Ever since Dragon Ball Z's Vegeta destroyed an entire planet for literally no reason (other than wanting to be a total dick), only to become everyone’s favorite “anti-hero”, it has become pretty clear that people in the geek space can have a pretty selective memory. This stuff is all over the media we love too. From Venom to the Joker to Negan, sometimes being cool is all that fans need to forgive horrific behavior.This has never been more true than in video games. Games love to introduce “badass” anti-heroes. These characters commit horrific crimes and rack up body counts only to later "repent" and join the heroes. Hell, sometimes, even the characters who have zero redemptive qualities end up being the most popular representatives of their games. It can’t be said enough, there is something unhealthy about the number of avatars online that feature characters who have been responsible for genocidal acts. As a community, we are not okay.Warning: Persona 5 Spoiler Contained Within
10 Bowser, Super Mario Bros.
People love Bowser. He may be a big, silly dinosaur, but he is a big, silly dinosaur with style. None of us are going to deny his incredible charisma. What’s not to love, right? He is just a fun-loving villain with killer one-liners, and he acts as a great foil to Mario.
But, also, he kidnaps people. Like, a lot. He is a serial kidnaper. It isn’t just Princess Peach, either. In the first game, there are dozens of kidnaped toads as well. Then there is the whole thing about him turning the population of the Mushroom Kingdom into blocks. Which is, at the very least, disturbing. But monster or not, Bowser will always be a fan favorite. At least he is literally a monster.
9 Classic Kratos, God Of War
Let’s cut to the chase: Kratos is a bastard. Before the most recent game in the God of War franchise, Kratos only had one solution to his problems: screaming and stabbing things until they stopped moving. Surprisingly, though, this version of Kratos has defenders. And we aren’t talking about people who are celebrating him for being awful. There are people who claim Kratos was sympathetic.
“He tried to help out Pandora,” they say. “The gods were the real bad guys,” they say. I saw Kratos take an enslaved woman and throw her into a bunch of giant gears in order to gum up a door’s locking mechanism. As cool as he may be, the yelly-punchy man didn’t have much in the way of redeeming qualities, guys.
8 Akuma, Street Fighter
Capcom had an idea. A devilish idea. What if they took Ryu and then made him evil? You know, have him kill people. Wouldn’t that be cool? Well, we have heard back from the fans, and apparently, that would be very cool. Akuma is easily one of the most beloved Street Fighter characters. Is he just a surly version of Ryu who commits murder? Sure. But that is apparently all it takes to get the fans on board.
There need to be psychological studies done on why copying a hero, turning their clothing black, and then having them commit murder somehow strikes so many of us as being the epitome of cool. And I can feel the Akuma fans typing right now. “He isn’t evil, Akuma is morally neutral!” He murders people! Admittedly, due to how wishy-washy the narrative of the Street Fighter series is, he isn’t very good at it. But he is still doing his damnedest to make people not be alive anymore. Y’all are weird!
7 Lady Dimitrescu, Resident Evil: Village
People didn’t even wait to play the game when it came to Lady Dimitrescu. She popped up in a trailer and the cosplayers were on it the next day. And sure, she is cool. She has an ungodly amount of swagger, and she has an immediately iconic look. I mean, who doesn’t love a self-confident, ten-foot-tall woman, right?
Then you get to the basement of her castle and you start wading through the blood. Like, literally wading through it. We get that you are a vampire, lady, but surely you have enough blood at this point. But all the blood of all the horribly murdered servants in the world would do little to slow Lady Dimitrescu’s popularity. Resident Evil Village hasn’t been out for an entire year, yet she is already one of the series’ most iconic characters.
6 Sephiroth, Final Fantasy 7
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We spent decades seeing people who had usernames based on this silver-haired antagonist. Decades! Sure, the cast of Final Fantasy 7 has always been pretty popular, but Sephiroth is easily the most popular character of the bunch (with Cloud maybe being the only character who could claim to come anywhere close).
But, you know, the dude did try to destroy the world. I mean, it was traumatic enough when he stabbed everyone’s favorite florist in the belly, but he was literally trying to kill everyone. Murder on a global scale is a decidedly terrible thing. Most folk can easily conclude that one as an objective fact. But hey, yeah, long sword is long, and apparently enough of a redeeming quality.
5 Magus, Chrono Trigger
Hey, Magus. It’s great that you have decided to help the good guys, and all. And we now have much more insight into your backstory, given that we just witnessed your traumatic childhood. But… remember when you did that murder? And sadistically turned that one guy into a frog?
Oh yeah, and remember the war on humanity you waged? You know, when you sent legions of monsters to attack and take over human settlements? We sorta noticed that you have never seemed even vaguely apologetic about any of it. Like, not even a little. But you have a scythe, and cool white hair, so go off, I guess.
4 Albert Wesker, Resident Evil
With Wesker, Capcom somehow found the formula for making a character who every fan will love, even if they commit wanton acts of murder. Apparently, all it took was fusing Top Gun-era Val Kilmer with Neo from the Matrix.
It doesn’t matter that he somehow represents corruption in the police force, unethical scientific experimentation, AND morally bankrupt capitalism (an impressively diverse villain resume, for sure). He has a trench coat, sunglasses, and the powers of an X-Men character: the fans never stood a chance. There aren’t enough boulders in the world for Chris to punch, Wesker will always be the Resident Evil fanbase’s golden child.
3 Goro Akechi, Persona 5
Goro is the super talented good-looking guy you run into a couple of times throughout the course of Persona 5, then, in the latter part of the game, it is revealed that his charming demeanor is a lie: this dude is a ruthless serial killer. And you know what? Fans love him! Like, there are tons of Persona 5 fans who just think Goro is great.
Say this with me, everyone. Goro Akechi is a serial killer. He doesn’t have a twisted moral code he isn’t being mind-controlled, he just has no issue murdering people to get his way. That is his primary character trait. What is wrong with you people?
2 Vergil, Devil May Cry
Devil May Cry’s Vergil has a fancy coat, white hair, and a katana, so you know the dude is going to be a hit online. But hey, remember when he had his sad boi moment and wiped out an entire city? Twice?
You can find hundreds of pages of people online trying to rationalize Vergil’s behavior. But he has been directly responsible for the thousands upon thousands of deaths. He has never done anything that could be even remotely considered selfless. Can’t you people just be normal and say you think the evil character looks cool?
1 The Prince Of The Cosmos, Katamari Damacy
The horror. The horror. Those children were running for their lives. Screaming. Begging. But did that stop that little monster? No. If anything, it encouraged him. Entire cities just wiped clean. One day they were here, the next they were gone.
What was the fate of these innocents? They were all fused into a giant ball and hurled into the dead of space. Their last moments were confusion and terror. Yet how is the Prince Of The Cosmos received on the internet? Everyone loves him! They call him “cute” and “adorable”. And sure, we cannot deny the Prince’s drip. Still, the fact that none of us are calling for his tiny, olive-sized head indicates that there is something deeply wrong with all of us. He can’t keep getting away with it!