I have always thought about this and it is kind of silly. But I have always wondered about the motivations of supervillains.
Lets say that superheroes and villains exist in our world. You somehow gain superpowers. Not uber powers like Galactus or even Doctor Doom (Doom’s high intelligence makes him a match for almost any hero), but dangerous powers i used incorrectly. You can throw cars around like softballs, bullets don’t hurt you and you can shoot lasers out of yourveyes or ass or something.
Surely you can find a lucrative proession without resorting to crime. I mean if bullets bounced of o me and I had superstrength I’d at the very least be a high priced bouncer like Swayze in Roadhouse. Or even a bodyguard for some rich guy. I wouldn’t think “I’ll rob a bank or high security lab for some high tech I can sell”. Because if I do that Mega man or some other hero will show up and beat the snot out of me. Besides I can probably make more money legally!
Off course in a superhero world the same can be said of the heores. Why would I want to go fight “Super Evil Strong Guy”? Well, admittedly, me, it’d be obligation if I knew I was the only one that maybe stood a chance of winning. I don’t know if I’d make a good hero, but I’d be an awful villain. Awful as in ruthless. I’ve read the evil overlord list. If you were a hero challenging me, I’d really try to kill you. None of that “Mega man is buried under the building I threw at him! He must be dead! Time to go home for lunch!”. Screw that, I wouldn’t leave until I had his severed head in a box.
I think the reason why villains like Doom or Luthor and many others are interesting. Because its not just greed or money that they want. Sure villains that are basically thugs are good and interesting, but the best ones don’t think they are villains.
There would certainly be a very large amount of contracting work you could do with certain superpowers.
Flash? Screw bike messengers in NYC. Flash can be there in seconds.
Wonder Woman and the lassoo that makes you tell the truth? Probably would never be admissible in court for criminal law purposes, but imagine the application to high level Security screening. Oh, and Invisible Jet? How’d you like to run a few spy flights in your spare time?
But yeah, we’re talking about Supervillains here. The kind of people who are too stupid, egotistical and/or lazy to put their talents to that kind of use. The kind of people who want POWER and respect without being accountable to others. That pretty much sums up why they do what they do.
Most supervillains don’t see themselves as villains, imo.
For instance, if I was a super-rich, super-smart, slightly more egotistical captain of industry, who ran multiple successful companies and had some history in politics, I might be inclined to preform a hostile takeover of the world (as I had done to companies, in the past) in order to improve it.
There’s no reason, logistically, that everyone in the world cant eat – it’s within our theoretical technological capabilities. It’s just not within our current economic capabilities. So, if I was a super genius, I’d come up with a plan on how to feed, clothe and put everyone on earth to work.
Then I’d kill whoever got in my way of implementing it. Greater good, and whatnot.
I generally prefer the idea of villains with more sophisticated motivations. I am actually lucky enough that I have a paying gig right now to help create a supervillain.
To me supervillains are more interesting when they have motivations like real people. In real life a few examples of people I would call supervillains would be like Erik Prince the head of Blackwater or Vladmir Putin. What are their motivations? Well they have pretty sophisticated motivations as they are running corporate or national empires. Their motivation is the will to power.
If I had a super power and was as smart as I actually am in real life? I’d probably work on building some kind of corporate empire. I have bullet proof skin? Well, I don’t know that might have changed my whole outlook on life. I might have been a lot bolder and taken some of the opportunities to become a drug dealer that I have passed up in my real life. Sure getting caught is still a concern, but if I can’t get shot then going into negotiations with other drug dealers would be a non-concern.
Oftentimes comic book supervillains are given little to no credit, they are treated as fodder. The more interesting ones always have a more sophisticated motivation or several motivations that cause a conflict within them. The same things that motivate us in the real world might motivate them. They want to make money, they want to right an injustice, but go about doing it in a fairly destructive manner. What makes them a villain is their disregard for the consequences to others that their actions have.
My favorite comic book supervillain is Magneto, he sees himself as being a God next to human beings and sees no reason why he should kowtow to the feelings of an inferior species that hates him. I can really identify with that. If I were Magneto, I’d probably have very little sympathy for humanity as well.
I’ve always liked the motivations for the more lame/strange types of villians you usually see on typically kiddy cartoons or animation that isnt about “serious” hero/villian conflicts.
They just do it because its “their job” or they were born into.
To elaborate somewhat, the novel follows a super-villain (Dr. Impossible) whose particular motivation stems from Malign Hypercognition Disorder. Being an evil genius (of the weather control machine, robot army, mind control helmet variety) is treated in the world of the book as a mental disorder, a megalomaniacal compulsion toward world conquest that occurs among the highly intelligent. (It isn’t clear whether the evil aspect is brought on by the high intelligence or if both come from the disorder.)
The book mentions other villains with motivations ranging from a simple mercenary (of the sort referred to by Bosda) to a time traveler from an apocalyptic future trying to re-trigger a successfully averted apocalypse in order to bring about the timeline from which she hails.
It’s a pretty good read if your a fan of silver and bronze age comics.
Some of it is likely is the “why shouldn’t I” school. If I have superpowers, why shouldn’t I live in comfort? Who’s gonna stop me? I’ll sleep where I want, eat where I want, ect. Why build a criminal empire? Start throwing cars around Time Square till the President makes you Ambassador to the Playboy Mansion.
And some of it is ego. If you can juggle tanks, you need a challenge.
And of course, some of them are just douches and crazypeople who like being bullies. Take Absorbing Man (who has one of the simplest and coolest powers around, IMHO). He was a crook and a thug before he got power-why stop?
These are also sadly too common as well (except for the powers, obviously).
In an imaginary world without costumed adventurers, a person with a high-level Talent might go into sports, or politics, or finance. They may only actually use their Talent for high-risk hobies, like bungee skiing or poker tournaments.
In the real world, where there are any number of spandex-clad Talented persons working for the government or as free-lance “heroes,” a person who uncovers a Talent might just as well create their own Mask and start trying to use their Talent for personal gain. The presence of superheroes makes a potential supervillain see a legitimate way to exploit their own talent.
Supervillains model superheroes. If the heroes were not so visible (and often idolized) then no minor crook or sociopath would ever feel impelled to dress up before robbing a bank or holding Los Angeles for ransom.
Many supervillians are just thugs- Parasite, Sandman, the Wrecking Crew, etc
Some are just in it for the money- Jack O Lantern, Mysterio, Hobgoblin etc
Some are insane- The Joker, Venom, Carnage
I’d say thugs are the most common. They were petty criminals before they got their powers and they don’t have the imagination to change.
This is the theory posited in the new Batman movies: The villains (Scarecrow, Joker) began to wear costumes because Bruce Wayne decided to dress up as a ninja-bat before roughing up mobsters. Up until then, there were plenty of villains who wore suits, police uniforms, and just plain street clothes like in any decayed corrupt city.
Come to think of it, the League of Shadows was wearing ninja outfits before Bruce Wayne ever thought of it.
In the other direction, as seen in, say, Watchmen, maybe the villains start wearing costumes and masks to make identification more difficult. Who’s to say you robbed the bank if you were dressed up as Ronald Regan, Guy Fawkes, or BoBo the Clown? The cops, frustrated with the inadequacies of the system, figure out if they wear costumes of their own, they can track down those they know are responsible and deal out justice personally. Of course, Watchmen was something of a cautionary tale, I think, where the world nearly got destroyed because of well-meaning superheros.
Power corrupts. If you acquire a power that makes having your way easy, then if you weren’t a particularly moral person to begin with it would make sense for you to continue being an asshole. Real life example: A bully who joins the police force not to help society, but for the power of the badge and gun.
But ye, I find the villians who do not see themselves as villains as much more interesting.
Also, a lot of costumes are actually uniforms of one sort or another. The costume helps everyone on the scene recognize that the superhero is there to ave the day.
Austin Powers touched on this. In one of the movies, Number Two informs Dr. Evil that their legitimate cover businesses are worth millions and there is nor need to hatch the evil plan.
