History AntiVillain / LiveActionTV

* 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 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.

** A good dose of AffablyEvil and WellIntentionedExtremist, plus the fact that [[AntiHero his rival can be kind of a dick]], seems to be attempting to make 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".

* Adelle [=DeWitt=] of ''{{Dollhouse}}'' started off as this, but via CharacterDevelopment seems to have blossomed into an AntiHero.
* Brother Justin Crowe on ''Carnivale''. His character development is given equal screen time with 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 only is part of the drug trade to provide for his brothers and sisters, grows disillusioned after seeing 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]].]]

** Also, Abruzzi after the incident with the killed child, which gave him nightmares and hallucinations of Jesus. Found faith in Christianity but at the same time couldn't separate from his evil ways and from his revenge on Fabonacci. Right before he dies he actually prays "forgive me".
* 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 was all said and done, he was just glad to be ''done'' with the whole thing so he'd never have to deal with Vic Mackey and his corrupting influence ever again.

** 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 being 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.

** For most of Season Three, there was also Sylar, who was ''wanting'' to be good but worrying increasingly that [[ChronicVillainy he's irredeemable]] due to the superpower that allows him to analyze and understand anything [[BadPowersBadPeople also giving him an unquenchable ''Hunger'']] to cut people's 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 TotalBastard lifestyle, despite being totally 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 three separate occasions when it would have been easier to kill him, spared the life of Luke's mother despite the fact 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 into 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 due to the fact that [[spoiler: Matt Parkman trapped him in a nightmare where he was the only person in the world, which of course 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 the CrowningMomentOfFunny when he tied up Puppeteer Doyle like.... a puppet.]]

* Holtz on ''{{Angel}}'' was a revenge-maddened vampire hunter back in the 18th century, when Angel was racking up one hell of a body count. He only became a villain when he arrived in the 21st century because he continued to seek revenge against Angel, who was now ensouled and fighting for the good guys. Had he been willing to look past his desire for revenge and do the right thing, he could conceivably found reason to fight alongside Angel.
** Lindsey might also count. He's largely misguided by Wolfram and Hart, but sees Angel as the truly evil one- for most of the series. He eventually [[spoiler: Leaves W/H when he's ordered to cover up the murder a group of blind children.]] This doesn't stop him from [[spoiler: coming back as a villain later on]], though.
*** Yeeeeah, Lindsey doesn't really count. For one thing he knew from the get-go that Wolfram and Hart was evil. For another, he didn't leave after the blind kids thing, he was ''promoted.'' He only left after they [[spoiler: gave him an evil hand and he saw what they did to former employees.]] He never believed he was working for good, every evil thing he ever did was either with W&R or out of hatred for Angel since he cut off his first hand.
* [[AffablyEvil Mayor Wilkins]] in ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. Whilst unquestionably evil ([[spoiler: his ultimate aim seems to be to grow into a big demon and eat a few dozen teenagers]]), he has a genuine father's love for Faith. So much so that, even when she's on the other side of the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor, he's still the person she remembers with the most fondness, judging by her interaction with the First.

* Sam Adama in ''{{Caprica}}'' is a ruthless gangster who however genuinely cares about and is fiercely protective of both his family and his culture. That Taurons are a minority on Caprica that suffers a great deal of prejudice also factors into this.
** He's far from the only example. One could also say that Zoe, in all her incarnations, is this, given that she willingly associates herself with monotheistic terrorists. Of course, she only wants to make the world a better place, convinced that society's grown morally directionless and soulless. Similarly, Daniel Graystone [[YourMileageMayVary could be considered]] an AntiVillain. After all, he [[AIIsACrapshoot creates the cylons]] and is generally a fairly cold and calculated businessman. However, [[PetTheDog he has moments of softness]] and seems to have genuinely loved his daughter, even if he has issues relating with her or her robotic copy. Given that ''{{Caprica}}'' is set in a universe with GrayAndGreyMorality this is to be expected.
* In ''{{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 breaking the final seal. He comes across as more the little brother who can't stand his brother 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.]]

* While Scorpius of ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' is absolutely a MagnificentBastard, his motivation behind revealing his FreudianExcuse to John seems (at first) to be an attempt to paint himself as an AntiVillain. While he has some villainous motives and does some truly unforgivable things, he honestly thinks he has worthwhile motives: Defeat the bad guys. John (and the audience) don't really buy it until they actually meet said bad guys and concede that he at least has some semblance of a point.

* {{Neighbours}}'s Paul Robinson. He's an on-again, off-again villain {{depending on the writer}}.
* {{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 a [[SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes Type III or IV]] {{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 he even managed to become an antihero (Type IV) before his Season 7 exit.

* [[FanNickname Walternate]] -- Dr. Walter Bishop's [[AlternateUniverse alternate universe]] counterpart -- is the closest thing ''{{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," 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.

* From ''{{Series/Justified}}'' we have Boyd Crowder, who keeps shifting between this and AntiHero.
** Then there's Mags Bennet, who is a more clear AntiVillain, committing crime, but only in the best interest of her kids and grandkids. Helps that she has a MoralityPet in the form of Loretta McCready.
* The Macquis from StarTrekTheNextGeneration and not only. Basically DeterminedHomesteader s with a minor in RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Also, Ben Sisko from StarTrekDeepSpaceNine attempts to anticipate Macquis 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 Macquis 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.

* 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.

* [[MagnificentBastard 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]].

* HG Wells from WareHouse13 is this when's she actually a bad guy. She was a NietzscheWannabe and literally 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.

* HG Wells from WareHouse13 is this when's she actually a bad guy. She was a NiezcheWannabe and literally 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.

* HG Wells from WareHouse13 is this when's she actually a bad guy. She was a NieztcheWannabe and literally 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.

* HG Wells from Warehouse13 is this when's she actually a bad guy. She was a NieztcheWannabe and literally 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.

* The Macquis from StarTrekTheNextGeneration and not only. Basically DeterminedHomesteader s with a minor in RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Also, Ben Sisko from StarTrekDeepSpaceNine attempts to anticipate Macquis 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 Macquis 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.

* King Uther on the show {{Series/Merlin}} tends to come across this way. He has a MoralityPet (Morgana) whom he [[PetTheDog pets]] several times. Though he does have several KickTheDog moments as well with pretty much every character on the show. He tends to be a KnightTemplar. He executes anyone remotely related to magic, even healers and children, but genuinely believes he's doing the right thing by destroying magic.

* While Scorpius of ''{{Farscape}}'' is absolutely a MagnificentBastard, his motivation behind revealing his FreudianExcuse to John seems (at first) to be an attempt to paint himself as an AntiVillain. While he has some villainous motives and does some truly unforgivable things, he honestly thinks he has worthwhile motives: Defeat the bad guys. John (and the audience) don't really buy it until they actually meet said bad guys and concede that he at least has some semblance of a point.

* King Uther on the show {{Series/Merlin}} tends to come across this way. He has a MoralityPet (Morgana) whom he [[PetTheDog pets]] several times. Though he does have several KickTheDog moments as well with pretty much every character on the show. He tends to be a KnightTemplar.

** "Religious harassment"? Kurt gave a pretty much episode-long rant against everyone who wasn't an atheist like he was, even going so far as to ''go to Sue and get Mr. Shu and the entire glee club in trouble'' just so he wouldn't have to hear songs about a topic he disapproved of. And yet no one stopped him from expressing ''his'' opinions. Apparently the {{Aesop}} there was that atheists can force their views on religious people, but not vice versa.

* The Macquis from StarTrekTheNextGeneration and not only. Basically DeterminedHomesteader s with a minor in RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Also, Ben Sisko from StarTrekDeepSpaceNine attempts to anticipate Macquis 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 Macquis 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 (at the time) Type V AntiHero.

* The Macquis from StarTrekTheNextGeneration and not only. Basically DeterminedHomesteader s with a minor in RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Also, Ben Sisko from StarTrekDeepSpaceNine attempts to anticipate Macquis 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 Macquis 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.

** Then there's Mags Bennet, who is a more clear AntiVillain, committing crime, but only in the best interest of her kids and grandkids. Helps that she has a MoralityPet in the form of Loretta McCready.

* From {{Series/Justified}} we have Boyd Crowder, who keeps shifting between this and AntiHero.

*** 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}}.

* Mayor Wilkins in ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. Whilst unquestionably evil ([[spoiler: his ultimate aim seems to be to grow into a big demon and eat a few dozen teenagers]]), he has a genuine father's love for Faith. So much so that, even when she's on the other side of the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor, he's still the person she remembers with the most fondness, judging by her interaction with the First.

** This changed in the "6:02 AM EST," when he 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, he 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}}.

** This changed in the "6:02 AM EST," when he 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.

* [[FanNickname Walternate]] -- Dr. Walter Bishop's [[AlternateUniverse alternate universe]] counterpart -- is the closest thing ''{{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]].

* Most of the bank robbers in ''The Kill Point'' are basically decent people who made a bad mistake and spend the rest of the show regretting it. Except for Mr. Rabbit, who is TheSociopath.

* ''{{Smallville}}'': Lex Luthor evolved from a [[SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes Type III or IV]] {{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 he even managed to become an antihero (Type IV) before his Season 7 exit.

** 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 breaking the final seal. He comes across as more the little brother who can't stand his brother 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.]]

* {{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.

* While Scorpius of ''{{Farscape}}'' is absolutely a MagnificentBastard, his motivation behind revealing his FreudianExcuse to John seems to be an attempt to paint himself as an AntiVillain. While he has some villainous motives and does some truly unforgivable things, he honestly thinks he has worthwhile motives: Defeat the bad guys. John (and the audience) don't really buy it.

* {{Neighbours}}'s Paul Robinson. He's an on-again, off-again villain {{depending on the writer}}.

* Nucky Thompson, the main character of ''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 AlCapone or the cold-blooded sadism of [[CompleteMonster Arnold Rothstein]].