A story about heroic goodness is social commentary, whether political or not. The prize is humanity itself. The heroes serve and protect what the villains exploit and sacrifice.
The villains may care about their henchmen and or henchwomen... but probably not. If they do, it may be for personal reasons... but probably not. If they do, their concern is probably because these underlings are useful and would be difficult to replace.
What if the villains can conscript ordinary people, by law or press gangs... or hypnosis? They can indoctrinate these unwilling recruits to be selfless, loyal and obedient... by psychological manipulation or outright mind control.
The general public would assure the public enemy an endless supply of expendable goons. The heroes would slaughter droves of people they would otherwise serve and protect.
The villains may be the government... or a crime syndicate... or a terrorist organization... or a mystery cult. They are the enemies of the common folk regardless.
The foot soldiers of villainy can be hirelings or followers. They are my favorite archetype, but I much prefer that the characters are normal people repurposed by the baddies for use as expendable baddies. The irony fascinates me, especially when the heroes enjoy killing them.
The villains are the villains because they do not care... about their victims or the other villains. Everyone is expendable. The agenda is selfish. The villainy is selfishness.
The heroes are the “heroes” in the modern sense because they do care... about the victims. They are killing the same people when the foot soldiers of villainy are brainwashed conscripts mustered from the victimized population. The heroes are “villainous” for killing these people they are trying to save... and I am grimly amused.
My interest is not moral ambiguity, to be clear. The idea is not the subversion of heroic goodness.
I write what I find interesting. My ideas manifest into fiction as prose and illustrations. My thematic specialty is the foot soldiers of villainy. The archetype is unimportant characters by design. They are in a story to give the villains authority and to set a standard of ordinary by which the heroes can be measured. The context provided via the main characters is what decides the significance of these deliberately insignificant characters.
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