Thread:TornadoMan.EXE/@comment-1672596-20200824004738

Wanted to address this bit since the edit space doesn't really allow for thorough explanations.

Being anti-villains doesn't mean they need to actually be in the right. Take Mr. Freeze, for example, particularly his debut in Heart of Ice as a rewritten anti-villain. His goal was to avenge his wife after Boyle deliberately sabotaged any attempts at him trying to put his wife in cryostasis to cure her of an (at the time) incurable and fatal disease, not to mention said sabotage permanently disfigured him to the extent that he literally needs the cold to survive, and some of his actions DID endanger innocent bystanders, and heck, his end-goal involved committing literal cold-blooded murder on the guy who wronged him. His actual actions were evil, yet his goals were noble, or at a bare minimum made him pitied. In fact, having noble or at the very least sympathetic goals while committing evil actions to do so is literally the definition of an anti-villain.

As far as villains rarely knowing or even thinking they're in the wrong in media, that's actually not correct. Most villains in media DO in fact not only know they're in the wrong, they openly brag about being in the wrong and scum. In fact, to use a particularly relevant example since it's the Mega Man Wiki, Dr. Weil from Mega Man Zero, particularly 4, openly ADMITS to being one of the worst people in existence right before the final battle with him. I believe his exact words about himself were that he is an unending nightmare. Admitting you're a monstrous and vile person kind of implies if not directly states you are very much in the wrong (how can you be a villain if you're in the right at all, believing yourself to be right or genuinely being in the right? The entire POINT of being a villain is being evil, knowingly or otherwise, and the entire POINT of being evil is being in the wrong). In fact, villains who know they're in the wrong and if anything pride themselves in being in the wrong are common enough in media that there's even a name for them: Card-Carrying Villains. And for the record, contrary to common belief, it's actually very much possible and even realistic for Card-Carrying Villains to actually exist in reality, not just in media. For example, this quote from Marquis de Sade (and he's pretty much the closest we've got to an actual real world version of Dr. Weil in terms of overall philosophical outlook on the world). And I can name a few real-world serial killers who adopt that view as well, like Son of Sam. Granted, it's a bit more common in media than in real life, but even still... 