Villains Versus Heroes: Who are more important?

[Clayton]

So who is more important to the plot, the hero or the villain?

 

 

 

 

 

[Forlorn]

I say the villains. The hero would have a boring story without a good villain to take on.

[Clayton]

23 minutes ago, Forlorn said:

I say the villains. The hero would have a boring story without a good villain to take on.

Well they can do natural disasters and other things, but yeah, the bad guys are usually the reasont he heroes do anything at all. Imagine Sailor Moon if she had all that power, but no villains... then again she does eventually conquer the world. 

 

 

[Moxie]

There wouldn't be any heros without villians. They keep the story going

[zeriiiclaire]

When hero become villain and villain become hero therefore both. 

[Clayton]

On 5/7/2026 at 6:36 AM, Moxie said:

There wouldn't be any heros without villians. They keep the story going

Well villains or disasters. But yeah, without villains there aren't many heroes. In fact supervillains often give their heroes their powers. 

[Moxie]

On 5/19/2026 at 10:34 PM, Clayton said:

Well villains or disasters. But yeah, without villains there aren't many heroes. In fact supervillains often give their heroes their powers. 

Agreed! We wouldn't have batman if his parents weren't killed...

[KaiyaSaysHaiya]

While heroes are usually the protagonist of the story, I think their stories wouldn't be nearly as interesting without a villian. I'd much rather watch or read a story about a villian without a hero than a story about a hero with no villian. I also feel like villians generally have more interesting backgrounds and motivations that heroes (particularly in anime).

It's not an anime ofc, but this actually reminds me of Megamind haha. It has such a fun twist on the hero/villian dynamics that I think is genuinely so amazing! I think Maleficent is also a good example of the villian taking the centre of the story. Both films are so interesting in the way they make you emphasise with the "bad guy" and make you think about what really makes somebody bad. That is, in my opinion, far more interesting than a story just about somebody fighting for the good of the world or whatever most heroes stand for.