Ezekiel Rage is a character from Jonny Quest who is hell bent on destroying the world. He appears a lot so you are familiar with him being a routine villain. You come to believe that he is evil personified. Throughout the cartoon when he comes face-to-face with Quest he'll justify his evil plans by reading from a book that he carries and end every quote with "So says the Book of Rage!" Having been a devout follower of the show as a kid I believed it to be his manifesto. Quest though is never able to defeat and capture him. That is until one of the best reveals in cartoon history: Seasons later, Quest finally bests him and disarms him of the Book of Rage. If you followed the show religiously you were on the edge of your seat.

When Quest opens the book it turns out to be a photo album of Rage's deceased family. His motivation all along was vengeance, not pure rage for the sake of it. The reveal makes him sympathetic. When I saw that as a kid it blew my mind that villains could be complex.