Not half bad: Screen antagonists who really weren't villains

In I Am Legend, Will Smith’s Dr. Robert Neville continually finds himself confronted by the vampiric creatures known as the Darkseekers. As the film goes on, however, it becomes clear that there is more to them than meets the eye, particularly in the alternate ending (which has since become the canonical one). Far more than mere monsters, they are actually people in their own right, and this forces both Neville and the viewer to confront their own prejudices and the intellectual mechanisms by which they come to classify others as either friend or foe, human or other.

In the third of the rebooted Planet of the Apes  films Caesar and his fellow apes have to contend with Woody Harrelson’s Colonel, a man who wants to eradicate apekind and save humans from almost inevitable extinction. He’s brutal and violent — and, it turns out, also opposed to the remnants of the US Army — but his goals are at least somewhat noble. After all, he wants to save humans from the end, which seems to be the inevitable result of the Simian Flu and the rise of the apes. His hubris and his inability to treat apes with anything other than contempt sows the seeds of his own downfall and destruction and, with him, any hope for a human future.

In the ongoing MonsterVerse, Godzilla and his fellow Titans are, in some ways, the antagonists of the various films since they are a danger to human life and civilization. At the same time, even the films themselves acknowledge that, for the most part, they are just giant creatures trying to live their lives. It’s really not their fault that humans all too frequently find themselves caught in the middle of their wars and various conflicts. In the end, they are basically just giant forces of nature, neither good nor evil, 

Mary Poppins is often regarded as one of Disney’s greatest films, thanks in no small part to the musical genius of the Sherman Brothers and Julie Andrews’ beautiful voice and performance as the title character. It also features a remarkable antagonist in Mr. Banks, who first hires Mary Poppins but finds himself irritated and flummoxed by her iconoclastic ways. Beneath all of the bluster, however, it’s clear that Mr. Banks is just a man trying to be the best father and husband that he can be, even if he finds it difficult to shake off the chains of his Edwardian stuffiness. 

In the various films that bear his name, King Kong is the primary antagonist, viewed with a mixture of awe and fear by the humans who encounter him. However, one has to remember that, taken on his own terms, Kong is really just a giant ape trying to live his life on Skull Island. It’s not his fault that he’s drawn into human affairs thanks to the actions of others, and even his kidnapping of Ann Darrow isn’t a villainous action as much as it is the natural response of a giant ape that has only rarely seen people. He’s ultimately not evil; he's just misunderstood and exploited.

Regina George is, of course, the major antagonist of Mean Girls — both the original film and its musical version — and she is very much the film's antagonist. She loves wielding her power and influence over others and the school at large, but it's clear that there is a more sensitive young woman hiding beneath her cruel exterior. Moreover, she can't be entirely blamed for simply recognizing the hierarchies in any school setting. If she hadn’t been the one to take advantage of it, someone else would have done so, as Cady herself shows when she steps into Regina’s position.

Abbott Elementary has established itself as one of the best sitcoms on TV. Though the main character and ostensible hero is Quinta Brunson’s Janine, Principal Ava threatens to steal the show whenever she appears. While she is no doubt an antagonist — she takes particular delight in making fun of Janine at every opportunity — she does show that she has a good side, and she does genuinely seem to care about the future of Abbott and its students. Moreover, she shows that she has what it takes to be a fairly decent principal when she can be bothered to put in the energy and attention.

Mrs. Doubtfire remains one of Robin Williams’ best movies, and he gives a particularly resonant performance as Daniel Hillard. While he’s the ostensible hero of the movie, he’s opposed by his wife (and then ex-wife) Miranda Hillard, played by Sally Field. Her stern and uncompromising demeanor is in sharp contrast to Daniel's more free-wheeling approach to life, but the truth is that Miranda has every right to get exasperated with her husband’s antics. Moreover, she also deserves to find happiness with a new man and to try to make the best and most stable life for her kids, however much the movie wants viewers to dislike her. 

While the first Suıcide Squad film was a bit of a dud, the second effort, The Suıcide Squad, is much stronger. It also features a particularly powerful and intimidating antagonist in the form of the giant being known as Starro. Though the giant starfish does end up wrecking quite a lot of havoc, it’s impossible not to feel at least a bit sorry for it, particularly since it was brought to Earth against its own wishes. Even though it is opposed to the Suıcide Squad, it would be understandable if some audience members actually wanted it to succeed.

The Planet of the Apes franchise has always excelled at creating great villains, and in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the primary antagonist is the bonobo Koba. By the time the film begins, he has been tortured and left mutilated by humans, and he bears them a grudge. Moreover, he rebels against Caesar, whose residual affection for humans could very easily spell doom for all of apekind in the future. He’s brutal and ruthless — even against his fellow apes — but he really does have good reasons for what he does, like many other antagonists. Moreover, he does have a point about humans, who will likely never be able to coexist with intelligent apes in anything resembling peace.

The original Planet of the Apes remains one of the best science fiction films ever made, and it is as thought-provoking and chilling as it was when it was first released in 1968. The film’s major antagonist is Dr. Zaius, an orangutan who sees astronaut Taylor as a powerful threat to the well-being, and perhaps even the very existence, of ape society as a whole. He certainly doesn’t shy away from ruthless methods — he even goes so far as to lobotomize one of Taylor’s fellow astronauts — but he does genuinely seem to want to protect his people from the danger that humanity represents. Given that humans have already done a pretty good job of devastating the planet, his actions do make their own kind of sense. 

Khan is one of the most notable villains of Star Trek,  particularly as he is portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in Star Trek: Into Darkness. Though he is supposedly the movie's villain, the truth is that he has a point regarding his motivations. After all, he has been woken up without being given a choice, and he is subsequently strongarmed by Starfleet Admiral Alexander Marcus. His actions are undeniably destructive, but it's hard not to feel at least a measure of sympathy for this being who has been brought into a world he doesn't quite understand and forced to take actions of which he may disapprove.

Tom Hiddleston has long cast a spell as Loki, one of the most notable antagonists in the MCU. He begins as a straightforward enough villain, but as his story unfolds, it’s clear that there is much more to him than meets the eye. He even becomes the hero of his own series, playing a key role in preventing the unraveling of time itself. The brilliance of Hiddleston’s performance lies in his ability to truly capture Loki’s changeable nature as a trickster, quite capable of being all things to all people, depending on the circumstance. He is never quite what he seems, and one can’t help but hope that his time in the MCU isn’t over just yet. 

The MCU has created many great villains, but arguably one of the best is Killmonger of Black Panther. He is steadfastly opposed to T’Challa and his way of ruling Wakanda, but he is also a product of abuse and abandonment, so it makes sense that he would have turned to a more cynical path than his Wakandan counterpart. Ironically enough, he serves a sort of social consciousness in the film, reminding T’Challa of some of his own blind spots and those of Wakanda in general, and even though he dies in the end, his message lives on after him.

The 2000s and early 2010s were a golden age for antiheroes, and few were quite as menacing and compelling as Bryan Cranston’s Walter White in Breaking Bad. Walter faced many challenges on his way to becoming a powerful drug lord, but arguably, none were quite as important as his wife, Skyler. The series went out of its way to paint her as nothing more than a shrew and an antagonist, and audiences were happy to see her that way. In reality, though, she’s quite a sympathetic character, as she is a woman trying to do right by her family even as her husband walks down the road to hell.

Tim Curry gives one of his most remarkable and memorable performances in Home Alone 2, in which he plays the nefarious concierge at the Plaza Hotel (known as Mr. Hector to many). Obviously he is the villain of the piece, given that he really goes the extra mile to snare Kevin and to make his life miserable, based on little else other than his own intuition. Nevertheless, one has to admit that he really is within his rights to protect the hotel and its interests against a kid who is basically scamming them so he can stay in a room for free.

Tom Hanks is arguably the villain in Catch Me If You Can, which focuses on the escapades of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Frank Abagnale Jr., a notorious con artist. Hanks’ Carl Hanratty is the FBI agent who spends most of the film trying to bring Frank to justice. In that sense, he is definitely the antagonist, though the audience is never left in any doubt as to the fact that he is just trying to do the best job he can and to see that justice is done. Moreover, it’s clear that he doesn’t bear Frank any ill will and, in fact, even has compassion for him.

Magneto remains one of the best villains in the X-Men franchise, particularly as Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender capably portray him. Yes, he is quite ruthless and capable of destroying anyone who stands in his way. At the bottom, however, he wants what is best for his fellow mutants, and given the cruelty that said mutants often experience at the hands of humans, one can easily see why he would so often resort to violent methods to secure peace. Though he often remains adamantly opposed to Xavier, it’s also clear the two share a strange bond that can never be truly broken.  

At first glance, Roy Batty is the undisputed villain of Blade Runner, but he is a remarkably sophisticated and complicated character. After all, he is just trying to forge a new life for himself and his fellow replicants. Certainly, his methods leave much to be desired — he’s quite capable of killing — but the film often shows that there might be more to his actions than at first appears to be the case. His death at the end of the film can thus seem like a tragedy in its own right.

Even though the Harry Potter series is ostensibly focused on the title character, for many, Severus Snape deserves the distinction of being the best character in the series, particularly as portrayed by Alan Rickman. From the beginning, he is one of Harry’s most inveterate and implacable enemies, but it slowly becomes clear that he has long harbored a true love for Harry’s mother and has been secretly looking out for him. He is a fascinating and morally gray character, and he is fortunately rescued from disgrace from the very boy whose life he made such a misery at Hogwarts.