Feeling Sympathetic for the Villain

Marvel and DC have a plethora of villains on their rosters, some of which are the most downright sadistic, blood-thirsty, and psychotic characters you will ever read about. However, there are some who stand out for the reason of having an origin story or moment in their career that you can't help but agree with them and on occasion, feel bad for them. These villains usually rank up high with the more sadistic ones when it comes to being memorable to fans of comics in any medium. The most classic examples of sympathetic villains are the Batman villains Mister Freeze and Harvey Dent a.k.a. Two-Face, The  Spider-man foe the Lizard, and the X-Men villain Magneto.

(The poster child of a tragic comic book villain)

When it comes to Mister Freeze, you have probably heard about or seen the Emmy-winning Batman: The Animated Series episode titled "Heart of Ice" in which we are introduced to the tragic character Victor Fries. Victor was a gifted cryogenic scientist who was happily married to his wife Nora Fries and worked at the large corporation known as GothCorp. Tragedy struck Victor and Nora when it was discovered Nora had a rare disease called McGregor's Disease which had no cure. Victor starts to use his vast resources in GothCorp to keep Nora in cryostasis while he looked for a cure. Sadly, Victor's boss Ferris Boyle found out and tried to shut down Victor's efforts, but in doing so Victor is exposed to cryo chemicals which transformed him into Mister Freeze. Batman eventually finds out the truth and gets Boyle sent to jail and Victor to Arkham Asylum. This episode was one of the few cartoons to make me physically cry and feel sympathetic towards a villain as I understood Victor's motivation as having a family is one of the most important things to have as they keep you sane and they are always there for you no matter what.

(Scientists trying to do good but of course, science and happiness don't mix)

Would you look at that another gifted scientist that somehow gets screwed over by fate. Doctor Curtis Connors is a scientist who was suffering from having one limb after losing it in a lab accident at Oscorp (why is it NormanOsborn and Oscorp are always the cause of something bad in Spider-Man's life?) and decided to take it upon himself to find a way to regenerate it not only out of selfish desire but to help people with missing limbs as well. Of course, it seems to work at first, but then the lizard DNA Curtis used in his serum took over and turned him into the Lizard. While Spider-Man has fought him several times and attempted to cure him, nothing ever seemed to stick and that's another aspect of Curtis's character that makes him all the more tragic.

(Good people never last long in Gotham do they?)

Poor, poor Harvey Dent. Harvey was a skilled lawyer in Gotham who had been dubbed "The White Knight" for obvious reasons. Harvey eventually bit off more than he could chew when he had a mobster on trial who then proceeded to throw acid at him, severely scarring his face. This awoke a split personality in Harvey who then rebranded himself as Two-Face whose motif was to flip a coin that decided what happened to the people he captured. Sometimes Harvey's face would be fixed with plastic surgery and everything would go back to normal for a brief time but Two-Face would resurface and it would all be for nothing. What makes Harvey a tragic character is that he was trying to do good in a city that takes good people and turns them into the worst versions of themselves and there's usually nothing that can be done to save them.

(You either agree with him, want to punch him in the face, or give him a hug)

Max Eisenhardt a.k.a. Magneto is Marvel's equivalent to Mister Freeze in terms of tragic villain backstories. Max was only a child when the Nazis took over and sent him, his mother, father, and sister to the Warsaw Ghetto where they were executed. Max was able to escape this fate, but was recaptured again and sent to the concentration camp Auschwitz. Max escaped during the October 7, 1944 uprising and fled to the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia with a Romani girl he fell in love with when he was younger named Magda while also changing his name to Magnus. Sadly, an angry mob would burn down Max and Magda's home after learning of Max's powers. This would result in their daughter Anya's death and caused Max to kill the angry mob and destroy part of the city. Because of this, Max became the villain Magneto who attacked humans who were prejudiced against mutants. After reading his story, I came to understand his motives and I felt incredibly sorry for him but at the same time, he had moments where he needed a beating for hurting innocent people who tried to be kind to mutants and protect them. I also understand and sympathize with wanting to protect people who are like you but are also hated by the public for the way they look or what they can do. 

All in all, these villains are the representation of tragic villains and why we sometimes find ourselves rooting for them against certain characters.