Which are truly worse in both fiction and real life: Jerks or Villains?

[QuinnFillory]

Most people don't like people who do bad things, like stealing and mistreating others. However in fiction, a lot of popular characters are villains, like Loki or Darth Vader. Meanwhile, people who are nowhere near as bad are sometimes hated by audiences, like Felicity Smoak in Arrow. Now in real life, this is a different story, but it is interesting to think and talk about. For example, the recent episode of Stargirl had Starman go on the attack against Sportsmaster and Tigress, two former members of the Injustice Society who killed his friends and participated in a scheme to brainwash 75% of all the adults in America, killing the rest. They have yet to really atone for all of this. Yet, a lot of viewers were unhappy with Sylvester, mostly because he destroyed a grocery store in the process of the attack. Meanwhile, Sportsmaster and Tigress are two of the popular characters on the show.

Here is a link on the topic:https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.p...seThanVillains

[CSTowle]

Few things. Nobody's the villain of their own story, but villains have to come from somewhere so it's all a matter of perspective. And from the perspective of others we're all at times villains and more often jerks. It might be hard to define either outside of the perspective of others, but my guess is if we were to pool opinions the qualifications to make "villain" status would be far worse than "jerk" status. So the obvious answer is "villain is worse".

When it comes to "villains" in adult cartoons/superhero movies you may be looking at the POV character and realizing they're in reality a villain or a jerk (or both), or near enough not to really matter (Deadpool, Harley Quinn, Joker, etc.) and still rooting for them or at least interested in their story. Or watching a movie because the designated villain you're expected to root against is interesting and scary enough that you want to see how they're defeated (Thanos, Joker, Magneto).

In real life the people who would universally be seen as villains (despots, terrorists, those who harm children) are folk you would hope you never have the misfortune of crossing paths with or be impacted by. In movies (or any storytelling format) villains can make the story. Jerks can be fun, if done right.

[Mister Mets]

Interesting question.

Jerks are terrible, but you're not going to find any mass graves on their property. Villains like Beria on the other hand...

[Catlady in training]

There is a huge difference between fiction and reality.

In fiction, people often like characters based on how interesting they are, not because of their moral compasses. Many villains are simply interesting to watch, even if we know their actions are 100% wrong. Then there are fans who like to excuse actions of some villains because they are hot/cool/funny, etc.
On the other hand, characters like Felicity or Laurel are hated by only a portion of the fanbase and it's usually because they clash with those fans' expectations (often because of shipping). I don't think most fans actually consider their actions to be worse than of the real villains (criminals, terrorists, etc.), it's just part of the fun of getting fascinated by the story.