I'd agree that lots of villains are selfish, but that could be just how society views them. What looks selfish might be an obsession that society can't use, or an interest that subverts the status quo or some cherished convention. Any threat to society or preference for a minority over the majority could be deemed selfish. Artists who toil in obscurity in a shack somewhere, and who put all their work in a drawer would seem selfish since they're not sharing anything. And that suspicion of them would be right as far as it goes, but maybe the philosopher is lost in his imagination. There's a question of priorities there.