A good villain can make or break your film or series. A great one might just have an audience root for them…
Any genre film or series that gets boiled down to good vs evil in its basest form, needs a good villain. Luke Skywalker needs Darth Vader and the Emperor. Sometimes you can just about scrape by without a memorable villain. Just ask the MCU, whose output of innumerable films and shows has probably had interesting villains you could count on one hand (one of which had a finger-snappin’ hand).
There are also those times when the villain completely overshadows the hero with a performer given that inherent freedom to go wild where the hero must exercise restraint. Think Heath Ledger as the Joker, up against a comparatively dull Christian Bale in The Dark Knight.
However, occasionally a villain becomes such an all-conquering force in their film or show, that the audience can’t help but root for them. Occasionally in this internet world, there’s an odd kind of worship when fans might root a little too much for a nefarious villain who might portray some of the same values they have (especially with modern villains written as bastions of the anti-woke movement, completely missing the joke at their expense).
Is it a problem to be rooting for characters who are largely detestable but so brilliantly portrayed? If you root for Hannibal Lecter does it mean you have a deep desire to eat human brains? Probably not. Is it just that dark recess within our minds seeing villainy being delivered that strikes a macabre chord in us? Maybe there’s a darkness lurking beneath that veneer of self-control. Let’s face it, villains have most of the fun and for the Joker, it’s a laugh riot compared to the morose existence Batman has.
It’s remarkable in fact, that despite comic books being viewed by the Awards establishment with largely disdain, two actors have portrayed the Clown Prince of Crime and won an Oscar for doing so. Ledger’s final performance in a film he stole from an incredible cast with consummate ease, was legendary. Joaquin Phoenix headlined the unexpected monster smash, Joker in 2019 which took a more stripped-back and character-driven approach to making a comic book adaptation.
Despite playing arguably the most iconic comic book villain ever, the takeaway from Joker’s pop cultural zeitgeist was that some young men idolised the character in darker ways than they should have. Sure, he fights the system and fights back against a constant barrage of society shitting on him, but not in any way one should ever deem reasonable. Even for most of us watching, we still rooted for Joker to give a number of his antagonists (such as chat show host Murray Franklin) their comeuppance.
“Fuck around and find out” isn’t really a law-friendly concept, but in the fantasy of the movies, it’s a cause and effect that can be played out for entertainment. We’ve all had fantasies (usually in the shower an hour after) of chasing down the Beemer driver who cuts you up and doesn’t use his signals, to drag him out of the car and give him a good drubbing. Haven’t we? Okay, just me then. That old thing called consequence, and the fact he’d probably batter me like a haddock fillet means I just swear and grumble and crank up the Van Halen in my car CD player to calm myself. Then you get home, urinate steam and take your rage fantasy shower.
Every time Rutger Hauer played the villain he’d usually end up being the one you rooted for. It was largely down to the electrifying charisma with which he stole scenes from everyone he antagonised (be it Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford, C Thomas Howell and many more). There’s always that moment you’re so sucked into the villain’s destructive mission that you start to almost question whether he’s got a point. You have to pull yourself back and step firmly into the mindset that Thanos wanting to wipe out half the universe because it’s filled with mostly shit, was a bit far. History has aggrandized too many real people with villainous traits as it is.
One curious recent case of villain worship is Homelander from The Boys. Let’s be real, he’s always been the marquee name in the show, the scene stealer and his battles with The Butcher in the first three seasons saw a villain vs antihero dynamic that made the show so excellent. He’s a fan favourite in spite of being one of the most fiendishly detestable (yet complexly deranged) characters ever committed to screen. Anthony Starr’s majestic portrayal can’t help but inspire a devious sense of glee from the viewer when he lasers someone’s face off or tears them in half. Plus he gets sprayed in the face with breast milk and has countless other oddly comedic moments that stop him from becoming too grim to endure. What you don’t want, is to be that person without a trace of self awareness nodding with approval when he makes a ‘rousing’ speech.
In fact, the power of Starr as Homelander was so great that he effectively made what was an otherwise dull fourth season, somehow unmissable still. With Butcher somehow feeling like the Facebook filter version of himself, we were also left with dull heroes, repetitive arcs for The Seven and other characters introduced (like Firecracker) who were way too on the nose. Sure, Homelander wasn’t a subtle characterisation by any stretch but we see complex moments from him and he’s been built effectively over the three superior seasons… Again, he’s so exceptionally portrayed by Starr that we’re always compelled even when we’re feeling an inner conflict between being repelled or allured by his actions.
With Butcher subdued (bar the final episode) and not much impetus in the others we’re left to recognise how excruciatingly boring Starlight and Hughie have always been. Righteousness is boring on screen (and in reality probably not that rewarding in real life). There in lies another reason Homelander has been the most compelling villain this year. He’s in one of the most anticipated shows and he’s the saving grace of it now. What if Homelander just eye-lasers the world to smithereens in a fit of rage to end next season? It would be shocking, horrifying but sort of enjoyable.
Which villains have you rooted for? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth. I’m off to seek professional help and have a rage shower.
Tom Jolliffe
Originally published August 3, 2024. Updated August 4, 2024.
