You know what, it's very good phrasing.
If hero = protagonist in this context, i'd say the hero is more important. Since we usually see the world from the protagonists eyes, if the protagonist were to be removed there would be no eyes to look through. Furthermore, they're the usual main arbiter of change in their world. Watching a villain just dominate for the entirety of the world would be boring.
however, if a hero is just a hero as in the role of "hero" then absolutely it's fine for them to just be straight up removed. If the protagonist is the villain, the hero wouldn't be all that important.
I think though that a villain is less important, purely due to the existence of romcoms i guess.