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?

Power Couple

If you’re not a comic book fan you may not be aware of this but Superman and Wonder Woman are dating. Yes, as I, and many others saw right on the cover of Justice League #12, The Man of Steel and the Amazonian Princess are making out in mid air. And as far as I am concerned, it is about time.

Outside of perhaps the odd lonely fanboy’s daydream (guilty), Wonder Woman and Superman have never gotten together. Not in continuity at least. There have been the odd Elseworld tale where in some future world or alternate reality the two heroes have hooked up. But as far as established continuity, these two heroes have always inhabited the friend zone.

And it seems odd that it has taken so long to get these two kids together. As I summed up in a previous entry (see here), these two heroes have so much in common. They both represent the ultimate example of a male and female hero. Just as so many heroes try to emulate Superman (see here), so many heroines use Wonder Woman as their primary archetype.

There can be many arguments why Superman and Wonder Woman had not gotten together before this issue. The two characters have always been portrayed as having strong love interests in their own respective titles. Superman has long been linked with reporter Lois Lane while Wonder Woman has war hero pilot Steve Trevor. And even when Superman and Lois were separated their always seemed to be a Lana Lang (Clark’s HS girlfriend) or a Lori Lemaris (his college girlfriend, who was also a mermaid) or a brief flirtation with Maxima (intergalactic princess who wanted Supes to be her baby daddy). Wonder Woman never seemed to be a romantic option.

And Wonder Woman certainly was not sitting around pining for Superman when she no longer was dating Steve Trevor. Wonder Woman has been associated with several male suitors, including Batman. Yes, in both the comics and on the TV show Justice League Unlimited, Batman and Wonder Woman were an item. Personally I consider going from dating Batman to Superman to be a step down, but that’s just my opinion.

But if Wonder Woman and Batman could work, why did it take so long for Wonder Woman and Superman to happen? Certainly Superman is more emotionally available than Batman. Maybe it just confirms the whole “Bad boy” theory. Superman is the well-mannered mid-western guy and Batman is the emotionally tortured socialite. There is an air of danger to Batman that would be attractive to women and Wonder Woman is no exception.

 

I’m probably the last person who should be writing about relationships (fictional or otherwise) but I hope that this storyline is not short lived.  So often such relationships are quickly dismissed in comics and forgotten about as soon as a writer leaves or changes his whimsy. But I am hoping that we see the relationship between Wonder Woman and Superman evolve and progress overtime. How will this relationship affect the rest of the Justice League? Will one of them cheat with a former flame? These are questions I hope to see answered in the coming months and maybe even years.

Zombies: The Apocalypse Monster

There are all kinds of monsters. Vampires, werewolves, lizard creatures, etc. And of course, there are zombies. But the one thing that zombies have over all the other monsters is that they seem to be the one monster that can end the world. All those other monsters manage to live along side human society, and in many cases even integrate themselves into it. But when zombies show up it seems to spell the beginning of the end for humanity.

Why are zombies the one monster humanity cannot defend against? That is, why is the world never depicted as being overrun by other types of monsters? With the exception of the brilliant film Daybreakers, you don’t see a world overrun by vampires. I know the book I Am Legend (and its various film adaptations) is supposed to depict a world overrun by vampires, but I never considered the monsters in it to be very vampire like. They are more like zombies.

The most simple reason for why we associate zombies with the end of the world is that they are most closely associated with a plague. The one time human society almost did come to an end was in the 14^th century thanks to another plague, The Black Death. This disease decimated Europe and killed nearly half a billion people. People who were infected were very close to being the living dead. Adding the mobility of zombies and it just becomes that much more terrifying a scenario.

Our current pop culture is fascinated by zombies. Why? Why do we enjoy depicting this continuous scenario where humanity is destroyed? It seems a bit schadenfreude (enjoying the misery of others). We’re watching the survivors of a fictional scenario struggle to continue to live and enjoy it. If you’re a fan of AMC’s The Walking Dead (of which I am), that’s pretty much every episode right there. In some cases you’re even rooting for certain characters to die (Carl?).

Perhaps that is the essence of zombie fascination. Zombies represent the worst of human nature. That singular greed and hunger that controls our every action. Most humans try to suppress their more base nature, but zombies are that nature unchained. No thought, no feelings, just hunger. In a way it reminds most people that in reality humans are merely animals and without rational thought we really are no better than any other beast.

 

But the modern vision of the zombie really only came into existence forty or so years ago. The entire concept of the modern zombie is the product of the mind of one man, George Romero. It was only after his brilliant film Night of the Living Dead, and it’s numerous sequels and copycats, that we pictured zombies as swarms of ravenous hunger.

Originally, the zombie is a product of voodoo ritual and belief. Rather than being a lumbering cannibal, zombies were the risen corpses of the enemies of voodoo priests. These risen dead were condemned to a life of slavery to their new master. The creation of a zombie did not involve an infectious bite but was instead a product of spells and potions. Some scientists theorized that these supposed zombies were not the risen dead but actually just coma victims whose brains were damaged due to oxygen deprivation. This would leave the victim susceptible to suggestion and give the illusion that he or she was under the command of a voodoo priest.

If film and television have any say we will not see the disappearance of the zombie anytime soon. As George Romero helped the concept of the zombie evolve he gave way to Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, which further evolved the concept. We can only hope that new geniuses will continue to tweak the take on a zombie apocalypse and pray that such a real event never comes to pass.

Super Heroes and Patriotism: Why They Wear the Flag

“Truth, Justice and the American Way”. The phrase was first associated with Superman but has been coopted to refer to the actions of all super heroes. Instantly, comic book heroes have been branded with a sense of patriotism. Which makes complete sense since most comic books were birthed during one of the most patriotic periods in American history.

A quick crash course in comic book history, the first what we could consider a “comic book” was printed in 1936. There had been comics long before this of course, some entertaining and/or political, but they had usually appeared in the pages of other periodicals. It was not until 1936 that publishers decided to print a book consisting solely of comics. Of course these initial comics were merely collected reprints of the comics that had appeared in the weekly newspapers. It was not until a year later where publishers started to write completely original content for their comic books. This original content led to the eventual creation of Superman in 1938 and the birth of the modern super hero.

On a more serious note, while American children were enjoying comics, European children were living in terror of war. Just one year after the introduction of Superman, Germany invaded Poland and set off the beginning of the 2^nd Great War. America would not be dragged into the war until two years later when we were attacked by Japan. And when America went to war, so too did our Super heroes.

The most famous super hero associated with World War II is Captain America. Ironically, the Captain appeared the comics a full six months before America officially joined the war. Many saw the comic controversial, especially those who wanted to stay out of the fighting. The cover of the first Captain America comic depicted the character punching Adolph Hitler in the jaw. In many ways it was a rally cry to war.

And when the brave men of the US Armed Forces went to war, the Captain was right along with him. Both in the stories and in print. Comics were small and light and easy to trade among troops. They were a common accessory found among soldiers in the field. They were included in care packages sent to soldiers in the thick of fighting and welcome reading material during the brief moments of downtime a soldier could try and grab.

Comic book heroes also helped fight the war on the home front by encouraging their readers to engage in scrap drives and rationing. It was these vary scrap drives that ended up making so many comics from that era so valuable as young readers (and more likely their parents) happily donated their comics to the cause.

Cap would give birth to a slew of patriotic themed heroes.  Brave men and women were wrapped in the flag and depicted as the defenders of America. These characters, while being patriotic, also helped form the backbone of the comic book industry and gave the various publishers the sales needed to keep going. 

While World War II was an impressive moment of patriotism in comics, but it was not the last. As I type this, we have recently passed the eleven-year anniversary of September 11^th. As an American, but even more specific as a New Yorker, this tragic event deeply saddened me. And like me, the publishers and artists and writers of both DC and Marvel were also affected by this event, their offices both being mere blocks away from Ground Zero. And so the events in the stories were a reflection of the emotions of the people working on them. Both companies also put out special art books to raise money for the families of the victims.

A special issue of Amazing Spider-Man (famously called the “black issue” due to its solid black cover) depicted the Webswinger trying to help recover people from the wreckage. It also featured no dialogue or word balloons, reflecting the speechlessness many of us felt about these events. There were also back up stories in other comics, showing scenes of emotion and togetherness among families, friends and even complete strangers who were all connected by one simple thing. They were all Americans.

A society’s entertainment can many times reflect a socity’s values. No where is this more true than in comics. Although comic books are published in countries all around the world, there is something inherently American about the medium. Super heroes tend to reflect the ideal characteristics we all wish we possessed and should all strive towards.