10 Famous Movie Villains That Had Understandable Motives

5. The Penguin - Batman Returns

Probably the darkest and most depressing Batman film ever made, Tim Burton's second outing with Bats saw Danny DeVito portray Oswald Cobblepot in what what was actually a tremendous performance. The Penguin is pretty vile really - he bites the noses of the social elite and murders people with umbrellas. Hardly a charmer. But like all villains with a deformity, he has a tragic back story. You see, young Oswald was born to disgustingly wealthy and proud parents, when their little boy came out with flippers and a huge nose they weren't exactly thrilled. Keeping their offspring locked in a cage they eventually saw fit to throw him in a river Moses-style, although he wasn't a faithful servant selected by God to free the Jews from the plight of the oppressive Egyptians so much as he was a psychopathic lunatic who fought a man in a rubber bat suit, but that's not the point. Child abuse and discrimination of disability seems to be something rich people can get away with in films, but it's enough to make someone think twice about the motives of a supervillain.