Laughably Evil

Pure Evil villains that are funny to the audience in some way, but their actions are still taken seriously in-universe despite that, as their humor is often sadistic and only serves to make them more evil.

Most versions of The Joker, Dimentio, Bill Cipher, Lucifer, Kefka Palazzo, Syndrome, and Hades are prime examples of what Laughably Evil Pure Evils are.

Laughably Evil villains almost never qualify as Hate Sinks given that Hate Sinks are completely devoid of entertaining villainy qualities, though there are certain occasions where a villain can fall under both, such as:

1. Villains who are designed to be despised, yet frequently come across as genuinely funny (e.g. Michael, Ramsay Bolton, The Strangler, Babidi, Edward Wade, Dream, Kilgrave, Penguin and Micah Bell).
2. Villains who guise their true loathsome colors under a comical persona (e.g. William Wharton, Caleb, Rolo Haynes, It, Simon Krieger, Lavrentiy Beria, and The Trickster), or vice versa .
3. Villains who initially start off as laughable but slowly become darker as the story goes on (e.g. Scar, Warren Mears, Simon, Steele and Bradford Buzzard), or vice versa.
4. Dissociative villains who have a personality with comedic traits and a personality with more detestable traits.
5. Partners in Crime where one person has comedic traits and the other has disgusting traits.
6. Ensemble villains who are laughable in one role and more contemptible in another (e.g. the DCAU's Joker and Rastapopoulos).

Please note that just because a loathsome villain is presented comedically on one small occasion, does not mean they are Laughably Evil (e.g. Dag, Ozai, Aya Tokoyogi, Lord Commander, Chief McBrusque, Porky Minch, and Peter Pettigrew). Likewise, just because a comical villain briefly loses their comedic traits, does not mean they are a Hate Sink (e.g. Freddy Krueger, Frieza, PAMA, Sir Benedict Cumbersnatch, Chucky, Grimmel the Grisly, Emperor Palpatine and King Boo). Hate Sink and Laughably Evil crossovers must have a significant amount of both hateable and humorous traits.

Also, just like with Hate Sinks, not every Pure Evil villain is required to be Laughably Evil as there are many that can fall somewhere in between (e.g. Sauron, Johan Liebert, Morgoth, Anton Chigurh, Lord Voldemort, Piella Bakewell and SMG0) where fans/audience can have their own opinions.

They are the more evil counterpart of comic relief villains. They are also the complete opposite of Seriously Good Pure Goods.