We’re all familiar with the super heroes who rose above and defeated the bullies, and the every day cruelty, but what about the villains?
Watching last night’s episode of Gotham got me thinking. We’ve only seen Edward Nygma (Nigma/future Riddler) twice, but every time we’ve seen him he’s been subject to every day cruelty. Even Jim Gordon, our hero cop and future Batman ally is guilty of it. The man is socially inept, true, but that doesn’t mean you have to be rude. It’s made incredibly obvious that he’s simply not wanted, even to him. Thus far he’s taken it with a smile, all in good humor, but that treatment changes a person. He’s sweet little Ed, who’s a bit clueless, young, and eager right now. In 10 years, he’ll be bitter and angry, then one event is enough to push him into super villain-dom.
We’re all familiar with the super heroes who rose above and defeated the bullies, and the every day cruelty, but what about the villains?
Small acts of kindness can be powerful, we all know that, but a small act of cruelty, a snub, can be equally as powerful. How would you change, if you truly thought of the monsters your simple every day cruelty could create.
Here are five famous super villains created by every day cruelty.
We’ll stick to the comic cannon for these.
1. Dr Jonathan Crane – The Scarecrow (DC)
Bullied mercilessly as a child, cruel treatment by girls early on, and mocked by his colleagues, he becomes obsessed by fear and begins experimenting on his patients with drugs and psychological tactics. His intense phobia of bats drives him after the great caped crusader.
2. Oswald Cobblepot – The Penguin (DC)
Again here we see a pretty early trend with the bullying as a child. Overweight and sporting a limp, he was called “Penguin” because of his heavy frame, beak-like nose, and waddling gait. He is something of a mama’s boy, his mother was extremely over-protective, lending him a certain naiveté in his childhood and early adult years. One origin story shows him as an outcast of his high society family even. They disapproved of his pursuing ornithology and thought him strange. This continues on in his early adult life and his early days as a criminal. Eventually adopting “The Penguin” as his moniker so that he may never be mocked by it again, but rather feared. Bullying and every day cruelty was honestly the only thing that drove this villain to become the fearsome beast he became.
3. Loki (Marvel)
Loki, the adopted son of Odin and brother of Thor, was loved least by his father. Loved though he was, it was never forgotten that he was an adopted son of their enemy. His brother seemingly overshadowed him in everything, and Odin definitely played favorites (as did everyone else) as Thor’s charm won them over. Resentful of his brother and hating his father, Loki eventually went as bad as you can go. Craving ever more power so that he might finally cast off his brother’s shadow. He was never treated cruelly outright, but through the little actions and the big, the lack of affection certainly shaped this young god of mischief.
4. Victor Creed – Sabretooth (Marvel)
Abused by his father and shunned by a society who feared him, this poor boy really never had much of a choice. Feared because of his mutation he only knew that fear worked for him. He was given what he wanted, but until meeting Logan (Wolverine) in the early twentieth century he had never known someone who didn’t fear him for his differences.
5. Wilson Fisk – Kingpin (Marvel)
Raised a very poor child, overweight, ridiculed, and never respected, this villain began his career in crime very early. He used the bullying as a motivator to train himself in physical combat thus turning the tables on his bullies and forcing them into joining his gang. He soon caught the eye of crime lord Don Rigoletto working his way to bodyguard and right hand henchman before killing his boss and taking over him criminal empire.
In the end these villains have one major thing in common, the victims became the bullies. It turned from every day cruelty, outright abuse, and bullying to becoming obsessed with never being that person again, and in turn becoming the very thing they hate. Sometimes these little cruelties make us stronger, sometimes they drive us mad.
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