The Brief: "The movie villain, the actual villain" memes are growing on Twitter. In these dual-photo memes, fans identify who they think are the true antagonists in various films.

DEEP DIVE
While movie plots may be written with a specific antagonist in mind, there are often characters the audience find to be just as threatening, if not more. Twitter users are debating cult classic films and their true protagonists using the dual-photo meme format. These tweets are captioned, “The movie villain, the actual villain.” These memes began popping up on Twitter on May 20
An incredibly popular post was centered around Disney Channel’s original movie franchise: High School Musical. It identified socialite and co-president of the East High Drama Club Sharpay Evans as the movie villain and high-school jock with a penchant for singing Troy Bolton and his love interest Gabriella Montez as the true villains. It garnered over 98,500 likes within 24 hours.
the movie villain the actual villains pic.twitter.com/6w9tsU6l5u
— c (@chuuzus) May 20, 2020
Another take was directed at cult favorite The Devil Wears Prada. While the protagonist Andy Sachs’ high-fashion boss Miranda Priestly was written as the villain, many fans think the true villain was the protagonist’s boyfriend Nate Cooper. He was always upset at Sachs for being so busy with her new job.
The movie villain The actual villain https://t.co/pDCqXEnqe9 pic.twitter.com/PbFtrFR0vA
— Obidi (@obislens) May 20, 2020
The official Twilight Saga movie account took on the trend, identifying Aro, the co-founder of the largest and most powerful coven of vampires, as the movie villain and Edward Cullen and Bella Swan’s half-human, half-vampire baby Renesmee as the true villain.
The movie villain The actual villain pic.twitter.com/6DfyEkleID
— THE TWILIGHT SAGA (@Twilight) May 21, 2020
The official Twitter account for the Hunger Games franchise made their own version, too.
The movie villain The actual villain pic.twitter.com/nSQLXvuU0T
— The Hunger Games ๐ฅ (@TheHungerGames) May 21, 2020
Here are a few Harry Potter “the movie villain, the actual villain” memes.
This one is for my Dramione peeps
The movie villain // the actual villain pic.twitter.com/6lVPU5vtiG
— Clothilde ๐๐ฆ (@Clo_vdn) May 21, 2020
The movie villain The other villain pic.twitter.com/JFBFmouQxS
— percy jacksonโs grey streak (@pvrcabvth) May 21, 2020
Here are a few more:
The movie villain/ the actual villain pic.twitter.com/6qHwfrQUAf
— I do all my own stunts (@samkaibanya) May 21, 2020
the movie villains the actual villains pic.twitter.com/mJaN3n9roL
— Taylor Wisneski (@TayRyanWis) May 21, 2020
The movie villain The real villain pic.twitter.com/JfRn85WssQ
— Jessi โญa (@yiskaschwizzle) May 21, 2020