Necessary Evil: Super-Villains of DC Comics

NARRATOR:
Evil has many faces.

[JOKER CACKLING]

A man who laughs.

The master of Metropolis.

The Guardian of fear.

A conqueror of worlds.

Many faces, but just one name:

The superviilain.

Powerful, charismatic...

...intelligent, ruthless.

The superviilain reflects

our fears and frustrations...

...the dangers and

perils of everyday life.

They commit the heinous

crimes we will not.

And in a world where right

and wrong are not absolute...

...where shades of gray exist in

life as well as the comic page...

...evil isn't just

unavoidable, it's necessary.

In the world of comics, one could argue that

the villain is even more vital to the story...

...than the just and moral hero.

For without a proper adversary...

...we tack the very essence of story:

Conflict.

After all, isn't it the villain

who catapults the hero into action?

Without the villain, there's really no

story. The superhero exists and does nothing.

If the villain isn't acting

out, Superman stays Clark Kent.

The superheroes are always reacting.

The villains are making things happen.

Villains are the ones with a plan. The villains

are the ones who are taking the initiative.

If you define "protagonist" as

somebody who sets something in motion...

...and "antagonist" as

somebody who stops him...

...almost all the villains in

comic books are protagonists.

You need that ongoing impetus of the bad

guy, the one who's gonna be a challenge...

...the one who is going to

threaten society's rules...

...and be put in their place by

somebody who upholds those rules.

NARRATOR:
Not only is there no story

or conflict without the villain...

...but it's through the villain that

we see our hero at their very core.

We see their many flaws, we

see their many weaknesses.

We see what makes

them the hero they are.

Without the villain

to define the hero...

...you don't have a hero.

You have no anvil from which the superhero

is pounded into the shape that he is.

Villains in comic book stories...

...allow the hero or the superhero

to really flex their muscles.

The more power the supervillains have...

...the more you can showcase

how important that superhero is.

The stronger your villains are, the stronger

your hero is. They have to overcome...

...somebody who's smart, powerful...

...who knows what they want and who's

on a mission that they believe in.

So if the hero can stop them, you

know, it makes them that much better.

All the more true in the DC universe

because we have rich villains.

One is Flash and Reverse-Flash. The

very names give you what they are.

PORTER:
Reverse-Flash

suffered something so horrible.

And he felt like the Flash could have fixed it.

He knew that the Flash could go through time.

He'd seen it happen before.

He said, "Why don't you go back, prevent

this from happening? Why won't you?"

The guy won't do it.

"Well, he won't do it because he

hasn't felt tragedy like I have.

So I'm going to have him feel

tragedy to make him a better hero.

You need to be able to take the

measures to protect everyone you love.

You wouldn't do it for me. Maybe you'll do

it for yourself. So I put you to the test. "

SCOTT:
The Riddler, he's

all about Batman's intellect.

He, to me, is the sword-sharpener.

He's the guy that says:

"if you are not clever enough,

everybody dies in that way. "

He shows in some ways that

Batman, at his roots...

...needs to be the greatest detective.

At his heart, he's born in Detective Comics.

At the core of the character is Sherlock Holmes.

He's that guy that, because he's human,

needs to be smarter than anybody else...

...to solve these crimes.

For me, the Riddler steps on to the stage

and challenges that fundamental element...

...of Batman's capabilities that needs

to be there almost more than any other.

I mean, that's Batman's superpower.

He's the greatest detective of all time.

NARRATOR:
The relationship between a villain

and their rival is more complicated...

...than a question of right

versus wrong, good versus evil.

Together, they form a dynamic

that is, at times, interdependent.

A villain cannot exist without a

hero and a hero, his or her villain.

They're in a symbiotic relationship in that

if the villains were to do off the hero...

...I think they would probably

find themselves a little listless.

When we did "Death of

the Family" story...

...he comes at Batman saying, Deep

down, we really love each other. "

And, of course, Batman says, "I hate

nothing more on the earth than you, Joker. "

The Joker feels that the family that Batman

has built around him all these years...

...is dragging him down.

He says, These people

are draining your soul.

These other members, they're

sucking the life out of you.

I'm your friend. I wanna make

you be the best that you can be...

...so that we can both have a relationship

that we could enjoy for so many years...

...without these knuckleheads on

the side constantly draining you.

And so I'm gonna take care of them for you,

and I will wipe out all these family members...

...so you can be free

of their encumbrance. "

What the Joker, at his

core, is saying is that:

"You might not love us

the way that we love you...

...or you might not want to admit

you love us the way we love you.

This rogues' gallery that you have,"

he's like, "All of us love you.

All of us are here only to

make you a better superhero. "

The question always becomes: What

came first, the hero or the villain?

Did the hero introduce himself

to society to do better good...

...and because they

put on that costume...

...the costumed villain arose to

confront him or to challenge him?

Or did the costumed

villain arrive first...

...and the hero was created in order to

stop that type of villain from succeeding...

...or getting more powerful?

HARRAS:
There are threats

that Superman has to face...

...where I would tend to think

we're grateful Superman is there.

People might say, "if Superman weren't here,

would these menaces be coming to Earth?"

Bane comes to Gotham

specifically to fight Batman.

This is the Riddler as

he originally appeared.

First moved to Gotham because he was

attracted by the challenge of Batman.

They both came there

to challenge Batman...

...to see if he could be a foe worthy of

them, give them something interesting to do.

So the question is which came first?

And I'm not sure if I really

wanna answer that question.

The one thing I can say, one

can't exist without the other.

As long as we have villains,

there will be heroes.

And as long as we have

heroes, there will be villains.

NARRATOR:
But what is it about the

villain that keeps us so entranced...

...that captivates and enthralls us?

What makes us applaud the very

person we want to see vanquished?

The reasons are often as

multifaceted as the villains we enjoy.

What makes a great superviilain

is something that we can relate to.

It's the same thing that

makes for a great superhero.

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