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What makes a villian?

A few days ago, Mary talked about what makes a hero. Perseverance; doing what’s right, regardless of the cost; thinking of what others need.

But what I want to know today is what makes a villain? Not just any villain, but one we like to read about. George R. R. Martin has made quite a splash with his “Song of Fire and Ice” series, where several of the more popular protagonists are an incestuous pair of twins and a homicidal dwarf. I’m not so sure I like those characters, but Magneto in the “X-men” movies intrigues me. He’s got good goals and grave dignity – he just skips one too many corners on the way.

Heroes and villains used to be black and white, and in some movies (like anything with Arnie in it) they still are. But these days villains also come in more nuanced flavors, people who aren’t merely acting out because of a bad childhood or simple-minded psychotics. Martin Landau’s character in “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” for example: a thoroughly respectable doctor, known for his charity work, who just so happens to be an adulterous murderer. He doesn’t feel remorse for his crime, which makes him clearly the bad guy; but does feel a deep and tragic grief for the fact that he doesn’t feel remorse. He recognizes his failure to be a proper human being – or worse, just how low one can sink and yet still be human. He touches us with his evil, because we know we could be him, with only a few excuses and rationalizations.

Joss Whedon is the TV master of the poplar villain. Spike, Darla, Lindsey, Lilah, Harmony… he was arguably better at creating watchable villains than he was entertaining heroes. Whether funny, sexy, tough, smart, or just plain cool, these were people who did bad things but still resonated as real people, not just a wicked laugh and a handlebar mustache (or to update that old image: a voice under a hockey mask). And not just disposable extras for the hero to toss off a building or riddle with bullets.

Some people like their morality stories without sympathy for the devil. I certainly can’t stand the ones that paint gangsters and thugs to be glamorous, but at the same time I appreciate having to choose between difficult paths. I find the drama sharper when the bad guys are acknowledged to be bad, and yet still human beings.

What about you? What villain worked best for you, and why?