Scapegoats

Inconsistently Heinous villains who are punished much more than they really deserve, for some cases in extremely or even disproportionately cruel measures, to the point where It often feels unfair and unnecessary and It attracts great amounts of sympathy for them.

While most villains here are presented sympathetically, some villains can also be presented extremely comically such as their numerous defeats to be here as well (e.g. The Hacker, Captain Hook, Bowser, Dr. Two-Brains, Patrick Star, SMG3, Plankton).

Note: Not all villains who are tragic qualify as scapegoats because in some cases their tragedy, while still holding up, might not be quite bad enough to make them scapegoats (e.g. Walter White, Cersei Lannister, The Count, Hiro Shishigami, Monty de la Cruz). It depends on case by case but for someone to be a scapegoat, they need to have suffered immensely throughout their life and not just have a tragic backstory which motivates their actions.

Similarly, villains can be prevented from being scapegoats if they commit crimes that outweigh their fates and are too heinous to be excused even if they are tragic, insecure, villains by proxy or all (e.g. Thanos, Davy Jones, Henry J. Waternoose III, Dracula, Boris Anderson, Bryce Walker, Haggar, Scott Shelby, Mina Loveberry, El Macho, Darth Vader, Count Dooku, Jason Voorhees, Tyler Howard, Koba, Kirei Kotomine, Tomura Shigaraki, Enrico Pucci, Mr. Puzzles, Jax, Megatron (Transformers: Prime), Rick Sanchez, Charmcaster and Lee Myung-gi). Though there are some exceptions to it if they're so horribly treated it is severe enough to still hold up despite committing horrible crimes. (e.g Lucy, Agni, Homura Akemi)

Another way a villain is prevented from being a scapegoat is if they are tragic but then redeem themselves before completely rising above their tragedies and getting better lives. (e.g. Noodle Burger Boy and Sunset Shimmer.)