Why Be A Henchman?

Henchman, minion, hired thug, flunky, whatever you call them they are an important part of any major super villain's arsenal. Doctor Doom has his doombots. The Red Skull has his Hydra members. Even MODOK (Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing) has the bee suited looking dorks in AIM. But why? Why on earth would anyone want to BE a henchman? Seems like you’re just signing up to be cannon fodder.

To begin with one has to wonder where these henchmen even come from. I don’t think any reputable institution of higher learning would allow Super Villains to recruit at their jobs fairs. Well the Marvel Universe actually answers this question. In the Marvel Universe there is an individual known as the Taskmaster. This individual has the unique power of photographic reflexes, which means he can see someone perform a particular physical action and then duplicate it perfectly after only one viewing. The Taskmaster uses this ability to train the many henchmen for the various nefarious organizations that need them. Because let’s face it, a henchman who can’t fight wouldn’t be much use to an organization that is constantly fighting off the attacks of super heroes.

But while that answers the “where” the henchmen come from, it doesn’t answer the “why”. Why become a henchman? Well, perhaps it is because you share the same philosophical goals of the person or organization with which you have joined. That seems to be the motivation behind members of the group AIM. AIM stands for Advanced Ideas Mechanics and they are basically a group of scientists dedicated to making bigger and better weapons. While they are technically super villains, they tend to limit their super villain activities towards advancing their own scientific knowledge. Of course they also go around wearing beekeeper outfits so there is a downside.

But when you really think about it, most of these henchmen are really just in it for the money. Why else would you put up working for the many psychopaths who make up the ranks of super villains if not for a major payday? The Joker is notorious for killing henchmen just for coughing at the wrong moment, but he is also notorious for going after large scores. So while the risk is there, so is the reward. Though dying by joker toxin is a pretty bad way to go.

Of course the brilliant solution to dealing with providing yourself with henchmen is to just build robots. This was Doctor Doom’s solution to the henchmen problem. Rather than recruit hired thugs among the citizenry of his country, he just built himself an army of robots. Robots that look, sound and act exactly like him. In fact many of the times in which Doctor Doom was depicted as being defeated in the comics it was later revealed to have been a doombot. Since Doctor Doom is always wearing his armor, it is impossible to know if the character in comics is him or one of his stand-in robots.

There is also a slightly more rare reason for why someone would want to be a henchman. That reason is that they someday want to be a super villain in their own right. Harley Quinn started out as a henchgirl and paramour of the Joker. She has since stepped out of the shadow of the Clown Prince of Crime and become a full fledged super villain in her own right. She is just as much a threat to the people of Gotham City as the Joker is, without having to have herself defined by him.

Despite the reasons and motivations for someone becoming a henchman, it needs to be acknowledged that without them the battle between hero and villain would be far more boring. One of the things that make super hero comics so interesting is that the hero is usually facing far greater forces than he or she. The villain is always more powerful than the hero or else there is no sense of dread. And an entire army of henchmen certainly adds a much-needed sense of disproportionate odds against the hero.