Shots From The Studio #26

Bring on the bad guys (and girls)!

   So for this week I want to talk about two television shows that have recently finished their first seasons. So this is a spoiler warning for Agatha All Along and The Penguin among some other, older stories.

   As I watched the final episodes of these two shows I realized they both have something in common. Now at first glance that seems like an odd an statement. Other than the fact that they are both loosely based on comic book characters these shows seem like they couldn’t be more different. One is a fantastical road trip full of magical beings performing supernatural feats while attempting to find their hearts desires. The other is a gritty story of a ruthless criminal and his diabolical rise up the ranks of Gotham’s underworld through treachery, deception and murder. But one of the things I loved about both these shows is that our protagonists, the titular characters no less, were villains. And more importantly the show let them remain villains, no redemption, no face turns, no last minute change of heart…just villains.

   These days it seems really difficult to have a villain be in the spotlight and not become a dark anti-hero or sometimes just a straight hero.  The first major occurrence of this travesty that comes to mind is the live action Maleficent movie starring Angelina Jolie. I’m sure there are examples before this but this is the film that really made me aware of this trope. I thought the casting was great. I thought her origin was well done. I was totally on board until the end when, in her dragon form, she was actually trying to save the princess. WHAT!?

   Now I don’t mind a villain being sympathetic. In the Black Panther film you could be sympathetic to Killmonger’s point of view but he was still a murderous villain and maintained his beliefs and his villainy until the the end. In the case of The Penguin and  Agatha you could empathize with them and what motivated their behavior but you were never asked to justify it.

   Lately, however, movies like Venom and Kraven the Hunter have turned once conniving and brutal villains into dark, brooding anti-heroes. To be fair Marvel originally did this with Venom in the comics with the whole “Lethal Protector” nonsense but I didn’t care for that either.

   All this is to say they are villains so let them be villains. We can understand why they do the things they do without having to support  the things they do. Thank you to the creators who let the bad guys and girls just be bad.