Are Super Villains Really Evil?

The concept of Good vs. Evil goes back as far as human existence. Since the earliest man and woman gained the ability of rational thought, we have assigned motivations to their thoughts and deeds. Some actions are labeled “good” and some are labeled “evil”. Now in the real world true good and true evil do not really exist. Many people inhabit a myriad world of shaded gray. But in the world of fiction, this dichotomy is much more clear-cut. There are definite villains and definite heroes. But when you look closely at many villains you will see that they are not on the side of the devils as much as you think. The same levels of gray exist.

The first villain that comes to mind is Magneto, the sworn enemy of the X-Men. Magneto, aka Erik Magnus Lensher, was introduced in the very first issue of the Uncanny X-Men, along with the titular team of mutants. While other villains have been introduced in the forty plus year run of the comic, Magneto is always the character that comes back to cause the Children of the Atom misery. Now by his actions, Magneto is most definitely a villain. He has killed people, engaged in terrorist activities and performed crimes against humanity. But when you look at his motivations for those actions, it becomes much harder to condemn the man.

As has been established through the X-Men films and the later retconning in the comics, Erik Lehnsher is a Holocaust survivor. He watched his mother, father, family and friends die in the most horrible ways imaginable because they were different. And just as the young Erik saw the Jews being rounded up and exterminated, the adult Erik sees his new people, Mutants, being treated similarly. Where the young Erik was powerless to stop the atrocities around him, the adult Erik is the master of magnetism and probably one of the most powerful people on the planet. He in essence is motivated to prevent a second genocide from happening. Much like I explained in my entry on super heroes mourning (see here), Magneto suffers from a case of survivor’s guilt. Also, like Spider-Man, he believes in “With Great Power comes Great Responsibility” though he would amend that responsibility with “The Ends justify the Means”.

Similarly one could see that same motivation in Doctor Doom. Doom believes in a better world for everyone. He just also believes that he is the only one capable of ruling such a world. He feels his means for gaining power will be justified by his ultimate ends. All the horrible atrocities he commits have a purpose, but only he is capable of seeing that ultimate purpose. And one can see the example of his rule in the fictional country of Latveria. While Latveria is portrayed as a dictatorship ruled by Doom it is also a country without disease or poverty. The people of Latveria do not appear to suffer under the yoke of their master and he has been showing as being extremely protective of his citizens.

Even most minor villains don’t do what they do out of a sense of evil. Characters like the Shocker and Rhino are just common criminals acting out of greed. They aren’t sadists, torturing and killing at random. For the most part they avoid collateral damage and harming civilians. Most of the wanton destruction they cause only comes when a super hero, in this case Spider-Man, tries to stop them.

The Batman villains have an even better excuse that their actions are not evil. They’re insane. Practically every villain that Batman faces has some sort of mental illness or disorder that can be used to explain his or her actions. Unlike the villains who steal for greed, they specifically set out to hurt people. But the hurt they cause people is merely a side effect of their psychosis. Poison Ivy believes plants are superior to people, the Scarecrow is obsessed with fear, etc.

Evil is a funny thing. As explored in a previous entry (see here) some people are born to evil but do not pursue it. When truly looking at the motivations of a villain one can find justification for almost anything they do. Even a character as sadistic and cruel as The Joker does what he does for laughs. And who doesn’t like a good chuckle?