When you hear the word “superhero”, what comes to mind?
You probably thought of big name superheroes, heroes like Superman and Batman, Spiderman and Iron-Man. You might think of the negatives, either cheesy or overly edgy writing, or you might think of the positives, of that empowering feeling of inspiration to help people like Superman did in the pages that came to life.
Things have changed over the course of the century. Comic book fans became film fans with the rivalry between DC’s Extended Universe and Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, and numerous scientific and technological breakthroughs like the internet and the Iphone were conspired. And yet, even after decades of different inventions and opinions, the common consensus on what makes a superhero story special was the human side of the story. The man who struggles with depression, who struggles with real life issues like regular people do, and yet they still take the time out of their own day to help little kids being bullied
And superheroes, as powerful as they are, are human. They fall ill to the same mistakes, they feel anger and regret and loneliness, like we do, too. And so, as it turns out, with that much power and also emotion, it means that they get to act with that power on a much larger scale than just a few broken bones.
And that’s what makes them so fascinating, that moral dilemma. What if one day, Batman breaks his no Killing rule? What if another day, Superman takes control of the entire planet in order to keep it safe from itself?
That question always hangs in the air, because as strong as they believe in themselves, at the same time, they also feel the same emotions that we do, and are vulnerable to the same mistakes we have.
For me, an evil version of Superman works well as a really great idea, especially when there is understandable context. How does a cheery and dorky symbol of hope turn into a symbol of oppression? What circumstances was he in, and what can we take away from that in order to prevent it from ever happening again? Superman going on a dark descent might have a lot of stories, but I wholeheartedly believe that it poses one of the most interesting questions you can ever ask a superhero, or in this case, a supervillain.
If a hero’s story is about the cycle of hate, and breaking that cycle, a story with an Evil superhero should be about why Superman should not kill. Why it is so utterly wrong for him to be evil.
See, the problem has never been the oversaturation of evil superheroes. The problem has always been the delivery of them. You can’t just write evil with no backstory and expect the audience to empathize with the said villain. No, in order to tell a compelling story, you must utilize a compelling backstory, all filled in with a compelling redemption arc.
And while I did say that I didn’t see the problem with an evil superman, I must add that the evil portion must not compromise the main personality traits of an already established character. If Superman does fall into the deep depths, the question isn’t whether he will fall in again, it’s whether he can get back up again, and see the good side of humanity again. And that, I believe, makes for a great story.
