Heroes stand tall. Are basked in a heavily light. And sit on a pantheon of their own. That’s why many people – inside their universe and in reality – inspire to be like them. What they stand for, what they fight for brings in love and admiration. By staying to their morals no matter the circumstance, these heroes seem to be invincible in more ways than their powers could give. Yet, there must be reason to why superheroes have this image, these morals, these reasons to fight for good. Their enemies have a platform of their own. Supervillains have shown that they could eclipse the value of a hero in power, success, and popularity among fans. Several Supervillains have ventured into house hold name status, reached top levels of villainy and evil, and have power to be truly terrifying and captivating. While many super heroes have gotten a bright spotlight to showcase their worth in film, television, games, or books, the villains seem to be getting that a slower pace. So with villains starting to get more attention and traction, the further rise of villains needs to come.
Now, over very recent years, there has been attempts to make villains the center of the story. Suicide Squad began this wave of stories that have these villain-centric stories. A sequel/reboot came out afterwords. Venom got his due with two films. Loki has his own series. Black Adam had his to some sort. And of course, Joker had his success in his solo film. However, those projects moved these characters from villains to anti-heroes or tragic villains. They become a figure fans rooted for because they were broken and they were humanized. This created sympathy for these characters that were once savage villains. Their villainy was held back when it was the perfect time to dial it up to eleven. While it is always beneficial to change up a character just a bit to keep them fresh, not all characters should be a Harley Quinn type where their change ventures into being heroic. What made many villains stand out on the first place was the fact they were villains. They were savage, brutal, cutthroat and everything in between. A great character does have layers, inner contradictions, and flaws but, sometimes all a great character needs is the want to see the world on fire.
Audiences have seen a multitude of heroes be the central character in films, television and games. The bigger names such as Batman, Superman and Spider-Man have obviously had different stories that go over different generations. Wonder Woman got her chance. Iron Man and Captain America and the rest of the Avengers had their chance. Even lesser know characters like Blue Beetle, Ant Man at the time, Captain Marvel and Invincible had their time in the spotlight. However, villains tend to get second priority when it comes to deciding which hero will take center stage. In the books, many villains have had their own solo run at the most, or have a healthy amount of time devoted to their story in an overarching storyline. Obviously, that has created an abundance of lore for villains and that has been gathered over a few decades for many villains. There is more than enough lore for villains to have their own story be told in film or a series or a game. It’s unfair for a villain to have that much rich lore and to have it condensed in one film or a series or game. To make it more unfair they have to share that time with the hero. And because the hero is the titular character, the villain’s ‘screen time’ is reduced quite a bit. Writers do a good job in getting the essence of the villain on screen or in the game but there so much more to explore than what is being shared. Some villains like the ones above got extended time but others like Deathstroke, Darkseid, and Mister Sinister haven’t had their proper time. Other villains like Ra’s al Ghul and Doctor Doom need another chance to show off a more accurate portrayal. These characters are filled with so much lore, morals, drives and ambition that a movie or series devoted to just them, will do them the utmost of justice.
And now is a great time to introduce this type of storytelling. Marvel has been the one that has driven the superhero genre forward. It has been the one that has set different paths and achievements of their own. For a good amount of time, the success of the superhero genre was synonymous with the success of Marvel. Now, with a few films lacking in quality due to a lighter, family friendly, goofy tone being the template for all Marvel films, the superhero genre is becoming redundant. Those movies are playing it safe. Fans have grown up and matured and it’s time for the movies they grew up with to reflect that. Supervillain led projects could add more diversity into a genre that is becoming stale. Superhero films could be darker, more violent, rated R, show that the bad guys could win, even illustrate classic superheroes as the antagonist to further diversity a gene that needs refreshing.
It may be dauting to go this route since for two decades now, superhero movies have shown that the hero wins at the end. That’s the standard, that’s the norm. That’s what people are used to. That time of storytelling has been successful, so why would somebody change that formula. Good guys win in the end, right? But there is evidence that fans like a movie where the villain wins. Films such as Watchmen, The Dark Knight, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and The Batman are films where the villain wins in some form. And ironically, these are the films that are praised highly in the superhero movie community. At the end of the day, a great is a great story no matter who wins. But a great story only happens when plot points are captivating and intriguing. What better way to show a captivating superhero story to show a diabolical villain succeeding in their plans and beating down the hero?
