There are two types of individuals that are scorned upon. The first is the sycophantic hero, someone who commits good deeds simply to make people like him/her. The second is the sadistic villian, a person who does whatever evil action he/she feels like doing. Both act this way to get whatever he or she wants

But which of the two is worse? Discuss which you feel is worse and why.

I would say: Sycophantic Hero

Reasons:

- Hero would probably not act like a hero unless there was a large crowd there in order to boost their ego

- A Villain by nature already does what they want, Classic take over the world thing for power is overplayed it's not exactly bad anymore, more of a trend with villains

- A Hero would milk their fame for every last drop, and eventually turn to become a villain once the well dries up on the hero end.

But hey these are my reasons

But I will say, you are a good person for posting a topic like this...making us think and all...

At the end of the day, a Sycophantic Hero is still doing good and a Sadistic Villain is still doing evil. You could pick them apart, but at a base level the polar lines are still drawn.

I mean, in that case, the hero would just kind of be a dick, that's all.

The sadistic villain is the worse of the two by far.

Victor Fries, aka Mr. Freeze appeared in a short little stint with the Gotham Police Department where two officers had received a call and were dispatched. The first thing he does is completely freezes the partner of the main character, then breaks off his ear while belittling the other. After doing this and belittling him further, he takes his fist and smashes the frozen officer in half just so that the other man could feel the loss Fries had.

Then, after he successfully escapes them, he takes his gun and sticks it into the mouth of the escape vehicle driver before pulling the trigger, freezing him from the inside out just for the hell of it.

Sycophantic heroes are just egomaniacal twats, the sadistic villains all have an ulterior motive(or lack thereof) to do what they will. But at the end of the day, who do you think creates the most casualties and pain?

A hero wouldn't chop my dick off and feed it to me.
Hero>villain.

I agree with the majority of those who have already responded.

Villains are doing evil, or they wouldn't be considered villains at all. And there is no way you earn the title hero without doing something pretty fantastic, even if it is for the attention or whatever.

In my view... The Sycophantic hero is ironically the more villainous of the two.
A sycophantic hero deludes himself and does good only when it benefits him. Making him neutral at best.
A sadistic villain does whatever he so pleases, be it evil or benevolent. Whatever he feels like at the moment.

In essence, both are neutral. The difference is the Sadistic villain may help or kill you while you're down; The sycophantic hero will only help you if there's a crowd.