Fanboys are Evil

As I expressed in my articles about racism in comic books (see here and here) there are some very negative aspects of geek culture. There are some very bitter people who share the same interests I do. And when reading and watching movies I have come to the conclusion that the producers of geek content are completely aware of this fact. They know how evil we can be sometimes and they say so. In the world of fiction, Fanboys are Evil.

The best example of an evil fanboy is Syndrome from the Pixar film The Incredibles. When we first meet him, he is a young boy named Buddy who is obsessed with Mr. Incredible. He even goes so far as creating a costume and persona, that of Incredi-boy. Spurned by the rejection of his “idol” and desperate to prove himself a super hero, Buddy grows up to become Syndrome. Having witnessed Buddy’s inventive prowess trying to impress Mr. Incredible we see has taken that boyish hobby into a career of building weapons. Advanced weapons. Weapons he has used to kill many super heroes, all in an attempt to create a threat that only he could deal with as a new super hero. But unlike real heroes, Syndrome only does it for the fame and glory he thinks comes with being a hero.

Another group of evil fanboys are the Trio from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In season six of Buffy, rather than have the Slayer face evil demons or government experiments gone awry, Buffy faced a group of nerds she had encountered in previous seasons (well, Andrew was the brother of someone she encountered but Warren and Jonathan had both encountered the slayer before) who decided to put their evil nerd knowledge to the goal of becoming super villians. These three are the stereotypical nerds, almost annoyingly so. All their plots seem revolve around things they saw on old episodes of the Super Friends and they quote Star Wars so much that even I am annoyed. I hate these nerds and I am a nerd. And not only do they have the stereotypical fanboy interests but they have nerdboy rage, with one character even trying to gun down Buffy and friends (a sad Columbine analogy, one of many that is visited through out the run of the series).

An example of a Fanboy turning evil is Titan (though he spells it Tighten) from the movie Megamind. Megamind revolves around a costumed Super-Villian who loses his purpose in life when he finally manages to defeat his longtime nemesis Metroman (think Superman if he looked like Mitt Romney). Seeking a new purpose he decides to replace his nemesis and create a new super hero he can do battle with. Unfortunately he ends up giving the powers to a loser named Hal. And Hal is a loser. He lives in a tiny apartment, is obsessed with a girl out of his league, and spends all of his time goofing off. As soon as Hal gets his powers he doesn’t start being a hero, in fact he robs and takes over the city. There is no “with great power, comes great responsibility” sense of right or wrong. Hal feels entitled to whatever he wants since life did not meet up to his expectations prior to him gaining powers.

The problem with depictions of fanboys in the media (see a similar article here) is that they are all depicted as miserable. It is no wonder they turn into super villains in all these films and TV shows. They have no reason to like the world around them. But that’s wrong. In the real world fanboys are the best communities. They welcome all people who have a shared interest in any number of different properties. If anything, fanboys would become heroes not villains, having been constantly exposed to the rigorous moral codes of every super hero/heroine in their favorite books.