this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2024
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What about villains that don't try to change the status quo? Like they just want to wreck havoc on the lives of the innocent with no greater goal in mind. There are so many versions and variations of that within the genre. Joker comes to mind.
what is that but the image of the criminal, in the minds of reactionaries?
I think comic writers knows that they can't actually write a villain that actually helps without making the hero look like they're in the wrong.
You can't kill billionaire vampire Theter Piel! You will become just like him! - super hero moments before villain violates the NAP justifying lethal response
I mean the Joker usually has a goal, even if it may be one that is hard to understand. They reboot and speculate Joker's origin pretty often. It's usually somebody either ordinary or someone with a mental illness being completely broken and humiliated by American society to the point of nihilism. With no coherent ideology or education, the Joker is typically somebody who is now only able to express themselves through bombastic violence and tries to mindfuck Batman into seeing himself in the Joker or something. Granted, these characters are shuffled through dozens of hands over the course of decades so this isn't always accurate