Most Dangerous Type of Supervillain

For me, the most dangerous supervillain is the heroic supervillain. These people think that they are the ones in the right and are willing to kill a large number of people so that their altruistic goal is accomplished. While their overarching goal may be good, such as Poison Ivy’s desire to save the Earth and all plant life, the ways in which heroic supervillains try to attain their goal can be quite atrocious morally. Therefore, the heroic supervillain tends to disregard the old adage: the means don’t justify the ends. What makes the heroic supervillains dangerous then is that they don’t realize they’re the villains, which begs the question: are we one of those heroic supervillains who think they’re really the heroes of the tale? The question makes me doubt my own moral character. 

In many ways, the line between the heroic supervillain and the superhero is very thin. I would say the only difference, at least in comic book terms, is that the villain is pro-active while the superhero remains reactive. However, translated into the real world, I would say the line is even thinner. People strive to change the world, yet that does not immediately paint them as evil because we know the world is not a perfect place, so we must actively pursue changing it for the better. The world won’t change by itself, and we cannot be the reactive superhero who tries to only maintain the status quo. Thus, it is easy for those of us who try to make the world a better place to fall down a very slippery slope where the greater good of our vision makes us forget, or even forgive, the moral consequences of what our actions can bring. Those consequences can be small, or they can result in things like the total destruction of cities, if we think of WWII and the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I am most afraid of the heroic supervillain only because I am afraid of becoming one myself and losing sight of my moral principles in the quest for some overarching goal. It’s seems too frightfully easy to fall down this path when you’ve started out with only the best and purest intentions. For that same reason, it also makes me fear the sadistic supervillain because those kinds of supervillains push superheroes to the brink and turn them into the villains by having them throw aside or break their own moral code. Of course, sadistic supervillains scare me in general because they revel in the pain of others, and that does not bode well for my vulnerable self, but the heroic supervillain still scares me more because of the chance of turning into one yourself.