Hypocrites

A Hypocrite is someone who imposes rules on others and punishes them for violating it yet violates the very same things they claim to enforce and punish others for doing, as if they are exempt from their own rules.

Sometimes hypocrites are merely hostile individuals who falsely claim to have moral superiority over the people they antagonize, but the worst kind of hypocrites are by far tyrannical and absolutely corrupt dictators who persecute their own people, sometimes falsely, for various things while secretly being guilty of similar and/or worse crimes and blatantly denying the fact.

Hypocrites are often liars and arrogant individuals, as they feel that they have the right to impose their will on others whilst thinking they are above such a scheme. Some hypocrites are egotistical individuals, as they think the rules should only apply to others and that they think its okay when they violate the rules themselves. Many such villains are often too delusional in their sense of righteousness or entitlement to realize or understand the irony of their positions, though this is not always the case if they still recognize overall that they are not good people despite being hypocritical at times (ie. Mike Ehrmantraut). They can often also be cowards, afraid that they will lose their trust with others and/or power if they are exposed as a hypocrite.

"Because they're a hypocrite," if that is a true statement, is the answer to many questions one could ask about a villain. Basically, a hypocrite is someone who pretends to have feelings or beliefs that they do not really have and is lying to everyone around them and, more often than not, themselves. If their hypocrisy is any more than brief, it's usually a defining aspect of their character. Good examples are Gil Yepes from The Prodigies, Amanda Young from Saw, Beverly Sutphin from Serial Mom, Doma from Demon Slayer, Judge Claude Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Flag-Smasher from Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Steve Malek from Dodo, Mahito from Jujutsu Kaisen, and Mitsuzane Kureshima from Kamen Rider Gaim.

Note: Just because a character is a hypocrite doesn't mean they are immediately evil. Nobody is perfect, and people make mistakes with villains, whether well-intentioned extremists or not, are no exception. It depends on the severity of how much these villains are willing to pretend to be somebody they aren't and how much it impacts everyone around them.

This is not to be confused with insecure villains who lie to themselves and others to hide their flaws and are not completely evil. This is specifically for villains who pretend to have beliefs they don't have simply because they believe they are above other people, though the two can overlap.