History AffablyEvil / LiveActionTV

** Mayor Richard Wilkins III, who provides the page image. Actor Harry Groener, who portrayed him, claims to have based him in part on Ted Bundy: charming, able to talk you into anything, will kill you without blinking. Wilkins is friendly, mannerly, and is implied to be an upstanding, hard-working and (debatably) honest politician (Joss Whedon has admitted that Wilkins was intentionally portrayed as an efficient civil servant who authentically cared for his community, other than the entire "kill a bunch of high school students to fuel his ascension into demonhood" thing). He also provides well-meant (and, frankly, accurate) [[MayflyDecemberRomance relationship advice]] to Buffy and Angel, inspired by his own marriage a century ago where she aged and died while he was immortal, and the exchange makes it obvious he did love her. He also genuinely cared for Faith, and while he was TheCorrupter to her, Faith was already corrupted by the time she sided with him. By contrast she has fond memories of him into the rest of the series, seeing him as the only friend she's had who didn't try to manipulate or use her. And this was ''after'' her HeelFaceTurn. His status as basically a good guy -- absent the "destroy the world" parts -- was repeatedly lampshaded during the show, most brutally when they defeated him: the Mayor was destroyed because Buffy manipulated his finest quality -- his paternal love for Faith. For all his evil, it was his sliver of goodness that did him in.

*** He wants the Doctor dead, but that doesn't mean he can't be friendly towards him. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E3TheClawsOfAxos "The Claws of Axos"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E3TheSeaDevils "The Sea Devils"]] show this. Later incarnations don't even seem to want to kill him. Heck, his latest incarnation [[spoiler: created an army of Cybermen, and used nanoclouds to attempt to convert all the world's corpses into Cybermen, then have them kill all the living to create even more zombie Cybermen, with the intention of giving complete control of the army to the Doctor as a birthday present. As sick as it was, in her own twisted mind, she actually thought she was being nice. But at least she cared enough to remember his birthday, while the Doctor earlier admitted that he forgot when it was a long time ago.]]

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': Lionel Luthor has no interest in hurting people pointlessly. As long as you're not in his way (and aren't [[ArchnemesisDad related to him]]), you're in no danger. The same can be said of [[spoiler: his daughter]] Tess Mercer, who eventually took over [=LuthorCorp=]; the same can ''not'' be said for his son Lex, or his AlternateUniverse [[EvilCounterpart counterpart]], Earth-2 Lionel, who are both classic examples of BitchInSheepsClothing.

* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'':In "[[Recap/MidsomerMurdersS4E2 Destroying Angel]]", Evelyn Pope is genuinely sweet and pleasant....and also engineers the death of three criminals and the mental breaking of a fourth.

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'':
** Malcolm Merlyn/[[spoiler:the Dark Archer]] is very friendly and charming towards Oliver, and has well-meaning if horrifically misguided aims to save the city.
** Deadshot is a ColdSniper, but not without a sense of humour, honor and politeness. He even tries giving Diggle closure over the death of his brother.
** "The Dodger" is rather polite, given what he does to his henchmen. Rather than kill them, as most would, he only knocks them out.

* ''Series/{{Gotham}}'': Carmine Falcone and Butch Gilzean are both terribly friendly, mild-mannered gangsters.

* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'': With the MCU's expansion onto the small screen and many of Netflix's series being confirmed as canon in the MCU (though they were heavily implied to have been so regardless), some villains (politely) decided to accompany it.
** ''Series/AgentCarter'''s Dr. Ivenchko [[spoiler:hypnotises an SSR agent into killing himself, but gives him commands to have a drink at his favourite bar first. There's no reason for this, except it's better for the guy to be happy and relaxed when he dies than otherwise]].
** ''Series/Daredevil2015'': Wilson Fisk a.k.a. the Kingpin. He's polite, intelligent, respectful, articulate and has sincere love for [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes his girlfriend Vanessa]] and mother. He's also a violent and ruthless crime lord with a BerserkButton you ''do not'' [[UnstoppableRage want to touch]] who will [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans stop at nothing to make Hell's Kitchen a better place for everyone]]. Even as the series goes on and he becomes more cynical and crueler, he never loses his demeanour of a gentlemanly businessman, even towards [[ArchEnemy Matt Murdock himself]].
** ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'' sees the return of [[spoiler:Baron Zemo, who not only retains his polite and likeable persona from the movie, but he actively aids Sam and Bucky in their conquest to defeat the Flag Smashers. He also makes (relative) peace with Bucky and apologizes for his actions]].
** ''Series/Hawkeye2021'':
*** In a case of "hero serving as opponent", Yelena Belova, who has come to New York hoping to murder the title character, who was told to Yelena as having killed her 'sister' Natasha ([[Film/AvengersEndgame he didn't, Clint even wanted to perform an]] HeroicSacrifice but Natasha beat him to it). ''Film/BlackWidow2021'' already showed Yelena is a very endearing person, and this manifests in her FriendlyEnemy demeanor dealing with Hawkeye's unwilling partner Kate Bishop -- Yelena breaks into her apartment, and casually helps herself to some mac and cheese, cracking jokes and talking about all the New York tourist destinations she wants to visit... all while she casually discloses her intentions to kill Clint, too. The next time both meet and have some altercations, Yelena is so polite and affable that Kate downright says "Stop making me like you!"
*** [[spoiler:Maya (a.k.a. Echo) is troubled and vengeance-driven, but is not unreasonable and has people she genuinely cares about. Her father was also a "criminal", but [[AntiVillain in name only]].]]
*** [[spoiler:Kingpin from ''Series/Daredevil2015'' also makes his official MCU debut post-LooseCanon, and remains the same brutal but fair mob boss he's always been.]]
** In ''Series/Loki2021'', the titular character is his usual conniving but charming and fun self, [[spoiler:or at least his variants are... yes, ''[[MesACrowd all]]'' of them. With significant CharacterDevelopment, the main Loki comes to the same HeelRealization as his original self did and has committed a full-on HeelFaceTurn]]. The true villain of the show [[spoiler:He Who Remains, is a manipulative, nigh-omniscient and unscrupulous individual [[GreaterScopeVillain who planned and pulled the strings of virtually everything that happens]], but he's also a WellIntentionedExtremist who is unfailingly polite and courteous towards Loki and Sylvie]].
** In ''Series/MoonKnight2022'', [[spoiler:Arthur Harrow is a deluded and ruthless cultist, but he's unfailingly polite and cordial, [[EqualOpportunityEvil welcomes anyone willing to abide into his circle]] and does what he does because [[WellIntentionedExtremist he sincerely believes it will help the world will become a better place]]]].
** In ''Series/ThePunisher2017'', [[spoiler:Billy Russo, Frank's best friend and former army brother, is a sociopathic and power-hungry individual who will screw over pretty much anyone if it means he gets something big out of it. Despite this, he's also charming, polite, [[EvenEvilHasStandards does possess a few morals]] and is usually relatively easy to get along with. He also tends to [[IGaveMyWord keep his word]] even when he doesn't really need to]].

* ''Series/WonderWoman1975'':
** In "The New Original Wonder Woman", Ashley Norman played by Creator/RedButtons, was cheerful, funny, and amiable whether he was hosting Wonder Woman's theater show, trying to steal her money, or reporting to his Nazi bosses.
** In "The Queen and the Thief", Evan Robley played by Creator/DavidHedison, is the classic charming rogue. After trying to steal the crown jewels -- [[spoiler:what he stole were fakes]] -- he joins forces with Wonder Woman to foil [[BigBad Ambassador Orrick's]] evil scheme
** In "Spaced Out", Kimball played by Creator/ReneAuberjonois, steals the [[MacGuffin lenses]], hogties a guest star at the Convention, and escapes Wonder Woman by threatening to throw a large flowerpot on a group of innocent civilians -- all with a smile, and joke, and a laugh. He even teams up with Wonder Woman to foil [[BigBad Simon Rohan's]] plans, [[spoiler:but makes his escape once again in the confusion]]

** Dexter Morgan, the title character of this Showtime show, exemplifies these qualities. His affability is his primary means of hiding his murderous outings. However, he sometimes dips into FauxAffablyEvil territory.

** The [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Cardassians]] tend to act this way when not obviously evil. This is especially true of Elim Garak and Gul Dukat. The former has pleasant chats with Bashir during which he often chastises the doctor for trusting him and praises him when he doesn't. [[AntiHero Garak isn't so much evil as a pragmatic former spy who believes the ends justify the means.]] Gul Dukat, on the other hand, is a charming fellow who has many PetTheDog moments, at times seeming like a Nazi with a heart of gold; however, his acts of villainy are malevolent and [[CardCarryingVillain supervillainy]]. His heart may well be gold: cold and metallic. Then, there is the example of Picard's torturer, Gul Madred, who has some father-daughter time at the office and only really gets angry when the human proves so darn uncooperative. It would seem that Cardassian society does not condemn many acts we (and the Federation) might consider morally reprehensible, but also has many virtues we would find admirable -- concern for children and the family foremost among them. Affably Evil almost seems to be the Cardassian [[PlanetOfHats hat]].

* ''Series/TheMarvelousMrsMaisel'': Discussed. Frank and Nicky are affable and unassuming members of TheMafia. In one scene, they're putting on a charity event for kids, with Nicky dressed as Santa Claus. However, Suzie is quick to point out that just because they're friendly doesn't mean they're not dangerous. They're ruthless in taking advantage of anyone they get their hooks into and display no qualms about beating or murdering people.