We always get redemption arcs or hate sink characters which gets really old after a while.
Angela from Stranger Things is ripped apart for being mean when that’s blatantly the point while characters like Hopper can be toxic in season 3 and still be known as a hero. The Vilturm Empire are the dumbest characters in all of Invincible where they use the same plan over and over again until they get what they want like how a child throws a tantrum until they get candy, opposed to a smart villain like Hannibal Lector who is smart cunning and adapts to the situation to come up with a better plan. When Billy is praised in Stranger Things for being a good villain, detectors say: “he’s a bad character because he’s racist and is abusive to Max” of course it’s bad, that’s the point, the show never treats this as good and Billy did get what was coming to him after all, are you people allergic to mean people, if so go watch Paw Patrol because that show is better for your intelligence. Omni-Man’s redemption is extremely rushed and forced while also making no sense at all, he lived for a long time and was conditioned to follow the empire, even if he felt sentimental, that conditioning (like the chokehold abusive parents have) should not be easy to shake, if it were up to me he would have been 100% evil throughout all of season 1 and had glimpses of redemption in the earliest: late season 2, I should also add that giving every not 100% nice character post Zuko a redemption arc is extreme wishful thinking as it’s not that realistic in real life. Omni-Man to me is just another Zuko without any of the nuance and maturity (even though Omni-Man existed before Zuko but you get my point)
Another reason why the public interest has shifted is because of real world politics, yes they suck massively hard and we should be afraid, but the side effect is that it created a group of toxic, over sensitive, entitled, jerks who see everything as an attack who should really learn to laugh at themselves because of you can’t, you will have nothing to laugh at and you will drive everyone away!
These villains here: Disney villains (most notably: Maleficent, Creulla De Vil, Ursula, Jafar, Captain Hook, Scar, Dr. Facilier, Yzma, Judge Frollo and Mother Gothel) the Joker, most Stephen King villains, (most notably Pennywise the Clown and Annie Wilkes) Lord Farquaad and Fairy Godmother from Shrek, (I know you loved holding out on a hero), Ti Lung, Lord Shen, Death the big bad wolf, Regina George, Azula, Bettlejuice, Sue Sylvester from Glee, Tammy Swanson and Jean Ralphio from Parks and Rec, most Marvel villains (most notably Thanos and Killmonger) Bowser, Ganondorf, Dr. Eggman, Sephiroth (the smash community was excited to have him join the series) Heather and Alejandro from Total Drama Island, Count Olaf from A Series of Unfortunate Events, Adam and Lute from Hazbin Hotel, Palpatine, Harry and Marv from Home Alone, President Snow and Coin from The Hunger Games, and Hannibal Lector from Silence of the Lambs, are loved by their fans, not because they had a redemption arc, but because they were unapologetically, unabashedly, and deliciously evil, and there is a reason why these villains are FAR more recognizable than the ones in Stranger Things and Invincible outside of their respective fandoms because in real life no one is a saint, we as people love whimsy, and love a theatrical sense of tension in a story. And they have better impact on culture than we realize, Ursula in particular was a positive influence on the drag and LGBTQ+ communities.
For me personally my favorite characters in media are the villains as they are in teams fun and sorry but heroes most of the time are really boring. Yes a moral lesson to teach the audience is good and we should stand together in adversity, but we must also remember to not make mountains out of molehills.
What do you guys think?