Delusional-type villains are characterized by or holding idiosyncratic beliefs or impressions regardless if they are contradicted by reality or rational argument, sometimes as a symptom or mental disorder (though Psychopaths/Sociopaths can also be delusional if it's more narcissistic in nature); in other words, they commonly make false assumptions. These can be if they believe themselves or someone else as a different species, a god, a real being, a good person, a genius, a handsome or beautiful person both visibly and within. Even those who know they are evil can be deluded. It's an evil counterpart of Outright and Misguided and the opposite of Card-Carrying.

The types of deluded villains who actually believe themselves to be good people think that what they do is right; this makes them similar to Vigilantes, Extremists, anti-villains/anti-heroes and Morally grey villains, and in some cases can overlap with them. However, they differ in that their so-called heroism is a distorted, hypocritical facade that only makes sense to themselves as they continue to convince themselves.

These "self-righteous" delusional villains usually also believe that whoever disagrees with or opposes them is a bad person, ignorant, or even insane (despite often being those things). Therefore, many of them are very paranoid or narcissistic and pay little to no attention to the opinions of others. These villains may be greedy or hypocritical, but cannot even see it. Worse, some of them tend to blame other people for the destruction they cause (especially those who oppose them) while, in reality, it was their fault. No matter how horrible an act a delusional villain does, they will always see it as a noble act; thus, even though they see themselves as good, delusional villains can also be Complete Monsters (e.g. Maestro, King Stiron and Lieutenant Obsidian).

The scope of these villains' delusion can range from being a relatively minor trait (usually just simply believing they are doing good and not fanatical about it) to dangerously extreme to the point of mental illness (such as villains who are extremely outspoken that what they are doing is right and there is absolutely no chance to convince them otherwise).

Delusional villains can also be nihilists, who do not believe in good nor evil, thereby justifying their own heinous actions with their twisted logic. The best examples of this would be Omegus and Exitium. Xenophobes/Genocidal villains, who believe foreign races to be "evil" can also count as delusional (e.g. Cyalux Clover and Commander Lanthanum); same thing with Misanthropes, who think humanity itself, whether an individual is truly innocent or not, is evil and should be punished (e.g. Gorefield, S.O Eteled.]])  Social darwinists can use their twisted philosophy to justify oppression of the weak instead of helping them. There are also robots/artificially intelligent beings who are much more commonly known to be delusional and misanthropic towards human life as they view them as "irredeemable" and "flawed", and see their acts as noble goals by wiping out humanity, or worse, enslaving them (e. g. Balloon Toad). In some cases, even universal threats can be delusional out of a belief that what they're doing is the right thing to do (e.g. The Chief and SMG0).

However, if a certain delusional villain truly wanted to do good, that can be a redeeming quality, and a Messiah and/or Pure of Heart can aid in redemption. Through that can the villain see and accept their mistakes and choose true righteousness.

Notes[]

• This Category only refers to villains who genuinely believe that they are inherently good individuals and claiming they have good intentions, even if their actions and motives consistently contradict their twisted perceptions.
  • Villains that only think of themselves as a higher person than other people and are self-righteous do not qualify, those should go under Arrogant or/and Egotist instead (e.g. Oscar and SMG3). It's mandatory for any delusional villain to think of themselves as actually a good person and keep their mindset even if their actions and motives prove the opposite.
  • Villains who acknowledge their own evilness and take pride in it, but do not exhibit any signs of delusional mindsets that make them believe it is better than being ethically good, also do not qualify (). They can only qualify if they meet the aforementioned criteria ().
• Some may be prevented by being Complete Monsters if they have extremist values (), or even anti-villains with a few noble goals (). However, some can qualify if they believe their goals are noble but are completely hypocritical about them due to how they understand that others doing their actions is wrong but consider themselves the exception and their delusions exist as narcissistic self-righteousness rather than affecting their moral understanding ().