{"id":14385,"date":"2014-12-09T19:43:56","date_gmt":"2014-12-09T19:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/2023.biowars.com\/?p=14385"},"modified":"2023-03-06T12:21:14","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T12:21:14","slug":"villain-supervillain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/2023.biowars.com\/blog\/villain-supervillain\/","title":{"rendered":"When Is a Villain a Supervillain?"},"content":{"rendered":"

How do you get to be a supervillain<\/a>? The answer\u2019s not as obvious as you might think.<\/p>\n

People have been using the word long before modern comic books came along\u2014Life<\/em> magazine actually used it in 1911. (They called a British aristocrat a\u00a0\u201cmaniac in the making, and all around super-villain and arch fiend.\u201d)<\/p>\n

So if you\u2019re extremely villainous, and you have superpowers\u00a0and a role in a comic, a film, or TV show, do you qualify? Maybe. All those characteristics are up for debate.<\/p>\n

To start with, how villainous does a supervillain have to be? Magneto began his career as an enemy of the X-Men, sometimes joining them to face other adversaries, but continuing to present a threat to non-mutant Earth. And a lot of his actions are explained by philosophical differences about the role of mutants\u2014not to mention his tragic past. Does he count if he\u2019s only mostly<\/em> villainous?<\/p>\n

Even the superhuman powers requirement is dubious. Lex Luthor is high<\/a> on most people\u2019s supervillain lists, but his mind has always been his weapon\u2014he\u2019s extremely rich and incredibly smart, but is he superhumanly<\/em> rich and smart, futuristic technology aside?<\/p>\n

And is it enough to have superpowers if you\u2019re in a universe where those powers are relatively common\u2014where there are wizards, or Jedi, all of whom can do basically the same cool stuff?<\/p>\n

Then there are a whole host of other issues. Most supervillains have a plan to dominate or enslave a city, humanity, or a whole planet. A supervillain arguably needs an evil scheme, like Thanos<\/a>, who killed off half of life on Earth. And they might need to be their own boss, too. Depending on who you ask, Darth Vader is either one of the most awesome supervillains of all time, or a guy in a helmet punching a clock.<\/p>\n

Finally, can you have a supervillain without a superhero? A lot of people<\/a> don\u2019t think Harry Potter is a superhero, but seem much more comfortable<\/a> with the idea Voldemort is a supervillain.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s often said that a superhero needs a supervillain. But that\u2019s not exactly true. There were stretches of the 1960s where Superman often did without supervillains. On TV,\u00a0Smallville\u00a0<\/em>got away without supervillains in its early seasons. But there is a reason supervillains keep turning up in comics. Without villains powerful enough to take the fight to heroes\u2014and the intelligence\u00a0to get under the heroes’ skin\u2014heroes win without enough tension, or worse, get bored and start taking over<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What do you think makes a villain a supervillain? Biowars<\/a> has a few supervillain candidates so far\u2014the evil bacterium Raze, the insidious Viron, the e-Coli turned vengeful killer Tenzor, and the mutant messenger cell Carcin\u2014are any of them\u00a0supervillains? Or do they have\u00a0supervillain potential?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How do you get to be a supervillain? The answer\u2019s not as obvious as you might think. People have been using the word long before modern comic books came along\u2014Life magazine actually used it in 1911. (They called a British aristocrat a\u00a0\u201cmaniac in the making, and all around super-villain and arch fiend.\u201d) So if you\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":14387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[522,61,174,93,403,175],"tags":[86,71],"yoast_head":"\nWhen Is a Villain a Supervillain? | Blog | BIOWARS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When does an ordinary villain become a supervillain? 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