User blog:DarkClaw3/Supervillain Philosophy: Strong Heroes, Weak People



"Those red eyes, I'm sure they look right through me, like I am nothing more than a nuisance. But when I see you? I see something no man can ever be. I see the end. The end of our potential. The end of our achievements. The end of our dreams. You are my nightmare."

- Lex Luthor to Superman. So, after rewatching the Incredibles movies, I got caught up in the different philosophies of villains and wanted to explain my thoughts on them. This is a little blog series I whipped up because of that.

Anyways, this time I decided to look at a particularly relevant topic today (but we'll get to why later); Do our heroes, specifically, superheroes, actually make us weaker?

Lex Luthor
Lex is the classic example of a villain embodying this philosophy. In fact, he is probably the best example I've seen; of course, he's one of the best examples of a villain in general, so if he embodies anything, he naturally does it well. To understand why Lex fits this philosophy so well, one first has to know just where he comes from. Lex is like a more modernized example of Scrooge McDuck (in fact, they are disturbingly similar if you think about it, but that's not what we're here to focus on today); that is, a self-built billionaire of the highest degree. He started out as one of the poorest kids in the Suicide Slum, maybe the poorest, and from there, he built himself an empire. He harnessed his intelligence into one of the greatest in the entire world. He created a multi-billion dollar corporation with nothing but brains, hard work, and dedication (...and murder, and intimidation, and other illegal stuff, but he's covered that up). His work helped create at least half of Metropolis. He even made sure to chisel his body into near-physical perfection to match his immeasurable intellect. And so, having reached what seemed to be the pinnacle of human accomplishment, Lex became the idol of thousands almost overnight. He had fame. Admiration. Power. And a huge ego. Things looked like they couldn't get better...

And then, Superman showed up.

A man with powers beyond any human capability. A man who could fly, outrace speeding bullets, crush coal into diamond, and shoot laser beams out of his eyes. A man who, despite his immense powers, was raised benevolent and decided to help people no matter the cost. A man who was virtually a god; not only beloved, but worshiped by millions. He couldn't be hurt. He had virtually no weaknesses. He could hear crimes and cries for help across the wold, and had the power to stop them. He was seemingly perfect. And with him, came more like him. Batman. Wonder Woman. Green Lantern. Leagues of people who possessed abilities and admiration beyond what people could hope to achieve started springing out of the woodwork. And suddenly, nothing Lex did mattered anymore. No matter what, the front page of the Daily Planet would be more concerned with Superman stopping villains and saving cats rather than what Luthor and any other normal person accomplished. The world admired Superman, respected him, because he was more than human. And Lex was simply just human. But, again, not only was he human, but he was at the top. And yet, he was still worthless in comparison to Superman.

And thus, Lex's perspective on the Man of Steel began. Superman, for all his power and generosity, was not helping the world as he thought. Far from it, actually. Superman was the worst thing that could've ever befallen humanity, because, through his very existence, he inhibited any and all human ambition and potential. After all, as Lex knew all too well, there was nothing that any normal person could hope to accomplish that would outdo Superman. So why should anyone bother to try, bother to work to better themselves, bother to become great? You'll never be Superman, the man who truly has everything. On top of that, Superman goes out of his way to make sure he's everybody's hero. He saves everybody, not even letting the villains die if he can. It was as if he wanted the world to rely on him. When Brainiac or Darksied, or any other problem arises for the world, humanity doesn't need to evolve or stand up, they can just sit back and relax while Superman does the work for them. If there's crime in Metropolis, there's no need for the police to do their job; by the time they arrive, Superman's already caught the criminals and stopped a hundred more like them. Essentially, not only did Superman halt human ambition with his mere existence, but he halted any chance they had to make evolutionary progress. So, for Lex, it seemed that there was only one true solution to ensure humanity is not depowered by the so-called heroes it worships; kill Superman. A solution that, for over eighty-eight years, Lex has failed, failed, and failed again to see through.

And that's basically Lex's dislike of Superman and other heroes in a nutshell. He hates them because he knows he and every other normal person on earth will never become something like them (but mostly him, though). He hates them because when a threat arises, people will turn to the superheroes instead of solving the problem themselves; and when the heroes fail, or even turn against the people they're supposed to protect, what happens then? He hates them because they changed the definition of what "power" and "relevance" is, so that if you didn't have powers like them, you weren't worth anything. And, most of all, he hates them because...well, they really just hurt his ego. And that's the problem with Lex. Although he claims to hate Superman and the like for their inhibition of human potential, his self-worth is really the only thing at stake for him. He doesn't exactly care about humanity's potential, but his own; that's why he's gone to so many extreme lengths to increase his own power, that's why he wanted to join the Justice League, that's why he literally tried to become the next Superman in DC Rebirth, etc. So, in the end, Lex's perspective on this philosophy is pretty brilliant, even though it doesn't motivate him as much as I'd like to think.