* CompleteMonster: All the main villains ([[YMMV/AFistfulOfDollars Ramon Rojo]]; [[YMMV/ForAFewDollarsMore El Indio]]; [[YMMV/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly Angel Eyes/Sentenza ("The Bad")]]) are monsters. See those pages for details.
** ''The Man with No Name Volume 2: Holiday in the Sun'' comic (Creator/DynamiteComics): [[DirtyCop Angel Eyes]] is a wicked sheriff suffering from a severe case of ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. Forcing the population of Red Bluff to pay for his ProtectionRacket, Angel has the local blacksmith tortured in front of his family, and when the man gives him information on the whereabouts of a train that might be carrying tons of money, Angel Eyes repays the blacksmith by executing him and his family, [[WouldHurtAChild even his baby boy]]. Poisoning his own partner to have all the money for himself, Angel Eyes hires bandits to blow up the tracks and shoot at the train--filled with not only private guards but also innocent workers--just for him to arrive at the scene and save the day. Cowardly leaving his deputies behind to save himself after a short encounter with Blondie, Angel Eyes would [[Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly resurface eight years later]] as one of the worst foes of the Man with No Name.
** ''[[Film/DollarsTrilogy A Dollar to Die for]]'' novel, by Brian Fox: [[TheSavageIndian Banton]] is the cruel chief of an escaped band of [[RapePillageAndBurn bloodthirsty Braves]] that have slaughtered an entire cavalry detail and burned ranches to the ground on their way to the Mexican border. Arriving on the village of Tyopa, Banton gives the order for his men to [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape]] and scalp people en masse to their heart's content. A SerialRapist himself, Banton was known for participating in similar massacres and saving "the occasional woman" that would be taken back with him.
** ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'' comic, by Creator/ChuckDixon, Esteve Polls, & Marc Rueda: In this conclusion to the film of same name, two characters [[EvilVsEvil on opposing sides]] manage to stand out even in the harsh reality of TheWildWest:
*** [[InsaneAdmiral Colonel Lambert]] participates in the French intervention [[PsychoForHire solely to commit war crimes]]. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Introduced]] executing a man and massacring civilians to LeaveNoWitnesses of his campaign after pillaging a mission, the greedy and disloyal Lambert refuses to give his loot to Emperor Maximilian. Shortly after suppressing a group of Republican rebels, the Juaristas, Lambert simply decides to engage in HuntingTheMostDangerousGame with his prisoners, impaling and slashing them as they try to escape. Casually trying to return to France with all of the gold, Lambert sends his men to fight against a gang at close range.
*** [[AxCrazy The Gambler]] is an utterly sadistic {{Bandito}} with the modus operandi of a ThemeSerialKiller. Ambushing a French cavalry detachment and ordering his men to "take good care" of the wounded by not wasting any bullets, the Gambler takes the survivors to the hills and toys with them, forcing the defenseless soldiers to pick cards from his tarot deck and killing them with [[CruelAndUnusualDeath increasingly brutal methods]] that reflect their own choices, which includes drinking boiling water and getting tied to a horse. When one of the soldiers exposes Lambert's operation to save his own skin, the Gambler acknowledges his sincerity and then burns his chest with hot coal before executing the man and the other captives.
* {{Fanon}}: Certain fans insist that Creator/ClintEastwood plays a different protagonist in every installment even though the prequel ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'' confirms that Blondie is both Joe and Manco. The novelizations and book sequels further verify that it is indeed the same Man With No Name in every adventure.
* MagnificentBastard: "Blondie" or "The Man With no Name", starts as a ruthless {{conman}} willing to gun down bounty hunters to keep his heist with his partner Tuco going where he turns in Tuco to be hanged only to shoot the rope at the last minute. Through ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'', Blondie ends up playing Tuco and using him to force a confrontation with the evil Angel Eyes and claim the lost gold-though he leaves Tuco with his share after scaring him. In ''Film/AFistfulOfDollars'', Blondie contrives to play the evil Rojo family against their rivals, the Baxters, while playing the situation to his own advantage, before returning to rescue the innocents and finish off the Rojo leader. Blondie has flashes of ruthlessness and goodness in equal measure, routinely showing why he is one of the archetypal schemers and audacious gunslingers of Western cinema.
* VindicatedByHistory: All three films received mixed-to-negative reviews when first released, as {{Spaghetti Western}}s were not taken very seriously at the time. They were global box-office successes however. Nowadays, all three are regarded as all-time classics of the Western genre. ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'' in particular, is widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. It also launched the career of the last great Western genre actor, Creator/ClintEastwood.