There’s a well-known and often misconstrued bit of writing advice: The villain should act as though they’re the hero of their own story. What it means is that the villain’s motivations should make sense, that they should have a reason for their perfidy rather than just evil for evil’s sake. Some writers, though, interpret this advice as meaning the villain should be treated as a hero. This makes for problems when characters like Doctor Doom or Lex Luthor, with long histories of terrible deeds, are treated in-story as noble figures who just had a bad day. It’s possible to create a character who CAN be both villain and hero, but it’s a fine line to walk, leading to today’s misguided query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) would probably accept Laird James McCullen Destro XXIV, who comes from a part of Scotland with disco collars and metal faceplates in the traditional Scottish manner, asking: What notable villain would you most likely accept as the literal Hero of Their Own Story?
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From same series, Storm Shadow. But he’s always been more of a tweener, like Magneto.