Superheroes in America

             In the 1970’s villains stepped out as main characters.  Before this, the heroes would face a different villain each week and when they were defeated the story moved on.  The 70’s made villains complements to the superhero they faced.  Now superheroes were defined by their villains, adding to their complexity as characters.  Villains became important, they posed a standing problem for the heroes to overcome.  They challenged their morals and put heroes in difficult situations they had never faced before.  Before, the villains were more of a nuisance that needed to be taken care of, now they are genuinely evil and attempt to destroy parts of the hero’s lives.  Marvel sets up a relationship between Professor X and Magneto.  They want different things for mutants, but are still able to be civil towards one another, even friendly at sometimes.  Batman is complemented by the Joker, once of the most complex villains in the superhero universe.  They both fuel each other to keep going and fight for what they want. Batman is all about keeping order and helping those in need, and the Joker is chaos and mindless killing.   In the movie, The Dark Knight,  Alfred says “[S]ome men just want to watch the world burn,” which describes the Joker perfectly.  Their relationship is one of the best in history and shows the capability of the human mind as well as the complex topics comics cover.

            Another villain that goes against Batman is Ra’s Al Ghul. Ra’s somewhat immortal, able to escape death by reviving himself through the Lazarus pit. He grows to hate the modern world and wants to destroy it and start over. Batman stops him, and Ra’s grows to admire Batman.  Even though they are fighting, they respect each other. Ra’s will go to Batman for advice because he sees him as a detective. Ra’s will eventually ask Batman to be his successor because he thinks he is a good match for his daughter, who has fallen in love with him. Batman refuses because he does not agree with Ra’s’ plan to destroy the world. He even discovers Batman’s secret identity, Bruce Wane.  The respect he has for Batman keeps him from sharing that information.