It has been stated that comic books are modern day mythology, their heroes iconic and legendary, for generations to enjoy. But a classic hero is nothing without a classic rivalry. The constant struggle between pairs like Superman and Lex Luthor or Batman and the Joker have become major staples in the history of storytelling. But heroes, of course, have more than just their one greatest villain. In fact, for many of them, their extensive rogues gallery is a major part of the fun!
With so many beloved characters, and so many different film series now being made of them, how do filmmakers juggle all them? And how has this method changed over the years, especially as we have taken the idea of a film
series for granted?
The way this has unfolded is actually quite fascinating, and indicative of a shift-change in the nature of good-vs. evil storytelling onscreen. To start with, let’s take a look at the first real superhero film franchise, and go from there.
(Along with film serials, I will also be neglecting to mention the actual first superhero feature films,
Superman and the Mole-Men and
Batman (1966), as well as Supergirl, Steel, and the Ghost Rider films).
#1: Superman
When the idea first came up to turn a superhero into a serious motion picture, it seemed the obvious choice to place the hero up against his greatest and famous adversary. Logically, this would be the standard for many film series to come.
Hence, in his inaugural film, superman is pitted against the nefarious schemes of Lex Luthor!
However, in the subsequent films Superman only ever fought one other villain from his source material: Zod, in
Superman II. Even in that film, Luthor popped up as a secondary antagonist. After an original villain in Superman III, Luthor returned to menace the Man of Steel in the fourth film. Even when the series was picked up years later, with
Superman Returns, Luthor remained the villain. This is one example of a single villain dominating a hero’s film series.
It makes sense. Luthor is the only one of Superman’s villains that is widely known, and their rivalry is seen as a particularly definitive aspect of the character.
#2. Batman
Then came Batman’s time. Once again, the hero’s original film featured combatting his main nemesis, The Joker.
Thanks in large part to the 1960s television series, the members Batman’s rogues gallery were much more well-known than Superman’s. As the series progressed, the series would continue down a descending ladder of villains, essentially in order of how major a rival they were to the Dark Knight in the comics: Hence, Penguin and Catwoman in the second, The Riddler and Two-Face in the third, and Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, and Bane in the fourth.
Now, pay attention to these two examples. Many of the series to come would follow either the
Superman formula or the
Batman formula, either featuring the one well-known archenemy dominating the series, or trying to adapt multiple rogues down the line.
#3. X-Men
It’s amazing to think that by the year 2000,
X-Men was only the third major superhero property to get a motion picture.
This one became a bit more complicated. The X-Men’s arch-rival has always been Magneto, usually with some form of his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Just as the filmmakers had to pick and choose both which X-Men were the most canonical to include in the film, so too did they decide which of the Brotherhood were the most important. Ultimately, the choices were Sabretooth, Mystique, and Toad. Not only did the X-Men as a team go up against their greatest foe, but more individually, Wolverine got to face off against his own nemesis, Sabretooth.
The X-Men series has now grown so big that it is essentially split up into three trilogies. The original trilogy, the Wolverine solo films, and the First Class series.
The original trilogy, like Superman, has that one villain who would dominate the entire series. The second film featured an antagonist who was only very loosely based on a one-time villain and was essentially an original creation, but it also featured Magneto and Mystique once again, while the third film returned Magneto and the Brotherhood to the status of main baddie.
Fans had to wait for the
First Class series to give us all the extra bad guys.
First Class finally gave us Sebastian Shaw and the Hellfire Club,
Days of Future Past introduced the Sentinels, and the next film will feature Apocalypse. And yet, even these films all feature Magneto as a villainous presence!
Meanwhile, Logan once again fought against Sabretooth in his own first solo film, but the sequel didn’t feature any recurring comic villains (outside of Harada, the man beneath the Silver Samurai armor appearing, but the armor being worn by Shingen).
#4. Spider-Man
Fourth came Spider-Man, who was pitted against his greatest foe, the Green Goblin
(Although it has been argued that Doc Ock deserves this title just as much…)
Spider-Man would be the first series to follow the
Batman formula continuing down a similar descending ladder of villains, with Doctor Octopus in the second, and Sandman and Venom (along with Harry Osborne as the “New Goblin”) in the third. In fact, it’s really the only series thus far to replicate this formula so well.
#5 Daredevil
Although Kingpin is considered Daredevil’s archenemy, Bullseye is a close second, and, again, some might even argue for an even tie. Nevertheless, Kingpin often operates through a henchmen, so it made sense for the hero’s first film to include both characters.
Of course, Daredevil never got a sequel, but it seems evident Kingpin would have been the recurring threat, probably with a henchmen on hand.
#6. Hulk
Yeah, this was a weird one. Rather than adapting any of his villains, the film made the antagonist Bruce Banner’s father, and gave him the powers of the Thor villain The Absorbing Man. Not a Leader in sight. Thus, Hulk became an exception to the rule, the first debut superhero film not to feature the hero going up against his arch-foe.
(Hulk sad)
#8: Fantastic Four
Now these fellows have one of the most definitive arch-villains in comic books, so it would have been very strange indeed if the film’s antagonist had turned out to be anyone other than Doctor Doom!
The second film was a bit of a strange creature. Rather than adapting another recurring enemy of the team, it adapted a specific comic book story arc, really serving as an origin story and classic rivalry for another hero (Silver Surfer vs. Galactus). Nevertheless, Doom managed to stick his head again. And seeing as how the film left it open for him to return to a third, even if it never happened, it seems clear this film falls more into the
Superman category.
#7 (Reboot #1): The Dark Knight Trilogy
Here’s the series that changed everything. After this, superhero film series, particularly in how they portrayed their villains, would be changed forever.
2005’s
Batman Begins found itself in unprecedented territory, as no one had yet attempted to begin a new version of an established superhero film series. It seems that since the film’s title didn’t stop with the character’s name, because this was not “the” film version, there was no obligation to pit him against his definitive opponent. It is intriguing that this film, despite being a reboot, actually continued down the same ladder of bad guys that Joel Schumacher left off on. The bad guys were his next two major foes, Ra’s al Ghul and the Scarecrow.
Had Nolan continued down this path, we may have expected to see Man-Bat, Killer Croc, and the Mad Hatter eventually. Instead, Nolan took a different path. The second film introduced a new version of the Joker, and, of course, the film went on to become arguably the most lauded and celebrated superhero movie, and movie supervillain, of all time.
Well, technically the film featured both The Joker
and Two-Face. The fact was, Nolan wasn’t concerned with who had or hadn’t been done before as much as what would make for a great story. Hence, the third film included one re-adapted one villain (Bane), and introduced one new one (Talia). And, of course, Scarecrow makes appearances throughout the entire trilogy.
The Dark Knight Formula
As you will see, this became the new ‘it’ way of adapting supervillains, or villains in general. In many franchises from now on, the main enemy would only find their way into the hero’s life in the second film. There is a definite reason for this.
Previous superhero films were largely concerned with being just that: singular films, attempting to be the definitive portrayal of the character, with possible sequels to come. Now, however, everyone takes for granted that there will be a series, at least a trilogy. It is the trilogy which will be the definitive filmic telling of the character’s story, and within that episodic journey, the second film seems to be the most natural place for the arch-foe to pop up.
Sequels should go deeper into the mythology, introducing greater threats and often being darker films.
The Empire Strikes Back certainly set the precedent of a trilogy’s middle chapter being the darkest, and superhero films have taken that to heart.
It’s as if to say “Oh, you thought that film was good? Well now things are about to get real! Now he’s going to meet his match!”
#9: Iron Man
Iron Man and
The Incredible Hulk both came out only the year after
The Dark Knight, so they were clearly not intentionally imitating its formula. Yet in a stunning coincidence, both films would begin to follow the same method, teasing their arch-foes in the first film. As it stands, both films would fail to actually follow up on those promises. Iron Man got a composite character in his second film and a fake-out in his third…
#10 (Reboot #2): The Incredible Hulk
…And Samuel Sterns never got to menace the Hulk, instead just being referenced on Agents of SHIELD as having been captured.
#11: Thor
Definitely following the
Superman formula, Loki has dominated this franchise. Sure, the second film introduced another villain, Malekith (who I’m not even sure can really be labelled the “next” villain down on the ladder), but, like Magneto, Loki was still there, and he certainly appears to be the villain of the third film.
Lay this one on Tom Hiddleston’s ridiculously popular portrayal of the character, but Loki seems to occupy the vast majority of his brother’s time.
#12: Green Lantern
What might have been. With something claiming to be Parallax in the first film, the after-credits sequence promised the audience Sinestro as the antagonist of the ill-fated sequel.
Here we have the first perhaps deliberate attempt to recreate
The Dark Knight’s formula, although, with such a large backstory for Sinestro, this seems to be the only way the series could have actually gone.
#13: Captain America
Cap got the more classic formula of facing off against arch-villain Red Skull in his debut film.
This series, however, seems more interested in adapting individual storylines than the next-major villain. Although Crossbones and Batroc the Leaper both featured in the sequel, the main baddie was an original creation (unless you count HYDRA itself as the overarching villain), and the point of the film was to get to the Winter Soldier. Similarly, the point of the third film will be to adapt the Civil War story arc.
#16 (Reboot #3): The Amazing Spider-Man
The Spider-Man franchise is crazily similar to the Batman one. In both cases, the first series continued neatly down a ladder of rogues, while the first film in the rebooted series continued that tradition .
The Amazing Spider-Man, which finally gave us Lizard, hinted at Norman Osborne being the villain in a later installment, suggesting it was all the more going to imitate the Batman series.
Well, on the one hand,
a Green Goblin was featured in the second film, just not
the Green Goblin. I suppose they tried to have their cake and eat it too by introducing the “archenemy” in the second film, but not retreading what had been done so recently before. At any rate, the Sinister Six, including some old and some new, were set to be the baddies in the third outing, which will now, of course, never happen.
(Also, am I the only one who finds it odd that Harry’s Goblin, while hardly a strongly recurring threat in the comics, is now the only Spider-Man enemy to be depicted twice? Weird.)
#15: The Avengers
Earth’s Mightiest Heroes would very much follow the
Dark Knight formula. In fact, Loki was only the antagonist of the first film as a reference to his having been the villain in the first issue of the comics. He has rarely menaced the team since, and can hardly be called one of their main villains.
Now, however, the second film will feature their greatest foe (at least who Joss Whedon certainly considers the greatest), none other than Ultron!!!
Continuing along the other trend of adapting individual story arcs, the third(/fourth) film will of course feature Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet.
#17 (Reboot #4): Man of Steel
Well, if
Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice essentially counts as the second chapter in Superman’s story, then yes, then this series follows the
Dark Knight formula, with Lex Luthor coming into the fray midway through.
And that essentially brings us full circle!
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This
Dark Knight formula has impacted more than just superhero films. Movie adaptations of other classic characters have taken similar form. Note how Sherlock Holmes did not face his infamous rival Moriarty in 2009’s
Sherlock Holmes, but only in the sequel,
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. And after Kirk and crew had been united and shot off into space in 2009’s
Star Trek, the next step the filmmakers took for them was to pit them against their most famous foe, Khan!
(Fascinatingly, in the actual original works of both these franchises, the villain in question only ever showed up twice!)
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Well, that does it for the franchises we have already seen! Now let’s have to look forward to the future, only some of which we have word on! How do you think the rogues gallery will be adapted in these films / series? How do you think they should be adapted?
#18: Ant-Man
Does Scott Lang even have an archenemy? Heck, does he even have a series?
#19 (Reboot #5): The Fantastic Four
I have a strange sense of DOOM! Harvey Elder, AKA the Mole-Man, will also be making an apperance, teasing his presence in the sequel(s). Descending ladder, anyone?
#20: Doctor Strange
#21: Wonder Woman
#22: Black Panther
With Andy Serkis is playing Ulysses Claw in Avengers: Age of Ultron, it seems obvious that this is setting up for Black Panther.
#23: Justice League
#24: The Flash
Professor Zoom, like Sinestro, is a character that takes a degree of backstory, so it’s highly unlikely he’ll make his debut in the first Flash film.
#25: Captain Marvel (Marvel)
#26: Aquaman
#27: The Inhumans
#28: Shazam! (Captain Marvel, DC)
The Big Red Cheese is facing Black Adam, not Dr. Sivana.
#29: Cyborg
#30 (Reboot #7): "Green Lantern Reboot"
You tell me how they should be done! Sound off below!