# Do super-hero stories in which the hero creates the Minnis s/she must defeat bug anyone else? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2018, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685 "2018-05-23T16:10:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/21 "2018-05-23T19:21:47Z")
Thanks, everybody, for answering my question. Consider me abashed. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/22 "2018-05-23T19:24:55Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > I like stories were the heroes fuck it up. As long as it’s not EVERY time. Yeah, Tony fucked up and went too far, but lets not forget he was mind controlled at the time. Mind-controlled? I’d forgotten that, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen that movie. BTW, “mind-controlled, so not my fault” is the oldest excuse in the book (right up there with “just following orders … inside my brain!”). It’s how Lucius Malfoy and his buddies got off the hook, first time around. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/23 "2018-05-23T19:30:38Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > No, menace is definitely the more likely. Minnis is pronounced very similarly to menace, especially in accents with the pin/pen merger. But “minnis” isn’t a word, afaik. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/24 "2018-05-23T19:31:56Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > Mind-controlled? I’d forgotten that, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen that movie. > > BTW, “mind-controlled, so not my fault” is the oldest excuse in the book (right up there with “just following orders … inside my brain!”). It’s how Lucius Malfoy and his buddies got off the hook, first time around. It’s not an excuse if it’s true… Wanda brain fucked him at the beginning of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/25 "2018-05-23T19:40:22Z")
That’s part of Marvel. Being a superhero has repercussions. In DC, the characters were essentially gods with contrived weaknesses and enemies. Marvel was always more “realistic”, with heroes that had personality flaws and sometimes the “enemy” was their own hubris. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature, as they say. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/26 "2018-05-23T19:43:49Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > But “minnis” isn’t a word, afaik. It is, though not a common one, surviving mostly in a few [placenames](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stelling_Minnis) and [surnames](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Minnis). [Edit - which also explains why his voice-to-text program capitalized it.] ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/27 "2018-05-23T20:16:32Z")
Although I did like the first _Fantastic Four_ movie, on account of having actual dialog and character development and plot rather than just going from one explosion to the next, it did fall prey to this: the FF were applauded for stopping fights or crises which they actually caused (The Thing ran off like a big goof and cannonballed into the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge during rush hour, causing much damage, destruction and near loss-of-life, for example). ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/28 "2018-05-23T20:28:09Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > But “minnis” isn’t a word, afaik. I composed the OP using the dictation feature on my iPhone rather than typing it using a wireless keyboard, as I don’t carry said keyboard around every place. When I do that, I will dictate a sentence and then stop to listen to it to find any place the iPhone has screwed up. For example, in the previous sentence, it transcribed CARRY as “care he.” But homophones (some of which the goddamn phone just makes up on the spot because the goddamn programmers are frequently goddamn incompetent) can easily trip me up. To find them I have to go letter by letter at times, which I will think to do if I am concerned about, for example, WAIT coming out as WEIGHT, but obviously can’t always fine. Sorry. However, as if to make up for this failing, the iPhone does allow me to do things like pronounce the name STARK as ASSHOLE. That’s always fun! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/29 "2018-05-23T20:33:02Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I composed the OP using the dictation feature on my iPhone rather than typing it using a wireless keyboard, as I don’t carry said keyboard around every place. When I do that, I will dictate a sentence and then stop to listen to it to find any place the iPhone has screwed up. For example, in the previous sentence, it transcribed CARRY as “care he.” But homophones (some of which the goddamn phone just makes up on the spot because the goddamn programmers are frequently goddamn incompetent) can easily trip me up. To find them I have to go letter by letter at times, which I will think to do if I am concerned about, for example, WAIT coming out as WEIGHT, but obviously can’t always fine. Sorry. > > However, as if to make up for this failing, the iPhone does allow me to do things like pronounce the name STARK as ASSHOLE. That’s always fun! OK. Lol! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Licentious\_Ectomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@Licentious\_Ectomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Licentious_Ectomorph)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/30 "2018-05-23T20:33:58Z")
I hate any superhero story in which the villain’s main motivation and raison d’etre is to antagonize the hero(es), be it for “revenge” or some other contrived reason. It’s just lousy, lazy writing. If there’s no actual threat that the hero is actually needed for, the public would be SO much better off if he just hung up his costume. _Arrow_ is a particularly grievous offender; I’ve suffered through season after season of this trope. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/31 "2018-05-23T20:41:14Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > You’re confusing “plausible” with “enjoyable for me” Oh, you and I never agree, Dibble. I fully expect you to explain someday that the sky has turned orange. (I wish there was some way for me to do SDMB emoticons.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/32 "2018-05-23T20:48:00Z")
[Moderating] **Skald** , given that these text-to-speak errors are likely to continue to be a problem, I’d like to ask permission in advance to just clean up the more egregious ones. Is that OK with you? [/Moderating] One challenge in superhero stories is that the superheroes and supervillains need to appear on the scene at the same time, or close to it, or you end up with an untenable imbalance. There are other ways of dealing with this issue, but the heroes creating the villains (or vice-versa) is one of the simpler ones. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/33 "2018-05-23T20:50:19Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > I believe it’s how his speech-to-text program writes “Enemies” I’m pretty sure “Minis” was meant. No, Skald, superheroes don’t create Minis. BMW does. BMC did during the “Silver Age.” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/34 "2018-05-23T21:01:04Z")
Yeah, at first I was picturing a new Superman power of making small clones of himself, but I figured it out soon enough. I kinda agree. I don’t think it’s a bad trope, but it can get tiring. And it makes heroes for whom this was an important trait less special. And I agree that, as long as the superhero in general is supposed to be aspirational (which does still apply to Marvel movies, even with their more flawed heroes), it works better if the world is still better on average for the existence of superheroes–even if there are also more cataclysms. Of course, if your movie is like Watchmen or one of those other more subversive movies about superheroes, then it makes sense otherwise. But, if they are meant to actually be heroes, we should really be able to actually look up to them. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/35 "2018-05-23T21:03:36Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Really, the only villains that the protagonists of any of the MCU movies can really be accused of creating are Ultron, Zemo in Cap:Civil War (because it was Ultron’s actions in Sokovia that caused him to go after the Avengers) and Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming (because the creation of the Department of Damage Control, which ruined Toomes’s business, was prompted by Tony Stark). Loki and Hela might have been Odin’s responsibility, but not Thor’s. Likewise, Killmonger was created by T’Challa’s father, not by him. Also Killian (Tony was a jerk to him). It’s actually a really common theme in the Marvel movies that the villain was caused by either the hero, their father, or their mentor. The only one that don’t really fit are Guardians of the Galaxy and Infinity War. (Of course, Thanos IS Gamora’s “dad” so it still is connected.) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/36 "2018-05-23T21:11:38Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Really, the only villains that the protagonists of any of the MCU movies can really be accused of creating are > \ Not MCU, but since Marvel and Pixar are both owned by Disney… Mr Incredible creates Syndrome by not wanting Buddy as a sidekick. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/37 "2018-05-23T21:39:03Z")
All those are reaching imo, being mean to someone doesn’t make you responsible for what they do. Specially not Mr Incredible who was just protecting a stupid kid. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/38 "2018-05-23T21:39:41Z")
On the other hand, in the also-Disney _Big Hero 6_ (which even has a Stan Lee cameo), it was a minor villain who created the major villain, and the major villain then prompts the rise of the heroes. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/39 "2018-05-23T21:49:13Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Not MCU, but since Marvel and Pixar are both owned by Disney… > > Mr Incredible creates Syndrome by not wanting Buddy as a sidekick. Or by Buddy insisting on being a sidekick, for which he wasnt suited. Cant blame this on Mr Incredible. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685/40 "2018-05-23T22:03:03Z")
The term “Minnis” stopped me cold. Off to Google. EDIT: Google had nuthin’ :shrug: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-super-hero-stories-in-which-the-hero-creates-the-minnis-s-she-must-defeat-bug-anyone-else/814685.md?page=3)