Intelligence and soul. There are some stupid heroes worshiped in popular culture. (Schwartzenegger, Stallone, Willis are the Holy Trinity of Dumbass Heroes.)
In their movies, the villains - usually smarter and better people than the heroes - have to be made sadistic and murderous. If, for example, the villain in "Die Hard" didn't simply kill people wholesale, and did a bloodless robbery, Willis would be seen as the fascist, brainless thug he is.
But take a look at the anime hero Lupin III. Or his French ancestor, Arsene Lupin. Or my personal favorite, Catwoman the Queen of Thieves (available free from Pendant Audio). These guys are not cruel, they steal stuff from rich people or sadistic villains who can or should be robbed, and they're nice guys in person.
Put simply, emotional depth. Also, moral/ethical ambiguity. I'm more likely to sympathize with a villain if I can understand and identify with his or her motivation.
I never prefer a villain over a hero, however real heroes are rare. "The Hammer" is not a real hero. So the choice between an honest villain and a false hero is trickier.
The creator of good villainy understands that evil can be subjective. For example: one man's guerrilla terrorist is another's freedom fighter. (I steal all my good analogies from Terry Pratchett.) Simultaneously, evil can be evil because it's just evil...a guy who does unspeakable things to kittens for fun is probably pretty darn evil. There's a point somewhere in the middle of "He does things because he's psychologically damaged" and "He does things because he thinks they're marvelous" that makes villains fun to root for.
Personally, I will nearly always root for the villain if they've got a fabulous vocabulary, a sense of taste, and a penchant for horrific violence, but that's just me. (That goes double if the hero is an insipid, indecisive fluffball who relies on everything but themselves to win the situation.)
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In their movies, the villains - usually smarter and better people than the heroes - have to be made sadistic and murderous. If, for example, the villain in "Die Hard" didn't simply kill people wholesale, and did a bloodless robbery, Willis would be seen as the fascist, brainless thug he is.
But take a look at the anime hero Lupin III. Or his French ancestor, Arsene Lupin. Or my personal favorite, Catwoman the Queen of Thieves (available free from Pendant Audio). These guys are not cruel, they steal stuff from rich people or sadistic villains who can or should be robbed, and they're nice guys in person.
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Personally, I will nearly always root for the villain if they've got a fabulous vocabulary, a sense of taste, and a penchant for horrific violence, but that's just me. (That goes double if the hero is an insipid, indecisive fluffball who relies on everything but themselves to win the situation.)
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