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Marvel Comics: Where The Heroes Are Villains


Villains have always played a large part in comic books. Some would say the villain is just as important as the hero. Spider-Man would not be as spectacular if he spent his entire career fighting bank robbers. Batman would be The Question if he didn't have a rogues gallery to rival a classic horror film. The Flash's villains can sometimes be more of a draw than him with their family like dynamic and reliance on honor. Villains have always played a huge role. At least until Marvel began putting heroes against heroes and never stopped.

You think I'm joking? When was the last time a universe spanning event in Marvel didn't involve heroes facing off against heroes? Secret Wars had heroes and villains teaming up to take on other teams of heroes and villains. Leading up to that there were the incursions which had multiple heroes destroying other worlds and their heroes, also facing off against each other. Because we can't forget T'Challa and Black Bolt taking out Namor. Civil War and Civil War II both features teams of heroes taking on teams of heroes, even causing heroes to die. Avengers vs X-Men, they were all villains there.

It's not just major events either. Peter Parker recently faced off against Cloak and Dagger. Peter Parker has also been a mild antagonist to Miguel O'Harra. Also, he can be considered a villain to Tony Stark right now. What about Deadpool and Gambit facing off in a whole series right now? How about Squadron Supreme taking on the Uncanny Avengers.

I'm not saying I don't like to see heroes take on other heroes. It's always a joy to see how someone like Booster Gold is able to hold his own against Superman. I really enjoy when silent powerhouses like Martian Manhunter go rogue. I'm just saying, villains are important and they haven't exactly been very villainous lately. Even Dr. Doom has gone good lately. Squadron Supreme wants to protect the wold by any means necessary, but they've spent a good majority of the time defending themselves from other hero factions.

Here's the problem, villains are no longer important in the Marvel Universe. They're no longer part of the major story. They're simply there to hold off until the next major event when heroes face off with each other. The importance of villains in the Marvel Universe is at an all time low. Most of them are now irrelevant and some haven't even appeared since the All-New All-Different launch.

A story needs a villain, and good villains are sympathetic. That doesn't mean we need to make the heroes into the villains. Seeing Tony Stark and Steve Rogers face off is awesome. But, you can only do it so many times before they're both assholes that nobody wants to cheer for. I like Carol Danvers, I really do, but she got War Machine killed. Tony Stark is okay, but he got Bill Foster killed. Relying on heroes vs heroes makes the villains look weak and insignificant.

In fact I'd argue that they're so insignificant that other heroes are now the main enemies to other heroes. Miguel O'Harra's enemy is Peter Parker who wants him to use less violent methods. Iron Man's enemies are Steve Rogers who thinks Tony is a loose cannon and Carol Danvers who thinks he doesn't have the ability to make tough calls.

The only reason I really sat down and thought about this was because I saw the new poster from Marvel promoting their Divided We Stand change in direction. The entire thing looks like it's young heroes and legacy heroes taking on old heroes. Which, is something they've already been doing. She-Hulk not liking the way Amadeus Cho works, Ms. Marvel realizing Captain Marvel isn't so great and so on. The two inconsistency being Dr. Strange with the young heroes and Dr. Doom leading the old heroes.

I'm not saying Marvel is making horrible moves because there are still a lot of books I love to read. I'm just saying they're reaching a point where villains are irrelevant. A two issue arc with a villain doesn't mean anything when it's followed by 6 weeks of tie ins for the latest hero vs hero conflict.

You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet
Darrell S.

Hey, I write stuff, a lot of different stuff, that's all.

2 Comments

  1. Just more of this sites anti marvel bias. Never see stuff like this about dc. How did marvel hurt you? Show me on the dill where marvel touched you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And I would have gotten away with it too, it weren't for you meddling kids and that stupid dog.

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