There are people who believe that ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ are definitive. Most of them, when forced to look at their list of lifetime milestones, will come up with various excuses for allowing a little toe to cross the line. But if you really want to understand the border between the two remarkably similar areas, all you have to do is have tea with a master villain.
I’ve tried villainy, it suits me like sushi suit’s a texas cowboy. I’d rather have it Bbq’d. However, in our world of Heroes and Villains and the grey area of Vigilantes the only one you know where you stand with is the Villain.
A villain will rob, murder, steal, lie, trick, manipulate, wash your whites with one red sock, make fun of your mother, put all your comics in a box for the dustbin men, take candy from babies, plot the fall of the empire, stab you in the back .. In some cases they will even stab themselves in the back. And .. And.. And.. They wont come to the window at 3 am when you are drunk and just want to talk to them about why you both broke up… no wait. I’m talking about Villains not ex girlfriends….
Any way … they will do the most despicable things and if you ask them why. You will receive an answer that is clearly either on the side of ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. Nine times out of ten a Villain will be able to tell you why what they did was ‘right’ and, you know, they believe it. The tenth time they will admit it was wrong but it will be deliciously wrong and if you have any appreciation for the human condition you will see the beauty of it.
On the bell curve of ‘Sanity’ I believe that most of the most nefarious of histories villains have been right near the edges. Maybe more have been ‘sane’ or at least ‘sanerer’ than the heroes that chase them. But no matter , they certainly have a clear idea of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’… and you never see a proper villain running the grey area between…
They truly are horrid people mind you, although I do appreciate their innovation when it comes to names. You never see them just grab up an old Villians name and changing it or adding ‘New’ or ‘2’ to it. ( take note New Haphazard and Queenie 2) Even Darkkat, I mean changing the name from ‘Darkcat’ to ‘Darkkat’ isn’t a big change.. Although the original Cat was female and this one is Male-ish. Speaking of Names, do you think anyone ever tried to correct Gardsman about the spelling of his name?
Villains names. Of them all my favourite is the group known only as ‘the Curtain’, a more aggressive and brilliantly violent group of ne’er do wells you have never seen and yet they call themselves ‘The Curtain’… makes me think of pastel colours and lace edgings… But say it in the right context and people will call in the children they like the most….
Think on it
