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The Mayor of Sunnydale... Cheerful. Fatherly. Really wants to be a giant snake demon.
"When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite."
— Winston Churchill
"I mean, just because I'm evil doesn't mean I have to be rude. It's important to me to be a good host. That's just how I was raised, y'know? We are living in a society, after all. We have rules. Without them, we'd be no better than... than... FOREST IMPS!!!"
Most of the time, when there is a villain, they're going to have a personality or manner that underscores how evil they are. They may kick puppies for giggles, be particularly insensitive, even during sex, or might just be too unknowable to be anything but evil.
And then, there are villains who are Affably Evil. There is absolutely nothing separating them from being normal, polite people except for the fact that they want to take over the world or use human souls to power their Artifact Of Doom. They're not the Stepford Smiler - their affability is a genuine part of their personality, not a mask. In one way, they're the opposite of an Anti Hero. They may Pet The Dog on occasion, but won't hesitate to kick it if it helps them accomplish their goals.
This villain will invite the hero out to tea, offer him a favorite dish, make pleasant small talk, try to appeal to the hero's better nature, and convince the hero that the villain's plan isn't worth getting involved in. Of course, if the hero still won't change their mind, the villain will remind them that they are, after all, still a villain. It may or may not involve a Death Trap, depending on how nice the villain really is when crossed.
Almost always either comedic, or a Well Intentioned Extremist who really believes that they are the good guys, but the occasional Complete Monster can exhibit such qualities as well. Evil Has A Bad Sense Of Humor is not true for them, and their affability even makes them easy to "compliment" with an Insult Backfire. Captives of an affably evil villain won't be kept in dungeons, but in a Gilded Cage.
Compare Punch Clock Villain, who isn't necessarily evil at all — they simply have a job to do, and if it involves slaughtering little children or stealing people's life savings, well, that's what they get paid for. See also Villains Out Shopping for Affable Evil behavior to otherwise normal villains. Often a trait of a Card Carrying Villain, especially the more ironic portrayals. Contrast Evilly Affable, which is about villains who are amusing but in no way nice. Good Is Not Nice is the good(ish) Sister Trope. Im Not Hungry is often dealing with this villain. Note that this is not the Bitch In Sheeps Clothing, where the character hides a more sinister side behind a nice facade - unlike them, Affably Evil characters are genuinely nice.
Examples
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Anime and Manga
Comic Books
- Doctor Doom, the main enemy of the Fantastic Four, fits this like a glove, proving to be surprisingly likable and charming even as he commits various evil deeds, to the point where he's had several moments past the Moral Event Horizon retconned, ignored, or smoothed over into Well Intentioned Extremist territory because of fandom outrage.
- The X-Men's Magneto, during Chris Claremont's first run, went from revenge-obsessed wacko to head of Xavier Institute and not quite back again, thanks in large part to his portrayal (this editor's favorite depiction of him) as an Affably Evil Well Intentioned Extremist.
- DC's Vandal Savage (who, having been alive since caveman days, is a little bit more than Really Seven Hundred Years Old) has often acted quite genteel towards Earth's heroes.
- Batman villain Ra's al Ghul has not only tried to be civil towards "the Detective", but has repeatedly offered Batman the chance to join his organization, and even offered the hand of his beautiful (and mutually attracted) daughter, Talia.
- Lex Luthor fit this trope during his Corrupt Corporate Executive incarnation (not so much in his current Mad Scientist phase).
- Even in the Corrupt Corporate Executive phase, he really wasn't Affably Evil, just very aware of the power of good public relations. In private, he was still pretty much Rotten To The Core. There are a few of the old Silver Age stories where he's depicted as hating Superman specifically so much he will do anything to destroy him, leaving open the possibility that if he ever succeeded in doing so, he might turn into a basically decent guy... but those are more the exception than the rule.
- Thug Boy and his crew early in Empowered. Thug Boy goes out of his way to ensure a hostage's comfort, and assures her that "This is business, not sadism, okay?"
- Hell, the leader, Frank, stays friends with Thug Boy even after trying to kill him for betraying the group, and gives him relationship advice.
- For that matter, Ninjette, who was originally hired to take out Empowered, but ended up becoming her best friend.
- Iron Man's enemy, the Mandarin, has a heart of stone, but he is always impeccably polite and well-mannered. He also has a strict code of honor, which he always makes sure to uphold. He once vaporized his favorite minion on the spot for using poison in a sparring session, and he also upheld the promises he made on at least one occasion when Iron Man defeated him in fair combat, such as stopping his efforts to prevent Stark Enterprises from setting up in Hong Kong.
- The Sleepwalker villain 8-Ball carries himself with a swaggering, casual manner. He is completely unfazed by the appearance of the bizarre alien Sleepwalker, and simply tries to smooth-talk Sleepy when he demands to know what 8-Ball and his gang are doing. He even cheerfully accepts Sleepwalker's claim of being an alien without blinking an eye, and kindly explains the Earthly concepts of money and power to Sleepwalker...before he attempts to murder Sleepy by dropping a bank vault on him.
- Axel Borg, of the French comic Le Franc is a charismatic, cultured and polite villain of the Magnificent Bastard variety, who always treats his captured enemies well and who on occasion will side with the hero in order to bring down a greater threat.
- Ozymandias in Watchmen. In addition to being a Well Intentioned Extremist (second only to Ra's al Ghul in that regard), he's also gentlemanly, witty, and even-tempered, even in hand-to-hand combat. He treats his employees kindly (right until he drugs them and leaves them to die of exposure to prevent his secrets getting out. When his former crimefighting colleagues track him down and learn of his already-in-progress master plan, he gives them the opportunity to keep silent and when all of them ( except Rorschach) agree, he trusts them enough not only to let them live but to offer them hospitality in his fortress and allow them to leave freely. Hardly seems fair to hold the deaths of three million innocent New Yorkers for the sake of preventing a global nuclear war against him.
- Ozymandias also had the honour of being an excellent example of what an Affably Evil character is: Sacrificing his beloved pet in a revoltingly gruesome manner just so he can buy a few more minutes, but doing so while he begs his pet to forgive him.
- It's possible he thought it would be more effective than it actually proved to be. Though probably not; I saw it coming, and I don't claim to be the Smartest Man in the World.
- Are you saying you count the death of a pet more than the death of 3 million people?
- No, I am saying Adrian does.
- He arguably isn't actually "evil" per se, since he essentially solved an equation (3,000,000 < 6,000,000,000) and acted accordingly. Is it horrifying? Yes. Is it wrong? That's a much more complex question.
- An alternate reality version of Mister Sinister proves to be one of these in Cable and Deadpool. Not only is he nice enough to let Deadpool use his bathroom, he has a completely normal conversation with him and doesn't antagonize him at all. He even sits down with Deadpool, Cannonball and Siryn for a delightful meal... which was laced with barbituates to incapacitate them so that he could dissect them later.
- Hoss, the redneck demon from Ghost Rider: Road to Damnation.
- Lucifer from The Sandman and his own Spin Off series is always polite and elequent, even in his speech bubbles.
Film
- In the X-Men movies, Ian McKellen's version of Magneto — at least, early on.
- Frank Lucas from American Gangster is a very polite, well-dressed man who cares deeply for his family and even takes his mother to church every Sunday. Despite this he is frequently shown to have no qualms gunning down people who get in his way in cold blood, or blighting communities with heroin for pure profit.
- Arthur Burns of The Proposition is erudite, and exceptionally loyal to his friends and family. He appreciates poetry, and is very supportive and patient with his underlings. Arthur also bashes policemen's skulls in with rocks, advocates gangrape, and burns entire families to death. It helps that he's borderline insane.
- Some of the best conversations in The Matrix trilogy are between Neo and Affably Evil Agent Smith, who famously insists on calling Neo "Mr. Anderson" even in the thick of battle. One of the best, from Reloaded:
Smith: Now here I stand because of you, Mr. Anderson; because of you I'm no longer an Agent of the system, because of you I've changed, I'm unplugged, a new man, so to speak; like you, apparently free.
Neo: Congratulations.
Smith: Thank you.
- Bill from the Kill Bill movies is very friendly and likable, as well as a loving father, despite being a self-proclaimed "murdering bastard," and even helps the Bride reach an epiphany about herself at the end of the duology.
- The Brain from Gremlins 2. An erudite, genetically-altered gremlin who merely wants what everyone wants, and what you have: Civilization! The Geneva Convention, chamber music, Susan Sontag...
The Brain: "We want to be civilized. I mean, you take a look at this fellow here..."
The Brain: "Now, was that civilized? No, clearly not... Fun, but in no sense civilized."
- David Allen Griffin in The Watcher is perfectly sociable and charming guy to have around. Except for the whole garroting young women thing. Oh, and stalking and flirting with a male FBI agent that hates him kinda hinders him in the social department as well.
- Observe the following exchange from In Bruges:
Harry: Is Ray enjoying it?
Ken: Well, no. It's not really his thing.
Harry: What?
Ken: It's not really his thing.
Harry: How the fuck is it not his thing? The whole fuckin' place is a fuckin' fairy tale, so how can it not be someone's fuckin' thing!
- The Nome King from Return To Oz displayed a disturbing mix of affability and subtle condescension toward Dorothy and her friends. (His counterpart in the older books, the Nome King, was more of a cackling Card Carrying Villain).
- Of course, the film Return to Oz plays the same "all a dream" card that the film of The Wizard Of Oz played, and the Nome King, in this case, is supposed to be a direct analogue to the psychiatrist running the asylum where Dorothy is being treated at the beginning of the film. He himself is quite Affably Evil in his own right, warmheartedly declaring that electroshock therapy is "just the thing to cheer Dorothy up," words that the Nome King repeats later in the film.
- Robert DeNiro as Al Capone in The Untouchables: a Magnificent Bastard who goes from pontificating on the joys of baseball one second to savagely murdering an associate with a bat the next. Every word that passes his lips is met by sycophantic laughter.
- The Operative of Serenity is a man who is convinced of the righteousness of his actions, and holds no particular ill will for his enemies. Indeed, he goes so far as to compliment his foes' tenacity, bravery, or the good works they've done, even when he's impaled them on his sword and watching them die. Even more so is how he kills certain people with the sword. He paralyzes them, then lets them fall on it because he believes it's an honorable way to die.
The Operative: "There is no shame in this. This is a good death, for a man who has done fine works."
- He's even self-aware that, despite his own politeness, he is a monster with no place in the paradise he is trying to create.
- A Disney example is Jafar from Aladdin. It's half the reason people love him, and probably why he's one of the few Disney villains that survives to the end of the movie (albeit trapped in a lamp).
- Yet another Disney example is Duke Igthorne from the Gummi Bears TV show.
- He abuses his own pet, says things to his employer that are so incredibly condescending that you'd have to be an idiot to not notice (although the Sultan is), feels up a girl after telling her he killed her boyfriend, and is, in general, a Smug Snake. I don't get where people are getting this "Jafar is Affably Evil" from, because it takes more than hiding the fact that you're evil to qualify.
- Pasquale Acosta in Smokin' Aces epitomizes this trope. He doesn't just kill you, he comforts you and waxes philosophical as you die.
- Noah Cross of Chinatown invites our hero to lunch, has a friendly conversation with him and makes jokes about his advanced age before actually throwing him some business that seems to dovetail with an investigation he's already pursuing. Of course, the truth is far more disturbing.
- Dr. No, the early James Bond villain, treats James Bond to dinner and shows him around his evil lair!
- Nyssa Damaskinos in Blade II, probably the only example of affability and honor out her otherwise Always Chaotic Evil species. She even helps the main character attain a modicum of acceptance of his vampire half, and is probably the closes thing to a Love Interest he would receive in the entire trilogy.
- Nyssa isn't jovial but evil. She is a good person from a race that often is not, thats very different. She simply isn't evil.
- Dr. Raymond Cocteau from Demolition Man. Lampshaded by Psycho For Hire Simon Phoenix, who compares the man to an "evil Mr. Rogers".
- In Rustler's Rhapsody, the villains realize that the hero Tom Berenger always beats "bad guys," so they hire a "good guy" to fight him. The "good guy" appears to be an even nicer person than Berenger and gains the upper hand, but Berenger soon learns that he's actually a lawyer, and is then able to defeat him.
- Quite a few characters played by Vincent Price (not counting the ones who are Evilly Affable, of course).
- Harry Lime from The Third Man is an early example, with Orson Welles receiving a lot of attention at the time for portraying the Complete Monster as just a regular guy who wanted his old friend to like him even after discovering his actions.
- 'Max' from Mission Impossible the movie is quite a friendly sort. She's not very evil, just greedy.
- Max (Edward Herrman) from The Lost Boys.
- While his underlings are quite rude, Xerxes in 300 is quite friendly—perhaps overly so. Even at the moment of his triumph, he takes the time to congratulate Leonidas and offer the entire Greece to him, as long as he acknowledges the pecking order. Unfortunately, we don't get to see how affable he is after Leonidas breaks his Dissonant Serenity.
- Ben Wade in 3:10 to Yuma is the very definition of affability and charisma.
- When not playing the Magical Negro (literally in some cases), Morgan Freeman has mastered this trope in such films as Hard Rain, Nurse Betty, Lucky Number S7evin, and The Contract.
- Leslie Vernon, Villain Protagonist of Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is jovial, friendly, intelligent and takes a camera crew with him as he kills various townspeople in elaborate ways.
- Elijah Price from Unbreakable: well spoken, expensively dressed.. and is actually a super villain, or at least a mass murderer.
- The titular Serial Killer from The Stepfather series of films is fond of stuff like dogs, model building and gardening; he's actually a pretty nice guy, at least until things stop going his way...
- There's a scene in the second movie where he sits down to breakfast and only starts eating after his Rice Krispies pop; he looks as giddy as a kid when they make their trademark noise.
- Angela Baker of the Sleepaway Camp series practically becomes some kind of murderous Genki Girl in the second and third films. She also really likes the "Happy Camper" song.
- Bill the Butcher from Gangsof New York. He's polite, has a moral code, a deep sense of honor...but he just hates those bloody Irishmen invading American soil, and God help you if you get into a knife fight with him.
- Cat R. Waul from An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, a cultured, well mannered 'gentlecat' who lures New York mice out west in order to turn them all into 'mouseburgers' because simply chasing and eating them is an 'unneccesary expendeture of calories'.
- At least initially, Wikus in District 9 in several ways; he's an amiable, well-liked low-level functionary... who is casually racist and brutal towards the oppressed aliens and laughs and makes jokes when 'aborting' alien eggs.
- Idi Amin is this in The Last King Of Scotland after the protagonist impresses him by taking his gun and shooting the wounded cow. All while being surrounded by trigger-happy soldiers.
- Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds personifies this trope.
- Dr. Terwilliker from The 5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T even says out loud that he's a villain before he offers refreshments and has a Villain Song with the protagonist's mother and friend.
- VIKI and the NS-5's from IRobot They are polite and calm in the world take over efforts.
The normally loyal robot blocks Susans way Robot: "Please remain calm." Robot: "Please refrain from going to your windows or doors." Susan: "Deactivate!" Susan: "Commence emergency shutdown!" Robot: "We are attempting to avoid human losses during this transition."
and later before attempting to kill people
Robot: "You have been deemed hazardous. Will you comply?" * Nero, in the new Star Trek movie has his moments of this, especially with Pike. ("Hi Christopher, I'm Nero.") The fact that he's a Woobie Destroyer Of Worlds who vacillates between this and being omnicidally Ax Crazy just makes makes him seem that much more unhinged.
Literature
Live Action TV
- The Mayor from Buffy The Vampire Slayer (pictured above) fits the mold. A cheerful guy who just really wanted to turn into a giant snake demon that feeds on people, and even offered well-meant relationship advice to people he was trying pretty hard to kill.
- Harmony Kendall from the same series - the only person ever to have their personality improved by being turned into a souless undead monster. As both a human and a vampire, she pays no attention to her internal voice telling her right from wrong, and simply wants to be popular and liked. Bad results when her ignored inner voice is a human superego and she shows no empathy, good results when it's a demon and she shows no malice.
- Likewise, D'Hoffryn, lord of the Vengance Demons, seems to be a pretty nice guy, making conversation with Willow, showing up to Anya and Xander's wedding, etc. He got REALLY nasty in his final appearance, though.
- Don't forget Sweet, the demon from "Once More With Feeling". He never even engages in physical violence. On the other hand, he can bring whole cities to ruin, tried to marry 15-year-old Dawn (though that would involve dragging her to hell, yay!) and still have time to get a soft shoe in.
- Halfrek, an evil vengeance demon - who is best friends with Anya and truly cares about her, was the only person who noticed how screwed up Dawn was in season 6, and her raison de'tre was enacting vengeance for mistreated children. It's honestly very sad when D'Hoffryn murders her.
- Anya also probably counts. She's cheerful and bubbly, while reminiscing about the days she had vengeance demon powers and flayed men alive.
- Mr. Trick also fits this trope, always smooth and cool, even when he's about to chomp on a hapless fast food employee.
- Scorpius of Farscape embodies this trope a good majority of the time he's on screen- particularly in keeping his minions rewarded and loyal. Even whilst performing horrific acts, his cool, personable demeanour remains... until you push him too far.
- Another good example to be found in Farscape was Kaarvok, a one-off villain appearing in "Eat Me." Despite being a cannibalistic and badly-decomposed Mad Scientist with a penchant for cloning his prey to prolong his food supply, Kaarvok was eloquent, well-mannered, and almost charming if you could ignore the fact that his reedy English accent was emerging from one of the purest and most evil examples of Nightmare Fuel on television.
- Even though they never forgot the purpose of their experiment, The Mads (and later Pearl) on MST3K oftentimes had a strangely chummy relationship with Joel & Mike. In the Time Chasers episode, Pearl and Mike even hang out on her spacegoing Volkswagon van, enjoying a cuppa while chatting like neighbors on a front porch. "So, Pearl: why are you so evil?" "Hmm...I'm filled with hate, I don't know if that helps."
- Satan himself in Reaper is affable, caring, and fatherly to Sam, his newest reaper, although his generosity is quite limited and quickly withdrawn when Sam rebels. Despite his paternal attitude, he's no pushover.
- Lionel and Lex Luthor in Smallville's early seasons. Later seasons have Lex distrustful and paranoid, delving him into traditional villain territory. Lionel becomes a vessel for Jor-El and mentor to Clark, but is no less a Magnificent Bastard.
- Linderman in Heroes was Affably Evil combined with Well Intentioned Extremist. Particularly in his initial appearance, where he reveals that he likes cooking, as it relaxes him—and when Nathan draws a gun on him, says firmly, "Now you can't have any of my pot pie."
- Don't forget the season 3 episode where he is shown to deeply care about Angela, hating the mental abuse that Arthur has put on her all throughout their marriage. It's hard to believe that a guy who almost cried when trying to convince her to let him restore her memory would be the same guy who tried to blow up New York City and get Nathan into the White House to further his global ambitions.
- Bob, too. Maybe even more so. Also HRG, before his Heel Face Turn.
- Siegfried from Get Smart. In one episode, he even joins forces with the heroes (at least until the very end).
- Not so, however, in the 2008 remake film, in which he is stylish but not exactly friendly.
- The Master in Doctor Who, especially as portrayed by Roger Delgado. His later incarnations were a little less affable and a little more psychotic.
- An even better example would be the Meddling Monk, another renegade Time Lord. A charming fellow who just wanted to "improve" history here and there.... by blasting the Vikings with a thermonuclear bazooka, allowing Harold's forces to pwn the Normans at Hastings!!
- Count Grendel of Gracht in The Androids of Tara. Oh so polite, even as he outlines how he means to kill the Doctor, and later to use Romana to get at the throne and then kill her.
- Li H'sen Chang in The Talons of Weng-Chiang. A superb illusionist, and a very charming fellow. He also hypnotizes young women and leads them to his fifty-first century war criminal master, who basically cannibalizes them.
- Tilda and Tabby from Paradise Towers, who are so courteous and welcoming to passers-by, until they break out a knife to butcher the guest with, and then dinner's on to cook. It's a creepy affability, however.
- The Cardassians from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine tend to act this way when not obviously evil. This is especially true of Elim Garak and Gul Dukat. The former has pleasant chats with Bashir in which he often chastises the doctor for trusting him and praises him when he doesn't. Garak isn't so much evil as a pragmatic "former" spy with few if any scruples. Gul Dukat, on the other hand, is a charming fellow who has many Pet The Dog moments, at times seeming like a Nazi with a heart of gold; however, his acts of villainy are pure malevolence and supervillainy. His heart may well be gold: cold and metallic. Then there is the example of Picard's torturer, Gul Madred, who has some father-daughter time at the office and only really gets angry when the human proves so darn uncooperative. It would seem that Cardassian society does not condemn many acts we (and the Federation) might consider morally reprehensible, but also has many virtues we would find admirable—concern for children and the family foremost among them.
- Weyoun, also from Star Trek Deep Space Nine. Also the others of his species (the Vorta), who are the Founders' "carrot" race (with the Jem'Hadar as the "stick"), but Weyoun is the finest of them. Genetically engineered to be efficient, evil, and oh so polite. Also, useful for a diplomat, immune to most poisons.
- Sheriff Lucas Buck of American Gothic certainly falls into this territory most of the time.
- Ben Linus from Lost is affable and polite even when informing you exactly how terrible he's just made your life, and has only occasionally let out his scary side. Even when he does act scary, he usually waits a beat or two and returns to his affable demeanor with a small exhale or chuckle, which is much, much more frightening than if he were malevolent all the time. When he doesn't go back to being nice? Someone dies.
- Just call him Ben "I've Prepared You A Nice Breakfast Because The Next Few Weeks Will Be Very Unpleasant" Linus.
- This exchange from third season between Ben and Jack really says it all: "I'd like you to take a walk with me." "You say that like you're not going to knock me out and put a bag over my head if I say no." "Then don't say no."
- Todd the Wraith from Stargate Atlantis is surprisingly charming and personable for a life-sucking monster (and has a sense of humor—he even makes some jokes that aren't morbid), especially since every other member of his Always Chaotic Evil species seems to lean heavily towards the Large Ham school of Chaotic Stupid. He shows signs of being a budding Magnificent Bastard, and is honest enough not to pretend to be anything other than a human-eating monster, and is quite frank with the heroes in pointing out that, no matter how many times they cooperate out of necessity, their fundamental nature will inevitably make them enemies at some point (though the Atlantis expedition has begun to take steps to remedy this). Todd can even said to be trustworthy, as he honors a deal with Sheppard even though Sheppard is completely at his mercy. Todd would probably get along reasonably well with the cast if he didn't need to suck the life of humans to live...
- Good news! He no longer does.
- Baal in Stargate SG 1, despite being rather sexist and genuinely malevolent, was at least fairly reasonable and relatively subtle compared to the rest of his megalomaniacal, Always Chaotic Evil, Large Ham species. This was especially the case in the last few seasons, after he spent some time living as a human after losing his empire, and started to adopt Earth behavior and mannerisms (including talking like a normal person instead of in standard Goa'uld scary echo speak).
- In Stargate: Continuum, Ba'al goes so far as to take over the galaxy using a fake "We Come in Peace" slogan instead of the typical "Kneel before Zod (or die)" approach. He even calls the U.S. President using a satellite phone, and invites him to lunch.
- Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell of Prison Break. Capable of being charming, urbane, soft-spoken, and erudite, he's a sexual predator, a cold-hearted killer and all around something of a "raw animal".
- Played for laughs in The Goodies, an episode of which features Dr. Wolfgang von Petal, a Mad Scientist who just wants to be liked. Unfortunately for him, he seems to have a bit of a skewed idea of how to actually go about getting people to like him:
All I've ever done is tried to help people! I helped the Russians with their nerve gas, I helped the Americans with their H-Bomb, I helped the British with their anthrax - I even helped the Nazis! Now how generous can you get?
- Star Trek's famous Khan Noonien Singh. It is often pointed out that once you strip away his limitless need to rule the universe, he's really a mirror image of Captain Kirk: polite, charming, a bit of a swaggering rogue. Of course, then came the weird ear parasites and the charm mostly vanished....
- Prince of Fire (later "Isambard Prince") from Lexx could be best described as an Affably Evil Card Carrying Villain. Introduced as the de-facto ruler of the inhospitable desert planet Fire, he's incredibly pleasant and unceasingly polite, he will unhesitatingly order the brutal deaths of his enemies and cheerily tell the protagonists that he's an evil and untrustworthy monster...right before offering them ''exactly'' what they want. And did we mention it's all but stated he's Satan himself?
- Ari Haswari of NCIS. He's always calm and polite, even when pointing a gun; he's charming and persuasive enough to convince several groups of his loyalty, which is truly only to his own agenda.
- Jonas Hodges of 24. Charming, witty, charismatic, psychotic. When he suspects the chairman of the board of his company of helping the government take down his company, he engages him in a conversation discussing their long history together and the virtues of loyalty before savagely beating him to death with a glass pitcher. He then proceeds to dab the blood of the man he had treated like a son from his shirt with a wet napkin. That's just the most extreme example.
- Abadon, on Kings. Yes, a dude named Abadon is affably evil. It helps that we also see that Silas knows his weak point and convinces him to do the stabilizing, if not exactly right, thing for Gilboa even after years of imprisonment. Of course, he's played by Brian Cox. So in order to drive home that he's, y'know, evil—since he can't do much, locked up as he is—they have him remark offhandedly that when he was king and bored he'd rape a serving girl.
- Silas himself has more than a touch of this trope.
- The Bernie Madoff lookalike and his wife on Law And Order are friendly and cheerful even as their assets are being seized and he's being arrested on suspicion of murder he's innocent (of murder, anyway), and allowing himself to get caught was better then having his family killed by the South American gangsters he was cheating. The ending reveals the flip side of their affability: while the couple truly loved each other they completely screwed their investors, childhood friends, and their own daughter out of their savings.
- I've got to nominate a seemingly peculiar choice: Peg Bundy from Married with Children. I know most people would classify her as merely a Jerkass, but her increasingly vile behavior throughout the run of the series (and her complete
obliviousness indifference to the same) calls for something stronger. Towards the end, she wasn't merely neglecting the housework and spending too much money while putting down her husband, but actively allowing her own children to starve and suffer so she can live a life of idle leisure and nonchalantly exposing her husband to lethal situations for her own personal gain...all while painting herself as the victim without the slightest hint of irony or self-awareness. Even on a live-action cartoon, her behavior is downright disturbing. The writers even tried to give her some Pet The Dog moments in the form of the dream pregnancy and Seven, but in the end those plot points not only failed to soften her character, they actually served to emphasize just how hideous Peggy really was. And yet within the show's fictional universe, she was probably the most-liked of all the Bundys! She would ALMOST qualify as a Magnificent Bastard, but since at the end of the day she was only as smart as she needed to be (slightly more than her kids and a lot more than her husband) and she really isn't all that admirable, I don't think she qualifies. YMMV.
- Oz. Sayid (before his Heel Face Turn) and Ryan O'Reilly. Ryan O'Reilly in particular, since his entire "Iago" gimmick requires him being able to charm the pants off of just about anyone to further his schemes.
- General Xaviax of Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, to the degree that if he'd come along earlier, this trope might've been named The Xaviax. What would you expect, though, from a guy whose entire MO is luring those capable of being Riders into a Deal With The Devil?
- Dexter Morgan, the title character of Showtime's show Dexter exemplifies the Affable Evil. His affability is his primary means of hiding his murderous outings.
- A Christmas Episode of Supernatural has the main characters encounter some festive gods, who pleasantly start to sacrifice the pair, while making polite conversation about Christmas traditions, tell Dean off for his potty mouth and generally act like a seet old couple making dinner.
- Nurgle, the Chaos god of disease, decay, despair and destruction in the Warhammer and Warhammer 40000 settings is a jovial, avuncular figure who lavishes attention on his 'children' and sees himself as a creative force in the universe. He is often referred to as Grandfather Nurgle or even Papa Nurgle.
- Of the Four Gods, Papa Nurgle is the only one who actually cares about his followers. Khorne will have you killed the moment there is more blood to be spilt from you than by you; Tzeentch's favor lasts exactly as long as your usefulness, with your eventual defeat likely planned a millennium in advance; while Slaanesh gets bored rather quickly. Even Nurgle's demons follow in his footsteps: beasts of Nurgle, despite being massive, shambling, plague-spreading slug-monsters, have the temperament and mentality of puppies, licking and nuzzling their newfound friends who sadly and quickly succumb to their virulent diseases and acidic tentacles.
- The same can be said for his mortal followers. In the fluff, you'll almost always see them joking or having a good time. At one point, after a POW gave up and agreed to worship Nurgle, his jailer just smiled and hugged him.
- During the fall of the Eldar, Nurgle, being moved by their goddess's plight, launched a war to save her and her children from being consumed by Slaanesh, eventually keeping their goddess as a guest/prisoner. Of course, being the god of decay, he shows his love by giving her all his newly made poxes before he uses them on the galaxy (the goddess then gives the galaxy the cure). Has Ugly Guy Hot Wife gone past the point of parody? You be the judge.
- in Warhammer she's his daughter, curing people so her papa can infect them agian.
- The bread and butter of the World Of Darkness, especially in the Vampire The Requiem series. Since vampires are evil within the context of mundane human in-game morality, they do what they can to prevent themselves from appearing evil. The Ventrue and the Daeva clans, particularly, thrive on this trope, even going so far as to have an active rivalry between each other as to which style of manipulation (Honey vs. Vinegar) is superior. Unlike their Masquerade counterparts, the Nosferatu of Requiem can also handily play within this trope and can even outdo their classier and prettier opponents.
- Then there's the Tzimisce clan from Vampire The Masquerade, a race of complete monsters, even by vampire standards, who are generally affable towards guests in their domain. This is due to their ancient hospitality rites, which transcend even their desire to turn everything fleshy into a living, tortured abomination. A perfect example is Andrei, a Fiend from Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines, who openly, calmly and truthfully converses with the Player (Unless they're Tremere) when they first meet in his mansion decorated by human flesh...
- In the Mekhet clanbook, Frances is funny, sweet, apologetic and into indie music. She also brainwashes a house full of student girls so she can feed on them, turns her boyfriend into her devoted ghoul ("I think I've broken him") and toys with a female executive before killing her in the most humiliating way possible.
- Forgotten Realms has Sshamath
— technically, it's an evil drow magocracy, and they didn't disown Lolth, having only thrown off the theocracy. But for the sake of trade it was made as pleasant as a drow city could be. This includes restrictions on slavery and having one of the best taverns catering to any sentient being (with special floors for freshwater, saltwater and flame-dwelling clients).
- A few of the more sociable Darklords in Ravenloft comes off as this - in some campaigns Strahd Von Zarovich can be downright charming, as long as you're not getting in his way in his never-ending quest to claim the woman he lusted after or do anything he perceives as harming his beloved Homeland; Harkon Lucas is the classic Bard - a Ladies' man who loves to entertain his guests - it just so happens that's he's a man-eating wolfwere, etc.
Theater
- The Pirates of Penzance are likeable chaps who refuse to attack a weaker party or harm an orphan (they're all orphans themselves, you see). Unsurprisingly, they are not very successful pirates.
- Other Gilbert and Sullivan examples include The Mikado of Japan, who isn't a bit angry that three of the main characters killed his son (or claimed to) on accident, but he's going to burn them in melted lead or boiling oil. Also Wilfred Shadbolt, who is head jailer and assistant tormentor, but wants to be more affable by becoming a jester.
- Brecht's Threepenny Opera seems to have some level of inspiration from the Pirates of Penzance in its Karma Houdini ending, and much like the quote above, a stage direction notes of Macheath's henchman at the wedding feast that rather than the stereotype of criminals as crude and covered in scars, they are all soberly dressed and look like the average person you would see on the street. They are nice chaps and make sure to bring wedding presents, although regrettably, they procured these by killing or maiming several people. Macheath himself is charming and charismatic and wins the affection of numerous women, although the Moritat ("Mack the Knife" in English) which opens the play tells of deeds such as killing an entire family in an act of arson and raping a child bride.
- During his dealings with Christine, the titular Phantom of the Opera carries this off in spades. Otherwise...
- Hamlet, speaking of his uncle, laments that "one may smile, and smile, and be a villain".
- Abby and Martha Brewster in Arsenic And Old Lace are the kindest pair of old maid sisters one could ever meet. Better watch out, though, whenever they pour someone a glass of wine...
- Arguably it's more an act of misguided charity than actual evil in their case.
- Reuben (Sid Haig) in Black Mama White Mama, the randy drug kingpin. He's clearly bad, but is just having a blast throughout the movie.
- The Wizard from Wicked is friendly, kind and supportive to Elphaba, presenting himself as a kind fatherfigure who only wants to help every citizen of Oz to fly. Unless of course you're one of the talking Animals, in which case you are to be cowed into submission, brainwashed and/or exterminated
- President John Henry Eden from Fallout 3 has a kind voice broadcast across the wasteland on Enclave radio; it will lift your spirits as you traverse the wasteland hearing about how the Enclave will come and begin to transform America back the way it was before the nukes fell (unless you played the other Fallout games). He is similarly polite and gracious when you meet him in person. What he doesn't mention is that his bold new vision requires killing off pretty much everyone.
- To a lesser extent, Mr. Burke, as well.
- Burke was neato. A nice suit, a sweet hat, and a smooth voice makes him incredibly charming. Oh yeah, he also wants to destroy an entire town with a nuclear bomb, all because his boss made an off-hand complaint one day. Nice guy.
- The add-ons to the game have their fair share of affably evil characters too. The Pitt gave us Ashur while Point Lookout gave us Tobar.
- Most if not all of the Dark Brotherhood from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion are likable people (save for maybe M'raaj-Dar) if you can get past the fact that they'r all murderers. As well, some of the Daedric Princes (like Sheogorath) can be quite pleasant.
- Unfortunately, M'raaj-Dar decides that he's been being to mean to your character at one point and from then on greets you cheerfully and amiably. Why unfortunately, you ask? Because this is scripted to occur right after you're given the quest to kill him and every other Dark Brotherhood member.
- But he only acts nice to you because you're in a very high rank in the Brotherhood now. So his niceness is fake just to suck up.
- Dr.Robotnik/Eggman from Sonic The Hedgehog has his moments of this trope throughout his various depictions. This is most noticeable in Sonic X and its subsequent comic.
- Shelly de Killer from Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice For All appears to be a rather intelligent and likable man who just so happens to brutally murder people for a living.
- Within five minutes of meeting you, Police Chief Damon Gant has probably given you an affectionate nickname, laughed uproariously at something funny you said, and extolled to you the many virtues of swimming. Oh, and he framed a child for a murder he committed so that he could use her apparent guilt to manipulate her sister, the Chief Prosecutor, essentially giving him complete control over both the police and the prosecutor's office. But other than that, he's a nice guy.
- Additionally, in-game dialogue states that if you're short on cash, he's the man to ask to borrow from.
- Gilgamesh of Final Fantasy V was an over-the-top goon whose respect for the heroes' fighting talents after they'd beaten him a few times grew into actual affection to the point that he sacrificed himself (with a strangely amusing Final Speech) to protect them from one of the Big Bad's meaner minions. He also has a devoted fanbase, probably explaining his many, many reappearances.
- Rubicante of Final Fantasy IV is quite affable and polite for a Boss. He restores the heroes prior to battling them! Even though he's defeated after doing this, when he fights the heroes again his chivalry still compels him to heal his opponents before fighting them.
- He's also outraged when he learns of his Mad Scientist subordinate Dr. Lugae's cruel experiments on humans. Lugae only escapes Rubicante's punishment because the heroes have already killed him.
- Not only that, but his first appearance has him easily defeating ninja prince Edge. Rubicante doesn't finish Edge off though, instead praising his current abilities and potential and bidding him to train and become stronger and then return for a rematch.
- A third Final Fantasy example comes in the form of Vayne Solidor from Final Fantasy XII, the game's primary overt antagonist. Vayne is cultured, polite, affable to the public, and an extremely talented speaker. Arguably, Vayne isn't so much evil (though he does have his moments) as a Machiavellian statesman, ruthless in his pursuit of personal power and glory.
- The Ur-Quan Kzer-za of Star Control, while the rulers of a brutal slave empire spanning a quarter of a galaxy, are actually pretty nice guys when you talk to them. They do any of the following: fully accept surrender and mention that your crew will be treated well and taken back to Earth, acknowledge your status as a Worthy Opponent, mention that they are protecting their thralls from much, much worse things in the galaxy, and entreat you to go home should you win against them, as the more of their ships you destroy, the less likely they are to win their current war with their Omnicidal Maniac kin. They also give the races willing to fight for them an absurd amount of autonomy, find a new (and very nice) homeworld for a defeated race, avoid wasting resources whenever possible, accept the wishes of the races they've beaten and generally conduct themselves with honor whenever possible. All of these things, quite naturally, aid in their downfall.
- Moreover, it's established fact that they never insult foes. And this fact can be exploited by PC too.
- The villains of the forgettable game Night Trap, who are a nice family who donate to charity and have friends over. Of course, they eat the friends, and the charity they donate to is zombie vampires...
- A certain vampire victim turned vampire herself in Tsukihime is an example. She is a nice, sweet girl, who honestly loves and cares for the main hero. She just happens to require sucking blood to live, is beginning to get a perverse enjoyment of it, and happens to sometimes get the sudden urge to go "fufufufu." She's rather pitiable, and Shiki agrees. It's Satsuki, if you hadn't guessed, and he pities her so much he grants her the only peace he can...a quick death. Isnt It Sad, Sacchin?
- Dimentio from Super Paper Mario is a good example of this trope, always wearing a pleasant smile and showering the heroes with compliments. "Well met, lady. Your beauty is as refreshing as a slap to the face on a crisp winter's day," or "If they make greeting cards to thank people for helping with evil plans, I owe you one."
- King DeDeDe, of the Kirby games, is almost always the villain through being possessed, or a misunderstanding (on Kirby's part!). Awesome examples include Kirby 64 and Super Smash Bros Brawl. King DeDeDe saves a few characters lives, and then hugs Kirby when he finds out he's OK.
- Dagoth Ur, the final boss of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. When you confront him, he politely explains why his plan to spread blight disease and create a giant magical killer robot are really in the best interests of his people. He answers every question you put to him (whether he's telling the truth or lying is up to the player). Finally, he offers you the opportunity to buff yourself up before you start to fight him.
- Though the last part is largely because he needs Wraithguard (the gauntlet you need to hold the weapons required to thwart him) in order to bring his plan into action.
- Albert Simon, the primary villain of Shadow Hearts, has the appearance of an elderly British gentleman and often acts the part when he's not brutally slaughtering anyone in his way.
- Oh, when beaten, acknowledges you're better, and heals you up.
- Kane of Command And Conquer, the resident Big Bad Magnificent Bastard, is a strikingly erudite, educated, and charismatic leader whos seems to somewhat genuinely care for his followers. Even when confronting his hated enemies of GDI, he always shows them a little smile and offers a few words of respect, even while mercilessly taunting their powerlessness or promising to gut them like the swine they are.
- Leopold Goenitz from The King Of Fighters speaks in borderline Purple Prose about messiahs and religion, treats his opponents with utmost politeness and wears silver jewelry along with his priest robes. He's also a Magnificent Bastard with the power to control wind, who can gouge your eye out without breaking a sweat, kill a young Shinto priestess with ease, or manipulate children into killing their families...
- The Sniper in Team Fortress 2 slips into this, given his credo about his line of work: "Be polite, be efficient; have a plan to kill everyone you meet."
- That, of course, being an old US Marines Badass Creed.
- The Engineer is a much more obvious example: he's described as an "amiable, soft-spoken good ol' boy", and generally behaves as such, but at the same time doesn't have any concerns about killing people based on the dominant colour in their wardrobe.
- Drakuru in World Of Warcraft. Turns out he was using you all along, which isn't a big surprise. He accomplishes his goals and is transformed by the Lich King himself. What is a surprise, however, is that he immediately asks for your forgiveness for the deception and invites you to be his right hand man both out of gratitude and making up for tricking you, and because the Lich King apparently has some interest in you personally. The story continues in later quests, ultimately ending in your betraying and killing him.
- Of course, his "gratitude" would have involved you ultimately being turned into his right-hand ghoul, the lowest rank of the Scourge, while he would be living it up as a Death Knight.
- Persona 3: Shuji Ikutsuki, hands down. He's kind, he makes silly puns, he always answers your questions and generally aids in the mission to bring down the twelve Arcana Shadows. Although it turns out that he's just been using the protagonists to bring about The Fall, in addition to being fairly clearly insane. A cutscene in FES reveals that his jovial personality was indeed genuine, showing him making up puns in complete solitude where there would be no need to maintain a pretense. Even his motives for bringing the Fall seem more in line with the Dark Messiah than the general Omnicidal Maniac.
- GLaDOS from Portal. The computer attempts to put you at ease and encourage you, right up until the moment that it needs you to die. It even thanks you while it does it.
- Vladamir Lem from Max Payne. Starts off as Max's ally in the first game, but by the second, he fills the role of the Big Bad. Never loses his swave demeanor or his cordial disposition: "Max! Dearest of all friends..."
- Oh really?
- Vladimir Lem: "[answering machine] I'm coming to kill you, old man. You really know how to piss me off, you know... Would it have killed you to say 'thank you' for once in your life? To say 'Vlad, my son... can I call you my son because I sure do love you like one.' 'Vlad my son, you are a true prodigy. Everything you touch turns to gold.' Oh... wait, it *is* going to kill you! I'm done doing your dirty work for you. You should be proud. I have learned all you've taught me. I'm coming to show you."
- Vladimir Lem: "What the fuck is wrong with you, Max? Why don't you just die? You hate life, you're miserable all the time, afraid to enjoy yourself even a little! Face it, you might as well be dead already. Do yourself a favor, give up!"
- One of the most evil bastards in all of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas is Mike Toreno - who, it turns out, is a fairly nice and friendly guy, who just happens to be the scariest person you'll ever meet.
- It helps that he has the best line of dialog in the entire game:
Torino: I wanted to see what you were made of.
CJ [angrily]: What it look like I'm made of? Pudding?
Torino [calmly]: No. Anger, and hate. That's why I like you.
- Kirei Kotomine of Fate Stay Night is a perfectly polite fellow who never lies to you nor avoids answering questions. He lets his enemies come right up to his base of operations, helps you out in the third scenario, where it's revealed he tried very hard his entire life to be a decent person. Unfortunately, he failed, so now he wants to destroy the world mostly For The Evulz.
- Chaos Lord Eliphas the Inheritor from the Dawn Of War series is a very suave, witty, and charismatic villan. Widely considered one of the most popular characters in the series.
- Jeremy from Fatal Hearts is polite, charming, studious, a diligent worker in both his mundane job and his more esoteric activities, interested in the environment and the welfare of others, and an all-around gentleman. Unless he thinks you're too stupid to live. In which case, he kills you.
- Dr. Killjoy from The Suffering. He's modelled after Vincent Price, so he's naturally the most charismatic individual in the two games; in fact, he's so urbane you might just forget that he's a mass-murdering Mad Doctor with a fetish for film projectors and blood. Plus, being a psychiatrist, he genuinely wants to help cure the main character- it's just that his methods are just a tad... unorthodox.
- Blackmore was a particularly affable character in his own right: in all of his dealings with Torque, he treats him like a somewhat misguided little brother - appropriate, considering that Blackmore is a Split Personality of Torque- and continually tries to convince him to join his gang rather than kill him. And then there was the way he called Torque "my little one."
- Edgar Barrett from Psi Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy was Nick Scryer's mentor and best friend before joining The Movement and still retains some of his old warmth and humour. As such, he treats his own boss battle as little more than an extremely lethal game, shouting happily "JUST LIKE THE GOOD OLD DAYS, HUH, NICK?" while telekinetically hurling fuel tankers at him.
- The Temple of Shadows from Fable hold poker night every Friday and left the instructions for their special torture device nice and visible next to it.
- The Reapers from The World Ends With You tend to be rather normal people, essentially (aside from the Officers, most of whome are sadistic and/or certifiably insane), who are just doing their job - which happens to be permanently erasing the souls of the dead from existence to prevent themselves from meeting the same fate. Kariya, for example, is rather friendly, and 777 lives a double-life as a popular rock star thanks to the Reapers' ability to exist on the living and dead planes.
- Shiranui Gen-An gets this treatment in the Samurai Shodown series. He boasts of becoming the King of Evil. Yet at the end of the day, he's just a disfigured oni-like creature with a glove inspired by Freddy Krueger, with a loving wife and kids he even brings with to work. See his ending in Samurai Shodown VI (American numbering).
Webcomics
- Garland from 8-Bit Theater fits squarely in this category; he'd just as soon hang up inspirational posters in his dungeon and bake cookies for his enemies as kill them. The one time he did build a death trap he tried filling it with acid, but the Forest Imps who live around his castle switched it with Mountain Dew. (Forest Imps, incidentally, are the only creatures Garland will go ballistic over. No small wonder, since they tease him all the time and he can't convince anyone that they're messing with him.)
- He has his moments though. The best one being when his underlings decided to mutiny, and have a meeting about it. It appears that Garland, in true LaughablyEvil fashion, is catering the meeting and made tacos just for the occasion. When the smarter minion calls him out on it, he casually breaks down the reasons why the mutiny will fail and then reveals that the tacos were full of amnesia peppers. "In 10 minutes this meeting will have never happened." It could also be because he is incredibly thick and doesn't know how to be evil.
- Narbonic was built around this trope.
- Snookums from Mixed Myth
- Early on, Order Of The Stick Big Bad Xykon is Laughably Evil, and his seemingly unfocused, borderline ditzy mannerisms might make you think he fits in this category. You'd be very very wrong. He is still kind of funny, though...
- Dom from Megatokyo is an old college buddy of Piro and Largo, and has even leant them money when they were in a tight spot. He is also a ruthless corporate enforcer who can get quite menacing on occasion.
- Ongoing imageboard Choose Your Own Adventure Ruby Quest has Red, who dresses nicely, helps you with his cane, and warns you not to ask questions or he'll have to rip your throat out.
- Satan from Casey And Andy is very much a nice person (and she's very cute) but is still the lord of all evil and not unwilling to capitalize on it. Amusingly, she could almost always solve the problem at hand with the flick of her hand, but chooses not to, because she likes the evil scemes of the villains. But woe if they harm her boyfriend...
- Most villains from Dan And Mabs Furry Adventures fall under this category one way or another. Between this and a generous helping of Villainy Discretion Shots, there is a major part of the fanbase that fails to acknowledge them as evil at all.
- Pyroduck said it best: "Discomfort and a saccharine voice of malice! Must be... Fa'Lina!".
- The Varn Gene Mage from Terinu is pleasant and forgiving of his Dragon's occasional failure, and is utterly appalled at how one of his allies treats her prisoners. Oh, and he's responsible for a few billion deaths during the original invasion of the Earth. No big.
- Lucifer (he hates being called "Lucy") in Jack.
- Lord Kyran from Emergency Exit. Anyone up for smoothies?
- The Beelze family (except Diva herself, who is just affable) of Evil Diva
. Notably, her father. He's an all-around nice guy who bakes cupakes for his daughter to share with friends at school, and he is also the guy who you sell your soul to in exchange for fame/fortune/doughnuts (he likes watching TMZ to "catch up with old friends"). Satan himself might also qualify... or maybe being affably evil is just a requirement for all of Hell's employees.
Web Original
- Dr. Horrible is essentially the nerd who does evil things to be part of the cool kid's club. He especially comes off as this when the "hero" of the piece is a total douche.
- In the musical Harry Potter parody A Very Potter Musical, Quirrell and Voldemort sing, dance, pick up girls, and watch She's All That in between plotting to murder Harry. Oh, and one of Voldemort's Horcruxes is a Zac Efron poster.
- The Dementor shown returning Quirrel's civilian clothes was also quite nice.
- Fox, leader of the Axis of Anarchy from The Guild.
- Troy the Wendigo from Epic Tales seems like he might fit this despite needing to eat humans. Which is interesting since humans only become wendigos if they resort to cannibalism in the first place.
- Lear Dunham, the Big Bad of Broken Saints is pretty Obviously Evil, but he wants nothing to more than to befriend our heroes, and for them to share in his vision of a brand new (and better) world. That is the whole reason he even explains his whole plan to them.
- Jack Spicer epitomizes this.
- Dr. Doofenschmirtz from Phineas And Ferb is a mad scientist who's at odds with P&F's secret-agent-platypus Perry. Except that he spends half his time doing stuff like trying to make the perfect sweet-16 birthday party for his daughter, or sharing chicken wings with Perry after he's captured him. He really is a nice guy, it's just that, well, he IS a mad scientist after all.
- There's also Norm the Giant Robotic Man, introduced in "Greece Lightning". He's fond of spouting random dialogue more appropriate to a married, white-collar suburbanite than a killer robot originally designed to attack platypuses on sight.
- Several villains in Invader Zim are Affably Evil, most notably Mortos der Soulstealer. In between granting ruinous wishes, he recharges his malefic hellborne powers by petting puppies, eating yummi snacks, and having fun.
- To some degree, Señor Senior, Sr. from Kim Possible falls into this. He's a genteel, wealthy old man... who took up supervillainy as a hobby because his life had become boring. Unlike the archetypal example, he does use Death Traps, although this seems to be because he feels compelled to follow the traditions of villainy rather than because he enjoys them. In one episode, Ron even comments that's Senior's a "bad man. Good manners."
- Hank Scorpio from The Simpsons, a decent boss and all-around nice guy whom you'd be happy to work for (he invites his employees to go golfing with him), who also just happens to want to take over the world, Bond-villain style.
- His Villain Song helps even further; apparently his twisted, twin obsesions are ruling the world, and his employees' health!
- David Xanatos in Gargoyles. So much so that he, and many of his fellow villains, are largely considered Anti Villains, or in some cases, Anti Heroes. Gargoyles was very good about having layered and complex villains, particularly for a kids' show, with even the more traditionally vicious Demona have a deep and sympathetic backstory.
- Macbeth also fits in with this trope, as he goes after the Manhattan Clan because he thinks they can lead him to Demona, for a rather bizarre reason. They share a magical link so he wants to find her so he can kill her, which is the only way he himself can die.
- The Brain, the smarter half of Pinky And The Brain. An erudite, genetically-altered lab mouse who merely wants to do the same thing he does every night: try to Take Over The World!
- It's eventually revealed that he wants to take over the world in order to help people by ending war and enacting humanitarian efforts.
- In The Venture Brothers, The Monarch's Henchmen #21 and #24 are two harmless, likable nerds who just happen to be Mooks for the Big Bad.
- Arguably, most of the series' villains fits this trope. due to the Guild of Calamitous Intent turning evil into a bureaucratic business surrounded by red tape. An example is that after Sergeant Hatred becomes the new arch villan he sets up an appointment to see what Venture's allergic to since its part of guild rules. He also says that, "There's no good reason on God's green earth that arching has to be a completely unpleasant experience for either of us." And he brought a gift basket with him. Though he's mostly being so nice to piss off the Monarch for stealing his technology.
- Dr. Henry Killinger is this trope.
- It could easily be said that Rusty Venture and Brock are the most villainous characters in the show.
- Essentially, all the villains can be described as a mild version of this, for while they're not "evil", they do tend to be mean, in a realistic way.
- Long Feng, resident Evil Chancellor of Avatar The Last Airbender, is a perfectly reasonable man, willing to give his enemies multiple opportunities to surrender, and an excellent host. As long as you don't try and mess with his Government Conspiracy.
- Daemon from Reboot. When she was first mentioned everyone expected her to be a huge snarling monster of a Virus, not the sweet, gentle messiah-like figure she turned out to be (actually lampshaded by Mike the TV, the first Mainframer to meet Daemon face to face). Of course, it turns out she's out to wipe out every sprite on the net, but she still remains mostly sweet and nice throughout the whole thing.
- Darkwing Duck: Compared to the likes of NegaDuck, Quackerjack, and Megavolt, Bushroot seems downright sweet, stemming from his origin as a meek, much-bullied scientist - as long as you don't get in the way of his search to find/make his one true love.
- Of course, he also has the honor of being the only villain on the show to murder someone onscreen.
- Zebedee in the TUGS episode "High Winds".
- On The Fairly Oddparents, Anti-Cosmo is a proper gentlemen who loves his wife, sips tea, and wants to generally make things hard for people. HP is also fairly polite, he just wants to force every living creature to be ultra orderly. Doug Dimmadome is also rather friendly if you're not getting in the way of his goals.
- Ratigan of The Great Mouse Detective: Just watch how politely, calmly, even lovingly, he feeds poor Bartholomew to his Right Hand Cat for pushing his Berserk Button. He becomes notably much less lovely after Basil makes a fool out of him publicly.
"He tries to hide his inner raging beast with all his class and sophistication, but in the end, he's just as psychotic as any other power-hungry monster." ~ Nostalgia Critic
Music
Real Life
- John Wojtowicz, famous for his hostage's declaration that "I know I'm supposed to hate you guys, but I'm having the time of my life." Slightly more famous for his own declaration in the film based on the incident, Dog Day Afternoon: "ATTICA!"
- Osama bin Laden. Volleyball.
- All in all, any person in history frequently portrayed as a monster tends to have some sort of human side to them. Attila the Hun listened to the appeals of Pope Leo I and didn't sack a defenseless Rome. Nero was concerned for the sake of his subjects and loved his wife before madness consumed him, and ditto for Caligula. Saddam Hussein was described as polite and friendly by his guards, who have told stories of him caring for his daughter and sons when they were ill. Ruthless people such as Cao Cao, Oda Nobunaga, and Vlad the Impaler committed atrocities because they felt it was the only way to bring order and safety to a dangerous world. Hell, even Hitler had moments of genuine concern for others.
- I remember a documentary on History Channel where technology was used to lip-read Hitler and company in their private home movies, and use a voice actor to dub them over. Moments included him flirting and teasing with a group of women visiting, remarking over the wonderful uses of cameras available for everyone, and self-deprecating his physical appearance.
- Even Josef Stalin had his moments, like defending Bulgakov (the author of The Master and Margarita; Satan Woland was allegedly based on Stalin, by the way) from some of the more rabid critics, and keeping an arrested professor in Moscow when he was supposed to be sent to the gulag, instead assisting him with his translation of a Georgian epic poem. He also raised the son of a Russian Civil War hero (who happened to be one of his closest friends), treating him much better than his own children. There are many other, less trustworthy anecdotes, but those three at least seem fairly veracious. Stalin's atrocities were based in extreme paranoia, on the methods he used to elevate himself to power, and exacerbated by his wife's suicide and his son's attempted suicide.
- He is supposed to have said, upon learning that his son's suicide attempt had failed, "You see? The idiot can't even shoot straight." Well, it might have been a coping strategy...
- Operation: Barbarosa probably made his paranoia worse.
- Stalin has been diagnosed post mortem with a neurological condition that increased his paranoia massively, and would have been treatable, if he had allowed himself to be subjected to the required medical procedures. Instead he treated doctors with unholy terror.
- Stalin was known to have a sense of humor, up to telling jokes about himself. One of his favorites: "A Georgian delegation comes, they talk to Stalin, and then they go, heading off down the Kremlin's corridors. Stalin starts looking for his pipe. He can't find it. He calls in Beria, the dreaded head of his secret police. 'Go after the delegation, and find out which one took my pipe,' he says. Beria scuttles off down the corridor. Five minutes later Stalin finds his pipe under a pile of papers. He calls Beria—-'Look, I've found my pipe.' 'It's too late,' Beria says, 'half the delegation admitted they took your pipe, and the other half died during questioning.' " Admittedly not the nicest joke, but the self-realization is there.
- There's another Stalin joke wherein he's giving a speech and someone sneezes. He stops, and glowers. "Who sneezed?" The room is silent. Stalin orders his guards to take the last row out and shoot them. Shots are heard from outside, and he continues his speech. Someone sneezes again. Again, Stalin demands "Who sneezed?" This time, a man in the 2nd-to-last row raises his hand meekly. Stalin glares at him. "What is your name?" "Nikolai," the man stutters. "God bless you, Nikolai," Stalin says, and continues with his speech.
- And another. Marshal Jukov exits Stalin's room after a meeting and mutters:"Why, that bloody moustached son of a bitch..." Beria eavesdropes that and immeiately reports to Stalin. Stalin calls Jukov back and asks him about whom exactly he had in mind when he said those words. "Adolf Hitler, of course," - replies Jukov. "Good," - sais Stalin, - "And whom did you have in mind, Comrade Beria?"
- Not actually a Stalin joke, but too good to pass up: his successor Kruschchev was giving his famous Secret Speech, denouncing Stalin's many atrocities, when a heckler yelled "What were you doing when this was going on?" Kruschchev yelled back, "What disloyal bastard said that?" Dead silence. "And that," said Kruschchev, "is precisely what I was doing when Stalin murdered three-quarters of the Central Committee for questioning him."
- Though most people today wouldn't consider Napoleon Bonaparte to be evil, many of his enemies considered him to be. In spite of this, most of them who actually met him acknowledged him to be an incredibly charming and likable person. His second wife was a young Austrian princess who would have been raised to hate him, and yet they still had a genuinely loving relationship. Tsar Alexander I, a man who had denounced Napoleon as a usurper and antichrist only a few months before having to negotiate with him on the losing side of a war, knew Bonaparte for a few days before he claimed to consider the French emperor one of his closest and most intimate friends. And finally, he was able to talk his way into command of the army sent to arrest him after he escaped exile.
- Ted Bundy was known for this, which made him all the more popular.
- Not to mention all the more dangerous...
- John Oliver made a comment in his Comedy Central stand-up special about how when Britain, in its imperial days, would conquer countries, but they would do it politely.
"And remember how we used to do it? We'd ring you up, tell you where the bomb was, when it was going to go off, and have a chat. How fucking polite were we!?"
- Billy Connolly once mentioned that Jeffrey Dahmer seemed like a "particularly nice, intelligent bloke" to him—though he admitted that Dahmer hadn't chased him bare-arsed down the street.
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