While Hate Sink and Pure Evil tend to have overlapping traits, these two concepts tend to have differing traits.
The table below is meant to show the differences and similarities between both concepts.
| Hate Sink and Pure Evil | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unique Only to Hate Sink | Similar Characteristics | Unique Only to Pure Evil | ||
| The main point behind this character is that they are meant to be hated for their repulsive and negative character traits. | They usually lack any positive qualities. | The main point behind this character is that they are absolutely evil and wicked without any redeeming qualities. | ||
| The character is purposely designed by the writer to be hated by the audience. | They are not meant to be sympathetic. | The character is judged by meeting and passing all parts of the pure evil criteria. | ||
| This includes characters who are non-villains (such as antagonists) and villains. | They evoke a level of outrage from the audience due to their actions and characteristics. | This only includes villains who meet the pure evil criteria (e.g. they are heinous enough by their story standards and lack redeeming qualities). | ||
| This can include groups and organizations. | This is only limited to individuals. No groups or organizations can qualify. | |||
| These characters lack any positive qualities that can get the audience to admire them for their magnificence or brilliance. | While seldom and rare, these villains can have qualities that can sway the audience due to their brilliance (e.g. Magnificent Baddies). | |||
| It is very hard for these characters to be considered Laughably Evil. | These characters do not have it hard to be considered Laughably Evil. | |||
Examples of Pure Evil Villains who cannot be Hate Sinks
- Lieutenant Obsidian from Inkopolis Chaos
- Hans Gruber from Die Hard [2]
- Harry Lime from The Third Man [3]
- Hugo Strange from The Batman [4]
- Green Goblin from The Spectacular Spider-Man [5]
- Dudley Smith from L.A. Confidential (film version only) [6]
- Megatron from both Beast Wars: Transformers and Transformers: Animated [7] [8]
- Multiple incarnations of the Joker (The Dark Knight, Batman (1989), The Batmman, etc)
- V.V. Argost from The Secret Saturdays [9]
- Megabyte from Reboot: The Guardian Code [10]