In modern stories, the villains are often not truly evil, merely misunderstood. The perspective of what evil is has changed over time, from villains such as Sauron from The Lord of the Rings, or Smaug from The Hobbit being purely evil and driven by lust for power — to the modern ideology that evil is not born, but is made.
If evil was truly only created not born, there would be no negativity in the first place to fabricate new villains. This applies not just to stories, but to real life. While evil can be, and certainly is, created, it is our defect as humans to resort to it. That is simply what it means to be a human.
It is our choices that define us and our choices that decide our paths as either good or evil, not our situations. A good example of this is in Star Wars; Luke is offered a chance at ruling the galaxy alongside his father, he is forced to make the choice between what is right and what is easy, he chooses what is right, even if it hurts him. If he would have chosen differently, he would be considered evil for his decision — it is his choice of taking the path of goodness that made him so different from the dark side.
It is our choices that steer us toward the path of goodness. In even the worst of times, we can choose to either become the villain, which is the easy way out, and the path that follows a wide, downward path that eventually leads us to dead end after dead end. Or, we can choose the path that is steep and narrow, the path that we often stumble on, but leads us towards the sky.
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