Hollywood villians who moved us with their tragic pasts

Hollywood has gifted audiences with its creativity, some of the most memorable antagonists in the history of cinema. While the audience might fear or hate their characters, many of these characters are far more complex than they first appear. Behind their cruelty, ambition, or thirst for revenge often lies a heartbreaking story marked by loss, betrayal, loneliness, or trauma. Here are few of them.

Maleficent is another antagonist character of Disney that is quite a fascinating and powerful character, introduced as a villain in The Sleeping Beauty.

Her character radiated a dark energy as she wore a dark robe, horned headdress and had magical powers to transform into a dragon. Maleficent's life turns bitter once she has been excluded from the Royal celebration, where she ends up cursing Princess Aurora.

However, slowly and gradually it is revealed to the audience that the character actually has a more complex side. She used to be a kind and powerful fairy who betrayed a devastating betrayal by someone who was very close to her and she trusted.

The heartbreak eventually turned her vengeful and transformed her into a bitter and isolated figure. Although later she develops a deep emotional bond with Aurora.

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In 1818, the world got introduced to an antagonist by Marry Shelley in the novel Frankenstein. But one, probably one who would delve deep in the history, would know that Victor gave birth to was not a monster.

Frankenstein was a gothic horror where the character was abandoned by his creator and was eschewed by society for his grotesque appearance.

According to a report in BBC, one night during the strangely cool and wet European summer of 1816, a group of friends gathered at the Villa Diodati on the shores of Lake Geneva. "We will each write a ghost story," Lord Byron announced to the assembled party, which included Byron's doctor John Polidori, the poet Percy Shelley and the 18-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (later Shelley).

"I busied myself to think of a story," she wrote. "One which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature and awaken thrilling horror." Her tale became a novel, published two years later as Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young natural philosophy student, who, burning with crazed ambition, brings a body to life but rejects his horrifying "creature" in fear and disgust.

The character was rejected by society, for his terrifying look, but he was sensitive, intelligent and deeply emotional. His character reflects themes of isolation, prejudice and the consequences of unchecked ambition of modern times.

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“What do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner with a society that abandons him and treats him like trash? You get what you fucking deserve!”
Arthur is the troubled and complicated character of the film Joker (2019). He is a reimagined version of the iconic Batman Villain, the Joker.
Arthur, the character is a struggling clown and aspiring comedian living in Gotham city. In his childhood, he went through horrific abuse and neglect which left him emotionally scarred contributing to his uncontrollable bits of laughter which people around him don't really appreciate or embrace.

Gradually the character uncovers bitter and painful truths about his mother and his past. The plot is set in the 80s where mental health was not really an issue to be discussed.

Throughout the time we will see how Arthur will go through a series of crappy days and his entire personality will crumble. The character is not calculative, he just reacts to what way the society treats him.

Despite how difficult his life is, Arthur tries to be always happy, masquerades himself with a fake smile, which actually breaks him later in his discourse.

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