A vigilante is a character who takes justice into his or her own hands and punish criminals (or at least people they perceive as criminals), often going against legal authorities to do so. Although vigilantes are often romanticized in fiction (such as Batman, Robin Hood, etc.), in reality, they sometimes tend to be remorseless and brutal killers or criminals.

These villains often think they are doing the world a favor by "taking care" of crime or things that displease them, usually through violence or murder (often believing they are "taking out the trash"). Most vigilantes view themselves as good people and often get annoyed or even furious at the hero's attempts at stopping them.

And this is what often makes them a source of trouble for heroes, who often see a dark mirror of what they could have been. Also, by ignoring the justice system, a vigilante could end up killing a wrongfully convicted person and thus take an innocent life or lives.

Vgilantes can be motivated by some of the following reasons:

• Beliefs: Some vigilantes are motivated by the belief that the justice system is or will not punish criminals or do so sufficiently enough. Thus leading them to believe they must take "justice" into their own hands.
• Revenge: Most commonly, vigilantes are motivated by revenge and pain. Some by criminals who wronged them personally and were not caught. Thus they sought out after them as revenge. Others can be motivated by revenge on people who aren't even criminals at all. Like people who simply bully or torment them or someone they love.
• Delusions/Mental Sickness: Vigilantes can sometimes be spurred into a killing spree by a mental disorder (such as schizophrenia or Obsessive Compulsion Disorder). This can cause irrational behavior and cause them to believe people are doing bad things when in reality they're not.

For sake of this wiki, these page only features vigilantes who have little-to-no heroic traits. If you want to see more heroic examples of vigilantes, see here.

Vigilantes cannot be Pure Evil, as this is a part of anti-villainous alignment whose goals are at least noble. Their intentions are good and they seek to bring justice. Pure Evil villains that seek their own twisted or hypocritical "justice" should go under Delusional and/or Lawful Evil instead of this category.