Remorseful villains are characters who feel sorry for their past or present actions, but have not necessarily "turned good". With almost every of these characters, their remorse can eventually lead to their redemption, but this is not always the case, as seen with Arthur Morgan, Agent 47, and Patrick McReary.

In many cases, a remorseful villain can also be a Villain by Proxy, as those never wished to be evil (however, not all remorseful villains are automatically Villains by Proxy, as it depends on how much remorse they show).

There are several reasons a villain can feel remorse, which includes:

• Feeling terrible for exceeding in their misdeeds, they may not truly redeem themselves in some cases but they still show real concern about their actions and the consequences that affect others and the villain(s) themselves. For example, Dozle Zabi in Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin felt guilt for ordering the genocide of the Side 2 colony and its subsequent dropping onto Earth, but continued to serve Zeon anyway. Similarly, Mashymre Cello in Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ felt tremendous regret for his role in the Dublin Colony Drop, but continued to fight for Neo Zeon. Another example is Dr. May Updale who felt tremendous regret after accidentally starting mass crime everywhere and being tricked by Arlo Sabian who wanted to depopulate lower income and All For One cried after killing his own brother.
• Helping another villain far more evil than them, not being aware that they were tricked and then eventually get betrayed once they have no more use. "Crime Wave" Clyde from The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 DIC cartoons is an example as well as Adrian Gecko from Yugioh GX.
• Having committed atrocities in the past and now showing concern in the present on how to fix everything they've done. Anti-Pops from Regular Show, Benny from I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream and Bryce Walker from 13 Reasons Why are examples.
• Realizing their schemes didn't go as they wanted and now want to either solve it with help of the heroes or do it themselves. Shou Tucker in the 2003 anime series of Fullmetal Alchemist, Zaheer from The Legend of Korra and Joshua Washington from Until Dawn are examples.
• Being regretful about the person they've become and wanting to retire from villainy, although in some cases, they may feel like they've gone too far and are incapable of becoming better. Davy Jones from Piriates of the Carribean is an example.
• Realizing that they were wrong all along about what they thought and believed was the right thing to do.

Important Notes[]

• Psychopaths/sociopaths usually do not show remorse for their actions because they tend to lack empathy, guilt and/or emotional connections and act violent and twisted. However, exceptions can exist if they at least show some remorse for their actions in any way possible (e.g. Prince Killmonger, King Koopa, Ralph Cifaretto, Red Skull (Ultimate Marvel), Xemnas, Sofia Lamb, and Hiro Shishigami).
• Although they are considerate of others, not all of them are Affably Evil because affably evil viilains are considerate of others even before they show remorse, if they show any at all (not all affably evil villains are remorseful either).
• IMPORTANT NOTE: Pure Evil villains can NEVER be in this category as they completely lack empathy, never feel bad about their wrongdoings and as a result are utterly remorseless. Even if there was a point in their lives where they felt genuine remorse, they will drop their repentance once their needs and/or wants are fulfilled (e.g. Judge Claude Frollo, Ego, Isaac Ray Peram Westcott, Griffith, Bill Cipher, Mysterio, Emperor Belos, Scar, Junko Enoshima and Light Yagami). If they somehow regret something they did, it's not because it was wrong to do, but due to the warped belief they could have done it worse or that they shouldn't have done a genuine good deed they once made because it inconvenienced them in the long run (Darkseid (DCAU), Thrax and Nizam). Remorseful villains are portrayed in positive ways regardless of how terrible their acts they feel sorry for are. Therefore, if villains feel ANY remorse at all, then they are never Pure Evil, despite the fact that they may never completely redeem themselves due to their acts.
• Also, DO NOT add these kinds of characters to this category, even if they are not Pure Evil:
  • Those who pretend to show remorse for their actions in an attempt to let the hero's guard down and kill them, these should go under Cowards and/or Trickster instead. (e.g. Dr. Eggman pretends to apologize to Sonic in Sonic Unleashed, but then Sonic realizes it's a trap, and gets turned into a werehog.)
  • Those who give a sarcastic apology to their foes, they should go under Faux Affably Evil and/or Provokers instead (e.g. Ernesto de la Cruz "apologizes" for seemingly killing Miguel and allowing Hector to fade away; Dawn Bellwether "apologizes" to Judy by saying she "liked her" before allowing her to be killed by a seemingly savage Nick; Zurg "apologizes" to Buzz by confining him: Queen Usurna "apologizes" to Vendel before turning him into stone and shattering his corpse; Frau Engel "apologizes" to B.J. Blazkowicz by decapitating him).
  • Those who merely regret not being able to commit the crimes or achieving their ambitions, or merely the failure of their crimes, instead of regretting their evil actions. these should go under Failure-Intolerant and Envious instead (e.g. Henry Bowers from the 2017 film adaptation of IT said to Mike Hanlon that he was sad over not being the one who killed Mike's parents; Esdeath's last and only regret (as revealed in her last moments) is her inability to make Tatsumi smile at her affectionately.)
  • Those who look like they are feeling bad for their actions, but then proceed to attempt to attack/kill the hero(es) anyway. (e.g. the Lemons from Cars 2. Mater tries to talk some sense into the Gremlins, Pacers, Trunkovs and Hugos that "becoming rich and powerful beyond their wildest dreams ain't gonna make them feel better." While it does look like they are realizing they were wrong, J. Curby Gremlin raises a machine gun and tries to kill the heroes anyway because it's "worth a shot!"; El Macho sounds regretful over the fact that he has to get rid of Gru since he opposes his plans, but still tries to crush him to death anyway; Odin seemed regretful by claiming "he did not want this" but still kills his son Thor anyway.)
  • Those who are shocked to see how much damage they did, but move on without real remorse, caring about defending themselves and thinking of what crimes they could do next. (e.g. Percy Wetmore was horrified at how bad he caused Del's execution to be, but only worried about what it would be like for himself to be in the chair, instead of feeling bad for what he did even after being punished by the heroes.)
  • Those who feel regret for a few specific acts they commit, but learn nothing from it and continue to commit more acts regardless. (e.g. Ursula, Henry J. Waternoose III, Tuco Salamanca, Front Man, Jafar (A Whole New World), Idi Amin, Eddie Low, and Howard Saint).
  • Those who used to feel regret for their actions but not anymore. (e.g. Koba, Charles Logan, Superman (Injustice), King Stefan, Rhulk, Helga Katrina Sinclair, and King Arthur).

This is only for villains who genuinely feel bad about at least one or two of their actions and have stopped doing evil, but haven’t yet redeemed themselves (although in some cases they may still try to atone for their crimes). If a villain has already completely redeemed themselves and atoned for their actions, then they don't need to also be categorized as remorseful.