Protagonists

A villainous protagonist or protagonist villain is a character who is the central focus of a story but isn’t the hero of its story (unless they are redeemed/on & off/fallen/morally ambiguous). These villains are the main characters of their own stories. Due to them being the protagonists of the story (and in many cases, knowing their motives), a role that is often reserved for heroic characters in media, the audience commonly and mistakenly nickname them "Anti-Heroes", though it's still possible for a villain protagonist to fit the criteria of an Anti-Hero as well.

Light Yagami, Chucky, Patrick Bateman, Zim, Trevor Philips, Eren Yeager, Walter White, John Milton's Satan, Brightburn, Joe Goldberg, The Crusader, Thomas Shelby, Arthur Fleck, Tony Soprano, Rick Sanchez, Saul Goodman, Tony Montana , and Michael Corleone are prime examples of villainous protagonists.

Villainous deuteragonists and tritagonists fall under this category too. (e.g: Sasuke Uchiha, Carlos De Vil, Griffith, Hiro Shishigami, Jax). There can be more than one villainous protagonist in a same story, but each one has to share the same amount of screen time in order to qualify. Villain protagonists in long-running series can be Big Bads and/or The Heavy if they are the one kickstarting the events and being the source of the story conflict (e.g. Light Yagami, Walter White, Frank Underwood).

There are following variations of protagonist villains:

• In video games, any playable character(s) can qualify (e.g. Michael De Santa, Franklin Clinton, and Trevor Philips, who are the protagonists of Grand Theft Auto V; and Daniel Lamb and Leo Kasper, who are the protagonists of Manhunt 2).
• Also, former protagonists who became antagonists (often fallen heroes) can be included, given that they played a large part in the story, even if they no longer function as protagonists (e.g. Darth Vader, Dark Danny, Rex Dangervest, Griffith, victim, Nolanverse's Two-Face).
• Antagonists that protagonize their own stories (Joker, Yoshikage Kira, Thanos, Poison Ivy, Vez'nan, Supernova).
• On-off and redeemed villains who used to oppose the heroes but later joined the heroic cause temporarily or definitively (Zuko, Vegeta, Plankton, Magolor, Obito Uchiha, Omni-Man, Thel 'Vadam, Beerus, and Bowser).
• Villains who start out as allies in early story arcs but then reveal to be antagonists (Makima, Ryo Asuka, Walter C. Dornez).
• Overarching protagonists who were planning everything from behind (Calypso, O5 Council and Shinigami King).

These characters are rarely Pure Evil, because it is uncommon for a leading character to actually be that evil, due to most protagonists being anti-villains, grey zoned, villains by proxy, redeemed, and/or On & Off (e.g Ainz Ooal Gown, Andrew Detmer, John Wade, The Warden, Alucard, Ken Kaneki, Rick Sanchez, Billy Butcher, Dexter Morgan, The Mask, etc) to in order make them likable to the audience. In addition, protagonists that are villainous usually set the villainy standards in their story. However, protagonists can still be Pure Evil if they have no redeeming qualities, know right from wrong, and the surrounding characters are visibly distressed or repulsed by their actions, thus meaning that they meet the criteria (e.g. Patrick Bateman, Louis Bloom, Frank Underwood, The manga version of Light Yagami, Kurt Kunkle, Emma Grossman, King Richard III, Henry, Nemesis and The Plutonian). In addition, horror works and exploitative medias often feature purely evil protagonists who are meant to be feared as mascots of their own franchise (e.g. Chucky, Michael Myers, Sweet Tooth, Alan Yates and Judge Holden). Additionally, there have been cases of where their roles as protagonists are unrelated to their usual roles and motives of the conflict (e.g. Scar (remake), Melanie Cyrus, Dr. Gregory Butler, Victoria Heyes, William Afton, Dr. Eggman, Randall Boggs, Bowser, Plankton, Dutch van der Linde, Megatron, The Ink Demon, M3GAN, The Lich and Esther Coleman)

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They are the exact inverted opposite of heroic antagonists.

Just because an Antagonist are also Redeemed/Supporting/On & Off/Playable/Major characters in a story and Video Games (e.g Vincent, Abominable Snow Monster, Mayor Shelbourne,Arry and bert) that doesn't mean that they are protagonist if they're not the main character.