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* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** Loki from ''Film/{{Thor}}''. He was motivated by a combination of sibling rivalry with Thor, the desire to impress his father, personal ambition, and a messed up sense of duty towards Asgard. There is also a fair dose of self-loathing, [[spoiler: seeing as he found out that he was a Frost Giant and not an Asgardian.]] He is also portrayed as this in ''The Trials of Loki'' comic miniseries.
** The Winter Soldier from ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' [[spoiler:also known as "Bucky" Barnes, who has spent the past 70 years being tortured and [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] by HYDRA to become the ultimate assassin completely against his will.]] Despite being one of the most dangerous men on the planet, the scenes where he [[spoiler:starts to regain some memories]] makes him come across more like a kicked and abandoned puppy.
** [[Characters/MCUUltron Ultron]]. Unlike the comics where he's a CardCarryingVillain who [[{{Sadist}} relishes in the pain he causes]], this version is more sympathetic. Created by Tony and Bruce to become the suit of armour he puts around the world to protect it ("peace in our time" as Tony puts it), Ultron was quickly born on the internet, which caused him to absorb ''trillions of terabytes'' of information all at once, which drove him to madness and warped his viewpoint on humanity. Throughout the film, it's clear he's actually [[WellIntentionedExtremist attempting to fulfil the goal Tony and Bruce had for him,]] just in a completely insane way. Essentially, he's just a confused newborn tasked with an impossible mission, something he's aware of but cannot overcome.
** ''Film/BlackPanther2018'': Erik Stevens/Killmonger. The son of [[spoiler: younger brother N'Jobo]], his father was killed when his uncle killed him defending another Wakandan. Orphaned and alone, he ingrained his father's more radical/racial views of the world. He was a natural fighter, becoming a talented Black Ops officer and member of the US Navy SEALS, and could've chosen to walk into a different life, but his hatred and bitterness lead him to reach Wakanda in order to [[spoiler: kill his cousin to become the new king.]] He then had goals of using Wakandan power to start a new race war, something several people pointed out wouldn't necessarily end well for anyone. The ultimate tragedy is that ''none'' of this would've happened if his uncle had just chosen to bring him back to Wakanda. As T'Challa pointed out, "He is a monster of our own making". And even in death [[IDieFree managed to go out on his own terms]] to the disappointment of the Black Panther.
** Ghost from ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'': She is probably the straightest example of this trope in the entire MCU of an evil-doing woobie. In a childhood accident with her father's tech, Ava lost both her parents and gained powerful but unstable abilities that leave her in constant pain and are slowly phasing her out of reality, with the only end possibilities being death or worse. Honed by black ops missions for S.H.I.E.L.D. (or maybe HYDRA), she was cast out following its fall, barely getting by with her foster protector. Every single action she undertakes in the film, even as they grow increasingly heinous and brutal, is exclusively devoted to fixing her condition. All of the good guys recognize her as a victim of circumstance, [[spoiler: and she ultimately is allowed to leave in peace once they manage to heal her properly.]]
** [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Thanos]] himself also counts. [[spoiler: He saw firsthand that his species was on the brink of extinction and offered an ([[FinalSolution admittedly insane]]) solution. Ridiculed by his peers for this (and heavily implied to have been ostracized by his people due to his appearance), [[TheExtremistWasRight his prediction soon came to pass]] and he was left the SoleSurvivor of the Titan race. His main motivation seems to be a genuinely misguided attempt at [[WellIntentionedExtremist making the world more sustainable to save others from the fate his own planet suffered,]] as well as a desperate attempt to prove that was right and WASN'T mad.]] [[NothingPersonal He takes no personal satisfaction in the suffering he causes]] and his conquests ensure at least the chance of survival. There's a reason the whole "Thanos Did Nothing Wrong" campaign took off so quickly.
** Xu Wenwu AKA The Mandarin from ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings''. While he was a conqueror who spread terror and destruction, he wanted to renounce his life of crime when he met Ying Li, they gave birth to Shang-Chi and Xialing. However, his dark past came back as Wenwu's rivals came to their house and killed Ying Li. He was then manipulated by [[spoiler:[[EldritchAbomination the Dweller-In-Darkness]]]] by using Ying Li's voice as a means to use him to free itself from its prison in Ta Lo.
** [[spoiler:Ikaris]] from ''Film/{{Eternals}}'', while [[AntiVillain not truly evil]], [[spoiler:his [[FatalFlaw blind devotion to the Celestials, particularly Arishem,]] force him into keeping the AwfulTruth from [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes the woman he loves and his lifelong friends]] and ultimately drives him to kill Ajak. He betrays Sersi and the others when they try to stop the Convergence due to his fanatic devotion (again despite knowing the truth himself) and he nearly aids in bringing about Earth's destruction as a result. Ultimately, LoveRedeems and he helps the Eternals stop the Convergence just in time, but his unwavering guilt over his actions leads him to [[RedemptionEqualsDeath killing himself]] by [[MythologyGag flying into the Sun.]] Poor guy.]]
** All of the villains in ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' qualify as they carry their backstories with them from the previous movies. Peter even recognizes this and seeks to [[SaveTheVillain save them from their terrible fates.]] [[spoiler:Special mention must go to [[Characters/MCUGreenGoblin Norman Osborn,]] who is a flawed, but overall good man, but a very tortured soul constantly plagued by [[SplitPersonality the Goblin persona]], who forces him to do terrible things whenever he takes over. Norman is ultimately cured of the Goblin persona by Peter, but not before he wreaks havoc across NYC, destroys Happy's apartment complex, murders his beloved Aunt May and nearly succeeds in driving Peter to commit murder out of sheer rage. Norman may be free of the Goblin, but he has to spend the rest of his life living with the tremendous guilt of what he's done.]]
** [[spoiler:Scarlet Witch]] in ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness''. [[spoiler:Corrupted by the Darkhold and tormented with dreams of her children (which turn out to be visions of realities where they're still alive), she discovers America Chavez has the power to travel the multiverse and begins to use her power to try and capture her. When Doctor Strange rescues her and tries to stop Wanda, she resorts to dreamwalking which is described as "corroding to the soul", turning her even more insane and cruel, even going as far as to possess one of her own variants and [[WouldHurtAChild tries to kill America to absorb her power]] in order to fulfil her goal. In the end, she realizes that while her children may exist, they aren't in her universe and she abandons her goals, [[HeroicSacrifice destroying the Darkhold (and possibly herself) to atone.]] Strange and America can't help but sympathize with her; all she ever wanted was to be with her children again.]]
** Gorr the God Butcher from ''Film/ThorLoveAndThunder'' is a classic example. [[spoiler:Originally a devout family man and disciple who worshipped the god Rapu, his homeland fell victim to a terrible famine (that's heavily implied to have killed all of his people), despite his constant prayers for aid. After his beloved daughter's death by hunger, he miraculously stumbled upon Rapu and his other deities, only to find them mocking his suffering and revealing they heard everyone's prayers (including his own), but simply didn't care and saw mortals as nothing more than toys to play with. Overcome with grief, rage and his [[FaithHeelTurn faith completely broken]] by the very gods he once revered, the Necrosword ensnared him and granted him immense power, but cursed him with a terrible corruption that [[SanitySlippage eroded his mind]] and will someday kill him. With nothing left to live for and his rage fueled by the ancient weapon, Gorr devoted his life to killing gods all across the Nine Realms so that no one may be used as he was by them ever again.]]
** Loki from ''Film/{{Thor}}''. He was motivated by a combination of sibling rivalry with Thor, the desire to impress his father, personal ambition, and a messed up sense of duty towards Asgard. There is also a fair dose of self-loathing, [[spoiler: seeing as he found out that he was a Frost Giant and not an Asgardian.]] He is also portrayed as this in ''The Trials of Loki'' comic miniseries.
** The Winter Soldier from ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' [[spoiler:also known as "Bucky" Barnes, who has spent the past 70 years being tortured and [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] by HYDRA to become the ultimate assassin completely against his will.]] Despite being one of the most dangerous men on the planet, the scenes where he [[spoiler:starts to regain some memories]] makes him come across more like a kicked and abandoned puppy.
** [[Characters/MCUUltron Ultron]]. Unlike the comics where he's a CardCarryingVillain who [[{{Sadist}} relishes in the pain he causes]], this version is more sympathetic. Created by Tony and Bruce to become the suit of armour he puts around the world to protect it ("peace in our time" as Tony puts it), Ultron was quickly born on the internet, which caused him to absorb ''trillions of terabytes'' of information all at once, which drove him to madness and warped his viewpoint on humanity. Throughout the film, it's clear he's actually [[WellIntentionedExtremist attempting to fulfil the goal Tony and Bruce had for him,]] just in a completely insane way. Essentially, he's just a confused newborn tasked with an impossible mission, something he's aware of but cannot overcome.
** ''Film/BlackPanther2018'': Erik Stevens/Killmonger. The son of [[spoiler: younger brother N'Jobo]], his father was killed when his uncle killed him defending another Wakandan. Orphaned and alone, he ingrained his father's more radical/racial views of the world. He was a natural fighter, becoming a talented Black Ops officer and member of the US Navy SEALS, and could've chosen to walk into a different life, but his hatred and bitterness lead him to reach Wakanda in order to [[spoiler: kill his cousin to become the new king.]] He then had goals of using Wakandan power to start a new race war, something several people pointed out wouldn't necessarily end well for anyone. The ultimate tragedy is that ''none'' of this would've happened if his uncle had just chosen to bring him back to Wakanda. As T'Challa pointed out, "He is a monster of our own making". And even in death [[IDieFree managed to go out on his own terms]] to the disappointment of the Black Panther.
** Ghost from ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'': She is probably the straightest example of this trope in the entire MCU of an evil-doing woobie. In a childhood accident with her father's tech, Ava lost both her parents and gained powerful but unstable abilities that leave her in constant pain and are slowly phasing her out of reality, with the only end possibilities being death or worse. Honed by black ops missions for S.H.I.E.L.D. (or maybe HYDRA), she was cast out following its fall, barely getting by with her foster protector. Every single action she undertakes in the film, even as they grow increasingly heinous and brutal, is exclusively devoted to fixing her condition. All of the good guys recognize her as a victim of circumstance, [[spoiler: and she ultimately is allowed to leave in peace once they manage to heal her properly.]]
** [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Thanos]] himself also counts. [[spoiler: He saw firsthand that his species was on the brink of extinction and offered an ([[FinalSolution admittedly insane]]) solution. Ridiculed by his peers for this (and heavily implied to have been ostracized by his people due to his appearance), [[TheExtremistWasRight his prediction soon came to pass]] and he was left the SoleSurvivor of the Titan race. His main motivation seems to be a genuinely misguided attempt at [[WellIntentionedExtremist making the world more sustainable to save others from the fate his own planet suffered,]] as well as a desperate attempt to prove that was right and WASN'T mad.]] [[NothingPersonal He takes no personal satisfaction in the suffering he causes]] and his conquests ensure at least the chance of survival. There's a reason the whole "Thanos Did Nothing Wrong" campaign took off so quickly.
** Xu Wenwu AKA The Mandarin from ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings''. While he was a conqueror who spread terror and destruction, he wanted to renounce his life of crime when he met Ying Li, they gave birth to Shang-Chi and Xialing. However, his dark past came back as Wenwu's rivals came to their house and killed Ying Li. He was then manipulated by [[spoiler:[[EldritchAbomination the Dweller-In-Darkness]]]] by using Ying Li's voice as a means to use him to free itself from its prison in Ta Lo.
** [[spoiler:Ikaris]] from ''Film/{{Eternals}}'', while [[AntiVillain not truly evil]], [[spoiler:his [[FatalFlaw blind devotion to the Celestials, particularly Arishem,]] force him into keeping the AwfulTruth from [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes the woman he loves and his lifelong friends]] and ultimately drives him to kill Ajak. He betrays Sersi and the others when they try to stop the Convergence due to his fanatic devotion (again despite knowing the truth himself) and he nearly aids in bringing about Earth's destruction as a result. Ultimately, LoveRedeems and he helps the Eternals stop the Convergence just in time, but his unwavering guilt over his actions leads him to [[RedemptionEqualsDeath killing himself]] by [[MythologyGag flying into the Sun.]] Poor guy.]]
** All of the villains in ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' qualify as they carry their backstories with them from the previous movies. Peter even recognizes this and seeks to [[SaveTheVillain save them from their terrible fates.]] [[spoiler:Special mention must go to [[Characters/MCUGreenGoblin Norman Osborn,]] who is a flawed, but overall good man, but a very tortured soul constantly plagued by [[SplitPersonality the Goblin persona]], who forces him to do terrible things whenever he takes over. Norman is ultimately cured of the Goblin persona by Peter, but not before he wreaks havoc across NYC, destroys Happy's apartment complex, murders his beloved Aunt May and nearly succeeds in driving Peter to commit murder out of sheer rage. Norman may be free of the Goblin, but he has to spend the rest of his life living with the tremendous guilt of what he's done.]]
** [[spoiler:Scarlet Witch]] in ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness''. [[spoiler:Corrupted by the Darkhold and tormented with dreams of her children (which turn out to be visions of realities where they're still alive), she discovers America Chavez has the power to travel the multiverse and begins to use her power to try and capture her. When Doctor Strange rescues her and tries to stop Wanda, she resorts to dreamwalking which is described as "corroding to the soul", turning her even more insane and cruel, even going as far as to possess one of her own variants and [[WouldHurtAChild tries to kill America to absorb her power]] in order to fulfil her goal. In the end, she realizes that while her children may exist, they aren't in her universe and she abandons her goals, [[HeroicSacrifice destroying the Darkhold (and possibly herself) to atone.]] Strange and America can't help but sympathize with her; all she ever wanted was to be with her children again.]]
** Gorr the God Butcher from ''Film/ThorLoveAndThunder'' is a classic example. [[spoiler:Originally a devout family man and disciple who worshipped the god Rapu, his homeland fell victim to a terrible famine (that's heavily implied to have killed all of his people), despite his constant prayers for aid. After his beloved daughter's death by hunger, he miraculously stumbled upon Rapu and his other deities, only to find them mocking his suffering and revealing they heard everyone's prayers (including his own), but simply didn't care and saw mortals as nothing more than toys to play with. Overcome with grief, rage and his [[FaithHeelTurn faith completely broken]] by the very gods he once revered, the Necrosword ensnared him and granted him immense power, but cursed him with a terrible corruption that [[SanitySlippage eroded his mind]] and will someday kill him. With nothing left to live for and his rage fueled by the ancient weapon, Gorr devoted his life to killing gods all across the Nine Realms so that no one may be used as he was by them ever again.]]
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* Santana from ''Film/BloodInBloodOut'' is the spokesperson of the La Onda gang. He wants to use their influence to help the Latino community but they lose influence because the other gangs sell drugs, which he does not allow. When he refuses to fight back after one of their members who sold drugs is killed I(he in fact orders the death of the guy's brother to placate a rival gang), Magic and Miklo have him killed and turn him into an InspirationalMartyr instead.
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* Santana Montana from ''Film/BloodInBloodOut'' is the spokesperson of the La Onda gang. He wants to use their influence to help the Latino community but they lose influence because the other gangs sell drugs, which he does not allow. When he refuses to fight back after one of their members who sold drugs is killed I(he in fact orders the death of the guy's brother to placate a rival gang), Magic and Miklo have him killed and turn him into an InspirationalMartyr instead.
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* Santana from ''Film/BloodInBloodOut'' is the spokesperson of the La Onda gang. He wants to use their influence to help the Latino community but they lose influence because the other gangs sell drugs, which he does not allow. When he refuses to fight back after one of their members who sold drugs is killed I(he in fact orders the death of the guy's brother to placate a rival gang), Magic and Miklo have him killed and turn him into an InspirationalMartyr instead.
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* Ray Finkle [[spoiler:a.k.a. Lois Einhorn]] from ''Film/AceVentura: Pet Detective''. He simply missed a 26-yard field goal that cost the Miami Dolphins a Super Bowl game, but it caused him to lose his place on the team and vilified him in his hometown, enough for him to blame the whole thing on quarterback Dan Marino and plot to kidnap him and the team's mascot for revenge years later. As Ace himself said, "Poor guy with a motive, baby."
* ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries'':
** Dr. Connors in ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan''. After losing his right arm, he tries to develop a cure that will make him regain the limb as well as cure every illness on earth. He only [[ProfessorGuineaPig injects himself with it]] after his superiors threaten to [[PlayingWithSyringes use unwitting war veterans as human trials]]. It is his willingness to spare them the pain as well as his desire to simply be whole again that directly causes his FaceMonsterTurn.
** ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'':
*** Harry Osborn/[[spoiler:Green Goblin]], played by [=Dane DeHaan=]. He was neglected and belittled by his obsessed, sickly father Norman and on top of that, inherits his own fatal disease. He begs Peter to help him get Spidey's blood in order to synthesize a cure. Peter suggests things could turn worse and tells him this as Spidey too, but Harry is desperate for anything that will save him, even if it kills him. When he finally does get the blood, since it's [[spoiler:designed with Richard Parker's blood and thus why it only worked on Peter and failed with everyone else]], it turns him into [[spoiler:Green Goblin]] and he blames Peter/Spidey even more, especially when finding out about his dual identities. While what he wants throughout the movie makes him identifiable and understandable, it doesn't make [[spoiler: [[MoralEventHorizon causing Gwen's death]]]] easily forgivable.
*** Max Dillon/Electro. Abandoned and mistreated by nearly everyone (even his own mother who fails to remember his own birthday and interprets his humming hint as annoying singing in a deleted scene) and with just Spidey giving him encouragement, he got into an accident involving electric eels, and everyone either ignores him or treats him as a true menace (unlike Spidey who this time around is more accepted by the public), so he decides to lash out to humanity for all their mistreatment to him.
* ''Film/AmericanMe'': Montoya Santana, a Mexican gang leader, is portrayed mostly as a product of his environment. He was the product of rape himself, became acquainted with youth gangs in his neighborhood, was sent to Juvie where he was raped, murdered his attacker only to be convicted of murder, and has had to remain the top dog ever since simply to survive.
* The titular vampire of ''Film/{{Blacula}}''. Once an African prince, the evil Dracula turned him into a vampire, sealed him in a coffin to starve for two hundred years, and killed his wife. Blacula hates being a vampire and is shown to feel remorse for his actions. Blacula only feeds on people because of his hunger, and clearly regrets it. At the end of the film, he ends up being DrivenToSuicide.
* ''Film/TheBatman2022'': The Riddler is something of this. He is a cruel, hateful, deranged SerialKiller... but he only became that way because of his ''awful'' upbringing as an impoverished, mistreated orphan, neglected and abandoned by society due to Gotham's deep-seated corruption. He developed his obsession with riddles as a coping mechanism for his emotional trauma, and his killing spree in killing Gotham's officials is motivated both by revenge for his own suffering and out of a genuine desire to save others from what he went through. At the end of the day, for all his vile acts, he comes across as a sad, angry, resentful, traumatized child in a man's body.
* In ''Film/Barbie2023'', [[spoiler:Ken ends up becoming the BigBad and instigating a rebellion in Barbieland's [[{{matriarchy}} matriarchal society]] after [[RefugeeFromTVLand experiencing the real world]] and being seen as an individual for the first time in his life rather than just another Ken. He DesperatelyCravesAffection as a result of a lifetime of being ignored, and when [[DoggedNiceGuy Barbie rejected him]] he saw no other option but to take the power he was denied. In the end, Barbie manages to [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath talk him down]] with a YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre speech teaching him that he didn't need her to be happy]].
* ''Film/BladeII'': Jared Nomak is ultimately this. He's patient zero of the Reaper Strain outbreak and he's indifferent about the Strain's propagation despite the immense threat it could pose to the world, but he's in perpetual pain from his state and he didn't choose to be this way -- it was thrust upon him by [[spoiler:his own father]]. At the end of the day, he just wants revenge on [[spoiler:his father]] for what the latter did to him, and after he accomplishes that, he's happy to die at the end of his duel with Blade when he realizes death will finally free him from his agony.
* Roy Batty in ''Film/BladeRunner'' murders several people in a fit of rage, including his creator Dr. Eldon Tyrell. His anger is largely driven by the fact that he, as a synthetic android who is more intelligent and stronger than most humans, was engineered to be a slave and to live a short lifespan of only four years.
* ''Film/BlueBeetle2023'': [[spoiler:Carapax had his [[MissingMom mom killed]] by a bomb from Kord Industries, and then [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Victoria]] [[BigBad Kord]] took him in as a [[ChildSoldiers child soldier]], experimented on him, and turned him into her weapon, with the intent of eventually replacing him once he's no longer of use to her.]]
* The ''Film/{{Candyman}}''. After falling in love with a white woman, he was tortured and killed by her father and the cruel villagers, who cut off his hand, covered him in honey, and let him get stung to death by bees. Lessened in that after his death, he returns to kill innocent people unrelated to his death, even going as far as to target babies.
* Kitty Galore from ''Film/CatsAndDogs 2''. A FallenHero, she was once an agent of a secret organization that fought for the rights of both cats and dogs. On one of her assignments, she was investigating a chemical plant. A dog scared her and made her fall into a vat of chemicals. She lost all her fur, was ridiculed by her fellow agents, and upon returning home, her owners threw her out on Christmas of all times.
* Etain of ''{{Film/Centurion}}''. A victim of the Roman invasion of Britain, her entire family were slaughtered, her mother was also raped, she herself was then raped and finally had her tongue cut out. When Virilus hears this, he can only hang his head in shame over what his army is responsible for. When she kills him, the revenge brings her no satisfaction and all she can do is scream. She still pursues innocent Roman soldiers who are literally just trying to get home, none of whom know that their comrade killed a Pict child. She's also not shown to treat her own people any better - given her antagonistic treatment towards Arianne (and an early draft of the script would have Etain as the one who scarred Arianne's face). [[spoiler: Her death at the hands of Quintus is likewise played tragically, showing she was just as much a victim of this conflict as anyone else]].
%%* Andrew Detmer from ''Film/{{Chronicle}}'', played by [=Dane DeHaan=].
* Nancy of ''Film/TheCraft''. She comes from poverty, living in a trailer park with an alcoholic mother and a stepfather who's implied to be abusive. She's also an outcast at school who possibly felt something for JerkJock Chris Hooker - who either slept with her or lied that he did and spread SlutShaming rumors about her. She actually starts off relatively friendly to Sarah, merely enthusiastic about witchcraft as a counterculture movement. While she murders her stepfather, it's in retaliation to him hitting her mother and [[spoiler: her murder of Chris]] is partly motivated by [[spoiler: a spell that led to him nearly raping Sarah]]. Even her psychological torment of Sarah is brought on by the latter wanting to end their friendship. [[spoiler: Her final fate is to be committed to an asylum, delusional about the powers she no longer has]].
* Bane from ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' was trapped in a HellholePrison where he got really messed up. Same for [[spoiler:Talia because of her upbringing]].
* ''Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes'': Koba, the traitorous bonobo, is one. As shown in the official prequel novel, ''Firestorm'', he started out as an innocent, friendly, compassionate ape who would have never harmed anyone, but the tragic loss of his beloved mother and years of neglect, abuse and torture at the hands of humans left him forever scarred, inside and out, and incapable of feeling anything but fear, anger and hatred towards humans. Despite his troubled past, Koba is genuinely grateful to Caesar when the latter frees him from captivity. Because of that gratitude, in the 10 years between Rise and Dawn, Koba is one of Caesar's most trusted lieutenants, and he genuinely cares for his leader and his fellow apes. Unfortunately, when human survivors living in San Francisco stumbles upon the colony, Koba's fear and hatred of humans is reawakened. When Caesar decides to work with the humans for the sake of peace, Koba cannot not understand or accept that, because unlike Caesar he has no reason to believe that any human can be good. As a result, Koba's fear and anger begins to outweigh his love for apes. Eventually, Koba falls so deep into madness that he is willing to kill and imprison apes that get in his way, as he feels they've betrayed their own kind by having sympathy for the humans. By the end of the movie, Caesar puts Koba down with a heavy heart.
* ''Film/{{Dogma}}'': Bartleby, one of two exiled angels, goes from a morally grey AntiHero to this, JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope when he learns that someone's been sent to kill the pair of them to prevent them from reentering Heaven, furiously lamenting how his kind was reduced to servants, banished from Heaven for one misdemeanor, while humanity received free will and infinite patience from the Lord. He's undoubtedly villainous after that point, but definitely tragic. He [[VillainousBreakdown breaks down]] in TearsOfRemorse when he meets God again.
* ''Film/DontBreathe'': [[AllThereInTheManual Norman Nordstrom]] was a [[FallenHero war hero]] who lost his sight in battle, and whose daughter was run over and killed by a careless motorist who got off because of Affluenza. Enraged, he decided to kidnap her and keep her trapped in his basement so he could forcefully impregnate her to get a new child.
* Deleted scenes from ''Film/EmpireRecords'' reveal Rex Manning to be this. He is a genuinely talented artist but he sold out and now he can't perform the music he wants. His attempt at redemption by joining in the rooftop concert in the climax [[HeelFaceDoorSlam ends with him getting arrested]].
* VillainProtagonist Bill Foster of ''Film/FallingDown'' was a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] StandardFiftiesFather trying to adapt to life in TheNineties, but his HairTriggerTemper and mental instability alienated his loved ones with him losing his job to boot. He starts out as a WorkingClassHero, with his [[AngryWhiteMan rage-induced stunts]] toward the various {{Asshole Victim}}s he encounters providing some satisfying wish-fulfillment for the audience, but this only serves to worsen his emotional instability with a simple errand escalating into a GoingPostal rampage. By the end of his ProtagonistJourneyToVillain, he's horrified by his HeelRealization [[spoiler:and commits SuicideByCop [[RedemptionEqualsDeath so his family could at least benefit from the insurance payout]]]].
* Dr. Seth Brundle in ''Film/TheFly1986'' overlaps with TragicMonster. In a fit of misplaced jealousy involving his lover Veronica, he gets drunk and decides to jump ahead to the conclusion of his teleportation experiments and become ProfessorGuineaPig, unaware there's a housefly in the transmitter pod with him at the time. Undergoing a SlowTransformation into a HalfHumanHybrid of man and insect, he comes to realize that because NatureIsNotNice he's doomed to become as monstrous within as he is without, and even Veronica won't be safe. When he finds out she is pregnant with his child but does not intend to keep it, his human heartache and inhuman survival instinct drive him to [[spoiler: kidnap her and attempt to genetically fuse her and the fetus with him]].
* ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'':
** Pamela, the mother of the infamous Jason Voorhees. A prequel comic shows that she gave birth to Jason as a teenager, and suffered much spousal abuse from husband Elias. She eventually murdered him and struggled to raise her disabled son on her own, which eventually led to his fatal drowning at Camp Crystal Lake. Losing her only family pushed her over the edge, and she went on a killing spree to ensure no child ever has to go through what Jason did.
** Jason himself. Born deformed and mentally retarded and bullied for it. The only person who showed him any kindness was his mother. He nearly drowned in Crystal Lake after being pushed in by cruel children, who laughed as he struggled in the water, and decided to go into hiding because so many people hated him and he wanted to be left alone. He saw his mother, the only person who cared for him, get killed, and decided to kill anyone who entered Camp Crystal Lake, wanting to be left in peace.
* ''Franchise/TheGodfather'':
** Don Vito fled to America after a mafia lord killed his family, only to become one himself.
** Fredo Corleone is seen as the family screwup and tries but fails to be taken seriously. His need for validation causes him to betray Michael. He is at first exiled but then allowed to come back after the death of their mother but it was just a ruse allowing him to be killed.
** Michael Corleone starts as an independent-minded [[FallenHero War Hero]], but he is dragged into mob life to protect his father and his family. He fought his enemies with cold ruthlessness for years while he struggles to achieve legitimacy, and by the time he gets there, he admits that it's too late and that he is too tired and past redemption, and [[PassingTheTorch passes the torch]] to a new Don.
* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'':
** The original 1954 film ''[[Film/{{Godzilla 1954}} Gojira]]'' showed that the title character was as much a victim of the atomic bomb as everyone else. Nuclear testing destroyed his home, killed his family, and mutilated his body, and inevitably he emerged to retaliate against the humans who unknowingly took everything from him.
** The [[Characters/MonsterVerseMUTO MUTOs]] in ''Film/Godzilla2014'', though completely apathetic to the harm they cause to humanity, are ultimately [[NonMaliciousMonster Non-Malicious Monsters]] who just want to mate and start a family. The problem is, they're dai{{kaiju}} {{explosive breeder}}s who produce hundreds of eggs at a time, to say nothing of their {{EMP}} abilities with a miles-wide range; meaning that if they flood the world with a new generation of their species, it'll spell the almost-certain end of human civilization and a new mass extinction, so they have to be destroyed for the world's sake. The necessity of obliterating them doesn't make the [[MamaBear female MUTO]]'s HowlOfSorrow any less horrible to hear when her unborn eggs go up in a fireball.
* Vernon Paris in ''HandsOfAStranger'' was a talented pianist and he certainly didn't ask for a car accident that cost him his hands, they were replaced with transplants of a prior murder victim, costing him his ability to play but makes him quite effective at killing others.
* Peyton Flanders in ''Film/TheHandThatRocksTheCradle'' didn't exactly plan to marry and start a family with a scumbag who ended up killing himself after his crimes were exposed, and the stress from this big revelation (not to mention losing her home to the lawsuits) also caused her to miscarry AND lose the ability to have any future children. It's no wonder she goes insane and sets out to ruin the life of the woman who exposed him.
* The VillainProtagonist of ''The Headless Eyes'', a burglar who loses his eye in the very first scene and slowly loses his mind as well, winds up becoming this by the end of the film, to the point where even after everything he's done in the course of the film, the audience still feels sorry for him as [[spoiler:he freezes to death in a meat freezer without ever having found a real solution to his eye problem]].
* Gruagach from ''Film/Hellboy2019''. As a changeling that was used by fairies to replace a human child they abducted ([[spoiler:Alice, actually]]), his only "crime" was, well, being what he is. He hadn't actually done anything villainous by the time Hellboy came for him except weird out his adoptive parents with some unspecified behavior. One can't really fault him for wanting revenge on Hellboy, although the depths he stoops to in order to accomplish this squarely put him into villain territory.
* ''Film/TheHobbit'': [[spoiler:Thranduil hates the dwarves because Thrór the Dwarf-king spitefully kept a memento of his beloved wife from him.]]
* The "monster" of ''Film/HomeSweetHome2005'' turns out to be Yim-Hung, a perfectly normal human woman who, during a mass eviction project years ago, lose her home, and later her family when her husband and son died in two separate accidents. She ends up lurking in the basement of a newly-developed apartment block as a monster from urban legends, who is willing to kidnap protagonist May's only child to replace her dead son.
* Freya of ''Film/TheHuntsmanWintersWar''. Once a benevolent princess who simply wanted to have a child with the man she loved, she found the child apparently murdered by his father - and so kidnapped hundreds of other children who undergo TrainingFromHell to become ChildSoldiers forbidden to love. It later turns out [[spoiler: her sister was responsible for her child's death, meaning Freya was entirely a victim of Ravenna's meddling. She sacrifices herself to allow the protagonists to live]].
* In ''Film/{{Inception}}'', Mal really has no choice about being a psychotic, murderous, obsessed FemmeFatale. She just wants to be with Cobb forever, but the villainous Mal in Cobb's dreams isn't even his real wife, but a shade of the dead woman he can't bear to forget. [[spoiler:The dead Mal herself was accidentally brainwashed by Cobb, but inadvertently became so obsessed with the notion of her world not being real that she killed herself and framed Cobb for it. All out of love.]]
* While usually many ''Film/JamesBond'' villains tend to avoid this trope, being pure evil and lack of redeeming qualities, there are a few exceptions.
** Alec Trevelyan/Janus from ''Film/GoldenEye''. He wants revenge on the British government after it betrayed his parents, Lienz Cossacks, and sent them back to the USSR where Joseph Stalin had them all executed. Though Trevelyan and his family manage to escape the execution, Trevelyan's father was ashamed to have liven his life as a Lienz Cossack, and he purposely killed Trevelyan's mother and himself out of survivor's guilt.
** [[spoiler:Elektra King]] from ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough''. [[spoiler:She was kidnapped by the terrorist Renard and held for ransom, which her father refused to pay on the advice of M. Embittered by what she saw as her father's betrayal, she participated in Renard's scheme to milk money from her father.]]
** Raoul Silva from ''Film/{{Skyfall}}''. He was turned over to the Chinese in exchange for four other agents. They tortured him, but he refused to give up his secrets. Upon learning it was M that gave him up, he tried to commit suicide, but the cyanide didn't work, and left him disfigured.
** As evil as Lyutsifer Safin is in ''Film/NoTimeToDie'', it's hard not to sympathize with his backstory, having lost his entire family to Blofeld's machinations and was left for dead as a child, having nothing to motivate him but revenge. He was a victim of Blofeld's sociopathy just as much as Bond.
* Arthur Fleck from ''Film/Joker2019'' was a mentally ill, impoverished clown living in Gotham who only ever wanted to be admired and noticed. By the end of the story, ''nobody'' cares about him... only about the sick persona he gradually built up around himself. [[ThenLetMeBeEvil So that's what he goes with.]]
* ''Film/JudgmentAtNuremberg'': The concept itself is a major plot point, as it explores how the German people could be complicit in UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust. [[AmoralAttorney Hans Rolfe]] argues that [[ThoseWackyNazis Ernst]] [[HangingJudge Janning]], a once respectable jurist and legal expert, committed the crimes he did [[MyCountryRightOrWrong out of a sense of duty]] [[InherentInTheSystem to a system that encouraged it]]. Judge Haywood does agree with Rolfe to a point- Janning was a tragic figure. But his defeat does not excuse him from the crimes against humanity he committed. The tragedy is that a respectable human being can be easily manipulated into committing mass murder.
* Lucian Carr from ''Film/KillYourDarlings'' has the distinct ability to manipulate both the characters in the film and the audience into pitying him. Furthered by the revelation that he met David Kammerer, [[spoiler:who he kills at the climax of the movie]], when he was just 14 and had been stalked by him ever since.
* ''Film/KongSkullIsland'': [[Characters/MonsterVerseSkullIslandExpedition Preston Packard]], a lieutenant colonel who is heartbroken at the Vietnam War's conclusion because he feels it meant he and his comrades bled and died all for nothing, eagerly accepts a freelance job to Skull Island without knowing what he and his men will be getting into. Upon arrival, Kong, incensed by the expedition's carpet-bombing of his home which bloodies the mundane wildlife, attacks and he massacres dozens of Packard's [[AFatherToHisMen beloved troops]]. As the movie goes on, Packard's resulting obsession with killing Kong, who he's understandably now singled out as a substitute for the Viet Cong in his mindset, [[SanitySlippage consumes his honor and sanity]] to the point where he risks all the remaining people, his surviving men included, trying to kill Kong himself instead of prioritizing rescue. By the time that Packard dies by Kong's hand, ''everyone'', including soldiers who would've loyally followed him to the tenth circle of hell at the start of this movie, have abandoned him upon seeing how he's fallen.
* Clyde Shelton of ''Film/LawAbidingCitizen''. His wife and daughter were killed in a robbery, and the more guilty robber got a slap on the wrist while the less guilty one got sentenced to death. Infuriated with the justice system, Clyde set out to destroy it, causing the deaths of hundreds of innocents in the process. Even after everything he has done, it is hard not to feel sorry for him.
* Hans Beckert of ''Film/{{M}}'' doesn't want to murder children, but just feels compelled to do so. His [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvxBvqvuY7I speech]] at the end (wherein he calls out the Mob hunting him down on their ruthlessness) reveals just how [[ReluctantPsycho tortured and screwed up he really feels]].
* ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'' tells the story of Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of the villain of the original story, Maleficent, who seeks vengeance after her fairy wings are taken.
* Mama/[[spoiler:Edith]] in ''Film/{{Mama}}''. In the film, due to her mentality, her baby was taken from her, and she went through extreme measures to get her child back. She then commits suicide by jumping off a cliff and her baby ends up on the branch while she lands into the water. It's implied that she doesn't even know where her lost child is. She also kills and threatens people who she thinks wants to harm Victoria and Lily. All she ever wanted was to be a good mother.
* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** Loki from ''Film/{{Thor}}''. He was motivated by a combination of sibling rivalry with Thor, the desire to impress his father, personal ambition, and a messed up sense of duty towards Asgard. There is also a fair dose of self-loathing, [[spoiler: seeing as he found out that he was a Frost Giant and not an Asgardian.]] He is also portrayed as this in ''The Trials of Loki'' comic miniseries.
** The Winter Soldier from ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' [[spoiler:also known as "Bucky" Barnes, who has spent the past 70 years being tortured and [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] by HYDRA to become the ultimate assassin completely against his will.]] Despite being one of the most dangerous men on the planet, the scenes where he [[spoiler:starts to regain some memories]] makes him come across more like a kicked and abandoned puppy.
** [[Characters/MCUUltron Ultron]]. Unlike the comics where he's a CardCarryingVillain who [[{{Sadist}} relishes in the pain he causes]], this version is more sympathetic. Created by Tony and Bruce to become the suit of armour he puts around the world to protect it ("peace in our time" as Tony puts it), Ultron was quickly born on the internet, which caused him to absorb ''trillions of terabytes'' of information all at once, which drove him to madness and warped his viewpoint on humanity. Throughout the film, it's clear he's actually [[WellIntentionedExtremist attempting to fulfil the goal Tony and Bruce had for him,]] just in a completely insane way. Essentially, he's just a confused newborn tasked with an impossible mission, something he's aware of but cannot overcome.
** ''Film/BlackPanther2018'': Erik Stevens/Killmonger. The son of [[spoiler: younger brother N'Jobo]], his father was killed when his uncle killed him defending another Wakandan. Orphaned and alone, he ingrained his father's more radical/racial views of the world. He was a natural fighter, becoming a talented Black Ops officer and member of the US Navy SEALS, and could've chosen to walk into a different life, but his hatred and bitterness lead him to reach Wakanda in order to [[spoiler: kill his cousin to become the new king.]] He then had goals of using Wakandan power to start a new race war, something several people pointed out wouldn't necessarily end well for anyone. The ultimate tragedy is that ''none'' of this would've happened if his uncle had just chosen to bring him back to Wakanda. As T'Challa pointed out, "He is a monster of our own making". And even in death [[IDieFree managed to go out on his own terms]] to the disappointment of the Black Panther.
** Ghost from ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'': She is probably the straightest example of this trope in the entire MCU of an evil-doing woobie. In a childhood accident with her father's tech, Ava lost both her parents and gained powerful but unstable abilities that leave her in constant pain and are slowly phasing her out of reality, with the only end possibilities being death or worse. Honed by black ops missions for S.H.I.E.L.D. (or maybe HYDRA), she was cast out following its fall, barely getting by with her foster protector. Every single action she undertakes in the film, even as they grow increasingly heinous and brutal, is exclusively devoted to fixing her condition. All of the good guys recognize her as a victim of circumstance, [[spoiler: and she ultimately is allowed to leave in peace once they manage to heal her properly.]]
** [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Thanos]] himself also counts. [[spoiler: He saw firsthand that his species was on the brink of extinction and offered an ([[FinalSolution admittedly insane]]) solution. Ridiculed by his peers for this (and heavily implied to have been ostracized by his people due to his appearance), [[TheExtremistWasRight his prediction soon came to pass]] and he was left the SoleSurvivor of the Titan race. His main motivation seems to be a genuinely misguided attempt at [[WellIntentionedExtremist making the world more sustainable to save others from the fate his own planet suffered,]] as well as a desperate attempt to prove that was right and WASN'T mad.]] [[NothingPersonal He takes no personal satisfaction in the suffering he causes]] and his conquests ensure at least the chance of survival. There's a reason the whole "Thanos Did Nothing Wrong" campaign took off so quickly.
** Xu Wenwu AKA The Mandarin from ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings''. While he was a conqueror who spread terror and destruction, he wanted to renounce his life of crime when he met Ying Li, they gave birth to Shang-Chi and Xialing. However, his dark past came back as Wenwu's rivals came to their house and killed Ying Li. He was then manipulated by [[spoiler:[[EldritchAbomination the Dweller-In-Darkness]]]] by using Ying Li's voice as a means to use him to free itself from its prison in Ta Lo.
** [[spoiler:Ikaris]] from ''Film/{{Eternals}}'', while [[AntiVillain not truly evil]], [[spoiler:his [[FatalFlaw blind devotion to the Celestials, particularly Arishem,]] force him into keeping the AwfulTruth from [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes the woman he loves and his lifelong friends]] and ultimately drives him to kill Ajak. He betrays Sersi and the others when they try to stop the Convergence due to his fanatic devotion (again despite knowing the truth himself) and he nearly aids in bringing about Earth's destruction as a result. Ultimately, LoveRedeems and he helps the Eternals stop the Convergence just in time, but his unwavering guilt over his actions leads him to [[RedemptionEqualsDeath killing himself]] by [[MythologyGag flying into the Sun.]] Poor guy.]]
** All of the villains in ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' qualify as they carry their backstories with them from the previous movies. Peter even recognizes this and seeks to [[SaveTheVillain save them from their terrible fates.]] [[spoiler:Special mention must go to [[Characters/MCUGreenGoblin Norman Osborn,]] who is a flawed, but overall good man, but a very tortured soul constantly plagued by [[SplitPersonality the Goblin persona]], who forces him to do terrible things whenever he takes over. Norman is ultimately cured of the Goblin persona by Peter, but not before he wreaks havoc across NYC, destroys Happy's apartment complex, murders his beloved Aunt May and nearly succeeds in driving Peter to commit murder out of sheer rage. Norman may be free of the Goblin, but he has to spend the rest of his life living with the tremendous guilt of what he's done.]]
** [[spoiler:Scarlet Witch]] in ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness''. [[spoiler:Corrupted by the Darkhold and tormented with dreams of her children (which turn out to be visions of realities where they're still alive), she discovers America Chavez has the power to travel the multiverse and begins to use her power to try and capture her. When Doctor Strange rescues her and tries to stop Wanda, she resorts to dreamwalking which is described as "corroding to the soul", turning her even more insane and cruel, even going as far as to possess one of her own variants and [[WouldHurtAChild tries to kill America to absorb her power]] in order to fulfil her goal. In the end, she realizes that while her children may exist, they aren't in her universe and she abandons her goals, [[HeroicSacrifice destroying the Darkhold (and possibly herself) to atone.]] Strange and America can't help but sympathize with her; all she ever wanted was to be with her children again.]]
** Gorr the God Butcher from ''Film/ThorLoveAndThunder'' is a classic example. [[spoiler:Originally a devout family man and disciple who worshipped the god Rapu, his homeland fell victim to a terrible famine (that's heavily implied to have killed all of his people), despite his constant prayers for aid. After his beloved daughter's death by hunger, he miraculously stumbled upon Rapu and his other deities, only to find them mocking his suffering and revealing they heard everyone's prayers (including his own), but simply didn't care and saw mortals as nothing more than toys to play with. Overcome with grief, rage and his [[FaithHeelTurn faith completely broken]] by the very gods he once revered, the Necrosword ensnared him and granted him immense power, but cursed him with a terrible corruption that [[SanitySlippage eroded his mind]] and will someday kill him. With nothing left to live for and his rage fueled by the ancient weapon, Gorr devoted his life to killing gods all across the Nine Realms so that no one may be used as he was by them ever again.]]
* ''Film/MrBrooks'': Brooks vehemently tries to overcome his addiction to murder, with occasional periods of success.
* ''Film/TheMummyTrilogy'': [[Characters/TheMummyTrilogy Imhotep]] from the first two movies is ultimately this. As cruel and callous as he is, what he wants most is [[LoveMakesYouEvil to be with his lover Anck-su-Namun forever]], and his original affair with Anck and subsequent efforts to resurrect her when circumstances beyond their control led to her death are what led to him [[AndIMustScream suffering unimaginably for 3,000 years and becoming the titular monster]]. 3,000 years of suffering out of obsession and devotion to her... and at the end of the second movie, Imhotep finds out it was all for nothing when Anck-su-Namun, despite her love for him, leaves him to die rather than risk dying herself a second time. Imhotep is so crushed by this that he allows the hordes of the Underworld to drag him off to hell.
* Korean cult classic ''Film/{{Oldboy|2003}}'' has [[spoiler: Woo-jin]], one of the most iconic examples of this trope in all of cinema: [[spoiler: He commits a number of serious atrocities throughout the film, including imprisoning the protagonist (Oh Dae-su) for 15 years, killing indiscriminately, manipulating and extorting all manner of people and worst of all, [[ParentalIncest hypnotises Dae-su into having sex with HIS OWN DAUGHTER.]] However, a look into his backstory reveals the AwfulTruth: he was once a more-or-less normal schoolboy who was in a sexual relationship [[BrotherSisterIncest with his own sister]]. Dae-su happened to walk in on them once and spread rumours about them (though he didn't know it was his sister he caught him with) and the resulting gossip caused him to become an outcast. Then his sister discovered she was pregnant (which he deluded himself into thinking was a "phantom" pregnancy), the disgrace of which drove her to committing suicide that Woo-jin wasn't able to save her from. Riddled with guilt and rage, he grew up to be a vengeful and cold man who brutally executed his revenge on Dae-su. Upon finally exacting his revenge, he realizes that VengeanceFeelsEmpty and now, with his goal accomplished and his grief over his lost sister never truly healing, he simply [[DrivenToSuicide stands in the elevator and shoots himself in the head.]]]]
* ''Film/OzTheGreatAndPowerful'' reveals that the Wicked Witch of the West came to be because [[spoiler:she was too naïve to realize that her sister was playing her and agreed to bite a magic apple that turned her into a merciless AxeCrazy villain]]. Oz is partly to blame for that, as [[spoiler:he flirted with Theodora like he does with any girl he meets, making it easy for Evanora to claim that Oz courted her too while showing pictures of Oz with Glinda]]. Even [[spoiler:Evanora]] is disturbed as to how AxeCrazy [[spoiler:her sister]] has become.
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'': Davy Jones falls into this category, since it was his love for Calypso and her betrayal that caused him to do the things he did, [[spoiler: including telling the pirates how to lock her in a human body]].
* ''Film/PromNight1980'': [[spoiler:Alex Hammond enacted a killing spree on the night of the prom because four (now grown) children [[YouKilledMyFather bullied his sister]] [[DestinationDefenestration out a window]], covered up the accident, and showed no remorse for what happened.]]
* General Hummell from ''Film/TheRock'' stole chemical weapons and took the city of San Francisco hostage unless reparations be paid to the families of his soldiers who he lead into a disastrous covert operation and were abandoned to die. [[spoiler:His plan was a bluff and his remaining soldiers killed him.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' franchise:
** John Kramer a.k.a. Jigsaw started out as a decent man, a loving husband and a soon to be father. His wife was mugged by one of her patients at the drug clinic she ran. She lost her child in a miscarriage during the mugging. The two went through a messy divorce and John later contacted cancer. It could've been caught earlier had his cranial X-ray not been accidentally mislabeled. His nephew also ended up dying in a motorcycle accident. After being denied health insurance and attempting suicide, John grew disgusted seeing people unappreciative of the gift of life he was being denied. He devoted himself to kidnapping people and placing them in life threatening situations to try and get them to appreciate life.
** His apprentice, Amanda Young, also counts. When she was a little girl, her father would lock her in a dark closet and keep her there for hours. In her adult life, she was framed for a drug crime she did not commit, and became an actual drug addict in prison. She was later kidnapped by Jigsaw and placed in a situation where she had to kill to save her own life. She came to see Jigsaw as a mentor and father figure, and became his apprentice. Even after her FaceHeelTurn she still had it pretty rough, being thrown into a pit of needles and almost being killed by Xavier Chavez. Finally, she was blackmailed by her rival apprentice Mark Hoffman.
* ''Film/{{Soldier}}'': Todd's nemesis [[TheDragon Caine 607]] is probably even more of a victim of the indoctrination of the future military as Todd himself is, as he was not only [[{{Tykebomb}} trained from birth to be a soldier]] like Todd himself but also genetically modified to be completely obedient. When Caine loses an eye in a fight with Todd and is dismissed by his commanding officer as almost useless now (being relegated to rear guard action from then on), there are strong parallels with Todd himself being dismissed as a relic.
* ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'':
** Dr. Octopus in ''Film/SpiderMan2'' is eaten up by guilt after a FreakLabAccident and is driven mad by the AI controlling his cybernetic arms.
** Almost there is ComicBook/NormanOsborn in ''Film/SpiderMan1'' (the Green Goblin [[GollumMadeMeDoIt personality ruins it]], complete with ISurrenderSuckers moment).
** And Eddie Brock in ''Film/SpiderMan3'' (could count if not for Venom being a CardCarryingVillain).
** The Sandman in ''Film/SpiderMan3'' never meant to kill Peter's uncle or cause trouble for anyone. All he wanted was to get enough money to save his little girl.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** An ''unsympathetic'' example is Khan Noonien Singh in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''. He has the central hallmark of a tragic character: he suffers a catastrophic event (i.e. a freak planetary disaster that leads to the deaths of his wife and most of his crew) that effectively drives him into committing evil......except given that he was already a ruthless evil dictator in [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the original TV series]], he goes from being AffablyEvil into a completely-deranged demagogue blinded by his desire to get revenge on James T. Kirk, who he blames solely for the deaths of his loved ones. Still, it's not completely hard to feel sorry for Khan when [[spoiler:he's left to die in the exploding ''Reliant'' starship]].
** The alternate reality universe gives Khan a ''much'' better tragic representation in ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness''. Although he is the same genocidal dictator as the prime universe, [[spoiler:he and his people end up being exploited by Starfleet Admiral Alexander Marcus with the intent of drumming up war against the Klingons]]. Khan was against [[spoiler:Marcus' scheme, but was forced to comply when Marcus threatened to ''kill his crew'' if he didn't comply]]. Thus, not everyone is disgusted at Khan when [[spoiler:he crushes Marcus' skull in retaliation]].
*** Krall in ''Film/StarTrekBeyond''. He was [[spoiler: the captain of the USS Franklin, Balthazar Edison, when the [=MACOs=] were disbanded, and after being ''put out to pasture'' on an obsolete starship, he was left to go mad on Altamid as he watched his crew die and was abandoned by the Federation.]]
* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker. ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' and ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' show how Anakin is manipulated for years by Palpatine and [[FallenHero falls to the dark side]] out of belief that it's the only way to save the lives of his wife and unborn children. In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi,'' Vader believes it is too late for him to turn against Palpatine until he sacrifices himself to kill Palpatine and save his son.
** This gets highlighted more during the final battle of the ''Series/ObiWanKenobi'' series. Vader gives a [[TearJerker heartbreaking speech]], on [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis how much]] [[ThatManisDead he changed]], that it brought his former master to tears over the loss.
* ''Film/SuperheroMovie'': The antagonist of the film, the Hourglass, is actually Lou Landers, the terminally ill President of a research lab. He invents a machine that is supposed to restore the body to perfect health. When he tries to use it on himself, the machine malfunctions, giving him the power to drain the life force from others, which regenerates his body for 24 hours. His assistant runs tests on him and informs him that he must kill each day to live each day.
* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'': [[BigBad Starro the Conqueror]] doesn't truly live up to "the Conqueror" part of its title until it's freed from Jotunheim, and even then it only goes on a rampage [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil as revenge for being cruelly expiremented on, tortured and raped by]] [[MadScientist The Thinker]] for 30 years.
* ''{{Film/Timeline}}'': Decker was abandoned in the past by Gordon, with too many transcription errors to ever safely return. It's no wonder he became a ruthless knight to survive, or kills Gordon after seeing him. Gordon's plea about having a family enrages Decker, since ''he'' had a family too. His last words are "Take me home".
* ''Film/TronLegacy'': At the end of the day, [[Characters/TronLegacy CLU]] is just following the directive Flynn originally gave him when he was born to the letter -- to "create the perfect system", which Flynn wouldn't realize until later was a fundamentally unattainable goal -- and he's unable to change and adapt. CLU went as far as betraying Flynn when he decided his own creator was an unmoving obtsacle to that objective, but he didn't seem to take any joy in it, and he's sincerely distraught over everything that's happened between the two of them when they see each-other again.
* ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}'': [[spoiler:Elijah Price]] is desperately looking for a purpose in life. He thinks that being a supervillain is better than being nothing, so he commits several acts of terrorism to find his antithesis, a real life superhero. He expresses deep remorse for what he has done to complete his life's work, but thinks he finally knows who he is.
* Red, a.k.a. [[spoiler: the real Adelaide]] in ''Film/{{Us}}''. [[spoiler: She was kidnapped and replaced by her Tethered counterpart, a.k.a. the Adelaide we have been following for the entire movie, and forced to take her place underground while Tethered!Adelaide took her place aboveground and nobody suspected a thing. After decades of being forced to live out a grotesque parody of whatever her Tethered counterpart did aboveground (thanks to their PsychicLink), is it any wonder that she wanted to orchestrate an uprising to get revenge on her Tethered self for what she did to her?]]
** [[spoiler: All of the Tethered, including Tethered!Adelaide that was actually the [[VillainProtagonist protagonist]] this whole time, can be seen as this. They were clones created by the government and then abandoned when it was decided that they couldn't be used to fulfill their intended purpose. Is it any wonder that Tethered!Adelaide took Real!Adelaide's place at the beginning of the movie? The fact that Tethered!Adelaide was able to adapt to life aboveground and live a normal life, even starting a family, shows that the Tethered were capable of emotion and compassion just like real people, only circumstance and opportunity prevented them expressing those things.]]
* ''Film/VantagePoint''
** Enrique is a patsy of the terrorists because he's in love with one.
** Javier is forced to help [[spoiler:abduct the president because terrorists kidnapped his brother. They are both killed when they served their purpose]].
* ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries'':
** Dr. Connors in ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan''. After losing his right arm, he tries to develop a cure that will make him regain the limb as well as cure every illness on earth. He only [[ProfessorGuineaPig injects himself with it]] after his superiors threaten to [[PlayingWithSyringes use unwitting war veterans as human trials]]. It is his willingness to spare them the pain as well as his desire to simply be whole again that directly causes his FaceMonsterTurn.
** ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'':
*** Harry Osborn/[[spoiler:Green Goblin]], played by [=Dane DeHaan=]. He was neglected and belittled by his obsessed, sickly father Norman and on top of that, inherits his own fatal disease. He begs Peter to help him get Spidey's blood in order to synthesize a cure. Peter suggests things could turn worse and tells him this as Spidey too, but Harry is desperate for anything that will save him, even if it kills him. When he finally does get the blood, since it's [[spoiler:designed with Richard Parker's blood and thus why it only worked on Peter and failed with everyone else]], it turns him into [[spoiler:Green Goblin]] and he blames Peter/Spidey even more, especially when finding out about his dual identities. While what he wants throughout the movie makes him identifiable and understandable, it doesn't make [[spoiler: [[MoralEventHorizon causing Gwen's death]]]] easily forgivable.
*** Max Dillon/Electro. Abandoned and mistreated by nearly everyone (even his own mother who fails to remember his own birthday and interprets his humming hint as annoying singing in a deleted scene) and with just Spidey giving him encouragement, he got into an accident involving electric eels, and everyone either ignores him or treats him as a true menace (unlike Spidey who this time around is more accepted by the public), so he decides to lash out to humanity for all their mistreatment to him.
* ''Film/AmericanMe'': Montoya Santana, a Mexican gang leader, is portrayed mostly as a product of his environment. He was the product of rape himself, became acquainted with youth gangs in his neighborhood, was sent to Juvie where he was raped, murdered his attacker only to be convicted of murder, and has had to remain the top dog ever since simply to survive.
* The titular vampire of ''Film/{{Blacula}}''. Once an African prince, the evil Dracula turned him into a vampire, sealed him in a coffin to starve for two hundred years, and killed his wife. Blacula hates being a vampire and is shown to feel remorse for his actions. Blacula only feeds on people because of his hunger, and clearly regrets it. At the end of the film, he ends up being DrivenToSuicide.
* ''Film/TheBatman2022'': The Riddler is something of this. He is a cruel, hateful, deranged SerialKiller... but he only became that way because of his ''awful'' upbringing as an impoverished, mistreated orphan, neglected and abandoned by society due to Gotham's deep-seated corruption. He developed his obsession with riddles as a coping mechanism for his emotional trauma, and his killing spree in killing Gotham's officials is motivated both by revenge for his own suffering and out of a genuine desire to save others from what he went through. At the end of the day, for all his vile acts, he comes across as a sad, angry, resentful, traumatized child in a man's body.
* In ''Film/Barbie2023'', [[spoiler:Ken ends up becoming the BigBad and instigating a rebellion in Barbieland's [[{{matriarchy}} matriarchal society]] after [[RefugeeFromTVLand experiencing the real world]] and being seen as an individual for the first time in his life rather than just another Ken. He DesperatelyCravesAffection as a result of a lifetime of being ignored, and when [[DoggedNiceGuy Barbie rejected him]] he saw no other option but to take the power he was denied. In the end, Barbie manages to [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath talk him down]] with a YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre speech teaching him that he didn't need her to be happy]].
* ''Film/BladeII'': Jared Nomak is ultimately this. He's patient zero of the Reaper Strain outbreak and he's indifferent about the Strain's propagation despite the immense threat it could pose to the world, but he's in perpetual pain from his state and he didn't choose to be this way -- it was thrust upon him by [[spoiler:his own father]]. At the end of the day, he just wants revenge on [[spoiler:his father]] for what the latter did to him, and after he accomplishes that, he's happy to die at the end of his duel with Blade when he realizes death will finally free him from his agony.
* Roy Batty in ''Film/BladeRunner'' murders several people in a fit of rage, including his creator Dr. Eldon Tyrell. His anger is largely driven by the fact that he, as a synthetic android who is more intelligent and stronger than most humans, was engineered to be a slave and to live a short lifespan of only four years.
* ''Film/BlueBeetle2023'': [[spoiler:Carapax had his [[MissingMom mom killed]] by a bomb from Kord Industries, and then [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Victoria]] [[BigBad Kord]] took him in as a [[ChildSoldiers child soldier]], experimented on him, and turned him into her weapon, with the intent of eventually replacing him once he's no longer of use to her.]]
* The ''Film/{{Candyman}}''. After falling in love with a white woman, he was tortured and killed by her father and the cruel villagers, who cut off his hand, covered him in honey, and let him get stung to death by bees. Lessened in that after his death, he returns to kill innocent people unrelated to his death, even going as far as to target babies.
* Kitty Galore from ''Film/CatsAndDogs 2''. A FallenHero, she was once an agent of a secret organization that fought for the rights of both cats and dogs. On one of her assignments, she was investigating a chemical plant. A dog scared her and made her fall into a vat of chemicals. She lost all her fur, was ridiculed by her fellow agents, and upon returning home, her owners threw her out on Christmas of all times.
* Etain of ''{{Film/Centurion}}''. A victim of the Roman invasion of Britain, her entire family were slaughtered, her mother was also raped, she herself was then raped and finally had her tongue cut out. When Virilus hears this, he can only hang his head in shame over what his army is responsible for. When she kills him, the revenge brings her no satisfaction and all she can do is scream. She still pursues innocent Roman soldiers who are literally just trying to get home, none of whom know that their comrade killed a Pict child. She's also not shown to treat her own people any better - given her antagonistic treatment towards Arianne (and an early draft of the script would have Etain as the one who scarred Arianne's face). [[spoiler: Her death at the hands of Quintus is likewise played tragically, showing she was just as much a victim of this conflict as anyone else]].
%%* Andrew Detmer from ''Film/{{Chronicle}}'', played by [=Dane DeHaan=].
* Nancy of ''Film/TheCraft''. She comes from poverty, living in a trailer park with an alcoholic mother and a stepfather who's implied to be abusive. She's also an outcast at school who possibly felt something for JerkJock Chris Hooker - who either slept with her or lied that he did and spread SlutShaming rumors about her. She actually starts off relatively friendly to Sarah, merely enthusiastic about witchcraft as a counterculture movement. While she murders her stepfather, it's in retaliation to him hitting her mother and [[spoiler: her murder of Chris]] is partly motivated by [[spoiler: a spell that led to him nearly raping Sarah]]. Even her psychological torment of Sarah is brought on by the latter wanting to end their friendship. [[spoiler: Her final fate is to be committed to an asylum, delusional about the powers she no longer has]].
* Bane from ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' was trapped in a HellholePrison where he got really messed up. Same for [[spoiler:Talia because of her upbringing]].
* ''Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes'': Koba, the traitorous bonobo, is one. As shown in the official prequel novel, ''Firestorm'', he started out as an innocent, friendly, compassionate ape who would have never harmed anyone, but the tragic loss of his beloved mother and years of neglect, abuse and torture at the hands of humans left him forever scarred, inside and out, and incapable of feeling anything but fear, anger and hatred towards humans. Despite his troubled past, Koba is genuinely grateful to Caesar when the latter frees him from captivity. Because of that gratitude, in the 10 years between Rise and Dawn, Koba is one of Caesar's most trusted lieutenants, and he genuinely cares for his leader and his fellow apes. Unfortunately, when human survivors living in San Francisco stumbles upon the colony, Koba's fear and hatred of humans is reawakened. When Caesar decides to work with the humans for the sake of peace, Koba cannot not understand or accept that, because unlike Caesar he has no reason to believe that any human can be good. As a result, Koba's fear and anger begins to outweigh his love for apes. Eventually, Koba falls so deep into madness that he is willing to kill and imprison apes that get in his way, as he feels they've betrayed their own kind by having sympathy for the humans. By the end of the movie, Caesar puts Koba down with a heavy heart.
* ''Film/{{Dogma}}'': Bartleby, one of two exiled angels, goes from a morally grey AntiHero to this, JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope when he learns that someone's been sent to kill the pair of them to prevent them from reentering Heaven, furiously lamenting how his kind was reduced to servants, banished from Heaven for one misdemeanor, while humanity received free will and infinite patience from the Lord. He's undoubtedly villainous after that point, but definitely tragic. He [[VillainousBreakdown breaks down]] in TearsOfRemorse when he meets God again.
* ''Film/DontBreathe'': [[AllThereInTheManual Norman Nordstrom]] was a [[FallenHero war hero]] who lost his sight in battle, and whose daughter was run over and killed by a careless motorist who got off because of Affluenza. Enraged, he decided to kidnap her and keep her trapped in his basement so he could forcefully impregnate her to get a new child.
* Deleted scenes from ''Film/EmpireRecords'' reveal Rex Manning to be this. He is a genuinely talented artist but he sold out and now he can't perform the music he wants. His attempt at redemption by joining in the rooftop concert in the climax [[HeelFaceDoorSlam ends with him getting arrested]].
* VillainProtagonist Bill Foster of ''Film/FallingDown'' was a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] StandardFiftiesFather trying to adapt to life in TheNineties, but his HairTriggerTemper and mental instability alienated his loved ones with him losing his job to boot. He starts out as a WorkingClassHero, with his [[AngryWhiteMan rage-induced stunts]] toward the various {{Asshole Victim}}s he encounters providing some satisfying wish-fulfillment for the audience, but this only serves to worsen his emotional instability with a simple errand escalating into a GoingPostal rampage. By the end of his ProtagonistJourneyToVillain, he's horrified by his HeelRealization [[spoiler:and commits SuicideByCop [[RedemptionEqualsDeath so his family could at least benefit from the insurance payout]]]].
* Dr. Seth Brundle in ''Film/TheFly1986'' overlaps with TragicMonster. In a fit of misplaced jealousy involving his lover Veronica, he gets drunk and decides to jump ahead to the conclusion of his teleportation experiments and become ProfessorGuineaPig, unaware there's a housefly in the transmitter pod with him at the time. Undergoing a SlowTransformation into a HalfHumanHybrid of man and insect, he comes to realize that because NatureIsNotNice he's doomed to become as monstrous within as he is without, and even Veronica won't be safe. When he finds out she is pregnant with his child but does not intend to keep it, his human heartache and inhuman survival instinct drive him to [[spoiler: kidnap her and attempt to genetically fuse her and the fetus with him]].
* ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'':
** Pamela, the mother of the infamous Jason Voorhees. A prequel comic shows that she gave birth to Jason as a teenager, and suffered much spousal abuse from husband Elias. She eventually murdered him and struggled to raise her disabled son on her own, which eventually led to his fatal drowning at Camp Crystal Lake. Losing her only family pushed her over the edge, and she went on a killing spree to ensure no child ever has to go through what Jason did.
** Jason himself. Born deformed and mentally retarded and bullied for it. The only person who showed him any kindness was his mother. He nearly drowned in Crystal Lake after being pushed in by cruel children, who laughed as he struggled in the water, and decided to go into hiding because so many people hated him and he wanted to be left alone. He saw his mother, the only person who cared for him, get killed, and decided to kill anyone who entered Camp Crystal Lake, wanting to be left in peace.
* ''Franchise/TheGodfather'':
** Don Vito fled to America after a mafia lord killed his family, only to become one himself.
** Fredo Corleone is seen as the family screwup and tries but fails to be taken seriously. His need for validation causes him to betray Michael. He is at first exiled but then allowed to come back after the death of their mother but it was just a ruse allowing him to be killed.
** Michael Corleone starts as an independent-minded [[FallenHero War Hero]], but he is dragged into mob life to protect his father and his family. He fought his enemies with cold ruthlessness for years while he struggles to achieve legitimacy, and by the time he gets there, he admits that it's too late and that he is too tired and past redemption, and [[PassingTheTorch passes the torch]] to a new Don.
* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'':
** The original 1954 film ''[[Film/{{Godzilla 1954}} Gojira]]'' showed that the title character was as much a victim of the atomic bomb as everyone else. Nuclear testing destroyed his home, killed his family, and mutilated his body, and inevitably he emerged to retaliate against the humans who unknowingly took everything from him.
** The [[Characters/MonsterVerseMUTO MUTOs]] in ''Film/Godzilla2014'', though completely apathetic to the harm they cause to humanity, are ultimately [[NonMaliciousMonster Non-Malicious Monsters]] who just want to mate and start a family. The problem is, they're dai{{kaiju}} {{explosive breeder}}s who produce hundreds of eggs at a time, to say nothing of their {{EMP}} abilities with a miles-wide range; meaning that if they flood the world with a new generation of their species, it'll spell the almost-certain end of human civilization and a new mass extinction, so they have to be destroyed for the world's sake. The necessity of obliterating them doesn't make the [[MamaBear female MUTO]]'s HowlOfSorrow any less horrible to hear when her unborn eggs go up in a fireball.
* Vernon Paris in ''HandsOfAStranger'' was a talented pianist and he certainly didn't ask for a car accident that cost him his hands, they were replaced with transplants of a prior murder victim, costing him his ability to play but makes him quite effective at killing others.
* Peyton Flanders in ''Film/TheHandThatRocksTheCradle'' didn't exactly plan to marry and start a family with a scumbag who ended up killing himself after his crimes were exposed, and the stress from this big revelation (not to mention losing her home to the lawsuits) also caused her to miscarry AND lose the ability to have any future children. It's no wonder she goes insane and sets out to ruin the life of the woman who exposed him.
* The VillainProtagonist of ''The Headless Eyes'', a burglar who loses his eye in the very first scene and slowly loses his mind as well, winds up becoming this by the end of the film, to the point where even after everything he's done in the course of the film, the audience still feels sorry for him as [[spoiler:he freezes to death in a meat freezer without ever having found a real solution to his eye problem]].
* Gruagach from ''Film/Hellboy2019''. As a changeling that was used by fairies to replace a human child they abducted ([[spoiler:Alice, actually]]), his only "crime" was, well, being what he is. He hadn't actually done anything villainous by the time Hellboy came for him except weird out his adoptive parents with some unspecified behavior. One can't really fault him for wanting revenge on Hellboy, although the depths he stoops to in order to accomplish this squarely put him into villain territory.
* ''Film/TheHobbit'': [[spoiler:Thranduil hates the dwarves because Thrór the Dwarf-king spitefully kept a memento of his beloved wife from him.]]
* The "monster" of ''Film/HomeSweetHome2005'' turns out to be Yim-Hung, a perfectly normal human woman who, during a mass eviction project years ago, lose her home, and later her family when her husband and son died in two separate accidents. She ends up lurking in the basement of a newly-developed apartment block as a monster from urban legends, who is willing to kidnap protagonist May's only child to replace her dead son.
* Freya of ''Film/TheHuntsmanWintersWar''. Once a benevolent princess who simply wanted to have a child with the man she loved, she found the child apparently murdered by his father - and so kidnapped hundreds of other children who undergo TrainingFromHell to become ChildSoldiers forbidden to love. It later turns out [[spoiler: her sister was responsible for her child's death, meaning Freya was entirely a victim of Ravenna's meddling. She sacrifices herself to allow the protagonists to live]].
* In ''Film/{{Inception}}'', Mal really has no choice about being a psychotic, murderous, obsessed FemmeFatale. She just wants to be with Cobb forever, but the villainous Mal in Cobb's dreams isn't even his real wife, but a shade of the dead woman he can't bear to forget. [[spoiler:The dead Mal herself was accidentally brainwashed by Cobb, but inadvertently became so obsessed with the notion of her world not being real that she killed herself and framed Cobb for it. All out of love.]]
* While usually many ''Film/JamesBond'' villains tend to avoid this trope, being pure evil and lack of redeeming qualities, there are a few exceptions.
** Alec Trevelyan/Janus from ''Film/GoldenEye''. He wants revenge on the British government after it betrayed his parents, Lienz Cossacks, and sent them back to the USSR where Joseph Stalin had them all executed. Though Trevelyan and his family manage to escape the execution, Trevelyan's father was ashamed to have liven his life as a Lienz Cossack, and he purposely killed Trevelyan's mother and himself out of survivor's guilt.
** [[spoiler:Elektra King]] from ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough''. [[spoiler:She was kidnapped by the terrorist Renard and held for ransom, which her father refused to pay on the advice of M. Embittered by what she saw as her father's betrayal, she participated in Renard's scheme to milk money from her father.]]
** Raoul Silva from ''Film/{{Skyfall}}''. He was turned over to the Chinese in exchange for four other agents. They tortured him, but he refused to give up his secrets. Upon learning it was M that gave him up, he tried to commit suicide, but the cyanide didn't work, and left him disfigured.
** As evil as Lyutsifer Safin is in ''Film/NoTimeToDie'', it's hard not to sympathize with his backstory, having lost his entire family to Blofeld's machinations and was left for dead as a child, having nothing to motivate him but revenge. He was a victim of Blofeld's sociopathy just as much as Bond.
* Arthur Fleck from ''Film/Joker2019'' was a mentally ill, impoverished clown living in Gotham who only ever wanted to be admired and noticed. By the end of the story, ''nobody'' cares about him... only about the sick persona he gradually built up around himself. [[ThenLetMeBeEvil So that's what he goes with.]]
* ''Film/JudgmentAtNuremberg'': The concept itself is a major plot point, as it explores how the German people could be complicit in UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust. [[AmoralAttorney Hans Rolfe]] argues that [[ThoseWackyNazis Ernst]] [[HangingJudge Janning]], a once respectable jurist and legal expert, committed the crimes he did [[MyCountryRightOrWrong out of a sense of duty]] [[InherentInTheSystem to a system that encouraged it]]. Judge Haywood does agree with Rolfe to a point- Janning was a tragic figure. But his defeat does not excuse him from the crimes against humanity he committed. The tragedy is that a respectable human being can be easily manipulated into committing mass murder.
* Lucian Carr from ''Film/KillYourDarlings'' has the distinct ability to manipulate both the characters in the film and the audience into pitying him. Furthered by the revelation that he met David Kammerer, [[spoiler:who he kills at the climax of the movie]], when he was just 14 and had been stalked by him ever since.
* ''Film/KongSkullIsland'': [[Characters/MonsterVerseSkullIslandExpedition Preston Packard]], a lieutenant colonel who is heartbroken at the Vietnam War's conclusion because he feels it meant he and his comrades bled and died all for nothing, eagerly accepts a freelance job to Skull Island without knowing what he and his men will be getting into. Upon arrival, Kong, incensed by the expedition's carpet-bombing of his home which bloodies the mundane wildlife, attacks and he massacres dozens of Packard's [[AFatherToHisMen beloved troops]]. As the movie goes on, Packard's resulting obsession with killing Kong, who he's understandably now singled out as a substitute for the Viet Cong in his mindset, [[SanitySlippage consumes his honor and sanity]] to the point where he risks all the remaining people, his surviving men included, trying to kill Kong himself instead of prioritizing rescue. By the time that Packard dies by Kong's hand, ''everyone'', including soldiers who would've loyally followed him to the tenth circle of hell at the start of this movie, have abandoned him upon seeing how he's fallen.
* Clyde Shelton of ''Film/LawAbidingCitizen''. His wife and daughter were killed in a robbery, and the more guilty robber got a slap on the wrist while the less guilty one got sentenced to death. Infuriated with the justice system, Clyde set out to destroy it, causing the deaths of hundreds of innocents in the process. Even after everything he has done, it is hard not to feel sorry for him.
* Hans Beckert of ''Film/{{M}}'' doesn't want to murder children, but just feels compelled to do so. His [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvxBvqvuY7I speech]] at the end (wherein he calls out the Mob hunting him down on their ruthlessness) reveals just how [[ReluctantPsycho tortured and screwed up he really feels]].
* ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'' tells the story of Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of the villain of the original story, Maleficent, who seeks vengeance after her fairy wings are taken.
* Mama/[[spoiler:Edith]] in ''Film/{{Mama}}''. In the film, due to her mentality, her baby was taken from her, and she went through extreme measures to get her child back. She then commits suicide by jumping off a cliff and her baby ends up on the branch while she lands into the water. It's implied that she doesn't even know where her lost child is. She also kills and threatens people who she thinks wants to harm Victoria and Lily. All she ever wanted was to be a good mother.
* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** Loki from ''Film/{{Thor}}''. He was motivated by a combination of sibling rivalry with Thor, the desire to impress his father, personal ambition, and a messed up sense of duty towards Asgard. There is also a fair dose of self-loathing, [[spoiler: seeing as he found out that he was a Frost Giant and not an Asgardian.]] He is also portrayed as this in ''The Trials of Loki'' comic miniseries.
** The Winter Soldier from ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' [[spoiler:also known as "Bucky" Barnes, who has spent the past 70 years being tortured and [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] by HYDRA to become the ultimate assassin completely against his will.]] Despite being one of the most dangerous men on the planet, the scenes where he [[spoiler:starts to regain some memories]] makes him come across more like a kicked and abandoned puppy.
** [[Characters/MCUUltron Ultron]]. Unlike the comics where he's a CardCarryingVillain who [[{{Sadist}} relishes in the pain he causes]], this version is more sympathetic. Created by Tony and Bruce to become the suit of armour he puts around the world to protect it ("peace in our time" as Tony puts it), Ultron was quickly born on the internet, which caused him to absorb ''trillions of terabytes'' of information all at once, which drove him to madness and warped his viewpoint on humanity. Throughout the film, it's clear he's actually [[WellIntentionedExtremist attempting to fulfil the goal Tony and Bruce had for him,]] just in a completely insane way. Essentially, he's just a confused newborn tasked with an impossible mission, something he's aware of but cannot overcome.
** ''Film/BlackPanther2018'': Erik Stevens/Killmonger. The son of [[spoiler: younger brother N'Jobo]], his father was killed when his uncle killed him defending another Wakandan. Orphaned and alone, he ingrained his father's more radical/racial views of the world. He was a natural fighter, becoming a talented Black Ops officer and member of the US Navy SEALS, and could've chosen to walk into a different life, but his hatred and bitterness lead him to reach Wakanda in order to [[spoiler: kill his cousin to become the new king.]] He then had goals of using Wakandan power to start a new race war, something several people pointed out wouldn't necessarily end well for anyone. The ultimate tragedy is that ''none'' of this would've happened if his uncle had just chosen to bring him back to Wakanda. As T'Challa pointed out, "He is a monster of our own making". And even in death [[IDieFree managed to go out on his own terms]] to the disappointment of the Black Panther.
** Ghost from ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'': She is probably the straightest example of this trope in the entire MCU of an evil-doing woobie. In a childhood accident with her father's tech, Ava lost both her parents and gained powerful but unstable abilities that leave her in constant pain and are slowly phasing her out of reality, with the only end possibilities being death or worse. Honed by black ops missions for S.H.I.E.L.D. (or maybe HYDRA), she was cast out following its fall, barely getting by with her foster protector. Every single action she undertakes in the film, even as they grow increasingly heinous and brutal, is exclusively devoted to fixing her condition. All of the good guys recognize her as a victim of circumstance, [[spoiler: and she ultimately is allowed to leave in peace once they manage to heal her properly.]]
** [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Thanos]] himself also counts. [[spoiler: He saw firsthand that his species was on the brink of extinction and offered an ([[FinalSolution admittedly insane]]) solution. Ridiculed by his peers for this (and heavily implied to have been ostracized by his people due to his appearance), [[TheExtremistWasRight his prediction soon came to pass]] and he was left the SoleSurvivor of the Titan race. His main motivation seems to be a genuinely misguided attempt at [[WellIntentionedExtremist making the world more sustainable to save others from the fate his own planet suffered,]] as well as a desperate attempt to prove that was right and WASN'T mad.]] [[NothingPersonal He takes no personal satisfaction in the suffering he causes]] and his conquests ensure at least the chance of survival. There's a reason the whole "Thanos Did Nothing Wrong" campaign took off so quickly.
** Xu Wenwu AKA The Mandarin from ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings''. While he was a conqueror who spread terror and destruction, he wanted to renounce his life of crime when he met Ying Li, they gave birth to Shang-Chi and Xialing. However, his dark past came back as Wenwu's rivals came to their house and killed Ying Li. He was then manipulated by [[spoiler:[[EldritchAbomination the Dweller-In-Darkness]]]] by using Ying Li's voice as a means to use him to free itself from its prison in Ta Lo.
** [[spoiler:Ikaris]] from ''Film/{{Eternals}}'', while [[AntiVillain not truly evil]], [[spoiler:his [[FatalFlaw blind devotion to the Celestials, particularly Arishem,]] force him into keeping the AwfulTruth from [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes the woman he loves and his lifelong friends]] and ultimately drives him to kill Ajak. He betrays Sersi and the others when they try to stop the Convergence due to his fanatic devotion (again despite knowing the truth himself) and he nearly aids in bringing about Earth's destruction as a result. Ultimately, LoveRedeems and he helps the Eternals stop the Convergence just in time, but his unwavering guilt over his actions leads him to [[RedemptionEqualsDeath killing himself]] by [[MythologyGag flying into the Sun.]] Poor guy.]]
** All of the villains in ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' qualify as they carry their backstories with them from the previous movies. Peter even recognizes this and seeks to [[SaveTheVillain save them from their terrible fates.]] [[spoiler:Special mention must go to [[Characters/MCUGreenGoblin Norman Osborn,]] who is a flawed, but overall good man, but a very tortured soul constantly plagued by [[SplitPersonality the Goblin persona]], who forces him to do terrible things whenever he takes over. Norman is ultimately cured of the Goblin persona by Peter, but not before he wreaks havoc across NYC, destroys Happy's apartment complex, murders his beloved Aunt May and nearly succeeds in driving Peter to commit murder out of sheer rage. Norman may be free of the Goblin, but he has to spend the rest of his life living with the tremendous guilt of what he's done.]]
** [[spoiler:Scarlet Witch]] in ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness''. [[spoiler:Corrupted by the Darkhold and tormented with dreams of her children (which turn out to be visions of realities where they're still alive), she discovers America Chavez has the power to travel the multiverse and begins to use her power to try and capture her. When Doctor Strange rescues her and tries to stop Wanda, she resorts to dreamwalking which is described as "corroding to the soul", turning her even more insane and cruel, even going as far as to possess one of her own variants and [[WouldHurtAChild tries to kill America to absorb her power]] in order to fulfil her goal. In the end, she realizes that while her children may exist, they aren't in her universe and she abandons her goals, [[HeroicSacrifice destroying the Darkhold (and possibly herself) to atone.]] Strange and America can't help but sympathize with her; all she ever wanted was to be with her children again.]]
** Gorr the God Butcher from ''Film/ThorLoveAndThunder'' is a classic example. [[spoiler:Originally a devout family man and disciple who worshipped the god Rapu, his homeland fell victim to a terrible famine (that's heavily implied to have killed all of his people), despite his constant prayers for aid. After his beloved daughter's death by hunger, he miraculously stumbled upon Rapu and his other deities, only to find them mocking his suffering and revealing they heard everyone's prayers (including his own), but simply didn't care and saw mortals as nothing more than toys to play with. Overcome with grief, rage and his [[FaithHeelTurn faith completely broken]] by the very gods he once revered, the Necrosword ensnared him and granted him immense power, but cursed him with a terrible corruption that [[SanitySlippage eroded his mind]] and will someday kill him. With nothing left to live for and his rage fueled by the ancient weapon, Gorr devoted his life to killing gods all across the Nine Realms so that no one may be used as he was by them ever again.]]
* ''Film/MrBrooks'': Brooks vehemently tries to overcome his addiction to murder, with occasional periods of success.
* ''Film/TheMummyTrilogy'': [[Characters/TheMummyTrilogy Imhotep]] from the first two movies is ultimately this. As cruel and callous as he is, what he wants most is [[LoveMakesYouEvil to be with his lover Anck-su-Namun forever]], and his original affair with Anck and subsequent efforts to resurrect her when circumstances beyond their control led to her death are what led to him [[AndIMustScream suffering unimaginably for 3,000 years and becoming the titular monster]]. 3,000 years of suffering out of obsession and devotion to her... and at the end of the second movie, Imhotep finds out it was all for nothing when Anck-su-Namun, despite her love for him, leaves him to die rather than risk dying herself a second time. Imhotep is so crushed by this that he allows the hordes of the Underworld to drag him off to hell.
* Korean cult classic ''Film/{{Oldboy|2003}}'' has [[spoiler: Woo-jin]], one of the most iconic examples of this trope in all of cinema: [[spoiler: He commits a number of serious atrocities throughout the film, including imprisoning the protagonist (Oh Dae-su) for 15 years, killing indiscriminately, manipulating and extorting all manner of people and worst of all, [[ParentalIncest hypnotises Dae-su into having sex with HIS OWN DAUGHTER.]] However, a look into his backstory reveals the AwfulTruth: he was once a more-or-less normal schoolboy who was in a sexual relationship [[BrotherSisterIncest with his own sister]]. Dae-su happened to walk in on them once and spread rumours about them (though he didn't know it was his sister he caught him with) and the resulting gossip caused him to become an outcast. Then his sister discovered she was pregnant (which he deluded himself into thinking was a "phantom" pregnancy), the disgrace of which drove her to committing suicide that Woo-jin wasn't able to save her from. Riddled with guilt and rage, he grew up to be a vengeful and cold man who brutally executed his revenge on Dae-su. Upon finally exacting his revenge, he realizes that VengeanceFeelsEmpty and now, with his goal accomplished and his grief over his lost sister never truly healing, he simply [[DrivenToSuicide stands in the elevator and shoots himself in the head.]]]]
* ''Film/OzTheGreatAndPowerful'' reveals that the Wicked Witch of the West came to be because [[spoiler:she was too naïve to realize that her sister was playing her and agreed to bite a magic apple that turned her into a merciless AxeCrazy villain]]. Oz is partly to blame for that, as [[spoiler:he flirted with Theodora like he does with any girl he meets, making it easy for Evanora to claim that Oz courted her too while showing pictures of Oz with Glinda]]. Even [[spoiler:Evanora]] is disturbed as to how AxeCrazy [[spoiler:her sister]] has become.
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'': Davy Jones falls into this category, since it was his love for Calypso and her betrayal that caused him to do the things he did, [[spoiler: including telling the pirates how to lock her in a human body]].
* ''Film/PromNight1980'': [[spoiler:Alex Hammond enacted a killing spree on the night of the prom because four (now grown) children [[YouKilledMyFather bullied his sister]] [[DestinationDefenestration out a window]], covered up the accident, and showed no remorse for what happened.]]
* General Hummell from ''Film/TheRock'' stole chemical weapons and took the city of San Francisco hostage unless reparations be paid to the families of his soldiers who he lead into a disastrous covert operation and were abandoned to die. [[spoiler:His plan was a bluff and his remaining soldiers killed him.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' franchise:
** John Kramer a.k.a. Jigsaw started out as a decent man, a loving husband and a soon to be father. His wife was mugged by one of her patients at the drug clinic she ran. She lost her child in a miscarriage during the mugging. The two went through a messy divorce and John later contacted cancer. It could've been caught earlier had his cranial X-ray not been accidentally mislabeled. His nephew also ended up dying in a motorcycle accident. After being denied health insurance and attempting suicide, John grew disgusted seeing people unappreciative of the gift of life he was being denied. He devoted himself to kidnapping people and placing them in life threatening situations to try and get them to appreciate life.
** His apprentice, Amanda Young, also counts. When she was a little girl, her father would lock her in a dark closet and keep her there for hours. In her adult life, she was framed for a drug crime she did not commit, and became an actual drug addict in prison. She was later kidnapped by Jigsaw and placed in a situation where she had to kill to save her own life. She came to see Jigsaw as a mentor and father figure, and became his apprentice. Even after her FaceHeelTurn she still had it pretty rough, being thrown into a pit of needles and almost being killed by Xavier Chavez. Finally, she was blackmailed by her rival apprentice Mark Hoffman.
* ''Film/{{Soldier}}'': Todd's nemesis [[TheDragon Caine 607]] is probably even more of a victim of the indoctrination of the future military as Todd himself is, as he was not only [[{{Tykebomb}} trained from birth to be a soldier]] like Todd himself but also genetically modified to be completely obedient. When Caine loses an eye in a fight with Todd and is dismissed by his commanding officer as almost useless now (being relegated to rear guard action from then on), there are strong parallels with Todd himself being dismissed as a relic.
* ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'':
** Dr. Octopus in ''Film/SpiderMan2'' is eaten up by guilt after a FreakLabAccident and is driven mad by the AI controlling his cybernetic arms.
** Almost there is ComicBook/NormanOsborn in ''Film/SpiderMan1'' (the Green Goblin [[GollumMadeMeDoIt personality ruins it]], complete with ISurrenderSuckers moment).
** And Eddie Brock in ''Film/SpiderMan3'' (could count if not for Venom being a CardCarryingVillain).
** The Sandman in ''Film/SpiderMan3'' never meant to kill Peter's uncle or cause trouble for anyone. All he wanted was to get enough money to save his little girl.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** An ''unsympathetic'' example is Khan Noonien Singh in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''. He has the central hallmark of a tragic character: he suffers a catastrophic event (i.e. a freak planetary disaster that leads to the deaths of his wife and most of his crew) that effectively drives him into committing evil......except given that he was already a ruthless evil dictator in [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the original TV series]], he goes from being AffablyEvil into a completely-deranged demagogue blinded by his desire to get revenge on James T. Kirk, who he blames solely for the deaths of his loved ones. Still, it's not completely hard to feel sorry for Khan when [[spoiler:he's left to die in the exploding ''Reliant'' starship]].
** The alternate reality universe gives Khan a ''much'' better tragic representation in ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness''. Although he is the same genocidal dictator as the prime universe, [[spoiler:he and his people end up being exploited by Starfleet Admiral Alexander Marcus with the intent of drumming up war against the Klingons]]. Khan was against [[spoiler:Marcus' scheme, but was forced to comply when Marcus threatened to ''kill his crew'' if he didn't comply]]. Thus, not everyone is disgusted at Khan when [[spoiler:he crushes Marcus' skull in retaliation]].
*** Krall in ''Film/StarTrekBeyond''. He was [[spoiler: the captain of the USS Franklin, Balthazar Edison, when the [=MACOs=] were disbanded, and after being ''put out to pasture'' on an obsolete starship, he was left to go mad on Altamid as he watched his crew die and was abandoned by the Federation.]]
* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker. ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' and ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' show how Anakin is manipulated for years by Palpatine and [[FallenHero falls to the dark side]] out of belief that it's the only way to save the lives of his wife and unborn children. In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi,'' Vader believes it is too late for him to turn against Palpatine until he sacrifices himself to kill Palpatine and save his son.
** This gets highlighted more during the final battle of the ''Series/ObiWanKenobi'' series. Vader gives a [[TearJerker heartbreaking speech]], on [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis how much]] [[ThatManisDead he changed]], that it brought his former master to tears over the loss.
* ''Film/SuperheroMovie'': The antagonist of the film, the Hourglass, is actually Lou Landers, the terminally ill President of a research lab. He invents a machine that is supposed to restore the body to perfect health. When he tries to use it on himself, the machine malfunctions, giving him the power to drain the life force from others, which regenerates his body for 24 hours. His assistant runs tests on him and informs him that he must kill each day to live each day.
* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'': [[BigBad Starro the Conqueror]] doesn't truly live up to "the Conqueror" part of its title until it's freed from Jotunheim, and even then it only goes on a rampage [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil as revenge for being cruelly expiremented on, tortured and raped by]] [[MadScientist The Thinker]] for 30 years.
* ''{{Film/Timeline}}'': Decker was abandoned in the past by Gordon, with too many transcription errors to ever safely return. It's no wonder he became a ruthless knight to survive, or kills Gordon after seeing him. Gordon's plea about having a family enrages Decker, since ''he'' had a family too. His last words are "Take me home".
* ''Film/TronLegacy'': At the end of the day, [[Characters/TronLegacy CLU]] is just following the directive Flynn originally gave him when he was born to the letter -- to "create the perfect system", which Flynn wouldn't realize until later was a fundamentally unattainable goal -- and he's unable to change and adapt. CLU went as far as betraying Flynn when he decided his own creator was an unmoving obtsacle to that objective, but he didn't seem to take any joy in it, and he's sincerely distraught over everything that's happened between the two of them when they see each-other again.
* ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}'': [[spoiler:Elijah Price]] is desperately looking for a purpose in life. He thinks that being a supervillain is better than being nothing, so he commits several acts of terrorism to find his antithesis, a real life superhero. He expresses deep remorse for what he has done to complete his life's work, but thinks he finally knows who he is.
* Red, a.k.a. [[spoiler: the real Adelaide]] in ''Film/{{Us}}''. [[spoiler: She was kidnapped and replaced by her Tethered counterpart, a.k.a. the Adelaide we have been following for the entire movie, and forced to take her place underground while Tethered!Adelaide took her place aboveground and nobody suspected a thing. After decades of being forced to live out a grotesque parody of whatever her Tethered counterpart did aboveground (thanks to their PsychicLink), is it any wonder that she wanted to orchestrate an uprising to get revenge on her Tethered self for what she did to her?]]
** [[spoiler: All of the Tethered, including Tethered!Adelaide that was actually the [[VillainProtagonist protagonist]] this whole time, can be seen as this. They were clones created by the government and then abandoned when it was decided that they couldn't be used to fulfill their intended purpose. Is it any wonder that Tethered!Adelaide took Real!Adelaide's place at the beginning of the movie? The fact that Tethered!Adelaide was able to adapt to life aboveground and live a normal life, even starting a family, shows that the Tethered were capable of emotion and compassion just like real people, only circumstance and opportunity prevented them expressing those things.]]
* ''Film/VantagePoint''
** Enrique is a patsy of the terrorists because he's in love with one.
** Javier is forced to help [[spoiler:abduct the president because terrorists kidnapped his brother. They are both killed when they served their purpose]].
