The Death Star was an inside job. Emperor Palpatine is a good guy who brought peace and prosperity to the Galaxy. What the so-called Rebel Alliance terrorist organization did was wrong, and I'm tired of pretending it was not.
The most famous villian .... The Joker ... a highly intelligent, creative, insightful and philosophical individual compared to some billionaire in a bat costume with a mouthful of gravel.
Compelling villains are written with a deeper motivation for their actions than just 'hurt people' or 'be evil' and they have a tendency to challenge the status quo in some way. Such villains become sympathetic because the current status quo is oppressive.
It must be very difficult to write a villain for a contemporary piece of media because they can very quickly become a hero of the people.
You can always fish out of water a villain. Their solution could sound reasonable where they come from, but during the quest for enlightenment be made clearly wrong, and they refuse to change. Breaking that step can turn the audience.
Fair enough, although he still does a lot of evil shit and everyone instantly forgives him and loves him.
I'm not knocking it, I'm one of those people.