Part 3 of me showing how DC's tend to be more sympathetic or at least more fun (based on me playing Lego DC Supervillians). Turns out our 4 villians now are mostly all Green Arrow or Flash rogues (so they probably all showed up in the arrowverse).
Malcolm Merlyn: Okay, I know very little about Merlyn. What I do know makes him not seem super sympathetic. But his wikipedia page mentions that on the Arrow tv show (which his game version is modelled after) he becomes an assassin to get revenge for his dead wife or something. And even though (I think it implied) he then abandons his real family in his revenge quest, it all starts from a place of sympathy and tragedy.
Captain Cold: Based on his wikipedia page, most of his crimes are non-lethal. And his origin story involved childhood abuse. The man's got a moral compass. Also, his actor on the flash tv show has autism (I think). So now I'm just going to headcanon that the character does too, because that makes him even more relatable and sympathetic.
Heat-Wave: A pyromaniac who actually knows he's got a problem. At least that's what wikipedia implied. And that's sympathetic. The man loves fire to an unhealthy degree, but he knows it's not healthy. That's tragic and sympathetic, in my opinion.
Reverse-Flash (Eobard Thawne): I read his DC Rebirth origin on wikipedia. And my god, the thing is tragic. Some choice quotes: "An only child when his parents died in an accident, Thawne grew up obsessed with the Flash. After Barry defeats him and has him arrested, Thawne promises to rehabilitate himself, to that end undergoing therapy and being a professor. However, he is enraged after he witnesses Barry give Wally West a talk on how every second is a gift, similar to one that Barry gave him, and realises that he wasn't treated specially by Barry." The man was lonely and just wanted some damn attention! But nobody gave it to him! My god, that's tragic!