PopSyndicate.com

There have been some classic villains throughout the history of comics. Some have survived time and storylines and some disappeared without an afterthought. What made some villains stick around and some fade away? I decided to explore this by comparing two X-men Villains and see what the differences are.

Can you name Xavier’s greatest villain? The person who has his own dream about how mutants should live? Well, that’s Magneto. He is one of the greatest villains of Xavier and his X-men, but can you name the villain who first “crippled” Xavier? Anyone? It was Lucifer, an alien from another planet bent on destroying the earth. How could you forget Lucifer, he crippled Xavier? What makes villains like Lucifer forgettable and villains like Magneto, Lex Luthor, or even Dr. Doom memorable enough to return?

I don’t read Superman or Fantastic Four enough to be familiar with them the way I am with Magneto, so my focus will be on that character. When I think of Magneto I immediately think of him as Xavier’s nemesis. Magneto’s vision of the future for mutant-kind is an almost entirely opposing view to Xavier’s. Magneto wants mutants to rule while Xavier wants peaceful coexistence between mutants and non-mutants. Magneto has magnetic powers and Xavier has telepathic powers. They use to be good friends but now they are not. All of this, and I think of Magneto as Xavier’s nemesis, but how does Lucifer fair in this?

Lucifer is an alien. He is the first of his species sent to earth to prepare it for an invasion by his race. He had a plan and it was foiled by Xavier. Lucifer was so mad about it he crushed Xavier’s legs with a giant stone boulder. Xavier’s spine was also injured and was then given his, now famous, wheelchair. In subsequent issues Lucifer tried multiple times to take over the earth but was foiled by the X-men and other Marvel teams. He developed super strength and then developed some telepathic powers but it wasn’t enough. After enough failures Lucifer’s people terminated him and replaced him with a computer. Even villains can be replaced by computers, who knew?

Comparing Magneto to Lucifer there are some striking differences. For one, Magneto was a friend to Xavier before he became a villain. More importantly Magneto’s cause seemed more legit than Lucifer’s. I say this because Magneto’s personal background is heavily influence by his experiences as a prisoner during WWII, how that experience shaped his view of the world, which led him to believe that mutants could never exist peacefully with humanity. Lucifer seemed like a very generic villain, and not even like a Bond villain.

Lucifer gave me the impression that he is a character written in to get defeated and he couldn’t succeed for the overall plot line to continue. He became a utility. Magneto would lose, but his plans always had an air of success to them; his plans were so well written that he could succeed. Lucifer became a one-trick villain, while Magneto’s background developed and became more interesting.

Nobody cared for Lucifer because nobody knew anything about him or his alien race. He became an as-needed villain and that’s where he stayed. Magneto developed and became more intriguing over time. The more people know about Magneto the more his plans have substance and meaning. For a villain to become popular and stay interesting, each need to be more than their distinguishing plans and listing of powers, they need to have substance.

Dr. Doom met Reed Richards in college; Lex Luthor has been the thorn in Superman’s side throughout his life. Both of these characters could have been single-issue villains but their backgrounds were only starting places, motivations from which we revealed these villains as more complex. This leads me to believe that villains, like heroes, need to have some substance for their characters to be likeable. Just as heroes can’t solely be about their powers, worthwhile villains can’t be reduced to their evil schemes. Better developed villains make better heroes which make better stories.