It varies. I used to like the dark mirror versions of characters, but it's an easy plot device. Not necessarily a bad one, it just seems overplayed nowadays.
I think that today a mark of a good villain is that they are written as a genuine threat. If at any stage in the storyline I encounter any doubts regarding the wellbeing of the hero, anyone related to the hero or that the hero's mission might fail, then at that point the villain has become a genuine threat, even if the hero does eventually win. That's good writing.
Is it one just a few degrees removed from the hero(es), who has a point of view that can be understood? (re: Magneto, Sinestro, Zod)
Or is it the ones so psychotic that they have removed all feelings of morality for a completely different outlook? (re: Joker, Bullseye, Thanos)
Or the ones that could have made humanity better but were too vain & selfish, and are actually needy for praise? (re: Dr. Doom, Lex Luthor, Norman Osborn)
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"I'm not smart so much as I am not dumb." - Harlan Ellison
I like the poetic aspects of a villain, when they make being a bad guy...cool (not so much in the sense that you would like to do what they do, but that what they just said or did adds to their character in a positive way.
EDIT: To elaborate: it's great when a villain possesses an enviable trait, e.g. a strange kind of honor or even respect for their enemies even as they are willing to kill them or harm them.
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Iboga chose not to fight, to allow himself to evolve. He had the wisdom to abandon the actions of war when he knew they would no longer serve him.
Last edited by Allankles on Jul 21st, 2010 at 05:05 AM
The first kind. The best villain is no villain at all, just an antagonist that can plausibly offer an alternative to the heroes' moral point of view. Anti-villains that discard manicheistic notions of morality are the more interesting ones IMO. Magneto and Ras al Ghul (in their most noble portrayals) spring to mind as the archetypes in Marvel and DC.
In second comes the looney toons. The freedom of not being constrained by anything, not even reason or internal moral values.
The self-serving maggots are the least interesting and respectable IMO. They are boring and small.
I have to disagree. Villains who's major sin is hubris/vanity can be the most interesting. Not to mention the most entertaining if said villains have a flair for the dramatic or a twisted sense of humor.
All in all I think the least interesting (but often times most entertaining) villains are the Joker type villains because they're essentially playing Indian Poker with their drives and inner motives.
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“Where the longleaf pines are whispering
to him who loved them so.
Where the faint murmurs now dwindling
echo o’er tide and shore."
-A Grave Epitaph in Santa Rosa County, Florida; I wish I could remember the man's name.
I like villains who could be written as not being villains at all - I'm thinking solely of Magneto and his deep back story which explains everything he does he thinks is the right thing to do and his reasons for believing that - and lets the reader see maybe he could be right all along.
Or charismatic, funny villains like Joker who are fun to watch and see what they are going to do next
Re: What Aspect Of A Supervillain Do You Like Most?
top villains like doom and magneto do what a lot of people WANT to do given the chance. changing the world cause they see something tragically wrong with it.
a majority of the lesser villains do what a majority of normal people would so in their shoes: try to get rich. the heroes usually mess up their debut which implants them into the circular life of crime. fu*k them
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villains just represent some form of anarchy, and the heroes represent order/status quo
juggernaut for all his power is nothing more than a common thug in motive/ambition.
doom (on the regular) isn't really cosmic scale since he doesn't really go beyond being a would be concuror and all that, his power isn't too up there either.
thanos, darkseid, etc. all have great power and ambitions. their exploits are almost (at least for thanos) always part of a cross-over with the weight of millions or more on the line every time.
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Jul 20th, 2010 08:51 PM
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