How Bad Can Good Be?

With this week's topic being anti-heroes, I thought it'd be interesting to take a look at villains gone good rather than heroes gone bad. Their reasons vary, but it's obvious these super-villains have potential of being successful superheroes. These are the Anti-Villians.

For many superheroes in comic books, there comes a time when a larger threat exceeds the rivalry of hero and villain. These events cite the possibility of villains acting as heroes, to their own degree. An early example is the 1993 story arc, "Maximum Carnage". This story featured the first team-up of Spider-Man and his archenemy Venom in a battle against Carnage, the offspring of Venom who bonded to a serial killer. While Spidey wanted to stop Carnage to prevent murders, Venom wanted to kill Carnage to maintain his status as the stronger Symbiot. Then there is the case of Bane, one of Batman's villains who has not only worked with him, but in the recent tie-in story for the "Forever Evil" event Bane took on the mantle of Batman to keep Gotham City under control during an uprising of criminals. It should be noted that while he respects Batman, Bane has attempted to prove his superiority to the Dark Knight. Taking on the mantle of Batman was Bane's attempt at scaring the criminals of Gotham into accepting him as their leader. Speaking of "Forever Evil", this event led to Superman's archenemy Lex Luthor being seen as hero in the public eye and sealed his membership on The Justice League, fighting alongside his former foes. At the time of this post Lex Luthor is still a member of the JL and it isn't confirmed if he has some alternative motive, as of now he seems to want redemption. We'll have to wait and see.

Classic storytelling illustrates a simple concept for it's readers: Protagonist, Antagonist, Story. It's a very black and white way of storytelling, basic enough to keep a reader's attention. But when a story dives deeper into these characters and looks past their alignments, that's when the reader starts thinking. Could someone good simply give in to temptations if they are pushed? If given motivation could criminals use their talents to serve and protect rather than pilfer and pillage? The concept of good versus evil has become outdated in the world of fiction and stories are now defined by what writers offer us within the characters of the story. Thus making anti-heroes and anti-villains the modern perception of what memorable characters should be. Thank you for reading.