TV And Movie Villains That Were So Good We Were Almost Rooting For Them

"As a kid, he was a killjoy. Now, he’s relatable as a minimum wage customer service worker who’s tired all the time and literally can not get away from his annoying coworker."

I love a good hero story as much as the next person, but sometimes a villain or someone who's not your classic "hero" steals the show so much that you may even kinda root for them.

NBC

Well, we asked the BuzzFeed Community for their favourite villains who they may even have rooted for, and here are some of the best responses:

1. Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah in Unbreakable

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

"I find that he totally steals the spotlight in a lot of movies, he’s a bad ass MF!"

—katie83

Watch him in action:

youtube.com

2. Rami Malek as Lyutsifer Safin from No Time To Die

Universal Pictures

"Don't get me wrong it's that one Bond movie where half of the characters are my faves: Bond, Madeleine, Nomi, Paloma, Q, and Moneypenny. But honestly, I loved Safin so much. Compared to other Bond villains in the Craig era, he wasn't so overconfident, cartoony or hammy. He was basically a very badass manipulative villain (in a good way) who had his own agency and was never SPECTRE's pawn."

—tanyam44ab2253d

Here's a clip:

youtube.com

3. Andrew Scott as Jim Moriarty In Sherlock

BBC 1

"I don't know if it's Andrew Scott's Performance or the way the character was written, but I adore that character to bits. As a person who read the books and knows that Moriarty doesn't make much of an appearance, it's fun seeing him on TV."

—sacleme

Some of his best scenes:

youtube.com

4. Joseph Morgan as Klaus from The Vampire Diaries

The CW

"Despite his villainous start, he turned into an amazing, flawed, and three-dimensional character. I feel like we learned more about him in such a short span than most if not all of the other characters and he became one of my favourites!"

—allanahjayp

Watch Klaus in action:

youtube.com

5. Tom Cruise as Lestat from Interview with a Vampire (1994)

Warner Bros.

"Louis is soooo whiny."

—adrianw440bbeae3

Here's the "still whining" scene:

youtube.com

6. Val Kilmer as Ice Man in Top Gun

Paramount Pictures

"Having rewatched it recently, he’s so much more interesting than Maverick." 

—byg12345

Here's Ice Man from Top Gun:

youtube.com

7. Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger in Black Panther

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

"For me, Killmonger didn’t outshine the main protagonist, but I did feel more connected to him. He was a broken boy who wanted to end racism and all the other injustices in the world he grew up in. But unfortunately, he thought could only change that through violence by forcing Wakanda to fix it. It hit me and I totally felt his rage. He is the only ‘villain’ I felt sympathy for and understood his motivation."

—annechananne

One of his iconic scenes:

youtube.com

8. Aidan Gillen as Littlefinger from Game of Thrones

HBO

"I think that Littlefinger was a social climber who did all that he could to get to the top. He was very manipulative, he wanted the power and he would do all that he could to get there, I think he was a lot more complex than say Joffrey or Cersei who were Evil Kings and Queens!

I think that he was the underdog. To me, it felt like he was actually evil actually a villain, and I sort of wanted him to succeed from one episode to the next just to see where on Earth his character was going to go!"

—ayreslou

Here's the best of Littlefinger:

youtube.com

9. Adam Driver as Kylo Ren – The Force Awakens

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

"Don’t get me wrong, I love the new resistance trio but Adam really smashed it and brought that extra something. A truly spectacular and heartbreaking villain."

—enbyviking

Here's some of his best bits:

youtube.com

10. Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood

Warner Bros.

"He was amazing. He outshined Kevin Costner completely."

—stategirl43

Here's some epic Alan Rickman:

youtube.com

11. Ursula in The Little Mermaid

Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

"She TERRIFIED me when I was younger. I literally had to fast-forward past the part where she grows gigantic. But she is probably the most fun villain from any of the Disney movies. Sassy, has a great song, and actually accomplishes her goals. She literally had to be killed in order to be stopped."

—monikap6

Here's where Ariel met Ursula:

youtube.com

12. Both Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender as Magneto from X-Men

20th Century Fox

"Both he and Prof X have no visible mutations – they could effectively live as regular people without anyone suspecting a thing. The difference is that Erik has always put himself in the public’s eye as a mutant and had fought for all mutants.

Charles essentially likes to play human and when appearing in public only takes his students who have invisible mutations or are still conventionally attractive, leaving everyone who doesn’t fit in at home. It’s become more clear over the years that although his methods were questionable, Magneto was in the right."

—oceanraynewolf

Here's Magneto's badass moments:

youtube.com

13. Neal McDonough as Vincent from Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2

Columbia Pictures

"I am not joking and I will not elaborate."

—jconway

Check out vincent here:

youtube.com

14. Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa from Pirates of the Caribbean

Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

"More morally ambiguous than a full villain, but I always thought he was the most interesting character with his mysterious background and weird character quirks. Everyone was shady in those movies but I always rooted for him. The man was constantly on some elaborate badass mission."

—itshannahbrown

Here's a bit of Barbossa:

youtube.com

15. Jack Gleeson as Joffrey from Game of Thrones

HBO

"I honestly don’t understand why people disliked him so much, I thought he was pretty much justified in his actions, especially when he became king and nobody showed him any respect."

—britneypeedonaladybug

Here's nobody liking Joffrey:

youtube.com

16. Nina Dobrev as Katherine in The Vampire Diaries

The CW

"First watching the show as a preteen she seemed evil and needlessly cruel. Rewatching now, she’s still a bad person who did bad things, but she was a lonely girl who went through a lot. She was also a fun character to watch, as opposed to Elena who was definitely a protagonist, but not super interesting."

—oceanraynewolf

Here's the best of Katherine:

youtube.com

17. Squidward from Spongebob Squarepants

Nickelodeon

"Honestly, I root for Squidward to find happiness. As a kid, he was a killjoy. Now, he’s relatable as a minimum wage customer service worker who’s tired all the time and literally can not get away from his annoying coworker."

—oceanraynewolf

Here's some of Squidwards best bits:

youtube.com

18. Jenna Leigh Green as Libby from Sabrina the Teenage Witch

ABC / The WB

"She was a hoot! Way more entertaining than dull, goody-two-shoes Sabrina."

—britneypeedonaladybug

Here's the pool fight from S1:

youtube.com

19. Darth Vader from Star Wars

20th Century Fox

"He’s so intimidating and scary in the original trilogy and then the deeper you dive into Star Wars the more heartbreaking Anakin’s story gets. He might be one of my favourite characters of all time at this point."

—squidriver

Here's some of Vader's best bits:

youtube.com

20. Skeletor from He-Man & Masters Of The Universe

First-run syndication

"He just had so much more personality than He-Man. And I can't have been the only one who wished that Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living would kill and eat Snarf."

—contrafibularities

Here's some of Skeletor's best bits:

youtube.com

21. Michael Emerson as Ben Linus from Lost

Buena Vista Television / Disney–ABC Domestic Television

"I will root for Ben Linus from Lost until the day I die. I love a good villain story that really delves into what made them evil. Ben wanted power and control as we all do to some degree. He craved the idea of needing it ALL. Ben though wasn't special, he was like everyone else. When he apologises for his misdeeds to John Locke in the series finale, he realises it's time to do right. I LOVE THAT FOR A BAD GUY."

—aliciag12

Here's Ben and Linus' scene from season seven:

youtube.com

22. Yzma from The Emperor's New Groove

Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

"I love all the characters, but she is by far the funniest and most relatable."

—rdplaty

Here's when Yzma became empress:

youtube.com

23. The villains in Jupiter Legacy

Netflix

"The superheroes were exhausting, their constant cringy monologues about being a good person made me want to become a supervillain."

—pauljohn28

Here's the Blackstar fight:

youtube.com

What villain did you warm to? Let us know in the comments below!