By making him/her moraly ambiguous antagonist much like V

A good villain...

Well, what makes one good is if they have good motives to do what the plot pushes them to do.

Or maybe they give the hero a power that traumatizes them (like in Re:Zero. The Witch of Greed, Satella, gave the mc, Natsuki Subaru, Return by Death.)

That pretty much traumatized him throughout the entire series.

Some pf his deaths are so gruesome I don't think it would be okay to discuss them here.

Ooh, this is a good one.

Ok, well, for one, what makes a good villain is of course entirely subjective. I myself like villains who (at least in the case of comics) are large threats and require either multiple heroes or one supreme powerhouse to defeat. For instance, Gorr the God Butcher. They don't need to be sympathetic; they can just be complete and total douchebags their whole life and I would like them. It can be more interesting to have a sympathetic background, but if the story is not so much about the villain as it is about the story, not a huge focus needs to be put on the villain, but in my opinion, you still need to delegate time for the villain to be explained, preferably in a flashback of some sort, otherwise, they won't be as interesting and I won't be invested in them as much,

Villains also don't require powers. Many, many stories have interesting and compelling villains who have no superpowers at all. Take Kingpin or the Joker. Both are simply criminals who, for one reason or another, managed to make a huge mark on whatever media they're in. But they didn't just do it; no no, they needed to know what was gonna happen and how to manage it, or how to take over the entire underworld, or whatever. They needed to be smart. And that brings me to something that, in my opinion, definitely makes a better villain, which is intelligence. Imagine, if you will, the Tracksuit Mafia being the main antagonist of Hawkeye. A bunch of dumb, generic mafia dudes. That would've made the show even worse! They're completely uninteresting because one they're generic mafia bad guys, and two, they're idiots. They make for laughs occassionally, but that's not gonna get the show any farther. They needed Echo and Kingpin to spice up the villains' side.

Sorry if that's a little rambly, I basically wrote my thoughts down as I thought of them.

Edit: To build my thoughts a little, I also like a little originality in my villains to separate them from the rest. They don't have to be super unique and in depth, just have to have something that makes them stand out from the crowd. A cool look or weapon or method to do things or whatever.

For me it's a mix of all of that, and for different characters and stories. Say for personality and look, if a villain looks awesome but has no personality, will run flat. Unless they have some sweet goals and are great at manipulating others or background. Some villains are perfect for a story, but may no be for another.

Here are a few examples of different types of great villains I'm talking about.

Apocalypse: He is pretty much a monster, he is all about survival of the fittest, with him on the throne. He has even said that one of the reasons he has been pushing mutants to become stronger is so he can build himself the perfect host. So he may join his rightful place among the Celestials, and bath the cosmos in blood.

Selene: Her goal is pretty simple, become a god and subjugate the world. Basically she's just Evil.

Gideon: He has the personality, look and power. Manipulated the course of history to suit his needs for countless centuries. He takes on the world through business, and does it in such a way you would have no idea of his actual involvement.

S.H.I.V.A.: An artificial intelligence that inhabits the body of the robot rather than the robot in and of itself. When destroyed it will remember, so that you can't destroy it the same way twice. It's goal is simple, eliminate those of the Weapon X program to keep its secrets. I always felt S.H.I.V.A. as a 2021's Next or Skynet vibe, and has the potential to go after all the Weapon programs.

FINALLY, ANOTHER CHANCE TO RAMBLE ABOUT WHY THE RIDDLER IS THE GREATEST CHARACTER IN ALL OF FICTION!

*Ahem*

Eddie Nashton, or Edward Nigma (Nygma, sometimes) is a simple character in theory. He's a mentally unstable narcissist who thinks he deserves power because of his high intellect. So why is he my favorite character in anything ever?

Edward was always an intellectually gifted kid. He was also abused as a child. His father would often beat him when he got good grades on tests, believing that he wasn't smart enough to not have cheated. And though I haven't seen this element in a comic, I like to think that that was would made him into a self-absorbed egotistical megalomaniac. The idea that he was so smart that his parents thought he cheated. But that is besides the point.

Living out an academic life for the first 20-25 years, the legend of Batman soon began to rise in Gotham, home of Edward. At this point, already having a gigantic ego, he refused to believe that there was someone smarter than him. He changed his name from Edddie Nashton to Edward Nigma, so his name could be E. Nigma. He used his intellect to stage crimes and leave Batman clues to find him. It sounds dumb, but as we see in the Batman: Arkham Franchise, if the Riddler doesn't succeed in killing Batman regularly, he tries to kill him with mental exhaustion, spending untold amounts of time placing riddles all around Arkham Island in Asylum, and having goons do it in Arkham City in City and Gotham in Knight.

The Riddler's story is so captivating, and sometimes, if you can put aside his annoying demeanor, you can sympathize with him, constantly trying to prove himself after not being able to do so to his parents.

This is just one aspect though. Everything else about him is fantastic. His designs, his cane, his jokes. Good God, is this man hilarious. He's on par with The Joker in terms of comedic timing and delivery, even if not intentional. And, to bring this to a close, I will give some of his most powerful quotes in Arkham Knight and Gotham. Don't worry, I'll probably break down Gotham Riddler at some point as well.

"Goodbye.

*Batman completes a loop of his race track*

NOOOOOOOOO!

STOP. NOT. DYING."

"What? Impossible! This cannot be!

You should have fallen to your death! I calculated the curvature precisely! I'VE GOT THE EQUATIONS RIGHT HERE!"

"A nightmare for some. For others, a savior, I come. My hands, cold and bleak, it’s the warm hearts they seek."

"Hi-diddle-riddle, detective!"

Oh, and I forgot this genius game over line of Riddler's in Arkham Knight that showcases the self-doubt he hides under his ego perfectly.

"I did it! I actually did it ! I mean, of course I did. Good. As expected."

I love the answers so far 😎✊🏻 And I agree with a good bit of them, so my additional two cents would be:

1) Sympathetic necessity? Sometimes it’s fine, but I fear that many writers, especially now, fall into the trap of feeling like they HAVE to make villains sympathetic. By subscribing to that idea, their villains fall short of being anything special because they’re trying to force the villain to be multidimensional in a way that doesn’t come natural to the character. It’s okay to have a villain who is simply “evil, for evil’s sake”, so long as they have a solid motive 👍🏻

2) That being said, my favorite type of villain is the villain who’s not wrong 😌 from a purely logical standpoint. One who’s reasoning is absolutely sound and who’s methods might even be the most efficient or the best in serving the greater good, barring any consideration of morality. Machiavellian by the most widely accepted definition. Prior to my filtering their actions through an ethical paradigm, if a villain has me thinking “hmm, yeah, that’s true, honestly” or “I can definitely see why they would do this”, then THAT is my ideal. Even more credit if what they’re doing is logical and TECHNICALLY not immoral.

In other words, variations on the anti-villain archetype.

The more noble the villain, the more I’ll like them. Doesn’t have to be sympathetic, doesn’t have to have a tragic backstory. Just impeccable logic and the will to see it through 😉

Wait so I did good at a writing?

They just have to be willing to kill, have as little morale as possible and not waste time talking to the protagonist so that he can escape😅. It’s best if they are portrayed as a sociopath so their lines are short, scary, and memorable. Also need a will to do whatever it takes no matter the cost.

I want to try and reply here when I’m a bit more coherent and able to properly read the posts so far.

For me, right now, the real villain is this effing flu my kid brought home that thankfully has been returning negative tests as far as COVID goes.