He'll figure, nowadays, as a villain (3)
I believe the answer is:
cad
'a villain' is the definition.
(cad can mean a nasty person)
'he'll figure nowadays' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'figure' could be 'c' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'c' is found in the answer.
'nowadays' could be 'ad' (AD, Anno Domini, as opposed to BC, Before Christ) and 'ad' is found in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'as' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cad that I've seen before include "One behaves dishonourably" , "A knave, real rotter" , "Blackguard" , "Stinker" , "Rotter, bounder" .)