# How 'bout, "Who Wants to Be a Supervillain"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2007, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bout-who-wants-to-be-a-supervillain/391988 "2007-02-13T05:16:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bout-who-wants-to-be-a-supervillain/391988/1 "2007-02-13T05:16:42Z")
Would that work? I mean, if _Who Wants to Be a Superhero_ can be a reality TV show . . . ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bout-who-wants-to-be-a-supervillain/391988/2 "2007-02-13T05:36:15Z")
Stan Lee said he’d be up for a spin-off if the original series worked well enough. Not sure what the end result was (ratings, comic book sales, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bout-who-wants-to-be-a-supervillain/391988/3 "2007-02-13T08:27:21Z")
Good Lord- I think the contestant AND viewer turnout for “Supervillian” would majorly overwhelm “Superhero”! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bout-who-wants-to-be-a-supervillain/391988/4 "2007-02-13T13:42:55Z")
Wouldn’t this just be \*The Apprentice \* with costumes? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bout-who-wants-to-be-a-supervillain/391988/5 "2007-02-13T17:47:03Z")
But here’s the thing. What made “Who wants to be a superhero” an interesting departure from the glut of reality shows is that it self-consciously punished “selfish” behavior and rewarded “generous” 4-color comicbook superhero behavior. The contestants who abandoned their assigned task to help a crying little girl were rewarded, the ones who ignored her were punished. And so on. So “Who Wants to be a Superhero” was an exercise in Live Action Roleplay, rather than a conventional reality show. And what would the Supervillain equivalent be? Reward the guy who shoots his henchmen when they fail to capture the antagonist, rather than the guy who helps his henchmen succeed? The reason people are interested in reality shows is that the conniving, backstabbing and two-facedness is real (or at least edited to seem real). A bunch of guys PRETENDING to be conniving backstabbers is just a regular TV show. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bout-who-wants-to-be-a-supervillain/391988/6 "2007-02-13T18:30:42Z")
You **don’t** need a TV show! [There is a Do-It-Yourself Guide to EVERYTHING!(Link)](http://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Villain-Laughs-Secret/dp/0811846660/sr=1-1/qid=1171391320/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-9327017-0139946?ie=UTF8&s=books) **BWA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAAA!** 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bout-who-wants-to-be-a-supervillain/391988/7 "2007-02-13T22:51:44Z")
I dunno, you could tell from the first episode already that the final showdown will be between Karl Rove and Dick Cheney… 😉