Welcome back, everyone! Just a quick reminder of what our goal for each and every Saturday is: Stirring the pot is the act of causing trouble for the sake of your own amusement. So we here at Comic Booked would like to formally invite you to discuss, debate, and start some shit talkin’ about the characters, the creators, and the storylines given to us from the industry we all know and love, hate, and love to hate. So let’s quit wasting time and start the mud (or web) slinging!
This Saturday’s question: Which character had an actually justified villain scheme?
Do you put your support behind the human characters from the X-Men universe? Does Jason Todd’s turn as the Red Hood make sense to you? Are you okay with what Ozymandias did at the end of Watchmen? Were you upset when Alexander Luthor Jr. failed during Infinite Crisis? Is it possible that Amanda Waller is actually working for the greater good? And wouldn’t you do the very same thing Quicksilver did during House of M if you were in his shoes? Or are all villains just plain bad guys, with no greater purpose and no gray area, and deserve to be caught and punished?
So go forth and debate! But be sure to back up your responses. Don’t be scared. And don’t give up. After all, no one likes a quitter. And you’re not a quitter, are you?
I've missed a few of these! Awesome article as usual Jeff!
Nothing like a good moral quandry.
Thanks, man!
Precisely. Especially if it's believable and/or well-done.
So what do you all think? Who was justified? My vote personally goes to Magog from Kingdom Come, killing off the Joker and getting pretty much immediately acquitted of all crimes. I also think Magneto (though going a little far at times) has been mostly justified. Who else out there thinks that a villain got a bad rap (or an unfair label) for one (or maybe even all) of their schemes?
I have conversations about this with friends all the time. There are few 'truly evil' villains in comics. Now, I can mainly speak from the Marvel point of view but looking at some of their 'big baddies' you have:
Doctor Doom: Not technically 'evil' Sure he has an ego that would dwarf Galactus' Worldship but his main drive has always been being better than Reed Richards and the betterment of his people. For his people he's willing to do anything to ensure his people and his nation thrives and succeeds. His methods may be questionable but his drive is fairly harmless.
Speaking of Galactus… Usually put in the role of 'villain' he's little more than we are. We need to eat to survive and so does he. Only his source of food comes with a healthy body count. He's been known to work to protect his universe (his food source) on many occasions, including during confrontations with…
Thanos. Now, because of the movie there is going to be a LOT of changes to his past and origin but I'm not into that. I'm a purist so the Holywood revisionism means squat here. He's been obsessed with Mistress Death his whole life. He spent the bulk of his life serving Death and dealing death. But through a series of events, including witnessing Mistress Death showing her desires for the Silver Surfer, he began to realize Death isn't all she's cracked up to be. He's probably the best representation of the 'grey area' villain because while his past is filled with a lot of chaos, in recent years he's become more of an observer and one who is usually ahead of the curve when it comes to seeing threats to the universe,something that always puts him in a position to work out ways to prevent reality's destruction. Of course in recent months Marvel has retarded his growth and reduced him to a generic villain with no explanation as to why he's back in this universe and why he's lowered his standards.
But I'm rambling, I'll stop.
I'd argue that the only pure evil villain in the whole Marvel Universe is the Red Skull. Space villains, mutant freedom-fighters, and tragic villains put into bad situations are all Marvel's about. That's the draw for so many readers. But the Red Skull? Guy's just evil.