History Main / VillainousCrush

If the feelings are mutual or an actual relationship develops, then it's DatingCatwoman instead. When this is purely subtextual, see FoeRomanceSubtext. The specific variant when the Evil Empress captures the hero to seduce him is VillainessesWantHeroes. Not to be confused with FoeYay, which are purely audience reactions. Sometimes overlaps with BigotWithACrush, if the bigot is depicted as a villain.

* The titular character in ''Theatre/{{Attila}}'' for Odabella. Many productions show it develop into real love on his side. She exploits it and stabs him to avenge her father's murder (although some productions also hint she couldn't help but [[FoeYay get affected on the way]]).

* Tobey [=McCallister=] of ''WesternAnimation/WordGirl'' has a thinly-disguised crush on [=WordGirl=] herself. His affection for her even serves as his downfall in some episodes.

* Tobey McCallister of ''WesternAnimation/WordGirl'' has a thinly-disguised crush on [=WordGirl=] herself. His affection for her even serves as his downfall in some episodes.

** While we're talking about the Turtles, in ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'', [[BigBad the Shredder]] seemed to have a thing for April.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/villainous_crush.png]]]]

* Frollo to Esmeralda in ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', as pictured above. The VillainSong "Hellfire" is about his conflict over him lusting after her when she's a gypsy and he's a "righteous" man of the church.

Contrast AllGirlsWantBadBoys and ReformedRakes.

* Eris shows an attraction to Sinbad in ''WesternAnimation/SinbadLegendOfTheSevenSeas'', namely by calling him cute more than once and constantly [[NoSenseOfPersonalSpace getting into his personal space]].

* One time on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' Marge got a job at the nuclear plant and Mr. Burns developed a thing for her. However, when he realised how much Homer and Marge were in love, he withdrew his jealous affections and instead [[PetTheDog let them go on the fancy date he had prepared for Marge and himself.]] With a captive Creator/TomJones no less.

* [[ManipulativeBitch Abigail Williams]] has one on John Proctor in ''Theater/TheCrucible''.

* The titular king, actually a painting of the real king, of ''WesternAnimation/{{The King And The Mockingbird}}'' falls for the Sheperdess, another painting come to life, and the main conflict of the film revolves around the king trying to marry the Sheperdess while not letting her be with her actual love, the Chimney Sweep.

* ''Webcomic/AngelDown'', [[Bernard and Ward's]] romantic feelings for each other remain even after the latter's HeelFaceTurn. This is so strong that [[spoiler: Ward's]] WeCanRuleTogether speech resembles a marriage proposal.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

* Frollo to Esmeralda in ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''. The VillainSong "Hellfire" is about his conflict over him lusting after her when she's a gypsy and he's a "righteous" man of the church.

* J.D. and Veronica of ''{{Theatre/Heathers}}'' are actually dating for the majority of the show, and are nearly in UnholyMatrimony territory (Veronica being manipulated into participating in J.D.'s murders rather than doing it of her own free will is what stops it from being a straight example of the trope). After Veronica finally gets tired of his shit and dumps him, J.D. still remains very much in love with her, which makes it this trope.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In ''WebComic/YokokasQuest'', Copycat is introduced as a villain, raising [[MixAndMatchCritter snake-centipede]] pets which would have preyed on the nearby village, and [[DreamWalker entering Mao's dream]] to [[PokeThePoodle get revenge on him]] for killing said pets. He develops a crush on Mao and stops doing anything particularly villainous, and sticks to [[StalkerWithACrush stalking him]].

-->'''Chris:''' ''(horrified)'' "Ugh! [[{{Yaoi}} THIS]] must be the [[StealthPun "resident evil!"]]

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls''

* ''Main/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles''

* [[AntiVillain Dr. Horrible]], of ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog'', has a crush on a local do-gooder, but his arch-nemesis [[AntiHero hero]] beats him to the punch. Unusually, Dr. Horrible is more of a WellIntentionedExtremist, while the so-called hero is an [[SmugSuper arrogant]] [[{{Jerkass}} bully]] who only dates the girl to make the protagonist jealous.

* In keeping with her role as sex goddess of TGWTG, WebVideo/AskThatGuyWithTheGlasses is implied to have a crush on Creator/AllisonPregler (not so much since he fired her IRL). He's also slept with AntiHero champion of the universe Linkara.

* In ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'', Perfect Cell jokes that Android 16 has a "murder-crush" on Goku, since the latter is programmed to hunt down and kill Goku and he is utterly obsessed with it. Cell himself also has a very suggestive attraction to Goku, making numerous sexual innuendos while fighting him and acting like a jilted lover when Goku forfeits their duel and comments that "We both know this was only a fight."

** Martellus has one of these on Agatha, although romance doesn't enter into the equation. He's outright stated that he would be perfectly willing to kill her if she interferes with his plans, and the main reason he's chasing her is because of the legend that the Storm King would marry the Heterodyne Girl - she's the Heterodyne, so if he wants to be the Storm King he obviously has to marry her. However, some of his behaviour suggests that he [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20141222#.Vv6Rz-IrLIU finds her attractive,]] and he certainly [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20130605#.Vv6SLOIrLIU doesn't seem annoyed by the idea of marrying her,]] with or [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20130603#.Vv6SVOIrLIU without her permission]].

** Manny has Zoe Aves AKA Black Cuervo. At first, she only seduced him to manipulate him into hurting Frida, whom she hates. But after he saw her true colors and defeated her, showing his ferocious side, [[UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo the crushes were swapped]].
** Frida herself has Diego AKA Dr. Chipotle Jr. and Sergio AKA Senor Sinestro, who have turned on each other to compete for her affections, then teamed up to destroy Manny, who they saw as romantic competition.
** Manny’s father, White Panthera, dated Voltura AKA Carmelita Aves, Zoe’s mom before he dumped her and went on to marry Maria. Years later, she’s still bitter over it.

* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'':
** Emperor Awesome has a thing for Sylvia and even suggests forcibly adding her to his entourage after capturing her in "The Party Animal." She's always quick to shoot him down.
-->'''Sylvia:''' You can't handle this.

* The ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' episode "The Loose Screw" implies that this kind of relationship is ongoing between aging villain Mandrake the Malfeasant and his likewise-aging superhero nemesis Stella Starbella. Though he complains that he "could never conquer [her] heart," they're definitely FriendlyEnemies at this stage if they weren't already, with Stella even bringing him back to her ship for cookies after capturing him.

* The ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' episode "The Loose Screw" implies that this kind of relationship is ongoing between aging villain Mandrake the Malfeasant and his likewise-aging superhero nemesis Stella Starbella. Though he complains that he "could never conquer [her] heart," they're pretty much FriendlyEnemies at this stage, with Stella even bringing him back to her ship for cookies after capturing him.

* The ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' episode "The Loose Screw" implies that this kind of relationship is ongoing between aging villain Mandrake the Malfeasant and his aging superhero nemesis Stella Starbella. Though he complains that he "could never conquer [her] heart," they're pretty much FriendlyEnemies at this stage, with Stella even bringing him back to her ship for cookies after capturing him.