Faux Affably Evil

Faux Affably Evil is a term referring to villains who, at a glance, are similar to those who are the Affably Evil type, but with a lack of sincerity to their affable and sympathetic nature. Sometimes such villains are rarely, if ever wrathful or patronizing in front of the heroes, but they do not actually show genuine empathy towards others and instead schmooze others with charming behaviors to manipulate others and hide their true colors. As such, they are sounding polite (as well as acting nice and endearing) but not actually so, which causes their villainy to stand out more rather than less.

In some works, Faux Affably Evil villains would be likely to break the Fourth Wall and reveal their truly malevolent qualities to the audience, while simultaneously pretending to be nice in front of the protagonists. Arrogant villains who give a sarcastic apology to their foes also fall under this category. However, the characters of the story and audience alike might not be aware of the Faux Affably Evil villain's true colors until they reveal them, whether unintentionally or intentionally. They could appear very much as a friend or ally before betraying or revealing their true colors to the heroes. Good examples include Prince Hans, Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear, Emperor Palpatine, Eddie Gluskin, Fairy Godmother, Chelsea Van Der Zee, Dawn Bellwether, Ego, Rex Dangervest, Pristine Figg, Mother Gothel, The Director, Trundle, Barnabas, The Analyst, Professor Marmalade, The Beldam, Sir Miles Axlerod, Dimitri Rascalov, Chef Saltbaker, Griffin Lyons and Chester V. These kinds of villains are commonly regarded as twist villains who can even have the audience fooled by their flattery and "friendly" attitudes. In some cases, they can turn out to be Pure Evil if they are heinous and irredeemable enough to qualify.

Despite their lack of sincerity, some of these villains can actually be remorseful due to the fact that sometimes the hero can reach them in heart (e.g. Count Dooku, Anti-Pops, Lilly and Bryce Walker). They also can be insecure, tragic, redeemable, protective and/or honorable (e.g. Darth Vader, Humpty Alexander Dumpty, Imhotep, Gus Fring, Davy Jones, Azula, Jinx, Erik Killmonger, King Andrias, Lord Business, Tomura Shigaraki and Soldier Boy). In fact, some Faux Affably Evil villains can even be heroic in some cases (e.g. Eric Cartman, Peter Griffin, Mandy, Mr. Krabs, Namaari, Stan Smith, Roger Smith, Angelica Pickles, Master Shake, Benjamin Krupp, Loki Laufeyson (Marvel), Kuvira, Merle Dixon, and Kokichi Oma). It’s also worth noting that if a villain becomes genuinely affable after their redemption or short-lived side switching but is not genuinely nice as a villain (e.g. Alvin the Treacherous, Punguari, Hiroshi Sato, Rowena MacLeod, Gai Amatsu, Yuto Sakurai (Outsiders) and Doctor Octopus), they still fall under this category.

• Note: Just because a villain is extremely evil and lacks any affable traits doesn't mean that they automatically fall under this category if they're openly hostile and violent towards everyone without showing any false politeness (e.g. Montgomery de la Cruz, Yoon Gwi-nam, Rowdyruff Boys, Rip Blazkowicz, Heimdall, Ryker Grimborn, Yomi Hellsmile, Frank Booth, Dabi, The Dark Lord, Clarence Darby, Fliqpy, Kaigaku, Jang Deok-su, Heather,Big Jack Horner, Evelyn Claythorne, Randall Boggs, Crimson-Masked Saiyan, Princess Shroob and Master Xandred). However, this rule does not apply to villains who are hostile to almost everyone yet are superficially polite to at least one person (e.g. Zhan Tiri, Shao Kahn, Lord Commander, Agent Trout, Queen Grimhilde, Bowser (Movie), The Ink Demon, Adam (Hazbin Hotel), Colonel Volgin, Hopper, Protoboy, Muscular, Stella, Zoran Lazarević, Prince Joachim, and Edwin Epps).

Also, if a villain is truly affable only to the people they care about or a select few people, but never or rarely genuinely affable to anyone else (e.g. Obito Uchiha, Walter White, Darth Vader, Yuno Gasai, Cersei Lannister, Herrscher of the Void, Mukuro Ikusaba, Dutch van der Linde, Gus Fring, Tomura Shigaraki, Nicole, Mr. Krabs, Silco, Alma Reynard, Chris McLean, Superman, and Roadhog), then they still fall under this category. Keep in mind, they can still have a tiny bit of genuine affability, but their fake affability mostly overshadows it. As a result, Pure Evil villains cannot qualify if this is the case, since they can never show any signs of genuine affability towards anyone.

These types of villains can be considered the opposite of heroic False Antagonists, who are falsely or mistakenly seen as bad people when they are actually good in nature or are former villains who truly changed after their redemption, but were still seen as threats.