As Americans we have liberties that we may sometimes take for granted – like Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech and Due Process (most of us anyway). In case you failed Civic Class (or maybe you never even had it ?) Due process is the right to “fair treatment through the normal judicial system, especially as a citizen's entitlement.” And yet in this 21st Century there is one group of citizens that get the short shrift – the swift kick in the pants of justice when it comes to their certain inalienable rights. It's not the minority group that you may be thinking of...these people have their rights trampled and nearly no one cares... Mainly because they have no legal opportunity to voice their grievances; they have no chance to file a claim against their abusers for the horrid tragic fact that most of them have been put to death with no recourse for their families or friends...never to see a court room or even a police office. These wronged entities are the people even YOU take joy in ostracizing – these people are Super Villains!
Wait What?
Haven't you realized by now that just about Every supervillain in recent Hollywood films, gets the death penalty? Sure it's not a new phenomena -One could say it goes as further back than Hansel and Gretel, but with the advent of more and more comic book movies the death toll of villains are staggering...Just off the top of my head I count:
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Ra's Al Ghul(Batman Begins)
Harvey Dent/Two -Face (Batman The Dark Knight)
Bane and Talia Al Ghul (Batman Dark Knight Rises)
Green Goblin(Spider-man)
Doctor Octopus (Spider-man2)
Venom (Spider Man 3)
The Lizard (The Amazing Spider-man)
Obadiah Stane – (Iron Man)
Whiplash (Iron Man2)
Aldrich Killian /Mandarin (Iron Man 3)
Syndrome (the Incredibles)
Malekith (Thor the dark World)
The Red Skull – (Captain America :The First Avenger)
Ronan the Accuser – (Guardians of the Galaxy)
General Zod and...Every other Kryptonian (Man of Steel)
And that's not counting evey James Bond Villain ever – (but he DOES have a license to kill, so...)
The question is why do we have this need and fixation to see evil doers die on film? Here's a quick breakdown to explain our murderous glee!
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Globally speaking ...Justice is Harsh.
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Penalty for Jaywalking...pit of Death!
Sure in the “Free” world we have trials to ascertain our guilt and (hopefully reasonable and fair sentencing to fit the crime.) but in a lot of corners of the world Justice is not so nice (http://uk.askmen.com/top_10/travel/top-10-harsh-legal-systems.html). Since one of America's main exports is entertainment – it's much easier to sell to an international audience if you just stop trying to convince them on that whole freedom thing and give in to the local blood lust. Just sayin'.
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Relief from Reality
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I'm sure they just want to ask him a question
Look even though We live in a land of freedom...the judicial system can be... “somewhat” flawed. It can be slow moving, rife with corruption,and full of loop holes and technicalities that see innocent people go to jail(or get killed) and murderers and rapist go free...So...yeah what better way to indulge in fantasy than dream of a world where the guilty are actually GUILTY and the unrepentant mass murderering type would simply just get disintegrated - instead of clogging up the courts with paper work... Sure... Makes sense to me.
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Easy Writer
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"Screw writers block... I gotta deadline!"
Of course there an obvious reason we always watch villians get the noose – That crap is so much easier to write! Do you know how hard it is to write a fully formed 3 dimensional villain that the audience actually likes and sympathizes with? It's so much easier to write about some jerk who wants to steal a lot of money, or a boring crazy serial killer, or someone out for petty, nonsensical revenge... They barely matter in the story , and when they inevitably meet their maker you're like “Meh”. Examples are Malekith in “Thor Dark World”, Red Skull in “Captain America: First Avenger”, Obadiah Stane in “Iron Man”... Whiplash in “Iron Man 2”.These type of Villains are basically Filler Villains – they give the hero something to do for two hours and we don't actually care when they get smoked. It's like a class given by a substitute teacher – they may mean well but nobody's really listening.
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The "Coliseum Death Chant"
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"The wages of sin...is DEATH!"
While a lot of movies have this type of middling villain, there are a number of instances where the villain is great and likable and still gets the ax...That what I call the "Coliseum Death Chant"... We maybe like them at first but we can't wait to put them to death , giving them the thumbs down, when they've gone too far. Liam Neeson's Ra's Al Ghul in Batman Begins kinda has a legitimate point: Gotham is rife with corruption – a cancerous sore on the face of the planet. It has GOT TO GO. He makes it even WORSE by making half the population crazy with Fear toxin...but Batman is pretty sure he can turn things around...(uh, really?) Anyway, Batman already saved him once...and look what happened. So Batman chose not to actually kill him, but instead lets him meet death in a speeding, crashing train; which is...pretty much the same thing. Semantics I guess. The point I'm making is that there are some villains so good at being bad – We LOVE to see them die. Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) from Die Hard? That Smarmy bastard totally had it coming! Syndrome from “the Incredibles”? I was ok with him going to jail until he threatened and dropped a baby while flying! Jet engine smoothie for you! Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) in “X-Men: First Class” shoots and kills Baby Magneto's mother...At the moment Magneto finally gets revenge we cheer when Shaw's head is used as a coin slot. We shouldn't be so blood thirsty...and yet here we are.
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The exceptional MVP's
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I am honored...to be your master.
Meanwhile, there are some villains who may be bad...but we love them so much we cut them some slack. These are villains we don't want to see die, but also are kinda rooting for them to win! Loki, Magneto, Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, Darth Vader and the Joker all have their own respective fan bases...Heck It's safe to say that a number of people want to BE them... And why not? We identify with these characters because they suffered some wrong or trauma, because they have a plausible ideology that we can subscribe to. They're tragic because they just so happen to be on the wrong side of the law...they have good intentions but may have faulty methodology. As audience members maybe we see that in ourselves; the desire to go against the grain and become the outsider in order to follow our convictions. Well before you do let me just say: DON'T. I can assure you if you go around committing crime no one is going to watch your story in the movie theaters. Besides if Hollywood has anything to say about it, chances are you'll probably end up dead!
Post a comment and let me know your favorite villain/villain death !