Necessary Evil: Super-Villains of DC Comics Page #7

the all-too-real possibility...

...that good might

not triumph over evil.

You're defined by the height

of the mountain you climb.

And so the higher the mountain, the more

the epic struggle it is to climb that...

...the greater the adventure,

the greater the hero.

If I have the powers of the

gods, then am I not a god myself?

A good villain, you have

to believe that he can win.

If you have Superman fighting a

common mugger, that's not interesting.

You know that Superman's gonna win.

The idea that Lex Luthor can out-think

Superman, that he is smarter than Superman...

...and no matter what Superman's powers are,

Lex Luthor can think of a way to defeat him...

...makes that dynamic between

the pair of them brilliant.

ADAMS:
It's why we created Ra's al Ghul.

You need a Moriarty for Sherlock Holmes.

If Sherlock Holmes is superior

to every criminal out there...

...what's his value?

So we want Sherlock

Holmes to have a Moriarty.

We want Batman to have a Ra's al Ghul.

And we want it to be neck and neck.

SHANNON:
Superman has all his

powers because he's on Earth...

...and watching Zod discover

that he has those same powers...

...I think Superman and Zod

could fight for centuries.

And basically, it just comes down to...

The person who's gonna win that fight is

the person who puts the most heart into it.

When I was writing Superman, I

created the character called Mongul...

...who has become very

big in the mythos since.

Basically, because I felt,

"All right, this is silly.

You've got a guy here

who moves planets...

...and he has to fight a guy

he has to outsmart to beat.

What about somebody

who can kick his butt?"

So I came up with Mongul, who

was bigger and strong and taller.

And he gives somebody

a physical challenge.

Somebody Superman has to work to

beat, just on a hands-on basis.

Darkseid is a great villain just because

of the amount of power that he holds.

He's godlike and it's not easy

to fight him and come back alive.

Going up against a character like

Darkseid really proves your hero's worth.

The Anti-Monitor is a character like

Darkseid, one of our cosmic-level villains.

He's a force of nature,

a force of danger.

Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor can

literally cross time and space...

...and they represent a threat that,

again, only a hero such as Superman...

...or a hero of that level can face and

that's why they are almost more frightening.

Again, to an earlier point,

that's why we need a Superman...

...because they have to deal with

threats that we as common people can't.

NARRATOR:
In a battle of equals, the

outcome always remains uncertain...

...and, on occasion,

fortune favors the fiendish.

The villain escapes soot-free.

They get their lucky break or

manage to land the killing blow.

What does it mean when the hero falls in

battle and the villain emerges victorious?

If it's all too clean and too neat,

why are we continuing to buy books?

Why are we continuing

to read these stories...

...if we don't have the sense

that there's a certain danger...

...or a mortal danger to our hero?

You know, we have a very clear

statement. We said, you know:

"The hero has to win every time.

The villain only has to win once. "

Even though we want ultimate

good to triumph over evil...

...there will be battles along

the way where there are setbacks.

The question of "Can the villain

succeed?" is always a tricky one.

I believe they can...

...but obviously you have to make certain

that you're careful, the extent of it.

There are different kinds of villains...

...and thus different kinds of

impact to what a villain does.

Most of the criminal villains...

...the guys who are just out there

to rob a bank or do whatever...

...don't leave lasting impact.

The ones like the Joker potentially

can affect an entire series.

Don't you just love a happy ending?

One of the risks of being a superhero

is that the people that you love...

...whether they're superheroes

themselves or citizens...

...you put them at risk.

And so with Jason Todd,

essentially that is what happened...

...where the Joker murders him...

...and we have one of these rare instances

where a primary character was murdered.

For Batman, that meant incredible guilt.

That meant feeling that he was

responsible for the death...

...and that was what the

Joker essentially wanted.

JOHNS:
I always loved Black Manta.

You never knew his real name.

He had that helmet that covered

his face. He killed Aquaman's baby.

You have to be a real sick,

cold bastard to kill a baby.

It felt so horrific to me

that I couldn't do anything...

...but look at this character and go, This

is the coldest guy in the DC universe. "

In a lot of ways, I think

Black Manta to Aquaman...

...is very much akin to

what Bane is to the Batman.

Both characters were very capable...

...and did cause great harm

and pain to the main characters.

SHANNON:
When Bane broke

Bruce Wayne's back...

...it was proof positive to all

the readers around the world...

...that, yes, you got

this right all these years.

This is a superhero who

has no superpowers...

...who, arguably, his greatest

superpower is his humanity...

...who is vulnerable...

...whom you can identify with

because he has no superpowers.

And now, maybe for the first time,

we're taking that one extra step.

We are crossing the Rubicon...

...and we are showing you,

and his back is broken...

...and Batman is either

dead or incapacitated.

And I think readers still remember that.

Readers have a visceral reaction to that.

This is someone who could hurt

Batman. This is someone Batman...

...even in his calmest of

nights wakes up and thinks:

"This is a guy who once really severely

hurt me, who's still out there. "

So I think that's why Bane still has

that kind of attraction to readers.

SHANNON:
What Bane was to Batman,

Doomsday was to Superman...

...the embodiment of

brutal physical force.

This is the great fear Superman has.

Having a foe that he cannot find

a way to stop one way or another.

He was designed to kill Superman.

Every time he dies, he

comes back stronger...

...with whatever killed him now no

longer something that can kill him.

Doomsday stirs up massive chaos...

...and delivers the hero

his biggest defeat ever.

Doomsday kills Superman.

I can't think of another villain where his

appearance on the stage is enough that...

...you know, the world is shaking.

I would even argue that the death of

Superman story itself isn't even a story.

It's just a fight scene.

The story comes from how

the world reacts afterwards.

When you get to see the

"Funeral For a Friend"...

...you see what Superman

meant to the world...

...which reflected what

the real world did a lot...

...when they thought we were

really gonna leave Superman dead.

They went crazy sad.

Any time you have that level of

tragedy impacting a DC character...

...we go through and show the

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes