Supervillain

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Doctor Doom, one of the most archetypical supervillains. Art by Jim Lee.

A supervillain is a variant of the villain character type common, often found in comic books and action and science fiction films. Supervillains often have colorful names, costumes, and/or other eccentricities, and most concoct complex and ambitious schemes to accumulate vast power and suppress their adversaries.

Supervillains are often used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes. Their extraordinary brainpower and/or superhuman abilities make them viable antagonists for even the most gifted heroes.

By most definitions, the first supervillain was Professor Moriarty, the arch enemy of Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective Sherlock Holmes, introduced in 1891. Although Moriarty was the original criminal mastermind, Sax Rohmer's Dr. Fu Manchu, introduced in 1913, can be credited for popularizing many of the typical characteristics of the modern supervillain, including his sadistic personality, his desire for world domination, and his use of sinister lairs and themed crimes and henchmen. Rohmer's work would later play a strong influence on the writings of Ian Fleming, whose James Bond novels and films have further popularized the image of the supervillain in popular culture.

The first supervillain who wore a bizarre costume was The Lightning, from the 1938 film Fighting Devil Dogs, which preceded the first superhero, Superman.

Many supervillains are inspired by typical characteristics of real world dictators, mobsters, and terrorists.

Common Traits

While supervillains vary greatly, there are a number of attributes that define the character. Most supervillains have at least a few of the following traits:

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Darth Vader.

• A desire to commit spectacular crimes and/or rule the world through whatever means necessary
• A generally irritable and spiteful disposition
• A sadistic nature and tendency to revel in their sociopathic behavior
• A brilliant scientific mind that he or she chooses to use for evil (see also mad scientist and evil genius).
• A tendency to speak in proper English with an extremely controlled, formal manner to demonstrate their intellect and superiority (a trait parodied by Family Guy's Stewie).
• Superhuman abilities or some special skill, similar to those of superheroes
• An enemy or group of enemies that he or she repeatedly fights
• A desire for revenge against said enemies. The method of their revenge often goes beyond simply killing them to making them suffer before death such as using deathtraps. This tendency to prolong their enemies' deaths is often an instrumental part of why the supervillain fails to kill their foes.
• A dark and threatening-looking headquarters or lair, the location of which is usually kept secret from police, superheroes and the general public. However, some supervillains, who feel secure from prosecution for their crimes live and work in palatial buildings. Examples include Doctor Doom's castles in his country of Latveria and Lex Luthor's LexCorp office buildings.
• A theme by which he or she plots his crimes. For example, Two-Face plots his crimes around the concept of duality and Mysterio plots his around movie special effects.
• Although super villain “team-ups” occasionally occur and some supervillain teams exist (such as the Legion of Doom and Sinister Six), most supervillains do not collaborate with one another but employ a team of simple-minded and expendable henchmen to assist them.
• A strong commitment to their criminal profession to the point where they will quickly resume their activities in their favourite area immediately after escaping prison or recovering from serious injury.
• A back story or origin story that explains how the character transformed from an ordinary person into a supervillain. The story usually involves some great tragedy that marked the change. In the case of many supervillains, including Dr. Doom, Magneto and, in some incarnations including the television series Smallville, Lex Luthor, this story involves a one-time friendship with their future foe.
• A general contempt for ordinary civilians, lackeys, and basically anyone who gets in their way.

The criminally insane Joker from Batman #251. Art by Neal Adams

One thing that supervillains do not share is motivation; characters choose to become supervillains for many different reasons:

Some, such as the Red Skull and Professor Moriarty, are portrayed as outright evil. Some, such as Darth Vader and the Green Goblin, have fallen under some corrupting influence. Some, such as The Joker and Sabretooth, are criminally insane and incapable of controlling their murderous urges. Some, such as Sandman and Juggernaut, are simply thugs with superhuman abilities. Some, such as Mr. Mxyzptlk and Q, are tricksters, who torment heroes for their own pleasure. A few, like the X-Men’s enemy Magneto, have laudable goals, such as Magneto’s desire to protect his people, mutants, from persecution, but use extreme and violent methods.

Many supervillains are portrayed as an inversion of their foe. For example, Wolverine constantly tries to contain his animalistic urges, while Sabretooth fully embraces his. Batman is a humorless character with a foreboding appearance, but who is dedicated to good. The Joker, on the other hand, is a comical character with a colorful appearance, who is actually evil. Both Spider-Man and the Green Goblin are accidents of science, but while Spider-Man is an underdog who uses his gifts to help and protect the innocent, the Goblin is an elitist who uses his powers to try to disrupt and dominate society. These contrasts help build-up the mythic grandeur of superhero and villain relationships and allows the villain to serve as a foil for the hero.

Well-known supervillains

• Abomination, arch-enemy of the Hulk.
• Agent Smith, arch-enemy of Neo.
• Brainiac, adversary of Superman.
• Charles Lee Ray, from the Child's Play series of films.

• The Cigarette Smoking Man, arch-enemy of Fox Mulder in The X-Files.
• Cobra Commander, main adversary in various G.I. Joe-related comic books and animated series.
• Darkseid, adversary to the New Gods and the DC Comics superhero community in general.
• Davros, adversary of the Doctor.
• Deathstroke (also referred to as Slade), the main adversary of the Teen Titans in both the comic and animated series.
• Dr. Claw, leader of criminal syndicate "M.A.D." in the Inspector Gadget animated series.
• Doctor Doom, adversary of the Fantastic Four and the Marvel Comics superhero community in general.
• Doctor Octopus, adversary of Spider-Man.
• Doctor Zin, arch-enemy of Jonny Quest and his family.
• Dracula, in various incarnations, adversary of the fictional hero community in general.
• Ernst Stavro Blofeld, arch-enemy of James Bond during the early years of the film series.
• Freddy Krueger from the Nightmare On Elm Street series of films.
• Fu Manchu, the prototype of the modern supervillain, adversary of the fictional hero community in general.
• Glenn Talbot, military conspirator, rival of Bruce Banner, ex-hubby of Betty Ross and adversary of the Hulk.
• Green Goblin, the arch-enemy of Spider-Man.
• Gul Dukat, arch-enemy of Benjamin Sisko from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
• Hannibal Lecter, the cannibalistic serial killer in Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal.
• Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th series of films.
• John Sunlight, adversary of Doc Savage, the pulp magazine precursor to Superman.
• The Joker, arch-enemy of Batman.
• Kang the Conqueror, arch-enemy of the Avengers.
• Khan Noonien Singh, adversary of Captain Kirk on Star Trek.
• King Ghidorah, arch-enemy of Godzilla.
• King Koopa from the Super Mario Bros Video Games and movie
• The Kingpin, arch-enemy of Daredevil.
• The Leader, arch-enemy of the Hulk.
• Lex Luthor, arch-enemy of Superman.
• Loki, adversary of Thor in both comics and ancient mythology.
• Magneto, arch-enemy of the X-Men.
• Mandarin, arch-enemy of Iron Man.
• The Master, arch-enemy of the Doctor.
• Megatron, from the Transformers animated series.
• Michael Myers from the Halloween series of films.
• Ming the Merciless, adversary of Flash Gordon.
• The Penguin, adversary of Batman.
• Professor Moriarty, adversary of Sherlock Holmes, and arguably the first supervillain. Holmes described him as “the Napoleon of crime.”
• Ra's al Ghul, adversary of Batman and Superman.
• Red Skull, adversary of Captain America.
• Riddler, adversary of Batman.
• Sabretooth, adversary of Wolverine.
• Sandman, adversary of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the Hulk.
• Saruman, adversary of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings.
• Satan, the embodiment of evil in many major world religions.
• The Shredder, arch-enemy of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• The Sith Lords from the Star Wars film series: Darth Sidious (also known as Palpatine, Galactic Senator, Chancellor and Emperor), Darth Maul, Darth Tyranus (formerly Jedi Master Count Dooku) and Darth Vader (formerly Jedi Anakin Skywalker), adversaries of the Jedi Knights.
• Skeletor, arch-enemy adversary of He-Man.
• Syndrome, self-identified adversary of the Incredibles.
• Two-Face, adversary of Batman.
• Lord Voldemort (also known as "You-Know-Who" and "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named"), arch enemy of Harry Potter.
• Violator, arch-enemy of Spawn.

Parodies of supervillains

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Dr. Evil in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.

Because the supervillain is such a common but distinct character type in modern fiction, several parodies have been created. Some of the most well-known include:

• Charles Montgomery Burns, Mr. Burns on The Simpsons, in various episodes, as when he builds a device to block out the sun: "He's gone from regular villainy to cartoonish super-villainy!" At least one episode featured a shot of Mr. Burns with the Darth Vader theme playing.
• Stewie Griffin, the talking baby of the TV series Family Guy. In earlier episodes attempted to control the weather to rid the world of broccoli, and his biggest aspiration is to complete his matricidal efforts.
• Dr. Evil, adversary of the comedic spy Austin Powers
• The Brain, from the cartoon series Animaniacs, a diminutive lab mouse bent on global conquest.
• Syndrome, the hyperactive evil genius and superhero-wannabe from the computer animated film The Incredibles The Underminer, from the same film, parodies the popular "themed" supervillians.
• Christopher Hobson, the incredibly brilliant yet relatively young Mad scientist with remarkably little common sense from the Nevonia series of books.
• Il Palazzo, from Excel Saga, is a stereotypical, self-important anime Evil Overlord who wishes to conquer the world, even though his evil organization consists solely of himself and a rather spastic, incompetent teenage girl.
• Dr.Colossus, who appears briefly in an episode of The Simpsons. A generic supervillain who once dated Stacy Lavelle (creator of Malibu Stacy) and is forbidden to go near Death Mountain (where he keeps all his stuff) as part of his parole. His main tools are his 'Collosso Boots'.
• The Evil Dr. Skull, from obscure underground cult hit Genero Man, is a parody of the typical mad scientist.
• O'Malley, the main villain and common adversary of both sides in the machinima series Red vs Blue, is an over-the-top supervillain caricature who wants to "crush every living soul into dust", and who frequently uses cliche and ridiculous dialogue such as "You foolish fools will never defeat me! You're far too busy being foolish!" and "Prepare for an oblivion, for which there is no preparation!".
• Professor Chaos, the recurring alterego of South Park 4th grader Butters, seeks to spread fear and chaos as revenge upon the world that has forsaken him, i.e., made him socially unpopular, but has a problem with scale. Exploits include attempting to destroy the ozone layer by spraying regular aerosol cans, and flooding the planet by leaving the backyard hose on.
• Sideshow Bob from The Simpsons
• Mandark from Dexter's Laboratory