Anti-Villain/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

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* John Frobisher from ''[[Torchwood]]: Children of Earth''.

* Sam Adama in ''[[Caprica]]'' is a ruthless gangster who genuinely cares about and is fiercely protective of both his family and his culture. That Taurons are a minority on Caprica that suffers a great deal of prejudice also factors into this.

** He's far from the only example. One could also say that Zoe, in all her incarnations, is this, given that she willingly associates herself with monotheistic terrorists. Of course, she only wants to make the world a better place, convinced that society's grown morally directionless and soulless. Similarly, Daniel Graystone could be considered an [[Anti-Villain]]. After all, he [[AI Is a Crapshoot|created the cylons]] and is generally a fairly cold and calculated businessman. However, [[Pet the Dog|he has moments of softness]] and seems to have genuinely loved his daughter, even if he has issues relating with her or her robotic copy. Given that ''[[Caprica]]'' is set in a universe with [[Gray and Grey Morality]], this is to be expected.

** He's far from the only example. One could also say that Zoe, in all her incarnations, is this, given that she willingly associates herself with monotheistic terrorists. Of course, she only wants to make the world a better place, convinced that society's grown morally directionless and soulless. Similarly, Daniel Graystone could be considered an [[Anti-Villain]]. After all, he [[A.I. Is a Crapshoot|created the cylons]] and is generally a fairly cold and calculated businessman. However, [[Pet the Dog|he has moments of softness]] and seems to have genuinely loved his daughter, even if he has issues relating with her or her robotic copy. Given that ''[[Caprica]]'' is set in a universe with [[Gray and Grey Morality]], this is to be expected.

* In ''[[Supernatural]]'', Lucifer ''tries'' to come off as this, declaring that his "crime" was loving God too much. It doesn't really work, since there are three groups he can give it to: Demons, who hate God and humanity both and would probably be less in awe of him if they knew that was his motivation; Angels, who were all faced with the exact same situation and made the other choice; and Humans, who are going to be wiped out en masse by his war against heaven. In fact, the conclusion most people come to is that he's a bratty child throwing a tantrum and breaking his dad's toys.

** His brother, {{spoiler|Gabriel/The Trickster, does this much better. After it's dicovered who he is, it's easier to see why he killed Dean so many times: he was trying to stop Sam from snapping and going after Lilith after Dean dies, therefore trying to stop him from breaking the final seal. He comes across as more the little brother who can't stand his brothers' arguing, to Lucifer's bratty persona. Sadly, in Gabriel's case [[Redemption Equals Death]] and he's killed by Lucifer - but not before leaving Sam and Dean a DVD which tells them how to put Lucifer back in his box.}}

* Jesse Pinkman from ''[[Breaking Bad]]''. He says that he's the bad guy, yet seems to have more moral fiber than anyone else in the drug business. Walter White could qualify for this too, but by the end of season 3, he seems to be more of a [[Villain Protagonist]].

* While Scorpius of ''[[Farscape]]'' is absolutely a [[Magnificent Bastard]], his motivation behind revealing his [[Freudian Excuse]] to John seems (at first) to be an attempt to paint himself as an [[Anti-Villain]]. While he has some villainous motives and does some truly unforgivable things, he honestly thinks he has worthwhile motives: defeating the bad guys. John (and the audience) doesn't really buy it until he actually meets said bad guys and concede that he at least has some semblance of a point.

* Nucky Thompson, the main character of ''[[Boardwalk Empire]]''. Yeah, he's a corrupt [[Sleazy Politician]] who started looking into becoming a kingpin of the illegal booze trade the moment Prohibition started, but he's also often a genuinely kind man with good intentions, has much more enlightened views on women and minorities than his peers, has some genuine [[Freudian Excuse|Freudian issues]] going on, and seems positively cuddly when contrasted with the viciousness of [[Al Capone]] or the cold-blooded sadism of [[Complete Monster|Arnold Rothstein]].