Ever watch Unbreakable? The villain in that move was really well done but I won't say more in case you haven't seen it.

In general I think villains are better when they aren't strictly evil. When they are doing evil things, but for good reasons. Or perhaps when their past has caused them to become evil in some way. Especially if whatever caused them to become evil is directly related to what caused the heroes to become heroes.

Bad people don't believe they are bad. They may be aware the things they are doing are bad, or even that their reasons are "bad," but they always feel their reasons are justifiable and the reasons justify their actions.

Ever watch Unbreakable? The villain in that move was really well done but I won't say more in case you haven't seen it.

In general I think villains are better when they aren't strictly evil. When they are doing evil things, but for good reasons. Or perhaps when their past has caused them to become evil in some way. Especially if whatever caused them to become evil is directly related to what caused the heroes to become heroes.

Not necessarily. It can be just as fun or appropriate if you villain is just pure evil. I mean, can you imagine Rocky IV with Ivan Drago as a guy with a complex, nuanced psychology? If he felt something when he killed Apollo? No that would suck, because the film is about the evils of Communism and the strength of the American spirit.

Pure evil with no shades can work depending on what story you want to tell.

interesting villains see themselves as the hero of their own story.

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Well, I don't know if it helps, but the most interesting villain I've seen lately has to be Kilgrave from Jessica Jones.

Unlike say, Handsome Jack, Kilgrave doesn't necessarily see himself as a "hero." Protagonist, maybe, but his aspirations don't really reach to "hero" level. He doesn't think he's bettering the world or doing anything grand. He doesn't have goals, other than an obsession with controlling Jessica. What's interesting about him is how his particular ability warps his own perception of the world and others. There's an argument to be made that he may not fully grasp WHY what he does isn't OK - which does make him similar to those "I'm the hero" villains, although it comes from a different place.

In that same universe, there's also Wilson Fisk. You understand why he is the way that he is, and he does see himself as the means to a better end, but also ultimately acknowledges that he is the villain (see his interpretation of the Good Samaritan story). The way he assesses situations and does the "logical thing' (trying to kill Frank, before deciding to help him go free instead) helps define him as someone who isn't 100% "evil", but who is willing to do evil things. He is only truly evil when he loses his temper, which is a direct result of his upbringing, and it's something that he is constantly fighting. Great character.

I've read all these posts, and it has been lovely to do so. Thank you, everyone (still waiting on Raga, though :P).

Oh fine. :p (May have accidentally bought The Witcher 3 and... well... you know how these things go, I'm sure!)

Lots of good posts already so I got to thinking about other things that might help flesh out a Villain:

As other have noted, sometimes perhaps even often times a Villain believes themselves to be in the right. Or if not in the right then at least their actions will help some greater purpose they believe in. Of course, there are also Villains who do what they do to maintain or expand their own power or increase their own wealth.

There are also those Villains who travel down a path of choices starting with small ones, a temptation here, a minor misuse of power or authority there, that slowly leads to ever greater abuses. Don't know what kind of project you're working on exactly, but if you have time it might be fun to start your Villain off as one of these abusers and then come back to them later with them having more authority or a new position they gained by having your hero(es) assist in one of these minor abuses (have the minor Villain make a good, if slightly iffy argument, for the heroes' help) only for it to come back to haunt the heroes later. Personal connection to your Villain doesn't just have to be "the evil Villain kidnapped my son and killed my wife" type situations. Something like "I helped cause this mess and now I have to clean it up" can be fun to play around with.

Another fun Villain type can be the Villain who tries to do the right thing but is forced or tricked or backed into a corner and who then instead of doing the right thing (maybe at great personal cost) instead does or has to make the wrong choice. This could give your Villain a more tragic past. Maybe he or she technically has the power to turn their choice back around but practically speaking doing so would either result in consequences (either personal or on a wider level) that they are not prepared to accept. Maybe they feel trapped even as they are causing considerable disruption or destruction.

There can also be a place for a Villain who just doesn't seem to make sense from the hero's point of view. Maybe they bypasses a town or star system when their forces destroyed so many others. Maybe there are contradictory signs that point to a physical or mental health issue that may or may not exist. Figure out the Villain's reason for these odd actions for yourself (maybe not everything is about or leads to them but rather someone close to them... heh, here I am starting to develop my own villain while listing possibilities!) then weave them into your project as clues and / or dead ends.

I guess to sum up, don't be afraid to go a little off the beaten path here or there in order to give your Villain some unique character.

I think this gmork is the embodiment of what you're looking for:

His motives are evil yet logical, and get right to the heart of what it means to be human.

If you are unfamiliar:

Fantastica is the world of human imagination, and there is a great nothing destroying it. The nothing is basically the despair, doubt, and lies in our heads. Gmork wants the nothing to destroy fantastica, since people without imagination, dreams, and hopes are much easier to control. So fighting the nothing means embracing our dreams.

Interesting. How does Gmork see himself? Is he on the side of the angles, for example? Or does he know his actions are a naked power grab?

I've settled on at least one motivation.

He sees the universe as a brutally gorgeous happenstance. An uncaring, harsh place with the possibility of unimaginable beauty. However, he believes that any chance in seeing such beauty must be earned, and that sentient life either fights, or it dies. In his murderous way, he fancies himself a teacher.

That reminds me of General Marder from Titanfall 2. He sums up the motivations for the entire conflict in the series in a single four-minute-long speech about expendability and human progress:

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Reminds me of the justifications of Social Darwinists. I like it.