Any player with that mindset isn't welcome at my table lol sorry. And luckily my group doesn't have that opinion. A good GM is a story teller at heart in my opinion and my players enjoy my mindset.
I did have a conversation with some of them after I wrote this and I figured out it's just one player who really hates the villain because he's a power gamer and hates any NPC that's stronger than him, especially when that NPC used to be a player character. The other players think he's cool and has a lot of character. They will enjoy finally defeating him as he's just been a side entity for a while, now he's the main villain and they are excited to take him down.