"...the hero is only as good as the villain..." -Cejile
If you don't have a good villain...then the hero isn't that good...just look at batman. What makes him good is that he has a variety of villains that are really good.
Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, Two-face.
All great villains....
now take superman. Who does he have?
Lex Luthor? a rich guy?
Dammit. I will not turn this into a "which is better" blog because I really like Superman better...but anyways.
The importance in this is to consider what makes a good villain. A good villain is the guy that can "beat" the hero. They are the ones that are all those qualities that the hero doesn't have. The villain represents the darkside of the hero. Think of Luke and Darth Vader. They represent the shadow side, the side that the hero fights against. They are us...backwards and upside down.
We all have these qualities in us. We all have the "dark" side in us. The side that we hide and fight against. Try to suppress...try to push down. I'm here to tell you that you will not always win. Sorry. It's a fact. The villain/darkside will win at times. You will cheat, steal, lie, rob and sabotage. That is the darkside winning. It will happen. Sorry.
Sidebar!
When I was a little boy watching batman cartoons. I remember seeing the episode and watching how he would take out the random burglars without trouble. Although, the Joker wasn't in every episode, I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that the Joker was "out there". You know what I mean? The joker was waiting for batman and cooking up a scheme somewhere in Gotham eventhough he wasn't even mentioned.
I would watch the episode thinking, "oh...his archnemesis is Joker! and I'm sure in this episode he'll come out for that epic last battle." But as we all know now...he doesn't really have that big epic battle. If he does, Joker ends up in jail and in one week he's back out on the streets and batman has to do it all over again.
The point is that even though Joker wasn't in every episode, I treated him as if he were. I constantly was waiting for him. On the lookout...expecting and suspicious.
When it comes to your own villain...your own self...you don't let it go unseen and unnoticed. Continue checking. Continue fighting. Continue pushing. Everyday you walk out of your house...know that you wear your cape. Know that you are going into battle and that every day you are alive, the fight has already began. All we can continue doing is staying the path and being true. Saving, protecting and loving who we are. The villain keeps our true selves and gifts hostage. He robs us of our positivity and joy in who we are. You have a responsibility to save yourself, to give to yourself. To be your own hero. Appreciating and accepting our gifts while utilizing our powers to push ourselves higher.
Fly high. Mask and cape optional.
To be fair, Joker, Penguin, Freeze, Scarecrow, etc, are Batman's archnemesisisis, because they have fought against him before and know that despite his theatrics, he plays by certain rules and will not kill them. So they are not afraid of him like the standard thugs that work for them.
ReplyDeleteBut I think I see where you are going with this one. What Batman is afraid of is becoming the very thing he fights against... thus why he refuses to kill or use a gun... at least until he gets old and has to take on superman in The Dark Knight Returns.