This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Took out:
- Max Payne and Vladimir Lem in Max Payne. Max kills Vladimir in the sequel.
- "Max, dearest of my friends… I was supposed to be the hero..."
In the first game, Vlad is Max's ally, not a Big Bad. In the second, he does a doublecross, which is pretty much the opposite of this trope.
Koveras: This trope is not necessarily about Big Bads, any normally antagonistic character who is shown in sympathetic light can qualify. Actually, the original definition was just that: a cop feels sympathy for a mobster (whom he is normally supposed to take in custody), of which Max and Vlad are a perfect example in the first game. ^^
Well the current description of the trope seems to require that the two characters have an antagonistic relationship at first. As I recall, Vlad does Max a favor and Max calls him a decent guy in Vlad's very first "scene."
