History TragicVillain / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/ColdCase'':
** James Hogan from "Sherry Darlin" was manipulated by his girlfriend [[GoldDigger Sherry]] to murder his grandmother for insurance money. Sherry did the deed but James did [[MurderByInaction nothing]].
** Jonesey from "The Letter" was a member of a white supremacist group who fell in love with a black woman named Sadie. His friends gang-raped her in front of him until he was forced to put her out of her misery.
** Paul from "Disco Inferno" was seduced by a rival dancer to cripple Benny, only to kill him and then set the disco club on fire to cover up his crime. He had been living with the guilt of killing 23 people and burning down the club that his father built, causing the man to remain under suspicion and die heartbroken.
** Nelson Miller from "Factory Girls" advised his wife Alice to get a factory job while he fought in World War II. When he returned, she had become more independent and refused to quit. They got into an argument and he accidentally pushed her to her death. While he bribed the factory owner to keep quiet about Alice's death, it's clear he regretted it ever since and still loved her.
** Jed Huxley from "The Key" watched as his parents' marriage imploded so he sought affection elsewhere. He grew infatuated with his neighbor and father's lover, Libby Bradley, especially after she drunkenly danced with him. When he later made advances on her, she refused him so he killed her in a fit of rage. When he was finally caught, it is unknown if his parents even cared.
** Martha Puck from "Lonely Hearts" found out that her new boyfriend Ramon was a conman, but was so desperate to keep him that she convinced him join forces and they went from conmen to [[TheBlueBeard Blue Beards]], with her doing most of the killing. Martha decided to kill Ramon when she felt guilty and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness feared he was going to kill her]] but is instead killed by one of his victims who still loved him.
** Katya from "Cargo" was a SexSlave caught up in an Eastern European human trafficking ring. She killed Mike while he was trying to save another girl from the ring, stole his money, and escaped to build a new life, but she is still arrested for his murder.
** Hopper from "A Dollar, A Dream" is a [[CrazyHomelessPeople mentally unstable vagrant]] who helps the Bradford women try to adjust to being homeless. He murdered the mother Marlene in an irrational rage while she was trying to pay him back for his kindness.
** Jose from "Dead Heat" just [[WellDoneSonGuy wanted his father's approval]] but a bunch of misunderstandings caused him to kill his father.
** Juan from "Stealing Home" seems at first to be Gonzalo's unassuming cousin. It's revealed that Juan also used to be a baseball player. He was more pro-active than Gonzalo and it was his idea to defect to the United States. Gonzalo made it but Juan didn't. He was sent back to Cuba where his pitching arm was broken. He defected later but it was too late and he has lost his talent. He becomes a shell of his former self and accidentally kills Gonzalo when he revealed all of this.

** Mrs. Thompson from "M.I.A" was forced to become the mayor of a small town which was being used by Samaritan as an [[TownWithADarkSecret experimental sandbox]] to understand human behavior. She is abused verbally and physically by Reese and Root (respectively) and gets no sympathy for her plight. At the end, she stays behind to "quit her job" but its unknown if she is even going to survive.

** ''Series/PowerRangersDinoCharge'': Heckyl wasn't always a notorious criminal. He once was an ordinary citizen of Sentai 6, who tried to protect their ArtifactOfDoom from the GalacticConqueror Archenon. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: he came in contact with it, and it created a SuperpoweredEvilSide Snide and TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget , causing him to forget his original goodness]] and became a feared force who had several destroyed GALAXIES as part of his rap sheet.

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': Lex Luthor wasn't always the supervillain we expected. He was once a young man with the potential to use all his wealth and power for good. He was still a bit cold, but his friendship with Clark Kent allowed him to see the better side of himself through understanding and mutual mentorship. However, his dysfunctional past, desire to live up to the horrid expectations of his father, and repeated disappointments in love and secrets slowly destroyed that which was good in Lex. Sliding into Villainy though a desire for control, love and fighting his own self loathing.

** Princess Rhaenyra was thrust into the spotlight when she is appointed as the first female direct heir to the Iron Throne, and keeper of the knowledge about The Long Night. Her arrogance and devious personality does not gel with her new status as TheChosenOne. She undermines her position by giving birth to illegitimate sons and she protects their rights by lying or outright using violence. She alienates potential allies and they flock to the side of her stepmother Queen Alicent. As anyone who has read ''Literature/FireAndBlood'' knows, she loses most of her family in the civil war that ensues and, while the royal line continues through her descendants, she herself never recovers her reputation and she is still remembered as one of Westeros' greatest traitors.

** Ser Criston Cole believes in the virtues of knighthood. He befriends Princess Rhaenyra but she forces him to sleep with her. He tries to marry her to make an honest woman out of her and restore his honor but she refuses. He has broken his vows for nothing. No girl, no honor and no chance of redemption. He becomes bitter for breaking his knightly vows for a master that did not deserve his loyalty. He turns into one of Rhaenyra's chief opponents and will do anything to stop her from inheriting the Iron Throne. In time, he will become known as The Kingmaker because he backed someone he thought was the rightful king and causing a rift in the Kingsguard. All because he thought he was doing the right thing. Jaime Lannister was correct in referring to Cole as "the best and the worst of the Kingsguard".

** Tory Nichols. She may be a mentally-ill psycho, but you can't help but feel sorry for her because of her poor living situation, her nasty streak with her landlord, and the fact that she's literally the ''breadwinner'' of her family since her mother is in dialysis. When she finally gets a taste of victory in Season 4 (albeit as an anti-hero), it's all for naught because a certain, sleazy businessman bribed the ref to give her an unfair advantage.

*** John Kreese. Yes, the deranged-sensei became a deranged-sensei, because he was actually another bully victim with a rough childhood, who joins the army only to be PTSD-ridden when he finds out his girlfriend was killed in a car crash and his commanding officer betrays him. Him having his infamous "Strike First, Strike Hard, No-Mercy" was because his experience in the war warped his "cruel world" beliefs that he wanted to install on his students. And when he does have a sense of hope for humanity due to his care for Johnny Lawrence and Tory Nichols, all of this is for naught when his best friend and war buddy, Terry Silver, betrays him.

** Juan from "Stealing Home" seems at first to be Gonzalo's unassuming cousin. It's revealed that Juan also used to be a baseball player. He was more pro-active than Gonzalo and it was his idea to defect to the United States. Gonzalo made it but Juan didn't. He was sent back to Cuba where his pitching arm was broken. He defected later but it was too late and he has lost his talent. He becomes a shell of his former self and he kills accidentally when he revealed all of this.

** Ser Criston Cole believes in the virtues of knighthood. He befriends Princess Rhaenyra but she forces him to sleep with her. He tries to marry her to make an honest woman out of her and restore his honor but she refuses. He has broken his vows for nothing. No girl, no honor and no chance of redemption. He becomes bitter for breaking his knightly vows for a master that did not deserve his loyalty. He turns into one of Rhaenyra'schief opponents and will do anything to stop her from inheriting the Iron Throne.

** James Hogan from "Sherry Darlin" was manipulated by his girlfriend Sherry to murder his grandmother for insurance money. Sherry did the deed but James did nothing.
** Jonesey from "The Letter" was a member of a white supremacist group who fell in love with a black woman named Sadie. His friends gang-raped her in front him until he was forced to put her out of her misery.
** Paul from "Disco Inferno" killed Benny and set the club on fire to cover up his crime. He had been living with the guilt of killing 23 people and burning down the club that his father built.
** Nelson Miller from "Factory Girls" told his wife Alice to get a factory job while he fights in World War II. She has become more independent when returns and refused to quit now that he's home. They get into an argument and he accidentally killed her.
** Jed Huxley from "The Key" watched as his parents marriage imploded so he sought affection elsewhere. He grew infatuated with Libby Bradley and he forced himself on her. She refused him so he killed her. When he was finally caught, it is unknown if his parents even cared.
** Martha Puck from "Lonely Hearts" found out that her new boyfriend Ramon was a conman but was so desperate to keep him that she convinced him join forces and they went from conmen to robber/killers with her doing most of the killing. She decides to kill him when she thought he was going to kill her but she is instead killed by one of his victims who still loved him.
** Katya from "Cargo" was a Russian sex slave. She killed Mike, stole his money and escaped to build a new life but she is still arrested for his murder.

** Jonesey from "The Letter" was a member of a neo-Nazi group who fell in love with a black woman named Sadie. His friends gang-raped her in front him until he was forced to put her out of her misery.
** Paul from "Disco Inferno" killed Benny and set the club on fire to cover up his crime. He had been living with th guilt of killing 23 people and burning down the club that his father built.

* ''Series/PowerRangersTimeForce'': Frax. [[spoiler:He used to be a human, Dr. Fericks, whom Ransik came to for help with his mutated condition. After Fericks found a way to alleviate the worst of Ransik's issues, Ransik repaid him by destroying his laboratory and leaving him for dead. Fericks only survived by giving himself an EmergencyTransformation into a cyborg using what mechanisms were still intact in his lab. He spends the majority of the series with an undying hatred for mutants... until Ransik's daughter Nadira apologizes to him for what her father did. And just as he sees that ray of hope, Ransik has his mind wiped and turns him into a lifeless robot, sending him to be killed.]]

* The terrorists from ''Series/TwentyFour'' season 5 often have grievous reasons to attack the Russian government (and the US for helping it). One of them has a wife who has been in prison for many years and a child in a "government facility" because of his anti-imperialist beliefs.

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** Ziggy Zobotka is a small time criminal who fails at everything because he is inept and puny. He finally finds a racket by stealing cars but he is ripped off because he is seen as weak. He finally loses his temper and kills the man who ripped him off. [[spoiler:His father Frank's attempt to keep him out of jail gets him killed and ruins the stevedores union.]]

** Randy is the poster child for the inability of police to defend citizens, and how society's lack of care for its worst off memberships winds up creating criminals.

** Regina blamed Snow White for the death of the man she loved, instead of her mother who actually killed him because of a mix of fear and need for acceptance. Her need to destroy Snow causes Regina to kill her own father and cast a curse that exiled her and countless others into the real word, but she still feels empty because no one loves her. She adopts a son but her need to control him alienates him. Her backstory shows she was tailor-made to be the villain and even when she tries to get better she's afraid she won't get her happy ending because "villains don't get happy endings".

** James Hogan was manipulated by his girlfriend Sherry to murder his grandmother for insurance money. Sherry did the deed but James did nothing.

** Nelson Miller told his wife Alice to get a factory job while he fights in World War II. She has become more independent when returns and refused to quit now that he's home. They get into an argument and Nelson accidentally killed Alice.

** [[CreepshowS2E5TheRightSnuff The Right Snuff]]: Alex spent his entire life being unappreciated and dismissed by his emotionally abusive father, and desperately wants the respect his old man never gave him, including a reputation as one of history's greatest figures. To this end, his mind utterly clouded with envy and jealousy, murders his more recognized copilot and only companion so he alone can make first contact with aliens. As a result, he kills who was revealed to be an ambassador to said aliens, and has thrown the moon out of orbit, causing it to crash into Earth. His last moments, staring where Earth once was in silent grief, is enough to make you give the guy a hug.

* ''Series/Creepshow'':