Necessary Evil: Super-Villains of DC Comics Page #6

If we kill the Flash the whole

Justice League's on top us.

We don't need that right now.

We have this thing going. We don't wanna

kill the Flash. He's just in our way. "

There's versions of the Rogues

who have been more bloodthirsty.

Their versions, I don't respond to because

I don't think that's who the Rogues are.

The last thing they would

ever do is kill the Flash.

That doesn't mean they're

uninteresting to watch...

...or uninteresting characters

for the Flash to go against.

That makes them more interesting.

What are their motivations?

NARRATOR:
The best villains represent

the counterpoint to the hero.

A polar opposite in many respects...

...but also bearing subtle or

sometimes striking similarities.

The villains often mirror

the hero's dark reflection...

...the result of a divergent

path, a different road taken.

I think a good nemesis for a hero

needs to have some of the hero in him...

...have some of the

qualities of a hero in him.

You are defined as much by the

dark side of the mythology...

...as you are defined by

this light side of mythology.

So for every mythology about demons,

there need to be angels and vice versa.

You need to have a

degree of polar opposite.

At the same time, there

needs to be those things...

...that make them mirror

images of themselves.

You have Ocean Master who is

kind of a mirror of Aquaman.

He is an Atlantean king, like

Aquaman, but he's Aquaman gone wrong.

He's "What if Aquaman went

down a different path?"

In the case of Flash,

it's Reverse-Flash.

Literally, it's a reverse version

of the Flash, a mirror of him.

And then the opposite

would be Captain Cold.

On first blush you're like,

Oh, it's ice. He slips. "

You look at Captain Cold and

you analyze him a bit more.

When introduced, he was called The

Man Who Mastered Absolute Zero. "

And absolute zero means

zero atomic motion.

That means the atoms do not move.

You know, when things are colder,

they're slower on the atomic level.

So that's why Captain Cold,

to me, always captured...

...the essence of an

opposite of the Flash.

When you look at somebody like Batman...

...Catwoman is certainly

the sexual challenge to him.

Riddler is the intellectual challenge.

Penguin is almost a mockery of what

Bruce Wayne is on the social scene.

And the Joker is the horrific version

of what Batman is to ordinary people.

Whereas Batman scares criminals, the Joker

scares and horrifies the ordinary people.

Black Adam is another good

opposite number character.

Kind of got a costume that's similar

to Shazam's costume, but it's black.

He's also another member of a police

force that has kind of fallen from grace...

...the Wizards Protector Society, which

is what Shazam is and what Black Adam was.

The Crime Syndicate characters

that have been around for decades...

...they come from a version... A

parallel Earth, a version of our Earth...

...where everyone who's good is

bad and everyone who is bad is good.

And so you've got an

evil Superman in Ultraman.

Then you have Owlman, who

is a dark version of Batman.

And Superwoman, who is a

dark version of Wonder Woman.

You have Johnny Quick and Power Ring.

Power Ring is this Green Lantern...

...who's a coward.

The Crime Syndicate represent the Justice

League completely flipped on its head...

...and if they were horrible,

horrible, evil people.

In terms of what they can

accomplish and who they can defeat...

...they're on par with the Justice

League, but their goals are so perverted...

...compared to the honor and the

morality that the Justice League have.

Which leaves the governments of the world

with two choices, bow down to us or die.

The best supervillains that resonate

the most, they do it on two levels.

They do it... How they psychologically

reflect or challenge your superhero...

...and then also, in the story, what

they've done to affect the superhero's life.

If there is not that personal

connection, it just weakens it.

It just becomes another person

trying to do something dastardly.

When well-paired, the villain's been

able to get inside the superhero's head.

It's almost as if he knows precisely what makes

them vulnerable, what their greatest fear is.

When they make it personal

and can make it personal...

...when the villains have the knowledge to

make it personal and know your inner secrets...

...that's when things get real.

ROMANO:
Talia al Ghul, she

fell in love with Batman.

So when it comes to the

point of killing Batman...

...many times in many stories,

she draws the line there.

She will not kill him.

She wants him for her own.

Star Sapphire was not only Hal

Jordan's boss, but also girlfriend.

And when she was manipulated...

...she did not know consciously

that she had become Star Sapphire.

Then you've got this

interesting dynamic...

...of when he ultimately finds out that this

is his girlfriend and he's got to battle her.

And how does he battle her when

she's so smart without hurting her?

That kind of conflict of people who

were once friends and become enemies...

...you know, it's almost like the Greek

tragedies, these enormous stories of betrayal.

I just ended my run

with Green Lantern 20.

And as I was wrapping it up the story kind

of organically revolved around not only Hal...

...but Hal and Sinestro and that

relationship is really key to Green Lantern.

There is this moment where Sinestro, who

blames the Guardians of the Universe...

...who have done all

these horrible things...

...against the Corps they

created... They tried to destroy it.

They're ultimately the

big bad guys of the piece.

And Sinestro vows to destroy them.

"I'm going to kill them one by one. "

And Hal says, "I can't let you

do that. " And he grabs him.

And Sinestro says, "You

think they can still be saved?

You think that they can be redeemed?"

And Hal says, This isn't

about them, this is about you. "

He says, "I wanna save you.

You don't have to lower yourself to

this level. You don't have to kill them.

You can be a great Green Lantern. "

And he goes, "Because

I believe in you. "

And Sinestro looks at him and he says, Jordan,

it's too late. I've already killed them. "

And you reveal that Sinestro has already

wiped out the Guardians, one by one by one.

And Sinestro's like,

"I'm leaving forever.

But before I go, you had a

question you wanted to ask me. "

And Hal says, you know, "Were

we ever friends, Sinestro?"

And Sinestro, who has never

called him by his first name...

He's always called him Jordan.

...Says, "You know, that's the

tragedy of all this, Jordan. "

He goes, "Hal, we'll

always be friends. "

NARRATOR:
Might is not

reserved solely for the just.

While heroes can exhibit

incredible strength or skills...

...villains may possess abilities equal

to or even greater than their foes.

It's not enough for villains merely

to offer a challenge to the heroes...

...but, rather, they must present

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