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A supervillain is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various mediums. Supervillains concoct complex and ambitious schemes to accumulate power and suppress adversaries. They often have colorful names and costumes and/or other eccentricities. Female supervillains are sometimes known as supervillainesses.
Supervillains are often used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes. Their extraordinary brainpower and/or superhuman abilities make them viable antagonists for the most gifted heroes.
Many supervillains share typical characteristics of real world dictators, mobsters, and terrorists.
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Origins
By most definitions, the first supervillain was John Devil, a proto-Fantômas, created by Paul Féval, père in his eponymous 1862 novel, or Féval's nearly-immortal, machiavellian Colonel Bozzo-Corona, leader of Les Habits Noirs introduced in 1863. Professor Moriarty, the arch enemy of Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective Sherlock Holmes, was introduced in 1891. Dr. Fu Manchu, the antagonist of several popular novels of Sax Rohmer, is credited with popularizing many of the typical characteristics of the modern supervillain, including his sadistic personality, his desire for world domination, and his use of sinister lairs and themed crimes and henchmen. Rohmer's work had a strong influence on Ian Fleming, whose James Bond novels and their film adaptations further popularized the image of the supervillain in popular culture.
The first supervillain who wore a bizarre costume was the Lightning, from the 1938 film Fighting Devil Dogs, which preceded the first modern superhero, Superman.
The first supervillain to regularly battle a superhero was Ultra-Humanite, who first appeared in Action Comics
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Common Traits
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While supervillains vary greatly, there are a number of attributes that define the character. Most supervillains have at least a few of the following traits:
A desire to commit spectacular crimes and/or rule the world—or in some cases an entire universe—through whatever means necessary.
A generally irritable and spiteful disposition and contempt for heroes, ordinary civilians, lackeys, and anyone else who may get in their way.
A sadistic nature and tendency to revel in their sociopathic behavior and/or supposed intellectual superiority
An enemy or group of enemies that he or she repeatedly fights.
A desire for revenge against said enemies. The method of revenge often goes beyond simply killing them to making them suffer before death, such as using deathtraps.
Superhuman abilities or special skills, similar to those of superheroes. Frequently, these skills are gained through selfish meddling with science as opposed to the "natural" or "accidental" gifts possessed by superheroes. Compare the origin of the Green Goblin and that of his nemesis, Spider-Man.
A dark and threatening-looking headquarters or lair, the location of which is usually kept secret from police, superheroes and the general public. Examples include Magneto’s headquarters Asteroid M and The Legion of Doom’s Hall of Doom. However, some supervillains who feel secure from prosecution live and work in palatial buildings, such as Doctor Doom's castles in his country of Latveria and the office buildings and research facilities of the Green Goblin’s alter ego Norman Osborn. Others are mobile and do not have one particular base of operations.
A theme by which he or she plots his crimes. For example, The Riddler plots his crimes around riddles, puzzles and word games and Mysterio plots his around movie special effects. Furthermore, most themed villains will stubbornly keep with their style even when it seems impractical or ridiculous to others in view of their typical lack of success.
Although super villain “team-ups” occasionally occur and some supervillain teams exist, such as the Brotherhood of Mutants and Sinister Six, most supervillains do not collaborate with one another but employ a team of simple-minded and expendable henchmen to assist them. Some supervillains, such as Darth Vader, Berg Katse and Cobra Commander, control entire armies whose troops are considered equally expendable and subject to murderously draconian discipline.
Due to a cowardly nature or physical inequality to their foes, some supervillains manipulate events from behind the scenes. These include Lex Luthor, a physical weakling compared to Superman, and Ernst Stavro Blofeld of the James Bond novel and film series.
A strong commitment to their criminal profession to the point where they will quickly resume their activities in their favorite area immediately after escaping prison or recovering from serious injury.
A refusal to accept responsibility for personal mistakes and setbacks in favor of blaming their enemies.
A back story or origin story that explains how the character transformed from an ordinary person into a supervillain. The story usually involves some great tragedy that marked the change. In the case of many supervillains, including Two-Face, Magneto, Doctor Doom, Mr Freeze, and some versions of Lex Luthor, this story involves a one-time friendship with their future foe.
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Personality Types
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One thing that supervillains do not share is motivation; characters choose to become supervillains for many different reasons:
The Fallen: Darth Vader, Venom, Zen-Aku, and the Green Goblin, have fallen under some corrupting influence. In some cases, such as the ending of , the character overcomes his or her manipulator or hidden demons and is able to somewhat redeem themselves.
The Mercenary: Sandman, Electro and Blob are simply thugs with superhuman abilities. They often work as henchmen of more ambitious and intelligent supervillains.
The Trickster: Mr. Mxyzptlk, Impossible Man, Q, and The Riddler torment heroes for their own pleasure. In addition, they are typically far more powerful than the heroes and must be outwitted.
Japanese anime and tokusatsu series often feature noble villains, similar to the type described above. This type shows a sort of respect for his or her foe. As a common plot device, they, or one of their comrades or kin, owe a debt to the hero and work to repay it. However, when the debt is paid, the villain continues with his or her crimes.
In the Modern Age of Comic Books, heroes and villains have generally become less morally absolute. While many superheroes were portrayed as psychologically complex and morally fallible, if not questionable, villains have also become more multifaceted. Psychological impulses and personal tragedy were often explored as motivations behind their behavior. During this time, many villains were “redeemed” and, either permanently or provisionally, became anti-heroes. Examples include Magneto, Elektra, Venom, Sandman, Catwoman, Emma Frost, Juggernaut and Mystique
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Supervillains as Foils
Many supervillains are portrayed as an inversion of their foe. For example, Wolverine constantly tries to contain his animalistic urges, while Sabretooth fully embraces his. Batman is often portrayed as a humorless dark character who stands for order, while The Joker is an irrational, joke-loving, brightly colored character who represents the chaos which disrupts the order. The Incredible Hulk is the raging, reckless alter ego of a brilliant scientist while The Leader is the intelligent, conniving alter ego of a person of average intellect and both were transformed by gamma radiation. Professor X seeks for mutants to co-exist in harmony with normal humans, while Magneto believes that mutants have a right to rule over other humans.
Occasionally, this contrast is more direct. Bizarro is an alternate reality version of Superman from a “Bizarro World” in which everything is an inversion of its DC Universe counterpart (In the current DC Comics continuity, however, he is a flawed clone of Superman.) The villain Venom is often consider the dark, twisted version of his nemesis Spider-man, as he wears Spider-man's old symbiote costume and as a result has similar powers but uses them to kill anyone he personally judges to be 'evil' instead of using them with a sense of responsibly like Spider-man does. Captain Marvel, Black Adam was once a protégé of the wizard Shazam, but used his powers for darker purposes and has returned to challenge Marvel, wearing a black version of his own outfit. Another example of inversions are the Reverse-Flashes, the enemies of the Flashes.
These contrasts help build-up the mythic grandeur of superhero and villain relationships and allow the villain to serve as a foil for the hero.
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Well-known supervillains
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Carnage, a psychopatic serial killer bonded with an alien symbiote, one of deadliest foes of Spider-Man.
Davros, physically crippled but scientifically ingenious alien adversary of the Doctor; creator of the Daleks and sometimes their leader.
Green Goblin, millionaire-by-day/costumed-madman-by-night, arch-enemy of Spider-Man.
The Joker, psychopath with a the appearance of a clown and a homocidal sense of humor, arch-enemy of Batman.
The Penguin, self-styled “gentleman of crime,” adversary of Batman.
Venom, Peter Parker's rival reporter Eddie Brock, who's empowered with an Alien Symbiote and a desire for revenge .
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Well-known parodies of supervillains
Because the supervillain is such a common but distinct character type in modern fiction, several parodies have been created. Some of the best-known include:
Mr. Burns, crotchety power plant owner on The Simpsons, takes on the role of supervillain in various episodes, as when he builds a device to block out the sun which causes Waylon Smithers to remark: "He's gone from regular villainy to cartoonish super-villainy!" At least one episode featured a shot of Mr. Burns with the Darth Vader theme playing. Mr Burns also bears a likeness of the Evil Emperor Palpatine, another villain in the Star Wars saga.
Stewie Griffin, diabolically ingenious, talking baby of the TV series Family Guy. In earlier episodes attempted to control the weather, to rid the world of broccoli, and his biggest aspiration is to kill his mother, Lois.
, the main villain and common adversary of both sides in the second, third, fourth and fifth seasons of the machinima series Red vs. Blue, is an over-the-top supervillain caricature. He frequently uses clichés and ridiculous dialogue, usually accompanied by extreme close-ups of his host's helmet visor, and followed by evil laughter.
Professor Chaos, the recurring alter ego of Butters, a fourth grader on the animated series South Park, seeks to spread fear and chaos as revenge upon the world that has forsaken him (made him socially unpopular), but has a problem with scale. Exploits include switching people's soup at a restaurant, attempting to destroy the ozone layer by spraying regular aerosol cans and flooding the planet by leaving the backyard hose on. Once suffered an existential crisis prompted by the fact that all of his plans had previously been done on The Simpsons.
Dark Helmet, and the Spaceballs. A parody of Darth Vader with a new and creative twist: underneath his massive helmet is a short man wearing a tie.
Casanova Frankenstein is the villain in the 1999 movie Mystery Men. He employed several gangs of themed henchmen including the "Disco Boys." His goal was to destroy Champion City with a doomsday machine.
The Monarch, the butterfly-suited antagonist in The Venture Bros.. The Monarch is a parody of comic book villains such as Black Manta, The Penguin, or The Cheetah, all of whom choose to model their personas after creatures, albeit ones far more fearsome than a monarch butterfly.
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Other uses
Linux users occasionally use the term "Supervillain" as a comical self-reference, inspired by the Switch to Linux cartoon by Chris Hill. The cartoon features a character named Steve, who describes how Linux helps him become a Supervillain.
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See also
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