Super Heroes and Villains

[luke wilson]

The other day I had a rather interesting discussion at work on the above topic.

It has never transpired to me that, superheroes in our literature tend to have the sole purpose of stopping the villain from achieving their grand plan. The hero rarely has a grand plan, rather his plan is to just be an obstacle. In this way it appears the villain has the tougher job as it is harder to build (a plan into fruition) than it is to destroy (somebody else's plans). The villain is the one who is asked to be creative in order to thwart the heroes attempts to stop him. Furthermore, the villain tends to be weaker than the hero and thus is forced to use intelligence more.

e.g. Superman and Lex Luther. Lex has a mega empire, trying to do stuff, superman's job is to just stop Lex from doing stuff.

Such an entity of peace and justice needs an equivalent response. In Lex Luthor, the Man of Steel has that perfect match, and best of all, Luthor isn't just a simple creature of darkness (hello, Doomsday!). What makes Lex such a fantastic character becomes evident when you look at the world from his point of view. He's not necessarily trying to rule the world; in his eyes he's saving it. Think about that for a second - Luthor is trying to save the world from the unwieldy, crushing rule of an alien from Krypton. This man craves to be the world's savior, yearns to have "his" people worship the ground he walks on and refuses to see that birthright seized by another.

Like many villains on our roster, Luthor is a man physically outmatched by his foe. Rather he must conjure up ways to outsmart his opponent, relying on his resources to attempt to reshape the world to his satisfaction. One can only wonder what the world would be like if Lex actually applied his knowledge to making the world a truly better place rather than obsessing over one man. Would he be the great savior he claims to be? The mere fact that we ask that question is a sign of a well-written, deeply layered villain.

Superman and Zod, Zod wants to rebuild his lost civilization on earth (who wouldn't!!), superman, well, you guessed it, is just there to stop him. (However Zod plans on taking over the planet, the plan is to stop him)

The Dark Knight vs Bane. Bane I believe took over a whole city which takes some planning. The dark knight made sure to stop him which takes less planning. (whatever Bane is planning, the plan is to stop him)

Xmen vs Magneto. Magneto is fighting for the mutants trying to get them onto equal or greater footing to non-mutants, the x-men, well they are just fighting to stop magneto. (Whatever magneto is planning on, our plan is to make sure he doesn't do it)

Loki and Thor. Loki wants to rule, he uses intelligence, he comes up with big plans. Thor, well, he just uses his hammer to pound loki to oblivion. (Whatever Loki is planning, the plan is to find him and hit him with a hammer)

Also is it me or do they just tend to I don't know, stop low level criminals and don't appear to touch high level criminals? Do we have a super hero who in there cosmology has gone against bankers, unfair taxes, police brutality, suppression of the truth on a global scale i.e. the problems that really do plague the normal person? (The person I was having the discussion with mentioned that the above would then not be a superhero, they would just be a man. That you don't really need super powers to do the above. That the person who would do the above, would have a different make up to lets say superman, wolverine, spiderman, iron man etc)

I am not sure what to think of this. I thought it was an interesting way to look at the whole super hero/villain theme.

 

[StrangeCaptain]

Do we have a super hero who in there cosmology has gone against bankers, unfair taxes, police brutality, suppression of the truth on a global scale i.e. the problems that really do plague the normal person?

V from V for Vendetta... He's essentially a superhero and topples an evil, opppressive government. It was originally a graphic novel.

Seems to me people read comics to escape, so there is not likely to be a comic that shows an accountant hunched over a desk auditing the Fed.

 

[sid]

Actually if you think about all the fictional superheroes, they are an epitome of narcissism and devoid of any external consideration. Imagine if there were no fictional villains, what would the superheroes do? Isn't it funny that till that actual point in time when the superhero emerges, there were no threats to the civilization, no weird mutants or alien invasions. Essentially, Hollywood or comic writers have to keep creating greater threats to satisfy superhero urges and penchant for blowing stuff.