There are regular villains, and then there are ✨DC✨ villains. DC Comics villains pose universe-level threats, are inherently evil with little to no redeeming qualities, nearly unbeatable in combat, and as iconic as their heroic counterparts.
However, they are a necessary evil. After all, what’s a good story without an opp? Using five villains as a case study, let’s examine whether the DC Comics villains are ever going to beat the allegations.
Insanity isn’t an insult to the Joker; it is a proud state and the ideology behind his worldview.
He is willing to utilise both mental and physical means to reach his goal and is never afraid to get his hands dirty.
In the comics, The Joker is a mass murderer, a terrorist, manipulative, and on a mission to break minds.
The Joker’s fixation on Batman is compulsive. He doesn’t target Batman to stop him from committing crimes; he’s already a seasoned criminal. He sees Batman as his sane counterpart and aims to turn him the “right” way.
It irks the Joker that Batman refuses to murder him, no matter how heinous the situation, because maybe then he will realize he is the twisted yin to Batman’s yang.
The Dark Knight does the storyline justice: it starts with a bank robbery where the Joker kills his colleagues to keep the loot.
The violence escalates to bombings, terrorism, and an ultimatum: one person will die until Batman reveals his identity, leading to an array of murders.
At the end of the movie, he is finally caught and left for the police. But what are the chances he won’t resume his activities in prison or after his release?
While some wage war out of necessity, Ares does it for the love of the game.
In the comics, he is a menace. His favourite pastime is to incite wars and conflict, attempt to enslave humanity, attack the Amazons and Olympian Gods, possess soldiers and leaders to decimate peace, build armies of the dead, and work with other villains because chaos empowers him.
In Wonder Woman, the Olympian Gods die fighting against Ares, so Zeus uses his last strength to create Themyscira (the hidden island of the Amazons).
He continues to stir up conflict by influencing humans to create weapons during World War I until Diana, his half-sister, defeats him.
LeLex Luthor could secretly be the muse behind Mariah Carey’s Obsessed, because how does a person turn a vendetta into a personality trait?
And who better to propagate this movement than a multi-millionaire with too much time and money?
In the comics, he hates godlike beings lording over humans. Since the 1980s, he has been portrayed as a mad scientist who engineers wars and earthquakes.
In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, he turns the public against Superman by committing mass murder, framing him, spreading propaganda, creating a hybrid monster, Doomsday, and pitting Superman against Batman.
The rift between Superman and Batman escalated to a point of a death duel, with Lex Luthor forcing Superman’s compliance by kidnapping his mother. He was later tried and jailed for his crimes.
However, in Justice League (2017), he escapes and colludes with the assassin Deathstroke to form a new alliance.
David Kane might have reasons for being hateful and destructive. Might.
In the comics, David Kane was kidnapped as a child and forced into servitude on a pirate ship. Aquaman supposedly ignored his pleas for help, sparking Kane’s lifelong vendetta.
In Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Black Manta, son of a mercenary who died during Aquaman’s battle against Orm, holds a grudge.
He seeks Orichalcum to free the imprisoned Kordax, who orchestrates attacks in Atlantis and kidnaps Arthur’s son for sacrifice.
Eventually, with the combined effort of Aquaman, Mera, Orm, and Former Queen Atlanna, he is defeated. When offered a chance to live, he refuses, choosing death over help from the man who let his father die.
Orm Marius belongs in the same group as Loki: royal younger siblings with chips on their shoulders. If they had better fathers, perhaps they wouldn’t be villains, but they are.
In the comics, Orm is driven by jealousy and entitlement, resenting Arthur Curry (Aquaman), his half-brother, for being the rightful heir, despite being half-human and raised on land.
In addition, he hates humans for polluting the oceans, “threatening” Atlantean supremacy, and invading realms, prompting him to declare war on the surface world repeatedly.
In Aquaman, his ideology as the King (read: usurper) of Atlantis is that humans are the enemy, so he wages war against them. This is when Aquaman (Arthur Curry) steps in to find the real Trident of King Atlan, defeat Orm, and become the King of Atlantis.
Later, Aquaman helps Orm escape from the Kingdom of the Deserters to defeat Black Manta, and the brothers start to get along.
Ranging from concerned to slightly sympathetic, the DC Comics villains are giving the heroes a hard time, eventually evolving, or not. Characters like The Joker, Lex Luthor, and Ares are inherently heinous, earning them a “psychopath” rating.
David Kane gets an “unfortunate” participation award because he couldn’t move past his pain and accept growth when he had a chance. For the effort to be a better sibling, Orm Marius receives a “potential” rating. Any contrary opinions?
