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{{trope}}
==Subpages==
* In the ''[[X-Men (Film)|X-Men]]'' movie, [[Ian McKellen]]'s version of Magneto -- at least, early on.▼
{{subpages}}
* Ditto for Iron Monger/{{spoiler|Obadiah Stane}} in ''[[Iron Man (Film)|Iron Man]]'', especially in the scene where he's talking to Pepper Potts. He's as affable as always, but she doesn't know whether he's just making small talk or interrogating her.▼
==Other Works==
* Frank Lucas from ''[[American Gangster (Film)|American Gangster]]'' is a very polite, well-dressed man who cares deeply for his family and [[Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas|takes his mother to church every Sunday.]] Despite this, he is frequently shown to have no qualms about gunning down people who get in his way in cold blood, or blighting communities with heroin for pure profit.▼
▲* In the ''[[X-Men (
▲* Ditto for Iron Monger/{{spoiler|Obadiah Stane}} in ''[[Iron Man (
▲* Frank Lucas from ''[[
* 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.
* 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 helps the Bride reach an epiphany about herself at the end of the duology.
* The Brain, from ''[[Gremlins|Gremlins 2]]''. An erudite, genetically-altered gremlin who merely wants what everyone wants, and what you tropers have: Civilization! The Geneva Convention, chamber music, Susan Sontag...
{{quote|
''([[Hilarity Ensues|Shoots a nearby, annoying Gremlin in the face]])''
'''The Brain:''' Now, was that civilized? No, clearly not. [[Rule of Funny|Fun, but in no sense civilized!]] }}
* David Allen Griffin in ''[[The Watcher (
* Harry Waters of ''[[
{{quote|
'''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]]'' displays a disturbing mix of affability and subtle condescension towards Dorothy and her friends (his counterpart in [[Land of Oz
* [[Robert De Niro]] 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.
* Subverted in ''[[Shutter Island]]'', where we are led to believe that {{spoiler|Dr. Cawley is like this. As it turns out, this is his genuine personality, and, in fact, he has been running a very elaborate simulation in order to snap Teddy Daniels (real name: Andrew Laeddis) out of his self-induced fantasy that he is a Federal Marshall, in order to make him come to terms with his wife's death.}}
* The Operative of ''[[
{{quote|
* Pasquale Acosta in ''[[Smokin Aces]]'' epitomizes this trope. He doesn't just kill you, he comforts you and waxes philosophy as you die.
* ''[[James Bond (
** [[
** So does Scaramanga in ''[[The Man
** The books take this to a whole new level with characters like Marc-Ange Draco. Apparently, you can be guilty of drug-running, extortion, and murder, and effectively be a ''good guy'' as long as you're really, really nice and charismatic in personality.
** In his ''[[
** [[
* Dr. Raymond Cocteau from ''[[Demolition Man]]''. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by [[Psycho for Hire]] Simon Phoenix, who compares the man to an "evil Mr. Rogers".
* In ''[[Rustlers' 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 [[Faux Affably Evil]]).
* Harry Lime from ''[[The Third Man]]'' is an early example, with [[Orson Welles]] receiving a lot of attention at the time for portraying the [[Manipulative Bastard]] as just a regular guy who wanted his old friend to like him even after discovering his actions.
* Max from ''[[Mission: Impossible (
* {{spoiler|Max (Edward Herrman)}}, from ''[[The Lost Boys]].''
* While his underlings are [[Small Name, Big Ego|quite rude]], Xerxes in ''[[
* Ben Wade in ''[[
* When not playing the [[Magical Negro]] (literally, in some cases), [[Morgan Freeman]] has mastered this trope in such films as ''Hard Rain'', ''Nurse Betty'', ''Dreamcatcher'', ''[[Lucky Number Slevin|Lucky Number S7evin]]'', and ''The Contract''.
* Leslie Vernon, [[Villain Protagonist]] of ''[[Behind the Mask|Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon]]'', is jovial, friendly, intelligent, and takes a camera crew with him as he [[Crazy Prepared|prepares]] for his night of murder and mayhem.
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* {{spoiler|Angela Baker}} of the ''[[Sleepaway Camp]]'' series practically becomes some kind of murderous {{spoiler|[[Genki Girl]]}} in the second and third films. {{spoiler|She also really likes the "Happy Camper" song}}.
* Bill [[The Butcher]] from ''[[Gangs of 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. To the point where Amsterdam is conflicted because he finds himself liking the man he intends to take revenge on for killing his father. He does have a few [[Kick the Dog]] moments where you realize the guy is not merely a [[Memetic Badass]] but pretty reprehensible, so the audience is conflicted too.
* At least initially, Wikus in ''[[
* Idi Amin is this in ''[[The Last King of Scotland]]'', after the protagonist impresses him by taking ''his'' gun and [[Shoot the Dog|shooting the wounded cow]]. All while being surrounded by trigger-happy soldiers.
** Idi Amin is also this way in ''Raid on Entebbe''. He mainly gives the impression of being a ridiculous popinjay though.
* Hans Landa in ''[[Inglourious Basterds]]'' personifies this trope.
* Dr. Terwilliker from ''[[The 5000 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.
* {{spoiler|VIKI}} and the NS-5's from ''[[I, Robot (
{{quote|
'''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:
{{quote|
* Major Koenig from ''[[Enemy
{{quote|
** When he figures out that the kid's been informing on him to the Russians, instead of confronting him, he hands him a chocolate and gives the kid a [[Mercy Lead]], telling him not to come back. [[Too Dumb to Live|The kid comes back]], so Koenig {{spoiler|hangs him from a telephone pole to use as bait to lure out the Russian sniper.}}
* In ''[[
* Swamp Thing from ''[[Con Air]]''. He's such a jolly, good-humored sort that you almost forget that he's an integral part in a scheme to bust out a planeload of mass murderers, terrorists, and gangsters. You also tend to wonder what he did to get himself put on that plane in the first place.
** Drug smuggling, but even his actor defends him, pointing out that he didn't kill anyone or get in their faces...
* "Good Evening. Welcome to my humble abode. My, how beautiful you are. I hope you will stay the night. Oh, where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself. I am [[Dracula (
* A clearer example of Affably Evil in ''[[Star Wars]]'' is Count Dooku, at least in ''[[Attack of the Clones]]''; he's clearly more respectful towards the Jedi than they are towards him.
{{quote|
'''Obi-Wan''': ''(With quiet fury)'' Qui-Gon Jinn would never join you. }}
** Dooku might actually be [[Faux Affably Evil]], slyly delivering the right amount of hints to Obi-Wan in order to plant the seed of division among the Jedi while painting himself as the good guy. Notice how his behavior in the scene he shares with Obi-Wan is very different to the way he behaves in any other moment of the movie or ''Revenge of the Sith''. (Indeed, in the ''Sith'' novelization an extended section taken from his point of view has him musing, though not in such terms, that he's a sociopath.)
* Hannibal Lecter of ''[[The Silence of the Lambs]]'' is an interesting example in that nobody can be really sure if his affability is just an act, particularly as he's prone to sniping insults at visitors who displease him. To credit the "affable" perspective, he never hunts down Clarice (considering such a thing "rude"), and, in the book, mails a substantial tip to an orderly he befriended - specifically, the [[Worthy Opponent|orderly who ensured that Hannibal never escaped from the asylum]] until he was moved, and once broke Lecter's arm stopping him from attacking a nurse.
* Dredger from the ''[[Sherlock Holmes (
** Is he? [[Bilingual Bonus|I always thought that using the informal "tu" rather than "vous" when speaking French with someone you don't know is rude and contemptuous.]] Perhaps he's a better example of [[Faux Affably Evil]]?
* The HBO movie ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWLvq0jC-c0 Conspiracy]'' is an extremely chilling example of this trope. A group of intelligent, cultivated, soft-spoken men having a secret conference in Germany in 1942 about what to do with the "storage problem" of the Jews in Europe. And it is based on the minutes of [
* ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'': {{spoiler|The NWA members, such as Skinner}}
* The dapper, charming Rene Belloq from ''[[
* The brother and sister duo, Vincent and Ida, in ''[[
* Dr. Schaefer, ''[[The
* In ''[[The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus]]'', the plot of the movie is set in motion when [[Louis Cypher|Mr. Nick]] ([[Tom Waits]]), having already won the soul of the Parnassus's daughter in a wager made decades before she was born, agrees to allow Parnassus to try to win it back on the eve of its forfeiture (even though Parnassus has absolutely nothing to offer to sweeten the pot). Throughout the course of the story, it becomes clear that Nick is deliberately trying to lose this wager to avoid ruining his [[Friendly Enemy]] status with Parnassus, to the point that {{spoiler|he tries to physically restrain the daughter from deliberately damning herself to Hell just to spite her father and, when that fails and he wins the bet, he immediately offers Parnassus a new wager so he can try to win her back ''again''}}.
* Jules Winnfield in ''[[Pulp Fiction]]'' is actually a pretty nice guy, for a mob hitman. Just don't say [[Berserk Button|"What?"]] to his questions. In fact, ''all'' of the gangsters in the film are affable and friendly, even when they're casually waving a gun in your general direction.
* ''[[Big Jake]]'' manages to combine Affably Evil with [[Complete Monster]] in the villain, played by Richard Boone. He would be happy to have a nice, pleasant, friendly conversation with you...just before pulling out a gun and murdering your children in cold blood without so much as flinching.
* Lynch from ''[[The
{{quote|
* Charlie Barrett in ''[[Suicide Kings]]''. The nicest guy who ever fed anyone to their own dogs.
* Cheyenne in ''[[Once Upon a Time
* ''[[
* Tuco of ''[[The Good, the Bad
* Juan from ''[[Duck You Sucker]]'' is initially set up as a mean, ruthless, and amoral bandit, then we get to know him and find out that he's just an ordinary guy trying to look out for his family in a world where stealing is the only way to survive.
* Reuben (Sid Haig) in ''[[Black Mama White Mama]]'', the randy drug kingpin. He's [[Card-Carrying Villain|clearly bad]], but is just having a blast throughout the movie.
* Xander Drax from ''[[The Phantom (
* Big Chris of ''[[Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels]]'' is a hitman, but is overall a nice guy, and a good dad to his son, Little Chris. But so much as lay a finger on Little Chris, and the affable part goes out the window.
* To some extent, Lyle From Dallas from ''Red Rock West''. Protagonist Michael Williams first meets Lyle after nearly being run over by him - Lyle is very apologetic about it, makes sure he's okay, gives him a ride back to town, bonds with him over their shared past with the Marine Corps, and buys him a drink. Since this is the first we see him, his turning out to be the bad guy would almost be a twist, were it not for him [[Berserk Button|getting very angry]] about Michael initially refusing his offer to buy him a drink, as well as the fact that he's [[Typecasting|played by Dennis Hopper]].
* The villain in ''Babysitter Wanted'' chats merrily with the final girl as he's carving up the body of another girl. His accomplice later gets mad at him for being so friendly.
* The Three Ministers of Pollution from Gaiark in ''[[Go-onger]]''.
* Colonel Hepburn from the [[Hammer Horror]] film, ''Cash
* [[Lex Luthor]] is played like this in the ''[[Superman (
* All the villains in [[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s ''Saboteur''. In between planning and executing acts of sabotage against military installations, we see a kindly grand-father playing with his grand-child, a rich socialite who hosts a charity-dinner, a father who ponders whether he should let his son have long hair, a man who gives their hostage a milkshake, and a man who frets that the confrontation with the hero will make him unable to go to the philharmonica with his niece later that evening.
* As in the novel on which the film is based, Don Vito Corleone from ''[[
** Having learned from his father, it's unsurprising that Don Michael also fits this trope; however, though well-mannered and gracious, he lacks Vito's degree of warmth - which, combined with his ruthlessness, eventually begins to distance him from his friends and family.
* CLU from ''[[Tron
* Julian Karswell from ''[[Night of the Demon]]'' is charming, charismatic, pleasant, loves his mother, hosts parties for local children...and is a Satan-worshiping cult leader who uses black magic to kill casual acquaintances.
* Elizabeth Hurley as [[Satan]] in the 2000 remake of ''[[Bedazzled]]''. She's out for Elliot's soul, but she generally acts friendly and sympathetic to him most of the time. Even after {{spoiler|he nullifies their contract and saves himself}}, she stays polite and cordial before seeing him off. {{spoiler|Actually a subversion, since the end of the film reveals that she's not evil at all.}}
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* John, one of the main antagonists in ''Drunken Master 2'', is some form of this. He's very cheerful for almost the entire film, except when being brow-beaten by the British Ambassador he's working for, and {{spoiler|when Fei-Hong is beating the crap out of him at the end of the film.}} He even gives a cheery thumbs-up and a big grin after {{spoiler|kicking Fei-Hong onto burning coals.}}
* Mr. Bentley (played by [[Patrick Stewart]]), the villain of ''[[Masterminds]]'', is charming, polite, levelheaded, and witty. He also equips his men with [[Instant Sedation]] dart guns during the initial takeover of the school and orders them not to injure anyone while repelling the cops' attempts to retake it (although it's really only through [[Bullets Do Not Work That Way|the magic of Hollywood ballistics]] that no one is killed).
* Professor Henry Jarrod, as played by Vincent Price in the 1953 remake of
** Debatable example, as he isn't evil so much as completely out of his mind.
* {{spoiler|Noah Cross}} of ''[[Chinatown]]''.
* How can you not fall in love with [[Slim Pickens]]' character Taggart in ''[[Blazing Saddles]]''? He's an evil racist who goes along with every evil scheme devised by the film's [[Big Bad]], but there's something about Slim Pickens' accent that causes him to steal the show every scene he's in. He even gets a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] towards the end with this classic line:
{{quote|
* Leo O'Bannon (Albert Finney) in ''[[
* Loki in ''[[Thor (
* Vinz Clortho, aka the Keymaster, from the original ''[[Ghostbusters]]'', even if he is a little exuberant. Unlike his counterpart Zuul, he's only too willing to answer the protagonists' questions and tell them Gozer's overall plan. (Then again, as the Keymaster, his role is arguably to open and reveal things...)
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