If in previous articles we talked about the world of superheroes, now it is only right to talk about their dark mirror the heroes of evil, since a hero is such only with respect to the threats he faces. So here we are talking about Villains with a capital V, but remember, not that of V for Vendetta!
This article, like the previous ones, will be divided into two parts given the complexity of the theme, since in addition to the classic phenomenon of the "villain of the week" for which the number of criminals considerably exceeds that of the heroes. This is the point from which they will start "Wanted"and "Old Logan"By Mark Millar, as well as"What happened to the man of tomorrow?”By Alan Moore. If you haven't read them I recommend you read them absolutely!
The world of the Villains is full of powerful figures and themes that are themselves loaded with symbolic values. We will then deal with "the Heroes of Evil", a real counterpoint to the intense light and hope emitted by the super.
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How should good Heroes of Evil be built?
According to the basic rules of any writing manual, a good villain, especially in such highly polarized worlds, is nothing more than the deformed and dark mirror of the hero.
Years of stories and authors accumulate on what would risk being just simple specks that, instead, over time become something unique, deeper and perhaps more human than human beings are today.
Marvel version
Let's think, for example, of Doctor Victor Von Doom, the famous one Doctor Doom, a genius scientist and a mighty enchanter who lives inside a techno-magical armor both to defend himself from any external threat and to hide his disfigured face from the world.
Is Destiny a villain who wants to dominate the world for the fun of it? No, this man, the exact opposite of the elastic and flexible Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four, is really driven by a form of altruism bordering on maniacality, because if the world is only a mechanism prey to the madness of the inferior, it is the task of the mighty to govern it to protect it from the masses and if Destiny is the best, isn't it a mistake for everyone not to leave the world in his hands? Even this early form of thinking may seem like simple megalomania.
Psychology of Doctor Doom
It cannot be denied, for example, that the philosophy that moves Destiny others is none other than that of "The Leviatano"Of Hobbes, where the freedom of the individual must be sacrificed in the name of the security and stability of the government, combined with the thought that moves"The revolt of Atlas”By Ayn Rand and which envisages a world where brilliant people are not tempered by the mediocrity of the mass.
In a world where the barbarism of the mediocre reigns, suffocating the innocent in blood, isn't an iron fist (literal in this case) better to rule the world? And like any good king, Destiny is obviously willing both to inflict the necessary punishments and to take on the sacrifices required, to the point of, in a miniseries dedicated to him, obtain a wish and ask only one thing: to feel no more sense of fault. If the world of men needs a god then that is not human like them, right?
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DC version
Another great example of what a good villain is we find him in Lex Luthor, DC Comics' Man of Steel nemesis.
Superman is an alien, illegally immigrated to America, let's always remember that. born with incredible gifts and the son of a family that taught him enormous values. Lex is the most brilliant man in the world, the son of an alcoholic father, with a history of physical and psychological abuse behind him and with the ruthlessness of those who had to get out of the mud only with his strength.
If the first Luthor of the Golden Age was just a mad scientist, with the reboot of the 80s the power of this criminal emerges in all its true strength: from a simple inventor of crazy technologies he becomes the incarnation of the ruthless liberalism born in that. era passing from a man in a smock to CEO of LexCorp, a multinational company devoid of any form of scruple and morals.
Lex's hatred and envy, combined with his sense of revenge towards a world that has never given him anything, is such that in one of the first stories of the Busiek management a detective will bring him evidence on how Clark Kent is in Actually the Man of Steel, but our villain will deny the link since it is impossible for a being born with such gifts to limit himself to hiding behind the mask of a shy and awkward journalist. Bill's famous monologue in “Kill Bill Vol.2” I think explains the concept well.
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Conclusions on the Heroes of Evil
And here is who we are faced with when we talk about heroes of evil: beings who represent the necessary shadow, an icy and inhuman shadow, to bring out what makes a hero unique, that is, his being able to emerge without ever accepting costs. or compromises that would deny his humanity.
And here's a question for you. Which of the Heroes of Evil are you most attached to or do you feel most similar to your person? Let us know!
