epic bad guys are freakin me out but in a good way

so I'm plugging away on the follow up to Life in Moonlight, Blood of New Beginnings and I have introduced a few new characters as well as further developed the old familiar ones. one of the new characters is a historically well know evil doer. it isn't Darth Vader but the above pic is pretty funny. this guy makes anyone in the Empire look like a sweetheart. I haven't revealed this character to anyone but a trusted beta reader and friend because this character is icky. however, as the story progresses he becomes attractive because let's face it...the bad guys are cool. I'm left with mixed feelings about this and I certainly sympathize for my character who has to endure him. I've done quite a bit of research about said evil doer so I could have a base to build his fictional life on. that's a good thing and a bad thing because in doing this research I have gotten creeped out several times. like I have wanted to remove him from the story. I haven't done it and I won't because it is such an interesting plot element. so I'll endure the icky feelings because they are thought provoking. He says some interesting and intriguing things and that makes for fun reading.