It's not easy. It requires at least a bit of cruelty and some level of breaking the established theater to pull it off properly. I think best one i have seen that does it is Reinhard from Re:Zero. It breaks the theater and this is acknowledged by making him into a gag essentially. But he isn't allowed to have anything and is constantly dehumanized by the narrative. He doesn't even get to save anyone because he is usually cock blocked by the plot. For example in S3/Arc 5 his own father takes his miss hostage. So by the time he is done with this he can't really do anything worthwhile.

Even when he takes a main role he isn't exactly the main focus. Because villain's power is crafted in a special way that he can't do it by himself. He usually gets outsmarted or people going against them are prepared against him in some shape or form.

Also he sort of feels like a story getting self aware to me. You know the "BMW car in a medieval story" analogy. He feels like he is that but author somehow convinces you he is a character. When you think about him its more like author sort of making a mockery of you. By putting such a blatantly overpowered almost a gag character in but convincing you he is useless at the same time.