User blog comment:KillRoy231/Series that no longer kill main villains/@comment-25008763-20150420013812

this is not a new trend at all, it has always been the case and plenty of villains still continue to be permanently destroyed or killed.. media is just getting darker and the "good versus evil" scenario is becoming less of a key factor in plot, now it is more about "evil versus evil".

Complete Monsters like Joffrey however will ALWAYS ultimately be killed off unless a series goes from "grim as all hell" because complete monsters by nature MUST die or be destroyed in some fashion in order for their universe / series to "heal" even slightly.

the reason some villains survive is simple : plot necessity.. that's why Joker will never be permanently killed (or any supervillain outside movie incarnations (even then, don't expect them to "die" forever.. comics aren't known to deal with death very well..).

one trend however I notice HAS changed : modern horror.

in the past even the nastiest, cheapest gore film had some hope.. some resemblence to morality (as twisted as it may be) but these days horror has become "torture porn" and the villain is NEVER punished or even harmed.. this infuriates me to no ends as "torture porn" villains commit such horrific crimes you want them to die, yet by its nature modern horror doesn't allow it.. even Freddy and Chucky got killed at the end of every movie in the past (they came back but at least you could say they got "defeated" at the end of each story.. not so for modern horror villains).