We Know The Heroes, But How Well Do We Know Our Villains?
Edward Varnell – Twitter: @thatretrocode
We always wonder why villains cause these tumultuous acts on innocents. To bring fear and worry to those who are just trying to survive their daily lives. This assumption that money and power will solve all the needs of that villain seems to provide a sense of attention and show others they rule overall and no one will take that away or stop them. Our heroes will have some wins and losses at times but they do everything they can to stop them and bring justice and peace. Before we can even dive deeply into it, I think we need to understand some terms.
A villain is described as a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel. It also is defined as a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot. One of the most recognizable characters we can identify is Joker. His maniac plots and deadly execution is one example we all can pinpoint that fits the descriptions.
A henchman is an unscrupulous and ruthless subordinate. Harley Quinn is Joker’s ‘Puddin’ and henchman in most of Joker’s plot against Gotham and Batman. Although she is part of the Suicide Squad, she is truly committed to Joker and wants to see him succeed badly. Sometimes, a henchman will betray their boss or take over once their boss is captured or killed.
A bandit is a person who takes unfair advantage of others, as a merchant who overcharges; swindler; cheat. They can also be a robber, especially a member of a gang or marauding band or an outlaw or highwayman. Nick Wilde from Zootopia would be considered as a bandit as he is swindling and tricking those around him.
We also define antagonist as a person who is opposed to, struggles against, or competes with another; opponent; adversary. What separates this from just a villain is that some characters can be on the same side and just have this competition. They can team up with the protagonist at times but that rivalry is still there. Katsuki Bakugo from My Hero Academia is portrayed to be Izuku Midoriya competitor in the show. Always trying to show how better he is against Midoriya, Bakugo fiery temper always seems to get the best of him and doesn’t always succeed which makes him furious.
Last but not least, we have the lower tier of a villain which we see them as thugs. Enemies or the low-lives. The grunts who do most of the work and get beat up by the heroes. If they fail, they tend to be punished or killed. The foot clan would be the prime example of this.
These are just some terms used in a lot of writing and discussions. From reviews to stories we read and revealed. There are more words but these are easy to comprehend and keep in mind during this celebration. If you had to choose, which one would you like to be?
