Necessary Evil: Super-Villains of DC Comics Page #8

repercussions of that act...

...and how it affects the

relationships between all the heroes...

...and the impact it has on

all their friends and family.

And so, to me, it's not done lightly.

We don't have last episodes.

We have the next episode.

And we do have to deal

with the repercussions.

And, again, if the bad guys

are winning too often...

...then that hero doesn't deserve his own

title and he should probably stop being a hero.

Superman died, but that wasn't

what the story was about.

His death was a piece of that story.

It was almost the

beginning of the story.

And then Dan Jurgens and Mike Carlin, all

those guys created Reign of the Supermen...

...which is all about Superman's return.

With Batman breaking his

back, it was the same thing.

How strong is Bruce Wayne?

His back's broken, but

the city still needs him.

So he heals himself and

comes back as Batman.

He overcomes that. But

sometimes the villains do win...

...but it's only momentarily.

Any general can tell you it's not

the battles, it's the ultimate war.

And I think if you look at the

grand scope of the DC universe...

...it is ultimately good

triumphing over evil.

The best stories, the stories

that kind of last with you...

...are the ones that even though good wins,

there's a price to be had for that victory.

I don't consider the hero having a

victory if it doesn't come at a cost.

They have to have something sacrificed,

either personal or physical...

...that occurs every time they win.

They have to be giving up something of

what they are in order to help mankind.

They're making a sacrifice every

time they put that costume on...

...every time they're confronting

something and putting themselves at risk.

So, therefore, there should be something

given up in their social life...

...their personal life,

about who they are.

They should be a little broken

because of what they've done.

Only thing that keeps them going is that

they're doing something for the better good...

...and for helping other people.

In the history of comics,

DC in particular...

...there are not hundreds, there

are thousands of supervillains.

Thousands of supervillains.

And there's no way we can

talk about all of them.

We can only talk about

a fraction of them.

I think that the very fact that we

have such a wide variety of villains...

...that can be anything

from, you know...

...essentially, a high-tech bank robber to

someone like Darkseid who is a new god...

...is something I think

strengthens our universe.

It gives us, you know, a

great spectrum of villainy.

NARRATOR". This spectrum of

evil is diverse and dynamic...

...falling into a vast array of

villainous categories and characteristics.

Indeed, the tropes and commonalities

of villainy are far-reaching.

First off is the uncontrollable beast...

...that rages and rains down destruction on

those unfortunate souls caught in its path...

...the monster.

My favorite monster is my...

The classic monsters, the reason

that they're enduring and scary...

...is because they almost... They

look like people that you love...

...or that you care

about or that you trust.

Your neighbors, your wife, your mother.

Then something infects them or turns them

into something that's an unstoppable force.

Probably the most illustrious monster of

the Golden Age of comics was Solomon Grundy.

He's an animated corpse.

The heroes, even Batman, is okay

with trying to destroy Grundy...

...because he's dead already.

BUCCELLATO:
I like Bizarro Superman

because he's just so off-the-wall.

I mean, he's like just sort

of a crazy super powerful...

...almost Frankenstein

monster version of Superman.

NARRATOR:
A villain

as old as literature...

...but only heightened by the

advent of the atomic bomb...

...the mad scientist reflects our

mistrust and fear of technology...

...of advances that

could undo us as a people.

New inventions come

along that could be...

...the most wonderful

boon for humanity...

...or it could mean the

seeds of their destruction.

So it figures that mad scientists

would be one of the true fears...

...incorporated into the

personified forms of supervillains.

Doctor Sivana was a cackling,

bald, bespectacled scientist...

...who usually could

be seen in a white coat.

And he was responsible continually

for the near demise of Shazam.

Before there was a Doctor

Sivana, for Lex Luthor...

...there was the Ultra-Humanite...

...who was sort of like the

very first mad scientist.

He put his brain into other people's bodies,

or his consciousness in other people's bodies.

So I believe, at one time,

he was a beautiful woman.

He was different people

throughout his history.

And now he's like a

white ape-like creature.

Charmed, I'm sure.

But that just goes to show the

power of the mind over the matter.

It doesn't matter what you

look like on the outside.

As long as that brain survives, that

brain is going to be trouble for you.

NARRATOR". A militant general...

...a despot, a conqueror.

This is a villain not far removed

from our world's own tyrants.

We know them as the dictator,

or more simply the overlord.

ZOD:
I have a duty to my people.

And I will not allow anyone to

prevent me from carrying it out.

SHANNON:
With Zod,

it's a pure power thing.

There's something very

moving about the fact...

...that this story begins with him...

...basically seeing his

entire planet explode...

...like his home evaporate into nothing.

I can't imagine a bigger

launching-off point for a character...

...and then knowing that he'll do

whatever he can to make a new Krypton...

...because he can't help himself.

It's the only option he has.

It's what he was born to do.

That's what he's been

training to do his whole life.

He's fighting for

Krypton, for his people.

And he's a warrior.

And so he's capable

of committing, like...

...horrific crimes against

humanity and/or anything living.

USLAN:
Starro the Conqueror

is an alien starfish.

Giant starfish that comes down on

Earth and seizes control city by city.

Then in terms of seizing their minds, it was

right out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

NARRATOR:
Culled from our

own Mob-laden underworld...

...the criminal mastermind is

both power-hungry and immoral.

Feeding their insatiable

desire for control...

...they keep the public in fear as they

tighten their grasp on their domain.

Certainly one of the great types of

villains is the criminal mastermind...

...the guy who holds an entire city or town

or village or whatever in a grip of fear.

LANGLEY:
Penguin has what is informally

known as a Napoleon complex...

...the small man who wants to be big.

If he could lose that weight, he wouldn't,

because it helps him take up more space.

His hat makes him taller.

His umbrella, when extended,

helps him take up more area.

From the very first

story he appears in...

...he wants to rise up in high

society and wants to be a crime boss.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes