What kind of villains do you prefer in Comic Book Movies, Evil or Sympathetic?

[Goshdarn Batman]

No, that's Dr Who

 

[Spider-Aziz]

t: That's right ! It's the one with that guy Han Solo, who's captain of the
starship Enterprise.

LOL !

I believe he was Han Sulu

 

[Goshdarn Batman]

That's the one! Han Zulu, space warrior from planet Africanus.

 

[Goshdarn Batman]

Don't anyone reply to Dr. Supervillainius: "You are simply one dumb ****, no one has purpose to sympathize with you"?

Not in the Superheroman universe, where everyone agrees that superheroes are fascists that do more harm than good.

Civilian: "Everything was better before Superheroman showed up, with his stupid underpants and stupid cape. Sure, badguys robbed me everyday, burglars broke into my house at night and threatened to slit my throat etc. But at least we could...uhm...yeah...I hate that guy!"

Reporter: "Hey, aren't you that guy who stole my car two years ago?"

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

That's the one! Han Zulu, space warrior from planet Africanus.

Make it happen Disney!

Okay, I'd be impressed if an accurate Black Panther movie ever happens.

 

[Batmannerism]

I believe he was Han Sulu

LOL ! t: That's great, I can't think of any terrible Trek/SWars puns at the moment, but the moment I do I'll post them.

cheers.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Honestly, it depends on the situation. What is the goal of the film? In some cases, you need a complex villain that you can understand and feel sympathy towards. Other times, you need someone who just loves to be evil because...it's fun! One is not inherently better than the other.

 

[Goshdarn Batman]

Other times, you need someone who just loves to be evil because...it's fun!

I had an idea for a villain once, when a friend tried to create a comic book.

The guy was so evil that he tried to strangle his own mother with the umbilical cord the day he was born. He even jumped out of the coffin and killed the few people who attended his funeral with a tommy gun before he died (again).

My friend didn't like that idea for some reason...

 

[3dman27]

I had an idea for a villain once, when a friend tried to create a comic book.

The guy was so evil that he tried to strangle his own mother with the umbilical cord the day he was born. He even jumped out of the coffin and killed the few people who attended his funeral with a tommy gun before he died (again).

My friend didn't like that idea for some reason...

you have a talent for exaggeration sir

 

[The Question]

Neither is an inherently better choice than the other, and they're not even mutually exclusive. Good writing if when you can take a monster like The Joker and make the audience sympathize even a little bit.

 

[The Overlord]

Neither is an inherently better choice than the other, and they're not even mutually exclusive. Good writing if when you can take a monster like The Joker and make the audience sympathize even a little bit.

I really found nothing sympathetic about either version of the Joker I saw on the Silver screen.

I think after a while, if a character burns too bridges and does too many evil things, its hard sympathize with them, just because they had abusive parents or a bad childhood. Red Skull and Bullseye both had bad childhoods, but I'm not sure anyone thought they were sympathetic, not even a little. Red Skull and Joker have done so many evil things, never shown love for anyone else and generally acted like monsters, having a bad childhood has long since become irrelevant to evil deeds, especially since there are tons of other people had who had bad childhoods and did not become monsters as a result.

 

[SuperFerret]

There are still those glimmers though. It makes them human. Look at Adolf Hitler, for example. (Godwin threshold has been crossed!) The most infamous historical villain of the modern era. The go-to guy for an example of evil. He loved dogs. He was a painter. He had a girlfriend. He was a fan of Charlie Chaplin. Maybe it doesn't make him a sympathetic person overall, but it reminds you that he's human, not a monster.

And that's what makes him frightening.

 

[Goshdarn Batman]

He liked Mickey Mouse...

 

[Ms. Marvel]

I like deluded villains.

 

[The Overlord]

There are still those glimmers though. It makes them human. Look at Adolf Hitler, for example. (Godwin threshold has been crossed!) The most infamous historical villain of the modern era. The go-to guy for an example of evil. He loved dogs. He was a painter. He had a girlfriend. He was a fan of Charlie Chaplin. Maybe it doesn't make him a sympathetic person overall, but it reminds you that he's human, not a monster.

And that's what makes him frightening.

Sometimes "humanizing" a villain, ruins what makes them cool in the first place. The original Michael Myers who was evil since childhood, was fair more scary then the Michael Myers from the rebooted Halloween movies who had a cliched, "daddy beat me and that's why I'm bad" back story. Sometimes having a villain who you are just supposed to hate works in certain story lines.

 

[SuperFerret]

The issue there is that Micheal Myers isn't really a character. He's a plot device. The conflict in the original 2 Halloween movies is more like "Man vs. Nature" than "Man vs. Man". That's why humanizing him didn't work; he was never meant to be human in the first place.