As coined by Jeff Mach, villainpunk is a genre or a fictional aesthetic wherein the villains or supervillains play the substantial role as protagonist, celebrating villainous storytelling and lore in all its great and terrible glory. Including, but not limited to, stories about henchpeople, rogues, cads, minions, anti-heroes, the misunderstood, the mad, the devils, the iron-willed, the passionately evil, and the downright villainous. Villainpunk encompasses worlds or multi-verses full of evil plots, secret lairs, world domination, necessary and unnecessary body augmentations, and other nefarious life goals.
"I wrote a book about a group of supervillains that’s very villainpunk."
"I'm writing a story about a dictator who invades and annexes Paris as a grand romantic gesture to the woman he loves."
"Oh man, that is so villainpunk!"
"My villainpunk novel is about a mad scientist who watches the robots he created destroy the world in which he never felt welcome."