOverTheWorld, and yet was advertised as the lead originally. Unfortunately, this led to DarknessInducedAudienceApathy, as his foe was Pyron, another world-conqueror.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Disciples}}'' ''2'', the Elves are initially on the side of the "good" guys. In ''Rise of the Elves'', their god Gallean, driven mad by his resurrection and the TraumaCongaLine inflicted upon him by the vengeful [[WomanScorned Mortis]], commands them to be brutal warmongers. Gallean is sick of the Elves always getting shafted by their so-called allies and has them taking what he believes is rightfully theirs by force. The "Villain" part is [[EstablishingCharacterMoment established]] in the first scenario, where the goal is to slaughter a town of innocent humans. A few Elves question these orders, but their doubts don't last. Ironically, the only Elf who continues to have reservations about this is the Oracle who relays Gallean's will to his people.
* In ''VideoGame/{{DEFCON}}'', each player takes up the role of a GeneralRipper during a global thermonuclear war. Each player's goal is to ensure that the capitalist/communists/whatever '''''[[KillAllHumans die in a nuclear fire]]'''''. The "[[ExactlyWhatit*aysOnTheTin Genocide]]" mode elevates this - the only way to gain points is to nuke population centers.
* ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsOnline'' has a monster-play feature which lets you be an orc, goblin, warg, or other baddie minion, and play in a PvP dungeon against hero players.
* ''VideoGame/CrusaderKings'' calls them "successful rulers".
* A staple in ''Videogame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'', due to aversion of NoCanonForTheWicked. Examples would be Xeron in ''3'' and Tawni in ''4''. Heck, even Tawni's most loyal subordinate [[spoiler:who is her ''real'' father]] calls her out [[spoiler:for her genocide of the Merfolks!]]. [[CrapsackWorld And she's not even the worst of them all.]] In the ''Heroes Chronicles'' campaigns, the main character Tarnum is this for roughly half of the first campaign (the following campaigns are spent as TheAtoner) -- he starts out merely ruthless in trying to liberate his people, but eventually goes ''way'' too far with it and becomes a brutal oppressor in his own right.
* No. 47 in the ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}}'' series. Granted, he is for the most part killing people [[PayEvilUntoEvil much nastier than himself]] (arms dealers, terrorists, mobsters etc.) and might even qualify as a HitmanWithAHeart depending on one's interpretation, but that doesn't really dull the force of playing as a ProfessionalKiller who's not above utilizing some pretty unpleasant methods to get the job done.
* In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow2'' you control the series longtime BigBad [[EvilOverlord Dracula]] as he seeks [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge vengeance]] against God, Satan, the Brotherhood of Light, and just about everyone else who ruined his life.
* This is what happens to [[spoiler: Nepgear]] in ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaMk2'', particularly the infamous [[KillEmAll Conquest Ending]].
* This can happen in any FightingGame that has the villains as playable characters.
* The entire point of VideoGame/{{Deception}}. Taking over a mansion/castle just to lure adventurers or heroes to messy deaths within does not leave wiggle room for heroics. The character has the opportunity to pull a HeelFaceTurn at the end, but it's by no means obligatory.
* ''{{VideoGame/Tekken}}'' always ends up becoming this. The whole story is centered around the Mishima bloodline, and the conflict between it's generations within it. As one protagonist takes down another antagonist, they end up becoming more of a jerkass than the previous antagonist in the next game, where as the previous antagonist then tries take them down for being worse than they were before. It can get confusing.
** ''Tekken 1'' had Kazuya being presented as a Ryu expy hero, with his father Heihachi as the BigBad and owner of the powerful and oppressive Mishima Zaibatsu Corporation, who Kazuya wanted to take down.
** ''Tekken 2'' switched it around. Kazuya took over Heihachi's empire, and became even worse than he was (doning a rather pimp purple suit, and using the Zaibatsu for far more chaotic and malicious things where as Heihachi just used it for order). Ironically leading to Heihachi becoming a sort of AntiHero, to take Kazuya down, and the previous villain actually doing the world a good service when taking his company back and restoring the world to controlled peace.
** ''Tekken 3'' led to Kazuya's son, Jin, arising as a new Mishima, far more honourable and nicer than any of his family, and for seemly the first time, we believed that he would finally become a moral compass for the family.
** ''Tekken 4'' dealt with a three way clash between all three. Jin, former protagonist, hiding in the shadows after the previous game, emerged as somewhat of a [[WildCard Wildcard]]. While still rebelling against his family roots because of their evil, he started to become too confused, single minded, and spurred on by hate and anger, to really be seen as noble and righteous as he once was. Kazuya and Heihachi were jerkasses, but ''[[Main/AtLeastIAdmitIt they weren't even trying to hide it]]''. But the story, at least until the climax, generally focuses on Kazuya wanting revenge, and is somewhat shown from his perspective.
** And now with the climax of Tekken 5 leading to Tekken 6, Jin has followed in his father's footsteps and took over the Zaibatsu for himself, and the once believed more heroic than the rest of his family, has become even MORE of a menace than either Kazuya or Heihachi ever have, plunging the entire globe into world war so that chaos is all there is. Thus far, Lars is the only Mishima inroduced, that hasn't become destructive and malicious yet, but only time will tell.
* CardCarryingVillain Overlord Badman in ''VideoGame/WhatDidIDoToDeserveThisMyLord''. He's also kind of a DesignatedVillain since he rarely does anything even mildly unpleasant and seems to have a lot of [[AFatherToHisMen genuine love for his monsters]] even if he does remind you that they have to be culled every now and again, while the Heroes are at best hapless and at worst ridiculously nasty.
* In ''VideoGame/KZManager'' you play a ''[[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi]] [[POWCamp camp director]]''.
* In ''VideoGame/QuestFantasy'', [[spoiler:S O U L tries to portray HERO as one. It's open to interpretation whether he really is, though. Later on, however, played more straight with Guy, who is subjected to the same 'you killed this innocent man' guilt trips the other protagonists are subject to and doesn't even care. He would grow up to become TheDragon.]]
* All three main characters of the ''VideoGame/MentalSeries'' are effectively this. They rack up a massive body count over all five games, with them killing anyone in their way in order to escape. Fred in ''The Journey'' even [[spoiler: sets a building on fire and crosses a gap by jumping off one of the inhabitants as they try to leap to safety]]! All the killings become a plot point in the fifth and final game, ''Murder Most Foul'', where the amount of bodies racked up by the trio makes them the most wanted criminals in the country. Oops.
* Despite the title, subverted in ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}'', in which the protagonist is an AntiHero.
* Possible in ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'', depending on which alignment the player chooses.
* Ellen and the Cocoon organization from ''VideoGame/PaleBlue'' are made as villains by the developers in order to provide a perspective flip to the usual heroism tales such as ''Franchise/PowerRangers'', ''Franchise/{{Kamenrider}}'' and ''Series/{{Ultraman}}''.
* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRogue'' has you playing as Assassin turned Templar Shay Cormac as he participates in the purge of the Colonial Assassins.
* Bass from the ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' skirts the line between this and AntiHero whenever he's playable. He never stops working for Dr. Wily and trying to kill Mega Man, but his desire to prove himself as the world's strongest robot can cause him to save the day by accident. His sole reason for turning on Wily in the ''Power Battles'' games is to get him to acknowledge that ''he's'' his greatest creation and that he doesn't need to create other Robot Masters to take down Mega Man, and when King declares himself king of the robots in ''VideoGame/MegaManAndBass'', Bass goes after him to prove that he's more worthy of the title instead.
* An interesting variation in the ''[[VideoGame/TheWalkingDead Walking Dead]]'' series: [[spoiler:Tavia, the final playable protagonist of DLC ''400 Days'', who wasn't revealed to be working for Carver, Season 2's BigBad until Episode 3 of the next season.]]
* Waluigi in the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' fangame ''VideoGame/PsychoWaluigi'', who spends the game conquering the land of Unconcia one kingdom at a time [[spoiler: [[EvenEvilHasStandards though he draws the line at flat-out destroying it]], as Psycho Iris decides to do once Waluigi's conquest is complete.]]
* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear XX Accent Core+'' feature's Justice's Story Mode, which is a reenactment of the events of the first game, and has the player use the first game's BigBad to beat the crap out of the original roster and kill Kliff before Sol finally comes in and puts a stop to things.
* The ''VideoGame/WarioLand'' series starred the evil Wario from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand2'' as he fought with rival villains on a quest to get rich. The first game was even marketed with the tagline, "Be the Bad Guy."
** At least in the first game. The sequels make him more of a NominalHero.
* ''VideoGame/{{Nefarious}}'' has Crow. He's a CardCarryingVillain out to kidnap princesses and TakeOverTheWorld, and dang proud of it.
* In a bonus chapter of ''The Keepers: Lost Progeny'', you play as the demon antagonist whom you (as the protagonist) defeated in the main game.
* ''TheWitchsHouse'', in a CruelTwistEnding, it turns out [[spoiler: You were the evil witch Ellen all along. Ellen is also the main character of the prequel novel, ''Diary of Ellen'']].
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