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Time and time again a story is told with the classic hero vs. villain setup with the villain committing acts deemed evil by good, neutral, and the normally apathetic. The villain usually commits said acts for their own personal reasons. But wait, they have a justified reason for their actions? They may not be so much evil as they are anti. He may end up sending the hero into a depression after his motives come to light? Here my friends is a villain who actually has a justified reason for being what he is. Due to the nature of their villainy if they become too excessive in their methods it may fall under Strawman Has a Point and they can easily fall under as a Well-Intentioned Extremist. In-universe they can also easily fall under Designated Villain. Compare Anti-Villain.

Examples of Villain Has a Point include:


Anime and Manga[]

  • Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal has this with Kaito Tenjo. He believes the Numbers' cards are evil and from what has been seen the Numbers can easily make the good bad, (Ukyo, Fuya to a lesser extent) and the bad worse, (Jin, Rikuo, Kaio). Also, his claim that the Numbers want to destroy the world seems plausible seeing the evil from Black Mist who was able to capture Astral and control Yuma's body against his will. In fact, the only issue with him capturing Numbers is that he takes the soul of the person who possessed it.
  • Megatron in the Transformers Generations Selects Special Comic. As he notes to Optimus, "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings". And the Selectors are sentient beings who are treated as slaves by their human creators. How is the Decepticons aiding them any different from the early Cybertronians rebelling against the Quintessons? By the end, everyone, even the human race, concedes that Megatron was ultimately correct and the Selectors are granted full rights and freedoms.

Comic Books[]

  • As Emperor Doom showed, it really is the Marvel Universe's best interests to let Doctor Doom be in charge. Shame then that the good doctor considers victory to be boring.
  • In First Strike, some of the G.I. Joes say that while they disagree with Baron Ironblood, real name: Joe Colton, and his plan to enact a Cybertronian genocide, they can see why he fears the metallic aliens so much and how their power endangers Earth.
  • In the Kree-Skrull War, Senator Craddock highlights that the Avengers and the government are covering up alien incursions onto Earth. As the story makes very clear, the aliens are real, they're here, and the people have a right to know. Craddock even notes the need for a system to make sure that the aliens haven't infiltrated Earth's governments. To hammer in how badly this system is needed, Craddock is a Skrull.
  • Subverted in Superman Red Son. At first glance, Lex is right to say that Superman wasn't born on Earth and therefore has interfered with its natural evolution with his rule over most of the world having stifled humanity's potential. It would hold more weight if Lex's rule wasn't near-identical to Superman's. And the ending reveals that Luthor's point is completely hollow. Superman was born on Earth.
  • X-Men:
    • Whatever his many flaws, Magneto never falters on his main point. There is a large movement among humans (and even other species) to commit a wholesale genocide of mutants while other non-human species in the Marvel Universe are generally given a pass and celebrated as equals. And it usually is a human Corrupt Politician who escalates the latest storyline.
    • That said, the human politicians are not entirely off-base. While the vast majority of mutants are actually quite weak, if not outright harmless, the X-Men books focus on the Alpha and Omega class mutants and show how dangerous they can be if unregulated, such as individuals who alter the weather or be full on Reality Warpers. And while there is a movement among humans to commit genocide against mutants, Magneto has made attempts to commit genocide against humanity. There was anti-mutant sentiment before Magneto began his crusade but he didn't do much to make the situation better.

Fan Fiction[]

  • In the Voltron: Legendary Defender fanfic Across the Multiverse, the Space Goddess curses Akira Kogane into reincarnating several times yet never be with his beloved Takashi Shirogane. But Akira and his Keith incarnations are so, so self-centered, annoying, clingy and Shiro/Sven-obsessed throughout all of these new lives, one feels that this Jerkass Goddess is absolutely right. Even more, she cursed Akira specifically because he was so self-absorbed that he basically killed himself over Takashi without any regards to his still-living friends, but he never learns his lesson about not being selfish. Even worse, the fanfic sides with HIM and, in the VLD continuity, gives him the happy ending that he never deserved. (Of course, at the expense of Shiro's canon love interest Curtis, who's portrayed as being wrong at HIS heartbreak whereas Keith's creepy obsession with Shiro is written as ~True Love~. So basically she tried to teach the Designated Hero a lesson on being less selfish, and even when she's supposed to be the Big Bad and therefore evil, at the core she's right.
  • Mai in How I Became Yours. Yes, she was pissed off when she found out her husband cheated on her and fathered an illegitimate child with his other woman, but she also tells Zuko that if the Fire Nation found out their new ruler made a baby with a Water Tribe commoner rather than, y'know, his legal wife, scandal would erupt. Not exactly what the Fire Nation needs while it's recovering from a war and a terrible reputation globally! But when Mai tells Zuko this as well as pointing out how idiotic and reckless he was? He hits her and throws her to the floor. Later, poor Mai is brutally murdered by her husband's other woman for her troubles.
  • The Asgardians in A Risky Undertaking when it comes to Loki. First, no matter how much Loki loves to whine, Odin did save his life from someone who genuinely did not want him. Second, as Thor points out, despite Tony and Bruce complaining about Asgard failing Loki, it's unrealistic to have Asgard alter its entire culture (which extends to two other planets) simply because one child was an introvert. Third, as Sif, whom the fic treats as an inhuman monster, points out, if Loki wanted to leave Asgard so bad, no one was stopping him.
  • Megatron gets a few moments of this in the Transformers Prime fanfic <Uninstall>.
    • In an argument with Optimus that crosses over with Both Sides Have a Point, Optimus points out that the new Council isn't as bad as the old one and can be reasoned with. Megatron shoots this down, noting that the new Council is acting just like the old one. Even if they're not as bad, the fact that they allow Ratbat, a member of the old Council, to have a voice doesn't say great things about their character. Even if Ratbat's position is largely ceremonial, it only begs the question about why they so keenly feel the need to pay tribute to a regime that endorsed an Individuality Is Illegal Fantastic Caste System.
    • When Optimus and Megatron get the files on the new Council, Optimus is elated to learn that some of them were former Autobots or have always been neutral, hoping that they can be allies to him. Megatron quickly notes that those who are neutral in times of societal injustice are either Holier Than Thou, Dirty Cowards or simply tend to agree with the oppressors so Optimus shouldn't count them as allies. Optimus doesn't believe it's as clear cut as that but has to concede that Megatron's argument has merit.

Film - Animation[]

  • In Toy Story 2, Stinky Pete points out to Woody that Andy is eventually going to grow up and leave him behind. While Woody admits that's true, he decides he's not going to miss it for the world.
  • The Disney Animated Canon:
    • In Aladdin, even Jafar calls out Aladdin for lying about who he was to Jasmine rather than just being honest.
    • Callaghan saying Tadashi was Too Dumb to Live in Big Hero 6. Tadashi ran into a burning building without any kind of protective equipment. All it ended up doing was ensuring he was the fire's only casualty.
    • Subverted with King Candy in Wreck-It Ralph. On the surface his argument makes sense before it's revealed that he's actually Turbo and guilty of everything he tried to deter Ralph from doing. He just didn't want Ralph to threaten his ill-gotten gains.
    • Deconstructed with King Magnifico in Wish. While he generally doesn't grant wishes because he's a Control Freak, he's not wrong to say that some wishes are impractical or unrealistic (such as pre-magic Peter Pan wanting to fly). Indeed, Asha does not disagree with this part of his reasoning. Her disagreeing with him arises from her questioning why he's hoarding wishes that he knows he'll never grant. People gave him their wishes on the hope that they'd one day be granted, why would he not return the ones he knows he won't and let the people work on them? The answer is simply that hoarding the wishes makes him feel big. Just because the villain has a point, they can still be wrong overall.

Film - Live Action[]

  • The DC Extended Universe:
    • As Ares said, he never forced humans to war with one another. He gave them ideas for weapons sure, but he never started the war. Even if he's an Unreliable Narrator about everything else, the fact that World War I continued, albeit not for very long, after his death, and that wars continued to be fought afterwards, including the Russian Civil War still being ongoing at the time of his demise, proves his point that Humans Are Bastards who like to fight. Diana even acknowledges this in the novelization noting that "The War to End All Wars" didn't quite live up to its title.
    • Orn. For all his megalomania and blatant insanity, he is right to say that the surface world is polluting the ocean and endangering Atlantis' survival.
  • Walter "Dickless" Peck in the first Ghostbusters. While Both Sides Have a Point in his argument with Venkman (namely that Peck didn't show any credentials and has no search warrant), the EPA would be interested in any unknown chemicals that the Ghostbusters are storing in their basement, and if those chemicals are being safely contained and disposed of.
  • The Marvel Cinematic Universe:
    • Loki in both Thor and Thor: The Dark World. In the first film, despite being motivated by jealousy, he's right in saying that Thor was not ready for the throne, something that Thor even concedes by the time of the sequel. In the second film, Loki is, again, right in saying that Thor/Jane is a Mayfly-December Romance. In a few decades, Jane will be dead and Thor won't have aged a day.
    • Killmonger in Black Panther. Wakanda has the technology and the resources to help the impoverished black people around the globe and they should do something with it. While T'Challa disagrees with Killmonger's actions, he ultimately comes to agree that Wakanda could, and should, be doing more.
    • In Avengers: Endgame, Cap notes that, despite what a madman Thanos was, his Badass Finger-Snap has led to Earth's biosphere healing itself, with some once endangered species on the rise again. When it comes to the effects on sentient populations and their gratitude however...
    • Thor: Love and Thunder:
      • Gorr. Most gods in the MCU are total Jerkass Gods who don't give a damn about anyone but themselves and most seen in the film do little to discredit his belief, Zeus being perfectly willing to sacrifice other gods for his sake. The only thing that ruins his argument is that the gods Gorr is targeting, Asshole Victims they may be, didn't actually wrong him in any way.
      • Downplayed for Zeus. Since the Necrosword is Cast From Lifespan and will kill Gorr, all the gods need do is wait, especially since Thor risks bringing Stormbreaker to Gorr. But he's still willing to allow innocent children to die in the name of his safety.
  • Sentinel Prime's disdain of the human race from Transformers: Dark of the Moon is revealed to be correct in Transformers: Age of Extinction. The humans regard the Cybertronians as Just a Machine.
  • Star Wars:
    • Bigger Bad he may be, everything that Palpatine told Padme about the Senate's ineffectiveness in The Phantom Menace was the absolute truth. The Mega Corps are in charge and the Republic's demilitarization has rendered the Senate incapable of rendering any aid to Naboo.
    • The Separatists. A lack of viable infrastructure in the Outer Rim, and the Republic focusing more on the Core Worlds, had led to Outer Rim planets being neglected which caused the CIS to form in the first place.
    • Kylo Ren in The Last Jedi. He and sanity may not be on speaking terms but the rule of both the Jedi and the Sith have proven to be failures. What's the point in resurrecting either philosophy? Why not try something new?

Literature[]

  • Rassilon in the Doctor Who novel Engines of War. Whatever moral reservations the Doctor has with the Time Lords, they're a better choice to rule the universe than the Daleks and do legitimately have the power to put things back to the way they were when the Daleks are defeated. Even Cinder, who is vocally against Rassilon's A Million Is a Statistic mentality, notes that his plan is radical but maybe not entirely without merit.
  • In Isaac Asimov's story "The Dead Past", the government agents trying to prevent the protagonists from learning the secret of viewing the past seem like a classic heavy-handed Government Conspiracy... until it turns out that they're simply trying to prevent privacy from being utterly destroyed by the dissemination of devices that can view any place at any past time from a century ago to a microsecond ago.
  • In Percy Jackson & the Olympians, the Titans are right in calling out how the Olympians don't really seem to ever give a damn about Western Civilization or their own demigod children. A good chunk of Kronos's army is made up of demigods who lost faith in their absent parents. The main cast even says that the whole thing is a Black and Gray Morality. The Olympians are better than the Titans but not good people.

Live-Action TV[]

  • Doctor Who:
    • In "The Daleks", the Daleks are ultimately correct in their argument. The Thals and Daleks cannot share Skaro. The former are poisoned by radiation while the latter need it to live.
    • As is sometimes pointed out, from a linear point of view, the Time Lords, via trying to Ret-Gone the Daleks in "Genesis of the Daleks", ultimately struck first in the Last Great Time War.
    • In "Hell Bent", Rassilon and the Time Lords did imprison the Doctor in his confession dial... but he could have left anytime he wanted, he even could have tricked the system and sprouted any old nonsense. The torture he went through was a tragedy but it only lasted so long because of his stubborn pride.
    • Everyone acknowledges that Charlie Duffy's crusade against a 10% employment rate in "Kerblam!" is a good one. Doesn't excuse mass murder of people who have no connection to it, but Kerb!am ultimately decides to employ more organics instead of mass automation.
  • Star Trek: Picard:
    • Nero was right. The Federation did abandon Romulus. It still didn't justify him attacking Vulcan to spite Spock (who was one of the more vocal protesters regarding the Federation breaking their promise) but hey.
    • While they went about it the wrong way, the finale of the first season reveals that the Zhat Vash's fears are justified.
    • Downplayed in third season. Picard and co. have no counter to the accusation that the Federation tried to genocide the Changelings back in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the Federation did try to do that... but only because the Dominion had been trying to do the same to the Federation for years at that point. And the Changelings were the instigators of the Dominion War.

Video Games[]

  • Derek Clifford Simmons from Resident Evil isn’t wrong to question Leon and Helena’s apparent decision to ignore Carla Radames and focus on him entirely. However, Leon explains that they made arrangements so that Carla wouldn’t be allowed to continue her plan to destroy the world while making sure Simmons is brought to justice for his horrible actions.
  • Dr. M from Sly 3 may be a terrible person to work with, a lab nut, and an overall Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain but he DID buy the island legally so everything is technically his and he could've claimed his right to kill Sly on the basis that the Cooper gang invaded his land.
  • Shin Megami Tensei V: Sahori ends up being kidnapped by a demon (who is named Lahmu) who wishes to merge with her to regain his lost power. But she didn’t stop to think whether using his power would have consequences or not. And Lahmu did make a bargain with her. Though in her defense, Lahmu did manipulate her into accepting the deal. Sahori herself wasn’t entirely wrong to kill her bullies, though Tao is understandably terrified by it. While resorting to murder was clearly not the solution to her problems, it wasn’t likely there was ever going to be a happy ending between Sahori and her bullies. They made it clear to her that they could not be reasoned with, and while the bullying originated because of her bossiness while she was part of the lacrosse club, the bullying continued after she quit the team. But nevertheless, what she does to the two delinquents comes back to haunt her later when the guilt traumatizes her.

Web Original[]

  • Wolf 359:
    • When Eiffel calls out Hilbert for infecting him with the decima virus without his consent and murdering countless people by doing the same, Hilbert snaps and points out that all scientific discoveries and inventions required sacrifice, noting that in all likelihood Eiffel never thought about the animal testing and failures required to successfully create medication. While Hilbert's actions are clearly horrific, he still makes a good point.
    • When Minkowski calls Kepler out on effectively demoting her upon his takeover and giving Eiffel a promotion, Kepler actually makes a good point. Kepler first met Eiffel after he discovered that Eiffel had survived for weeks aboard a highly damaged spacecraft with limited resources through sheer ingenuity, whereas from his perspective Minkowski has utterly failed to manage the situation aboard the Hephaestus and caused things to spiral into chaos. While his assessment of Minkowski is clearly wrong, he's dealing with the facts he knows about the situation and Eiffel is the only member of the crew who has clearly proven themselves to be competent, so his decision is understandable.
    • Kepler makes another one when he points out to Hilbert that his research into the decima virus has been entirely fruitless and berates him for it. While it is partially a ploy to manipulate Eiffel, Kepler's points are all dead-on; Hilbert has killed dozens of people in service of his research with no results, and even if the decima virus may have helped Eiffel recover from the physical damage he took from overuse of a cryopod there's still nowhere near enough evidence to prove it, or for Hilbert to even try to claim that the results are promising.

Western Animation[]

  • Justice League Unlimited: Project Cadmus created several threats to the world, but they do have considerable ground to stand on for their actions: the League didn't tell anyone about their big Kill Sat, they themselves have made questionable decisions in the past, and the Justice Lords were able to take over their world with only six of the seven founding members. Several League members, such as Batman, Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter note that an ordinary human would have ample reason to fear a rogue Justice League.
  • One from Batman: Under the Red Hood. Under the Red Hood gives us one from the titular character himself. No matter how many times Joker may get slammed into Arkham, being the Cardboard Prison it is, he always returns at some point wreak more havoc. While Batman does think about killing Joker, he fears about never coming back. However among Batman's rogues gallery, Joker DOES have a higher kill count alone than most and will most likely never stop killing as long as he is able, so putting him behind bars or a padded room does no good. Yet because he's Batman he won't take that step. Some people find it easy to side with Red Hood here even though he is a bit demented.
  • The Equalists in The Legend of Korra claims that benders are forcing non-benders to live as second class citizens. Although it is not entirely true, they do show that there are bending gangs who abuse their powers to intimidate non-bending people and the city's council is solely consist of benders.
    • They get quite a bit of ammunition in the eighth episode when the City Council starts to oppress non-benders, arresting them simply out of suspicion or ANY association with members of the Equalists (this includes being a family member as Asami found out). Later on in that episode we see what appears to be a whole neighborhood of non-benders. Naturally, the Equalists pounce on this and use it as even more of an excuse to torture benders.
    • In the final season, Toph even says that every baddie they've faced has had a point and started out with noble intentions.
  • Weaponized in the Whole-Episode Flashback in Voltron: Legendary Defender. Despite how much Alfor wanted to close the rift and protect Daibazaal, Zarkon kept shutting him down on the basis that Zarkon was the legitimate ruler of Daibazaal and thus had the final say in all matters.
  • In the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode "The Hidden Enemy", a clone, Slick, is caught as a Separatist spy. He justifies his actions by highlighting that the Clone Army was born to be nothing but Mooks for the Republic and that they honestly have no stake in the fighting, being commanded by Jedi who have zero conception of military tactics. Misguided as he may have been, everything he said was the absolute truth.
  • Bill Cipher in the Gravity Falls episode "Sock Opera". As Mabel herself is forced to acknowledge, Mabel regularly takes advantage of, and abandons, Dipper, forcing him to sacrifice his own happiness for her sake.
  • Carter in Family Guy. For all that he's a Corrupt Corporate Executive, he is right to say that Peter is a dangerous Man Child who regularly puts Lois and the kids in danger while barely making enough to support them.
    • YMMV on how villainous Mr. and Mrs. Jennings are in "Livin' on a Prayer" but they are framed as being in the wrong for not getting treatment for their son, instead choosing to believe that God will heal him. Though Lois does all she can to try and help Scotty, Joe points out that his parents do have the right to raise their son as they see fit.
    • Subverted with regards to Donald Trump in "Trump Guy". Though Peter agrees that he and Trump are Not So Different, he later argues that he's just a cartoon character who can be turned off. Trump is the President of the United States and needs to conform to a higher standard of behavior.
  • Horde Prime regarding the First Ones in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Horde Prime is a genocidal tyrant who labels the First Ones as A Nazi by Any Other Name. Adora is still resolutely against Horde Prime but given what she saw in the Season 4 finale, she can't actually argue with Prime on this point.
  • Downplayed with Evil Morty in Rick and Morty. He's not wrong in what he says about the Citadel of Ricks and Ricks in general, even Rick is willing to concede that, but "Unmortricken" also makes clear that he's speaking less from a place of objective fact and more just projecting his trauma from Evil Rick's abuse onto other Ricks, rather than anything those Ricks have done to him.
  • Hazbin Hotel:
    • Adam. While the main cast hates him, more than a few characters do concede his point that an appreciable percentage of Hell's population are Card-Carrying Villains and that Hell is a Crapsack World by design to punish those sinners. But the Season 1 finale reveals that, at the end of the day, while Adam was right on this point, his overall argument was wrong. Sinners can become Ascended Demons.
    • While the rulers of Heaven are not presented as right overall, Lucifer does note that the existence of sinners does prove that they had a point in warning him about The Evils of Free Will.
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