History AntiVillain / LiveACtionTV

** ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'' has its fair share of these. Both [[spoiler:Micchy]] and [[spoiler:Kaito]] are anti-villains. The former is willing and thinks he has to go to great extremes to keep the girl he loves happy, even if it means manipulating all of his friends and allying with villains, while the latter wants to create a world in which the strong and powerful no longer oppress the weak, but at the cost of destroying the current world. Roshuo is another example, as he keeps the power capable of saving humanity to himself, fearing humanity would follow the same path his own species did once they get their hands on said power.

* [[ManipulativeBastard Ben]] on ''Series/{{Lost}}''. Or most of the Others, for that matter. They murder, kidnap, and generally terrorize the Survivors, but they [[WellIntentionedExtremist genuinely believe that they are "the good guys"]]. Plus, they're [[VillainsOutShopping pretty relaxed when they aren't being mean]]. The vagueness of their ultimate goal helps here: they have faith that what they're doing serves a higher purpose, even though few of them can articulate what that higher purpose is.

** ''{{Series/Lost}}'' prides itself on ''only'' having [[AntiVillain anti-villains]] and [[AntiHero anti-heroes]]. It's part of why the show is so difficult to pin down into a particular genre.

* El Chompiras and El Botija in ''Series/{{Chespirito}}'' are a couple of thieves trying to succeed in their different criminal schemes, often failing and ending in prison or some other form of punishment. Obviously, albeit criminals, they were popular among the audiences for their quirks. Reason why at some point Creator/Chespirito thought that they where a bad influence and gave them a HeelFaceTurn abandoning the criminal life and becoming honest citizens.

** ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'' has its fair share of these. Both [[spoiler:Micchy]] and [[spoiler:Kaito]] are anti-villains. The former is willing and thinks he has to go to great extremes to keep the girl he loves happy, even if it means manipulating all of his friends and allying with {{Complete Monster}}s, while the latter wants to create a world in which the strong and powerful no longer oppress the weak, but at the cost of destroying the current world. Roshuo is another example, as he keeps the power capable of saving humanity to himself, fearing humanity would follow the same path his own species did once they get their hands on said power.

* Khan Noonien Singh in his appearance in the episode "Space Seed" of ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}''. Although fandom (and some of the writers of the later series) have made him out to be a complete monster, it's stated that he was the only good dictator in the Eugenics Wars. He was neither bloodthirsty nor a warmonger, and rather than assume a scorched earth strategy when he was defeated, he took his people and fled into space to find a new world. In fact, in "Space Seed" he doesn't even kill anyone (though he does come close in the case of Kirk and at the end, he is actually quite happy with Kirk's suggestion of leaving him and his crew on Ceti Alpha V, since he and his people will finally have what they wanted: a world to themselves. It was only after spending twenty years on a dead rock that he became the monster we saw in ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan The Wrath of Khan]]''.

* While the ''Franchise/KamenRider'' franchise is not know for providing the most [[BlackAndWhiteMorality nuanced interpretations for its villains]], they do occasionally appear, especially in the Heisei era of the franchise. Although to date, the only series in the franchise that had the BigBad as an Anti-Villain, is ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'' where Shiro Kanzaki's motives are sympathetic enough that much of what he does in the series is understandable, if not condonable.
** In Kamen Rider Gaim, both [[spoiler:Micchy]] and [[spoiler:Kaito]] are anti-villains.

** Season 3 gives us Daphne Millbrook, a professional thief who works for and with other villains, but is clearly disgusted by most of them, never kills anyone herself, and is eventually revealed to [[spoiler: have been working with Pinehearst because its leader would otherwise take away her superspeed, which is the only thing stopping her from being crippled by cerebral palsy]]. Most of her villainy seems to have been born of guilt and self-loathing for how she treated her father and (especially) her dying mother. When Matt helps her come to terms with her past and reunite with her father, she does a HeelFaceTurn and literally helps save the world. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, Daphne is shot while attempting to rescue specials kidnapped by [[TheHunter Emile Danko]], who later kills her by [[MoralEventHorizon removing her from the medical facility]], thus causing her wound to become septic.]]

* Jesse Pinkman from ''Series/BreakingBad''. He says that he's the bad guy, yet seems to have more moral fiber than anyone else in the drug business. Walter White could qualify for this too, but by the end of season 3, he seems to be more of a VillainProtagonist.

** Crais very early on enters into the anti-villain mode, and much of what he does is driven by simple revenge for the death of his brother. (That said, he still indulges in some straight-out villainous behavior, such as snapping the neck of a female subordinate.) Later in the series, he moves beyond anti-villain into AntiHero, if not full HeelFaceTurn territory, particularly [[spoiler: after the birth of Talon]].

** '''The Twelfth Doctor''' becomes this over the course of the three-part Series 9 finale. A betrayal by [[spoiler: Ashildr/Me AND the Time Lords]] not only leads him to be imprisoned in a bespoke torture chamber but inadvertently results in [[spoiler: the death of his beloved companion Clara Oswald]]. He emerges from these horrors as TheUnfettered WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds willing to risk the entire universe to [[spoiler: bring Clara back from the grave]] and end his misery. He has a HeelRealization and returns to his best self, though it takes the help of [[spoiler: a mind wipe of his memories of her]] to eliminate the high emotions that contributed to his SanitySlippage. (Incidentally, Twelve is played by Creator/PeterCapaldi, who previously played John Frobisher.)

* So, so many on ''Series/TheWire'', but probably the best is Wallace, who is only part of the drug trade to provide for his brothers and sisters, grows disillusioned after witnessing a murder for the first time, and later attempts to pull a HeelFaceTurn and get out of the drug trade by [[spoiler:informing the police about the finer details of the Barksdale crew.]] He gets [[spoiler:[[AnyoneCanDie a bullet in the head for his troubles]].]]

* The Argent family on ''Series/TeenWolf''. While their side occupation as [[TheHunter werewolf hunters]] was originally motivated by [[MugglePower protecting humans from werewolves]], it has developed into [[VanHelsingHateCrimes full-blown sadism]]. They are willing and eager to kill werewolves whether they actually pose a threat to anybody or not. The family and their fellow hunters have also expanded their crusade to cover killing any humans associated with werewolves (such as the non-wolf members of the Hale family) or who simply impede their hunting activities. They have also developed a fondness for inspiring fear, and seem to enjoy torturing their targets before killing them. In order for Gerard Argent to take over as principal of the Beacon Hills high school, the Argent's abducted and tortured the current principal, who was wholly unaware of werewolves, just to create a vacancy in the position.
* King Uther Pendragon in ''{{Series/Merlin}}'' tends to come off as one of these. He's a ruthless KnightTemplar {{Jerkass}} who blindly hates magic, seems to have two forms of punishment for those who transgress against him ("Put them in the stocks and throw fruit at them" or "Chop off their head") with little room in between, and has put children to death for fear of their magical heritage. He also clearly loves his son Arthur, is very protective of his ward Morgana, respects his old friend Gaius, cares about his kingdom, and [[PetTheDog pets the dog]] on several occasions. He's a villain, but even the good guys realize things would be worse without him there to keep order -- despite his extreme methods.
** Many of Camelot's enemies are this, too. They're only the way they are because of how their kind has been treated for many years.
** The series is also notable for its sympathetic portrayal of Mordred, particularly when contrasted with Morgana's sadistic, selfish evil.
* [[ManipulativeBastard Ben]] on ''Series/{{Lost}}''. Or most of the Others, for that matter. They murder, kidnap, and generally terrorize the Survivors, but they [[WellIntentionedExtremist genuinely believe that they are "the good guys"]]. Plus, they're [[VillainsOutShopping pretty relaxed when they aren't being mean]]. The vagueness of their ultimate goal helps here: they have faith that what they're doing serves a higher purpose, even though few of them can articulate what that higher purpose is.
** A good dose of AffablyEvil and WellIntentionedExtremist, plus the fact that [[AntiHero his rival can be kind of a dick]], seems to be making one of these out of [[spoiler:the Smoke Monster]], of all people. This can be put down to "the writers want us to be on our toes".
** ''{{Series/Lost}}'' prides itself on ''only'' having [[AntiVillain anti-villains]] and [[AntiHero anti-heroes]]. It's part of why the show is so difficult to pin down into a particular genre.
*** [[PsychoForHire Keamy]] was an AntiVillain?
*** Keamy was a ''deliberate'' exception, an effort to create just one character who is pure evil and [[ForTheEvulz knows it]], setting him apart from the other characters. Nearly everyone else has abided by GreyAndGrayMorality, though.
* Adelle [=DeWitt=] of ''{{Series/Dollhouse}}'' started off as this, but seems to have blossomed into an AntiHero via CharacterDevelopment.
* Every single vampire on ''TrueBlood''. While some of them are not unwilling to perform the occasional good deed, by and large they all seem to be willing to kill, torture, mind control and otherwise abuse the human population despite their [[ConsummateLiar public relations campaign]] about wanting to "mainstream" and [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire live peacefullly with humans]].
* Brother Justin Crowe on ''Carnivale''. His character development is given equal screen time as the DesignatedHero, and (especially in the first season) he's presented as genuinely ''wanting'' to do good, but being somewhat hampered by the fact that he's, you know, TheAntichrist; it takes some rather extreme measures on the part of his KnightTemplar of a sister to get him to stop worrying and love the dark side.
* So, so many on ''TheWire'', but probably the best is Wallace, who is only part of the drug trade to provide for his brothers and sisters, grows disillusioned after witnessing a murder for the first time, and later attempts to pull a HeelFaceTurn and get out of the drug trade by [[spoiler:informing the police about the finer details of the Barksdale crew.]] He gets [[spoiler:[[AnyoneCanDie a bullet in the head for his troubles]].]]
* Alex Mahone on ''Series/PrisonBreak''. An FBI agent gone bad, in Season 2, he's blackmailed by the ''BigBad'' into hunting down and killing the fugitives one by one. While he does so with nightmarish competence, his heart isn't in it, and the conflict with his better instincts drives him to drug addiction and near madness. He also loves his son and ex-wife and desperately wants to return to them.
** Also, Abruzzi after the incident with the killed child, which gave him nightmares and hallucinations of Jesus. He found faith in Christianity, but, at the same time, couldn't separate from his evil ways and his revenge on Fabonacci. Right before he dies, he actually prays, "forgive me".
* Lt. Jon Kavanaugh on ''Series/TheShield''. By all means, he ''should'' be the good guy, considering that he's going after Vic and the Strike Team for police corruption and the death of Terry Crowley, but his methods are so thoroughly repulsive and immoral that it becomes impossible to sympathize with him, especially as time progresses and his obsession with catching Vic gets worse and worse. It gets to the point where he's willing to plant evidence in order to frame Vic, which ends up getting him arrested. By the time it's all said and done, he's just glad to be ''done'' with the whole thing so he never has to deal with Vic Mackey and his corrupting influence ever again.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' has a couple.
** Noah Bennet (a.k.a. HRG) began as an agent of the evil Company, who hunts down those with superpowers and either captures them or kills them. Bennet quickly gained sympathy due to his genuine love for his family, especially his [[MoralityPet adopted superpowered daughter]]. It was also revealed that many of the people he captured were given training to keep their powers under control and offered a chance to use them to help others (in the case of Isaac and Eden), and the only superpowered people he killed were those who used their powers to hurt people. He quickly moved into AntiHero/borderline hero territory at the end of Season One, after he joined forces with fellow Company prison escapees Matt Parkman and Ted Sprague in order to shut down the mechanisms The Company was using to track all the people they caught and released.
** Season 3 gives us Daphne Millbrook, a professional thief who works for and with other villains, but is clearly disgusted by most of them, never kills anyone herself, and is eventually revealed to [[spoiler: have been working with Pinehearst because its leader would otherwise take away her superspeed, which is the only thing stopping her from being crippled by cerebral palsy]]. Most of her villainy seems to have been born of guilt and self-loathing for how she treated her father and (especially) her dying mother. When Matt helps her come to terms with her past and reunite with her father, she does a HeelFaceTurn and literally helps save the world. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, Daphne is shot while attempting to rescue specials kidnapped by [[TheHunter Emile Danko]], who later kills her by [[MoralEventHorizon removing her from the medical facility]], thus causing her wound to become septic.]]
** For most of Season 3, there was also Sylar, who ''wants'' to be good but worries increasingly that [[ChronicVillainy he's irredeemable]] because the superpower that allows him to analyze and understand anything [[BadPowersBadPeople also giving him an unquenchable ''Hunger'']] to cut superpowered people's heads open in order to learn how their powers worked. Eventually, [[spoiler: he learned that he could copy their powers without resorting to murder and it was revealed that he could have gone on to be a nice, normal, productive member of society, had The Company (Noah Bennet in particular) not pushed his buttons so they could analyze how he was stealing powers.]]
*** And then, after they established all this, [[spoiler: Sylar changed his mind, murdered his girlfriend, and decided to fully embrace the Total Bastard lifestyle, despite being capable of satisfying ''The Hunger'' without killing.]]
*** In all fairness, Sylar is a lot less of a villain than he used to be. In fact, in volume 4, he's had at least one "Big Damn Heroes" moment (saving Luke from the fascist agents under the employ of the psychotic bigot "Bastion" wannabe Danko), spared Luke's life on 3 separate occasions when it would have been easier to kill him, and spared the life of Luke's mother despite the fact that she was a potential witness. He's only killed so far when it was kill or be killed, or plain, old-fashioned revenge (to quote Anti Villain supreme Captain Cold).
*** And now he's gone back to being an unrepentant brain-eater, by joining forces with The Man, just so he can have access to a never-ending all-you-can-eat buffet of powers whenever they kill any harmless individual with a cool superpower. End of Season 4, he seems to be rehabilitated...again. Mostly because [[spoiler: Matt Parkman trapped him in a nightmare where he was the only person in the world, which was messed up by Peter Petrelli borrowing Matt's power and following him in after he had a dream that Sylar would save Emma, a friend of his. Which...Sylar does, with a CrowningMomentOfFunny when he tied up Puppeteer Doyle like...a puppet.]]
* Prince Jack in ''Series/{{Kings}}''.

* John Frobisher from ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth'' is a meek civil servant doing his best to serve his country -- and a corrupt, ruthless government -- and thus ordering the deaths of anyone connected to the previous 456 crisis as the new, terrifying one unfolds. For all his trouble, he is at last instructed to [[spoiler: give up his daughters to the 456 because ''they'' surely can't give up ''their'' children]], whereupon he [[spoiler: chooses to commit Pater Familicide to spare them that fate]].
** Given that ''Torchwood''[='=]s parent show ''Series/DoctorWho'' is a LongRunner, it's not surprising that the show has had many Anti-Villains over the course of the run. One of the most surprising came in the Tenth Doctor's final adventure, "The End of Time", when [[spoiler: ''TheMaster'', of all people, is revealed to be an Anti-Villain: he was deliberately driven mad as part of Rassilon's XanatosGambit. When he finds this out, he is ''pissed'', and he gets a HeroicSacrifice shortly thereafter]].
** An even more surprising one from the Time War is the War Doctor featured in the Series 7 {{Cliffhanger}} and the follow-up 50th anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor". [[TakeAThirdOption Or]] [[PragmaticHero is]] [[KnightInSourArmor he?]] Though considered this by the later Doctors (he's not numbered because he violated the promise of the title "Doctor"), they later seem to consider him more heroic; like many of the Doctors he might actually be an AntiHero, especially given that [[spoiler: he helps ''save'' Gallifrey rather than destroy it in the end]].
** '''The Twelfth Doctor''' becomes this over the course of the three-part Series 9 finale. A betrayal by [[spoiler: Ashildr/Me AND the Time Lords]] not only leads him to be imprisoned in a bespoke torture chamber but inadvertently results in [[spoiler: the death of his beloved companion Clara Oswald]]. He emerges from these horrors as TheUnfettered WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds willing to risk the entire universe to [[spoiler: bring Clara back from the grave]] and end his misery. He has a HeelRealization and returns to his best self, though it takes the help of [[spoiler: a mind wipe of his memories of her]] to eliminate the high emotions that contributed to his SanitySlippage. (Incidentally, Twelve is played by Creator/PeterCapaldi, who previously played John Frobisher.)

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Lucifer ''tries'' to come off as this, declaring that his "crime" was loving God too much. It doesn't really work, since there are three groups he can give it to: Demons, who hate God and humanity both and would probably be less in awe of him if they knew that was his motivation; Angels, who were all faced with the exact same situation and made the other choice; and Humans, who are going to be wiped out en masse by his war against heaven. In fact, the conclusion most people come to is that he's a bratty child throwing a tantrum and breaking his dad's toys.
** His brother, [[spoiler: Gabriel/The Trickster, does this much better. After it's dicovered who he is, it's easier to see why he killed Dean so many times: he was trying to stop Sam from snapping and going after Lilith after Dean dies, therefore trying to stop him from breaking the final seal. He comes across as more the little brother who can't stand his brothers' arguing, to Lucifer's bratty persona. Sadly, in Gabriel's case RedemptionEqualsDeath and he's killed by Lucifer - but not before leaving Sam and Dean a DVD which tells them how to put Lucifer back in his box.]]
* Jesse Pinkman from ''Series/BreakingBad''. He says that he's the bad guy, yet seems to have more moral fiber than anyone else in the drug business. Walter White could qualify for this too, but by the end of season 3, he seems to be more of a VillainProtagonist.

* Nucky Thompson, the main character of ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire''. Yeah, he's a corrupt SleazyPolitician who started looking into becoming a kingpin of the illegal booze trade the moment Prohibition started, but he's also often a genuinely kind man with good intentions, has much more enlightened views on women and minorities than his peers, has some genuine [[FreudianExcuse Freudian issues]] going on, and seems positively cuddly when contrasted with the viciousness of UsefulNotes/AlCapone or the cold-blooded sadism of Arnold Rothstein.
* {{Neighbours}}' Paul Robinson. He's an on-again, off-again villain {{depending on the writer}}.

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': Lex Luthor evolved from an {{Antihero}} into an {{Antivillain}} in Season's 4 & 5, retaining most of his sympathetic qualities, but becoming directly antagonistic. Eventually, he lost those as well, and evolved into the CorruptCorporateExecutive and sociopath we all knew he'd eventually be. His father, Lionel, evolved the other way. Beginning the series as an unrepentant BigBad, Lionel became an {{Antivillain}} in the later seasons, as his crush on Martha, revelations about his past, and attempts to make up for his many mistakes humanised him. Some would argue that he even managed to become an antihero (Type IV) before his Season 7 exit.
** Before her HeelFaceTurn, [[BrokenAce Tess]] was this, as both a JerkassWoobie and a WellIntentionedExtremist. [[spoiler: AntiVillain must run in the Luthor family tree.]]
** A non-Luthor example would also be Major/General Zod, in an interesting twist as he's essentially simultainiously given AdaptationalHeroism ''and'' AdaptationalVillainy. He ultimately just wants peace, justice, and freedom for the Kryptonians, is a FatherToHisMen, respects Kal-El/Clark and still holds his former best friend Jor-El in high regard, and while he leads a ruthless coup, he's motivated by the fact his family was killed in the destruction of Kandor, and his plea to clone his son was rejected, pushing him over the edge. However, unlike most depictions, he was almost successful in taking over Krypton, and when he learnt his cause was lost, he decided to destabalize Krypton's core and, essentially, is the one responsible for its destruction. Ultimately, he's just trying to cope with the death of his son, [[{{Understatement}} but doesn't do it in a healthy means]].

* Walternate -- Dr. Walter Bishop's [[AlternateUniverse alternate universe]] counterpart -- is the closest thing ''{{Series/Fringe}}'' has to a BigBad, but he's not evil by a long shot. He's trying to stop his universe from being completely torn apart as a result of the actions of the prime universe Walter, who ''abducted Walternate's son'' and, in doing so, caused the laws of physics to start breaking down in both universes. As viewers are keen to point out, [[GreyAndGreyMorality the only reason we root for the prime universe is because we've been seeing things from its perspective]].
** This changed in the "6:02 AM EST" episode, when Walternate revealed that he was willing to [[{{Moral Event Horizon}} kill his son in order to save his own universe]]. Contrast this with our Walter, who has always been trying to find a way to save ''both'' universes.
*** In the same episode, Walternate also captures ''the mother of his grandchild'' and locks her in a cell when his disregard for his own son's life causes her to attempt a {{Heel Face Turn}}.
* From ''{{Series/Justified}}'', we have Boyd Crowder, who keeps shifting between this and AntiHero.
** Then there's Mags Bennet, who is a clearer AntiVillain, committing crime, but only in the best interest of her kids and grandkids. It helps that she has a MoralityPet in the form of Loretta [=McCready=].
* The Maquis from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' are {{Determined Homesteader}}s with a minor in RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Also, Ben Sisko from ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' attempts to anticipate Maquis leader and former Federation officer Eddington's moves by casting himself as the 'villain' to Eddington's 'hero' in the latter's worldview. In this capacity, he performs an act that is rather callous for his character (flooding a Maquis controlled planet with a toxin that makes it uninhabitable to humans, forcing them to evacuate immediately or die horribly), but is still just a [[LighterAndSofter very]] [[WhiteAndGreyMorality light]] AntiVillain to Eddington's self-DesignatedHero.
* HG Wells from [[WareHouse13 Warehouse 13]] is this when's she actually a bad guy. She was a NietzscheWannabe and a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, but she's nowhere as malicious as either Macphearson or Walter Sykes, and she spends most of her time on screen helping out the Warehouse team.

* Arguably, Babe Carey, from All My Children, circa 2003-2007. She never wants to do bad things and is usually, in some way, pushed into doing the wrong thing (for the right reasons) because of the effects of others' actions. She doesn't want to be bad and, in ideal circumstances, she would even be good. She strives and wants to be good. However, she is not strong enough to rise against her circumstances.

* Rodrigo [[TheBorgias Borgia]] genuinely wants to strengthen Rome as pope. He even takes an interest in alleviating poverty in the second season, and has always loved his family, perhaps to a fault. He also, however, blackmails/tricks virtually everyone he works with, orders a few assassinations, and is quite the lech. Like most Renaissance-era fathers, he also has very little regard for his daughter's freedom and will marry her off to whoever he wants, though he is trying to make sure she doesn't get a bad husband... this time around. Overall, he's still one of the least villainous members of his family.
** His son, Cesare, was at first a sort of anti-villain--the majority of what he did was for the good of the family. However, he really didn't have much pity for anyone beyond his family, and remained ruthless, cynical, and fairly cold-blooded. Nowadays, he's in solidly VillainProtagonist territory. [[spoiler: What with murdering his brother and all.]]
* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': Colonel Matthew O’Hara is a Marine Corps legend who earned the Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War, but he’s grown tired of American degradation of society with street crimes and corrupted politicians, so he and a few other Marines snatches the Declaration of Independence transported in a mail truck on its back from a restoration job. [[spoiler: What no one knows at the outset is that the Colonel is the uncle of Major Sarah Mackenzie.]]
* One of the memorable twists in the final season of ''Series/TwentyFour'' was having [[spoiler: Jack Bauer himself]] become one in the final episodes of the series. Although he has a mostly noble goal in mind ([[spoiler: exposing the conspiracy regarding a foreign President's murder that current U.S. President Allison Taylor is covering up after undergoing a FaceHeelTurn]]), they are tainted by the desire for revenge after he finally gets screwed over for the last time, leading him to pull some pretty terrible acts even for him that not only cross the line, they double over it.
* While the ''Franchise/KamenRider'' franchise is not know for providing the most [[BlackAndWhiteMorality nuanced interpretations for its villains]], they do occasionally appear, especially in the Heisei era of the franchise. Although to date, the only series in the franchise that had the BigBad as an Anti-Villain, is ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'' where Shiro Kanzaki's motives are sympathetic enough that much of what he does in the series is understandable, if not condonable.
** In Kamen Rider Gaim, both [[spoiler:Micchy]] and [[spoiler:Kaito]] are anti-villains.
* ''Series/{{Scandal}}'': [[spoiler: Cyrus]], possibly. It's still not clear what his motivations are.
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': Had Harken, an alliance commander who arrested the whole team after finding them stealing from a damaged ship. He spent much of the episode grilling them, while searching the ship, and he has them detained after his men find a brutally mutilated survivor and he assumes the team had done it. When the survivor escapes and goes on a killing spree, his first order? Reinforce security at the nursery, and then he leads a team, and Mal, to stop the man when he gets back on Serenity. At the end, after Mal saves him, he releases the crew and drops the charges, though he does confiscate all the stuff they stole, because it was Alliance property.
* Three of the five main villains on ''Series/OnceUponATime'' (Gold/Rumpelstiltskin, Regina, and Hook) either start out as [[AntiVillain Anti-Villains]] or become such after CharacterDevelopment. Only Cora and [[spoiler: Peter Pan]] are not.
** Queen Elsa from ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'' is also introduced like this by unleashing a Marshmallow out of fear and blocking the town with an ice barrier to find the missing Anna, unwittingly creating a power outage. Once she meets Emma, she calms down and makes friends with the Charmings.

* Enos from ''DukesOfHazzard'' is only really a villain by virtue of being an upstanding deputy sheriff and on the side of the Law, and thus antagonistic to our less law-abiding heroes. While he is willing to stand behind most of his corrupt boss' schemes, he is too righteous to be a part of them. He is the one lawman the Dukes have any respect for, and they have said as much in public.
** His superior Rosco started out as one. Before the series, he was an honest cop until his pension got revoked, forcing him to join in on Boss Hogg's scheming or retire penniless.
* Carl Elias from ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. He served the role as the {{Big Bad}}} for a good part of the first season. He's even gone as far to [[MoralEventHorizon lock a baby in a freezer truck to gain Reese's cooperation]], but he's also helped Reese on several occasions. He often shares Reese's goals when up against the Russian mob or HR. [[spoiler: This comes to a close in season 3 when he has {{Dirty Cop}} Simmons killed in revenge for killing Carter earlier.]]
* Jason Winkler from the first season of ''Series/HouseOfAnubis''. He was only really a villain by way of being a member of the Secret Society and betraying Patricia. He was always more interested in his teaching job and the students, and even after betraying Patricia, still clearly cared about her. In the finale, he attempted to get Victor and the other teachers to help Sibuna, who were trapped with [[BigBad Rufus Zeno]]. It was then revealed that the only reason he joined the Society at all was because the elixir of life, which makes one immortal, would have saved him from dying of his degenerative illness. In a deleted scene, he even got to talk to Patricia one last time before disappearing from the show. He was never at all a bad guy, he had just made the wrong choices.
** Victor fell into this, too. Despite doing everything in his power to prevent the students from finishing their quest, he follows EvenEvilHasStandards and really does care for the kids despite what he does, to the point of sacrificing the tear of gold he'd been searching for all season to save Joy's life. He also has a sympathetic reason for what he does, in being a WellDoneSonGuy who is working to finish the quest his father couldn't complete, despite his father being long dead and a bit emotionally abusive.
*** This changed during season 3. While his goal had changed from being after immortality to trying to awaken Robert Frobisher-Smythe, he became very focused and serious about it, and treated the students much harsher than he used to. It definitely went away when he was a sinner and set up a ''guillotine'' in order to stop Sibuna. However, in TheMovie, he went back to being ''much'' more sympathetic and even ended up ''helping'' the Sibuna members for the first time.
** During his villainous phase in season 1, Jerome fit this. He was working with Rufus out of jealousy and loneliness rather than a desire to do harm, and then ended up only helping him out of ''fear for his life'' until he got the chance to join Sibuna.
** Jasper, TheMole who was working for the Collector in the second season, is also a very light gray villain. Despite working for a dangerous villain and causing trouble for Fabian (his own godson) and the rest of Sibuna, he did it due to being blackmailed and threatened with harm on Fabian's life. So he wound up ''hurting'' Fabian in an effort to ''help'' him.
* Kiera Cameron from ''Series/{{Continuum}}'' is a type III, anti-villain protagonist fighting a group of type IV and V anti-heroes. Initially she is depicted as a "good" police officer from 2077 idealistically opposing the terrorist organization Liber8. It quickly becomes clear that the future society in which she lives is a high surveillance corporate police state and the terrorists she is fighting against are freedom fighters who are trying to tear down the police state and bring back democracy, human rights, corporate accountability, etc. Kiera's primary goal is to stop Liber8, protect the future that she knows, and get back to her family, even though this means occasionally using very brutal tactics and ultimately protecting the police state that has enslaved most of humanity. Despite all of this she cares about protecting the people and puts her own future at risk in trying to stop the deaths of thousands of innocent victims. The audience can sympathize with her as the protagonist because she idealistically believes that the future she is trying to protect is truly the best option for humanity and she doesn't recognize herself as a villain (the extreme violence of Liber8 also makes it easier to sympathize with Kiera as a protector of the people). This is {{lampshaded}} in "Second Time" when Travis says to her, "When are you going to wake up? ''You're'' the villain in this tale."
* ''{{Series/Salem}}'': Mary Sibley, a witch with ConflictingLoyalty.
* Once it kicked off, most of the villains on ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' fall into this, to the point its probably easier to count the ones who don't. Deadshot, Huntress, Malcolm, Deathstroke, even Oliver's parents all count as this. It generally falls into the show's theme that anyone can be corrupted, and no one is irredeemable.
* Gideon, one of the [[CouncilOfAngels Elders]] and headmaster of the [[WizardingSchool Magic School]] in ''Series/{{Charmed}}'', went from WellIntentionedExtremist to this as his plans to prevent [[GooGooGodlike Wyatt]] from becoming the cause of a BadFuture (which Chris had travelled back in time to prevent, himself) progressed. To prevent the sisters (who are Wyatt's mother and aunts) from finding out, he allows at least one innocent to die (which, in an earlier episode, he established to be so unforgivable as to move to close the Magic School when an entity from there killed a random petty criminal), personally vanquished his friend Sigmund when he threatened to expose Gideon's plan out of concern, and even collaborated with his own evil counterpart from a MirrorUniverse (which threw off the cosmic balance between them, something that he actively wanted to avoid).
* On ''Series/{{The 100}}'', ''everyone'' is just doing what they believe is necessary to keep their people alive; while our protagonists are usually more sympathetic than their antagonists, [[GreyAndGrayMorality they all have good reasons for doing the things they do]]. Except Murphy; [[{{Jerkass}} he's just a prick.]]
* Raymond Reddington, the VillainProtagonist of ''Series/TheBlacklist'' is a solid type III. He usually has decent or even noble motives when getting involved with the FBI and is completely polite to everyone, but is bluntly honest about his nature as an often very brutal criminal. He is absolutely ruthless towards those who wrong him or someone he cares for but is also very reasonable and has a strong sense of honor, often helping bring down other criminals that cross the MoralEventHorizon. Summed up well in the first episode:
-->'''Liz''': Can I trust you?
-->'''Red''': (''bluntly, while chuckling'') Of course not. ''I'M A CRIMINAL''.

* John Frobisher from ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth'' is a meek civil servant doing his best to serve his country -- and a corrupt, ruthless government -- and thus ordering the deaths of anyone with knowledge of the previous 456 crisis as the new, terrifying one unfolds. For all his trouble, he is at last instructed to [[spoiler: give up his daughters to the 456 because ''they'' surely can't give up ''their'' children]], whereupon he [[spoiler: chooses to commit Pater Familicide to spare them that fate]].

* John Frobisher from ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth'' is a meek civil servant doing his best to serve his country and thus carrying out the orders of a corrupt and ruthless government during the terrifying 456 crisis. For all his trouble, this PunchClockVillain is at last instructed to [[spoiler: give up his daughters to the 456 because ''they'' surely can't give up ''their'' children]], whereupon he [[spoiler: chooses to commit Pater Familicide to spare them that fate]].

** '''The Twelfth Doctor''' becomes this over the course of the three-part Series 9 finale. A betrayal by [[spoiler: Ashildr/Me AND the Time Lords]] not only leads him to be imprisoned in a bespoke torture chamber but inadvertently results in [[spoiler: the death of his beloved companion Clara Oswald]]. He emerges from these horrors as TheUnfettered WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds willing to risk the entire universe to [[spoiler: bring Clara back from the grave]] and end his misery. He has a HeelRealization and returns to his best self, though it takes the help of [[spoiler: a mind wipe of his memories of her]] to eliminate the high emotions that contributed to his SanitySlippage. (Incidentally, Twelve is played by Creator/PeterCapaldi, who previously played...John Frobisher.)

* John Frobisher from ''Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth''.
** Given that ''Torchwood''[='=]s parent show ''Series/DoctorWho'' is a LongRunner, it's not surprising that the show has had many Anti-Villains over the course of the run. One of the most surprising came in ''The End of Time'', when [[spoiler:TheMaster, of all people, is revealed to be an Anti-Villain: he was deliberately driven mad as part of Rassilon's XanatosGambit. When he finds this out, he is ''pissed'', and he gets a HeroicSacrifice shortly thereafter.]]
** Even more surprising one from the Time War is [[spoiler: the War Doctor. [[TakeAThirdOption Or]] [[PragmaticHero is]] [[KnightInSourArmor he?]] Though considered this by the later Doctors, they later seem to consider him more heroic, meaning, like many of the Doctors he might actually be an Anti-Hero.]]

* Alex Mahone on ''PrisonBreak''. An FBI agent gone bad, in Season 2, he's blackmailed by the ''BigBad'' into hunting down and killing the fugitives one by one. While he does so with nightmarish competence, his heart isn't in it, and the conflict with his better instincts drives him to drug addiction and near madness. He also loves his son and ex-wife and desperately wants to return to them.

* Lt. Jon Kavanaugh on ''TheShield''. By all means, he ''should'' be the good guy, considering that he's going after Vic and the Strike Team for police corruption and the death of Terry Crowley, but his methods are so thoroughly repulsive and immoral that it becomes impossible to sympathize with him, especially as time progresses and his obsession with catching Vic gets worse and worse. It gets to the point where he's willing to plant evidence in order to frame Vic, which ends up getting him arrested. By the time it's all said and done, he's just glad to be ''done'' with the whole thing so he never has to deal with Vic Mackey and his corrupting influence ever again.

** His superior Rosco started out as one. Before the series, he was an HonestCop until his pension got revoked, forcing him to join in on Boss Hogg's scheming or retire penniless.

* Carl Elias from {{Person Of Interest}}. He served the role as the {{Big Bad}}} for a good part of the first season. He's even gone as far to [[MoralEventHorizon lock a baby in a freezer truck to gain Reese's cooperation]], but he's also helped Reese on several occasions. He often shares Reese's goals when up against the Russian mob or HR. [[spoiler: This comes to a close in season 3 when he has {{Dirty Cop}} Simmons killed in revenge for killing Carter earlier.]]

* On ''Series/{{The 100}}'', ''everyone'' is just doing what they believe is necessary to keep their people alive; while our protagonists are usually more sympathetic than their antagonists, [[GreyAndGrayMorality they all have good reasons for doing the things they do]]. Except Murphy; [[{{Jerkass}} he's just a prick.]]

* [[ManipulativeBastard Ben]] on ''{{Lost}}''. Or most of the Others, for that matter. They murder, kidnap, and generally terrorize the Survivors, but they [[WellIntentionedExtremist genuinely believe that they are "the good guys"]]. Plus, they're [[VillainsOutShopping pretty relaxed when they aren't being mean]]. The vagueness of their ultimate goal helps here: they have faith that what they're doing serves a higher purpose, even though few of them can articulate what that higher purpose is.

* Prince Jack in ''{{Kings}}''.

* {{Glee}}'s Sue Sylvester occasionally edges towards this trope, as her MoralityPet moments with her sister, Jean, have been expanded into a real relationship, her positive treatment of Becky has continued, and she has genuinely attempted to help Kurt deal with both a situation that verged on religious harassment and serious bullying - to the point where she ''resigned her Principalship'' in order to be able to help him better.
* ''{{Smallville}}'': Lex Luthor evolved from an {{Antihero}} into an {{Antivillain}} in Season's 4 & 5, retaining most of his sympathetic qualities, but becoming directly antagonistic. Eventually, he lost those as well, and evolved into the CorruptCorporateExecutive and sociopath we all knew he'd eventually be. His father, Lionel, evolved the other way. Beginning the series as an unrepentant BigBad, Lionel became an {{Antivillain}} in the later seasons, as his crush on Martha, revelations about his past, and attempts to make up for his many mistakes humanised him. Some would argue that he even managed to become an antihero (Type IV) before his Season 7 exit.