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From Count Dracula to Voldemort, some of the best stories in books and on screens have made a name for themselves, in large part, due to their unforgettable villains, whose malevolent presence can captivate us just as much as the heroes.

But do all of them deserve a bad reputation? No, say the audience. In fact, some feel so strongly about it, that they even went on to Reddit to list the ones whom they believe should be acquitted.

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#1

Unions. They are the only tool left against corporate and governmental employee abuse. They are almost the sole reason that we don't still work to Industrial Revolution standards.

Big Corporate is terrified about workers uniting and collective bargaining so they shame, slander and execute huge PR campaigns against unions.

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Alexandra
Alexandra
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Unions are bad??? I get it that companies like to portray unions as bad, but that employees buy into that astonishes me. A union is often the only thing that keeps employees from being exploited to within an inch of their lives. What is it about unions that get, especially Americans, so riled up? Good, strong unions help create a labour market that's stable and benefits most of us, not just the few, but perhaps that's not in the interest of the USA?

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    #2

    30 Villains The Media Tried To Portray As Evil, But People Are Not Buying It Mr. Wilson. Dennis was a rotten little kid, and it's not Mr.Wilson's fault that he lived next door.

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    #3

    30 Villains The Media Tried To Portray As Evil, But People Are Not Buying It Stuart in Mrs. Doubtfire. He was just dating a divorced woman and being kind to her children.
    I've long thought that a remake of Mrs. Doubtfire from the wife's perspective would be a great movie. Except it isn't a comedy; it's a psychological horror movie about a woman who is becoming increasingly concerned that her elderly nanny is actually her non-custodial ex, and how crazy that makes her sound.

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    Jack Burton
    Jack Burton
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I rewatched Mrs Doubtfire with my kids for the first time in 20 years and i thought the same. Poor dude is just so cool !

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    #4

    30 Villains The Media Tried To Portray As Evil, But People Are Not Buying It Squidward. The more I paid attention, the more I realised that Spongebob was the a*****e.

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    JenC
    JenC
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Spongebob is an annoying kid, and Squidward is a tired adult.

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    #5

    Pee-Wee Herman. He had a highly acclaimed kids show. He gets caught masturbating in a public porno theater. And then hes painted as a danger to children. How did people mush those together?
    My wife recoiled when i started showing my son Pee Wee's playhouse on DVD. "Hes a child molester!!" She said. I was like where did you even get that?!? But shes not alone The i go around defending Pee Wee everywhere I say we let him go.

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    Leslie B
    Leslie B
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Isn't masturbating in a public porno theatre part of the cover charge? He was unfairly vilified. Almost every man on the planet masturbates, he just got caught.

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    #6

    30 Villains The Media Tried To Portray As Evil, But People Are Not Buying It Frankenstein's monster.

    All of the monster's flaws can be traced to Victor Frankenstein's abandonment of his creation. Nobody taught the monster how to live and it was immediately reviled by everyone, but nevertheless the monster forgives Victor in the end. Victor is definitely the "bad guy."

    Yet at Halloween all over America we mock that poor monster.

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    acey-ace16 avatar
    Ace
    Ace
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yeah, if you read the book it's clear that Dr. Frankenstein is actually the real monster, the Monster is the victim.

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    #7

    30 Villains The Media Tried To Portray As Evil, But People Are Not Buying It Lucifer. He k***s 2-3 people in the bible and gives humans knowledge and self awareness, while God k***s millions and demands sacrifice.

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    David
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Lucifer isnt in the bible. In the Torah/"Old testament", Satan is, but not as a Devil character, but as the heavenly prosecutor. It is St. Jerome that reinterpreted several different names and spiritual beings in the Bible as "Lucifer" in his Vulgate Translation. In the "New Testiment"a Devil character is introduced, that very much mirrors pagan demon deities, a new concept, and even so the NT in different books have radical different understandings and details. But the name Lucifer is a creation of St. Jerome.

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    #8

    Tom. He just want some peace and this a*****e mouse came in and ruined them all.

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    #9

    Jack Kevorkian (Dr. Kevorkian)

    While not a radical thought in 2016, he was portrayed as a monster by the media. "He was often portrayed in the media as "Dr. Death"; however, many consider him a hero as he helped set the platform for reform. He famously said, ["Dying is not a crime."](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kevorkian)".

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    rdennis avatar
    R Dennis
    R Dennis
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    We always knew when someone was getting help. He came into our restaurant and ate while wearing that light blue cardigan right before... pretty sure he had a pattern and we were part of it. We were very supportive of him. He just wanted people to be able to pass with dignity.

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    #10

    30 Villains The Media Tried To Portray As Evil, But People Are Not Buying It Lord Hades of Greek Mythology. He may be the God of The Dead and King of the Underworld, but nothing points him as a bad man. He was given a rotten roll of luck and got the underworld. He had to renovate the entire place and keep it from falling into shambles. He NEVER cheated on his Persephone. He was a great king to his subjects. There is no reason to keep blatantly making him the big bad in every modern iteration of Greek myth.

    And no, he never wanted to be the King of Olympus. He is the God of Riches. Everything below the earth and precious belongs to him: diamonds, gold, rubies, emeralds, you name it. He even had three kids. He has no need to be evil. He's just the owner of real estate for the deceased, trying his best to keep his property from falling apart due to overcrowding.

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    Alley Cat
    Alley Cat
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Plus, if the movie followed what actually happened to Hercules in Greek mythology, it would portray Hera as the villain, not Hades.

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    #11

    Wile E. Coyote. Poor fella just wants to eat.

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    #12

    The indigenous people in most movies made before 2000.

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    censorshipsucks
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Except dances with wolves, which I think was the first movie I saw that depicted native people in a sympathetic light.

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    #13

    T-Rex in Jurassic Park. The m**********r was just hungry.

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    Zoe Vokes
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I always thought the T-Rex was the hero of the film. He didn’t eat any of the “main characters” and saved them at the end by attacking the raptors.

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    #14

    Judas.
    Never really understood the whole betrayal thing. Jesus "Died to save us from himself" etc and Judas was instrumental in that process. He was an enabler. He let Jesus reach his full potential and should be hailed for the part he played.

    Still, glad I'm an atheist.

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    martin734
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I don't really get the whole " he died for us" think. Sure, he was technically executed on Friday but he was up and walking around again on Sunday. So really he just gave up his weekend for us.

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    #15

    30 Villains The Media Tried To Portray As Evil, But People Are Not Buying It Emily from Friends.

    The man she was about to marry suddenly says his ex's name at the altar. She had a right to be angry. They both made the mistake of not waiting longer to actually get married, but Emily should not have been seen as the villain.

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    ajaden avatar
    Amelia Jade
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    4 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I don't think anyone saw her as a villain until she began to make unreasonable demands. He's not allowed to keep his apartment, then be can't keep his furniture because Rachel touched it. Then he has to cut out his friend group because Rachel is there. Then she says she needs to know where he is at all times. She's controlling and unreasonable. We can understand why she's that way. But she takes it too far. If she'd just left him after the wedding and went on with her life, no one would think she was a villain.

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    #16

    The psychologist in What About Bob? The poor guy is trying to go on vacation with his family and a f*****g clinically insane person tries to tag along. If my wife tried to convince me to let him come, I would pull her aside and be like, "Girl, who is the psychologist here? THIS IS NOT HEALTHY OR PROFESSIONAL.".

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    Janos Schumacher
    Janos Schumacher
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    What I love about that movie is that Dr. Marvin's therapy, even the fake therapy, works. He does a brilliant job of bringing Bob out of his prison of fear and turns him into a functional adult.

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    #17

    30 Villains The Media Tried To Portray As Evil, But People Are Not Buying It I've always thought Magneto has been wrongly accused of being completely a villian. Sure he has done terrible things, but he is jewish and witnessed the holocaust as a young boy. Later he discovers his mutant powers and sees how fearful humans are of mutants. Can you really blame him? Even though his methods are extreme i think his overall goal is not letting two of his "people" wiped from the earth.

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    Anya Beboop
    Anya Beboop
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The problem is you have to ask do the ends justify the means? It's fine to have some sympathy for tragic villains, but maybe we shouldn't pretend everything they do is fine.

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    #18

    30 Villains The Media Tried To Portray As Evil, But People Are Not Buying It The boyfriend in Bee Movie. The only sane person in the movie.

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    #19

    30 Villains The Media Tried To Portray As Evil, But People Are Not Buying It The step-dad in Ant-Man, played by Bobby Cannavale, was also a great character. Yeah, he was a cop, but he wasn't a d**k. He cared for Cassie and wanted her to have a relationship with her real dad, but the real dad was a convict who was getting into some dangerous stuff. He was rightfully protective of her and was still willing to hear Scott's side of things instead of just assuming Scott is bad. There is a healthy respect between them.

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    Zoe Vokes
    Zoe Vokes
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I thought it was a really nice example of a healthy step father / daughter relationship in a marvel film. He wasn’t supposed to be the villain just because he’s married to Scott’s ex. He didn’t stop Scott from being in her life.

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    #20

    People who work in orphanages. I mean these people do highly important work for vulnerable children yet any movie set in a orphanage usually portrays the workers there as abusive sociopaths. I mean i get it, its a thing that happens but its really s******g on what i assume to be the majority of good people who work in these important facilities.

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    KatSaidWhat
    KatSaidWhat
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Mother Theresa being a notable exception - she really was a villain.

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    #21

    30 Villains The Media Tried To Portray As Evil, But People Are Not Buying It Teddy (the director of NASA) from The Martian. Everyone hates him because he makes hard decisions that seem to go against saving Mark. But the entire time, he's being practical and worrying about the rest of the crew and future missions. Literally, everyone else is laser-focused on Mark. Teddy is just making sure the organization survives the mission. That's why he's the director; he makes the hard, objective decisions.

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    #22

    The Trix Rabbit and the Lucky Charms Leprechaun. They just want some f*****g cereal!

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    naumanqureshi727 avatar
    Nauman
    Nauman
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Whenever I see the kids pop up on a Lucky Charms ad, my first thought is that they should go home and stop trying to steal cereal.

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    #23

    30 Villains The Media Tried To Portray As Evil, But People Are Not Buying It Donkey Kong in the original game. According to the manual, he was abused at the circus and escaped.

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    Kira Okah
    Kira Okah
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And kidnapped Pauline. Yes he was abused at the zoo and escaped, bt he very much kidnapped Pauline.

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    #24

    30 Villains The Media Tried To Portray As Evil, But People Are Not Buying It Skyler White from Breaking Bad. As a teenager, I rooted for Walt and found Skyler annoying. How dare she not support her lying d**g lord husband?!

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    Jack Burton
    Jack Burton
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I think that's the all point of Skyler White to make us feel annoyed. We want a d**g lord story and she is the reason, the reality check. Great writing and great acting.

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    #25

    General Hummel in the Rock.

    He wanted fallen soldiers under his command to be recognized for their sacrifices even though they were classified ops and for their families to be compensated like they would in normal circumstances. As he said, 'These men died for their country and they weren’t even given a go**amn military burial.'

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    KatSaidWhat
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Upvote because he was still fighting for his men and had no intention of using the VX.

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    #26

    30 Villains The Media Tried To Portray As Evil, But People Are Not Buying It Professor Severus Snape.

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    Kristal
    Kristal
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    No he was a freaking villain. Ask Neville. He treated everyone outside of Slytherin house poorly and preyed on weaker students. He would still be a death-eater if Lily was alive, he DID NOT CARE that James was killed or that Harry was going to be killed, he only cared about Lily and turned on Voldemort because Lily died. He chose to take his childhood trauma out on children during daily life. Anyone that chooses to dump cruelty on people, particularly the vulnerable, are NOT heros. I will die on this hill, Snape is a villain, he only cared about himself and his own feelings.

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    #27

    30 Villains The Media Tried To Portray As Evil, But People Are Not Buying It The landlord in "Rent." First of all, it was SUPER f*****g cool of him to let you live there for free for an entire YEAR - did you actually think that was going to last forever? Second just pay your f*****g rent you little brats.

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    Saddest_Lion
    Saddest_Lion
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    He supports/funds Mimi's heroin addiction, acting as her sugar daddy while his rich wife is at home... That seems at least a little villainous. The real villains in Rent are the AIDS epidemic, d***s, and capitalism

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    #28

    This is like the 5th thread ive done this on but Captain Hook is actually the goodguy in the original Peter Pan story. Captain Hook was just trying to save kids from Peter Pan who would k**l his kidnapped kids when they grew too old.

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    Vix Spiderthrust
    Vix Spiderthrust
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    In the stage version, Hook is always played by the same actor who plays Mr Darling (Jason Isaacs does this very well in one of the film versions).

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    #29

    30 Villains The Media Tried To Portray As Evil, But People Are Not Buying It Mojo Jojo. I mean c'mon man, half the time the Powerpuff Girls just busted into his tower, knocked his s**t out, then left and pretended that they did the city a huge service. Uh, no???? Y'all c***s just beat up a monkey for no reason, man. I mean he even tried to babysit y'all at one point.

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    virgilblue avatar
    Virgil Blue
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    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'm one episode it's shown that Mojo had always been kind of nasty and evil after he tries to gaslight everybody to see him as the victim.

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    #30

    30 Villains The Media Tried To Portray As Evil, But People Are Not Buying It Better Call Saul did a good bait and switch on Howard, first presenting him like he was a bad guy and the problem, but almost every time the plot turns around to Jimmy, Kim, and even Chuck, being these high-functioning but unstable personalities with Howard caught in the very unenviable position of trying to manage them while being forced to choose sides. Even the perspective that Howard was a jerk feels like a matter of perspective bias. He really only acted douchy when someone else escalated against him over very petty grievances and while Howard at first shot back in kind, by the end of the series he was the only one of the main characters who seemed to want to become a better person rather than continue downward spiraling. For which his reward was being sabotaged by Kim and Jimmy who wouldn't let things go, and then inadvertently k***ed through no real fault of his own.

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