What makes someone "Evil"?

Sauron, Magneto, Darth Vader, Khan, the Joker ... all are among the list of "bad guys".

But what exactly is it that makes them the bad guy?

As a follow up to the definition of a hero questions, this time I'd like to know what makes your villains "evil"? And to further the thought, what really is "evil"? Sometimes, the answer is not always so black and white.

If you were to look at Darth Vader and Magneto, it can be argued that they are not necessarily "evil" in the classic sense. Both started as "good" and have chosen to stand for what they believe in and protect those they hold dear. Yet as we all know, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions".

Thinking of your villains (or any favorite villain you may have from TV, books, films etc.), what qualities sets them apart as "evil"?

1. What motivates them?
2. Is it money? Power? Or something less granular?
3. What are their beliefs?
4. Do they consider themselves "evil"?
5. Are they connected to your hero in some way?

Well Most Villain either want power Like Lex Luther, for the Joker, he Suffer for a mental illness i am Sure of it and I am sure his childhood wasn't to good, didn't he had money problem that led him to encounter Batman for the first time and becomes the joker After falling into some type of Toxic pool or Something at a factory.

I guess Most villains want to better themselves and they willing to climb the ladder to fame and to do that they need Power.

I Guess for my Villain is form a Dark Pass like these guys.

(1) Dark Death Flame -Was a Normal Man until he Encounter a Vampire and became one, Losing his Soul when he was turn into a Demon of the night.

(2) Sewer Ratz-The Praetorian Version of my hero Super Ratz, Grew up around People Hating Mutant when he Came to an Age of 16 he Mutated into a Rat like Creature, people Fear him and hunt him down. His own Father beat him and he ran away, Tyrant and Neuron found the Young Mutant and took him in. Now He a Really Smart lad thx to Neuron Teaching him, when he Encounter his Primal Earth Twin. Seeing Super Ratz Famous for being a Mutant, Started a Hate for his Counter Part of Primal Earth, Why is this Guy Famous and why was I treated so badly, This Spark a War between him and primal Counter Patr Super Ratz.

(3) ExDeath- is Demonic Being claiming to be the Avatar of Death, the Grim Reaper, He once killed his Victim with a Scythe, in the modern Day Earth He now Kill's with a Rusted Katana Blade.

(4) Grey Prince Arcanum- Praetorian earth Version Dr.Arcanum was a happy Man until the Hamidon War Started, he lost his Wife Mary in the War. This Spark a quest to Study Empathy Magic to bring the dead back to Life, However he couldn't do anything to Bring his wife back with this form of Magic. He drove himself into getting into Necromancy
and the Black Arts, One Day hearing that Demons can grant wish's if Summon Spark new Ideas for him. So he lost his own Goal to save his wife form the Pit of Death and went with Becoming a Alchemist. He Soon Studied the Summon Demons that he Summon and killed them and use there Bodies Parts to fuse them with Living Animals and People. People all Around him begin to Fear him and was giving the title the Grey Prince the Doctor Arcanum.
People went Missing thx to him, His Army of Demons would Kidnap people and they never been seen again.

Well I hope this Info about my villain Gave you Ideas about how they became Villain and how they lost there Way. The idea of Villains are Complex and Are they really Villains or have they lost there way. Hate, War, Lost and Money is What Sparks evil in people Hearts, Then again if you Villain is a Demon, then they never had a soul to begin with and there for is Pure Evil.

Easy: Passing the Bar to become a Lawyer.

*points to my life story*

I don't have time for lots of examples, but I think the defining characteristic for 'evil' as far as villainy goes is selfishness. By that I mean, two entities can have the same goal of save the world (Rikti invasion, for instance) and use the same methods, etc. However, WHY did they do it? To save everyone else? Heroic. To save themselves and what they care about? Villain.

Some villains truly only care about themselves to the extreme - doing only what they want at the harm of everyone else; others *do* have people they care about but are willing to allow or even cause harm to *others* in pursuit of protecting their 'property' and their people.

I also think that there is a 'pro-active' aspect to villainy. Heroes react, they don't start anything. Villains start trouble, even if it is in an effort to protect what is theirs.

It is in the weirdly over-lapping zone that you get vigilantes/rogues/what-have-you. They are doing it for the right reason (protect everyone), BUT they are *actively* stirring up trouble. Or they only *respond* when they (or theirs) are hurt, but it is for selfish reasons...

Again, not a perfect definition, but I think the vast amount of comic book heroes and villains can easily be categorized in this way...

Being a smoke monster makes you evil.

Some of the best villains are the ones that are convinced that what they're doing is for the good of everyone else. The turning point that leads away from altruism can be very subtle.

In the end, it usually comes down to where one individual's rights end and another individual's begin. You have the right to live your life, but so does your neighbor. If living your life the way you wish necessarily prevents your neighbor from living his life as he sees fit, you become something of a villain. If your neighbor fights back to free himself from your oppression, he might become a hero - unless he begins to deprive others of their rights in order to overthrow you.

The best villains are not simple creatures in a black and white world.

Of course, there are also the absolutely vile characters who know what they're doing is unacceptable in the eyes of others and it doesn't even make them bat an eyelash. Every time I run Weston Phipps' arc, I feel dirty. That guy has no conscience whatsoever (pretty well-written, too.)

My favorite answer to this question is from a quote by Willem Dafoe. When he was asked if he liked playing good or evil characters. He said " There's no difference. Good or evil all men find themselves to be rightous ".

This:

Click for Hot Sun Splitter Action

I always thought the definition of evil was owning a monkey and shrinking all your friends down to the size of a child?

What is Evil?

My answer is: Attempting to meet your goals by whatever means is most efficient without considering what may be harmed in the process


I believe that what separates good and evil is not intent, but the means used. (long winded me time)


When faced with a challenge, a hero looks at it and tries to find a solution that causes minimal harm, and creates peace. In cases where harm must be caused, it is used to prevent worse harm, or avert a catastrophe. A villain will just do what they feel needs done without considering the harm done to others in the process.

As an example let’s take Dr. Kill-o-Bot’s attempt to conquer Cleveland. He has created this massive robot with lasers and an ominous sounding name and is blasting buildings down, commanding the city to surrender to him.

A superman style character (hero) flies in, assesses the situation, probably taking a few blasts to the chest to protect civilians that are running for their lives. He says this man is a threat to my city and must be stopped. He then rips the lasers off the robot, tears the cockpit open, pulls Dr. Kill-o-Bot out and passes him to police custody, possibly tied up with the barrel of one of the lasers to keep the mad scientist from getting feisty with the cops. He smiles at a job well done and moves on with his day.

Now, assuming that the hero hasn’t shown, the Lex Luthor style character (Villain) will stand their in his gleaming tower watching as civilians get fried while trying to flee, assessing the situation. He says this man is a threat to my city and must be stopped. He then sends in his minions in techno power suits that fly in. They rip the lasers off the robot, turn the lasers back on it, blasting it’s legs off and knocking it into a building. They then shoot out the lower side of the building, causing it to collapse on the robot and hopefully squish Dr. Kill-o-Bot into an interesting arrangement of ooze and organs. The Evil character watches the cops dig out the rubble and rescue any survivors. To get good press over this, the villain may then send his minions to help dig out the survivors. He will publicly cry for the people who died in the building collapse. He knows though, this is an acceptable sacrifice to protect his city. He smiles at a job well done and moves on with his day.

Both the hero and villain accomplished the task they had in mind, stopping the rampage of a mad scientist. What differs is their means. The Hero protects while acting. The Villain just gets the job done.

The characters listed in your original post are all classic villains for that reason. Magneto seeks to move humanity into the new evolutionary age. He sees the conflict as a threat to his chosen side, and so moves to handle the threat by eliminating it. He is noble, and courageous, and loyal. He just uses means that do not protect everyone, and in fact cause as much strife as he attempts to end. Darth Vader, Kahn, same thing. Both saw injustices in their world, and so acted to destroy that injustice using what means they felt would get the job done most efficiently. People they care for may die, and it will hurt them, but it is all in pursuit of their goals. It is an acceptable sacrifice.

Characters such as the Joker follow this pattern just as well. Darkseid, Apocalypse, Sauron, Mr. Sinister, Two-Face, Bizzarro, Mephistopholes… They have a goal in mind. It may be to that they enjoy chaos, or want to exert their power over those weaker. They may want to claim the entire resources of our planet, and therefore choose to destroy the indigenous population. They might want to simply be rich, or get a laugh out of someone who hates them. Whatever it is, they have a want and desire. They can decide the path they take. They just will take the path that makes for the most direct result they seek. Anything that may be harmed in the process is acceptable.

While these characters are fictional and above the top in what they do, history makes its own judgment based on this as well. We can take many great and powerful figures throughout history as examples. I will provide one here, who is a common theme in comics…

Times Magazine’s Man of the year (1938) was a charismatic man who led a small nation. Under his care, his people advanced phenomenally in areas of science, military strategy, and social programs. All he had to do was to convince his people that they were better than all others, to the point where they cheerfully exterminated a large section of their populous, and then march on neighboring nations to claim land, resources and ensure that the people in need of being exterminated were in fact dealt with. His name was Adolf Hitler. History judges him as Evil. Not for his goals of improving his nation and leading his people to a golden age, but for his means of ruthlessly murduring the Jewish, assaulting neighbors who had been attempting, for years, to convince him that peace was the best option, and finally, for leading the majority of the world into a bloody war that lasted for years. Do you disagree with history’s assessment? He certainly would. (I personally agree with the assessment of Evil though)

Now, for a one of my Villains…

The Arch-Villain
This is an Archery/Pain corruptor who is descended from Eros and Psyche. He had magical abilities to heal anyone and was rightfully proud of his abilities until some heroine told him no good team really needs a healer in a community of heroes, that he wasn’t worth her time and ran off with a tall muscular tank imaginatively called Tall muscular Man.
Since that day, he’s been trying to prove that heroes with healing powers are quite capable of being as effective as any other hero in existence. He has a need to prove himself to be powerful, to show everyone that healers cannot be ignored.
In pursuit of that goal, he has forced emergencies just to show that he can protect people from them. He has stolen powerful magical artifacts from the vaults of MAGI since he knows he can protect them better. He has killed ‘evil’ people from common thugs to Super Villains with arrows imbued with the power of Love, simply to show that he will allow no harm to befall the common man.
Is he Evil? He’ll tell you no. Other Villains will make gagging sounds and tell you about how he expounds on the virtues of Love and Companionship and can’t possibly be a real villain. However, the Heroes and people of Paragon City will tell you yes, without a doubt. This man has no care what happens, or how it happens, as long as he can prove healers aren’t worthless in a fight. As Tall Muscular Man can tell you, after several arrows were pulled out of him in a Talos Island Hospital, Love hurts more than anything, and anyone using it as a weapon deserves to be locked up.

-Michael: Ill/Storm Troller <><><><><><> Slide-Show Base-Tour: Its a London Thing

Dr. Vahz because I hate and fear zombies

1. What motivates them?

Revenge. My villain was the end result of my hero not registered with the City and thus got away with using excessive force to avert herself being mugged. This rendered my villain blind and as he was bleeding to death on the street he was plucked up by an opportunistic mad scientist who enhanced his psionic potential - but did not account for a mutant factor beneath that which amplified his powers near death. The result was a psychic so potent that he could hear the whispers of the plants as well, and command them.

His life is caught in constant torment and anguish because at the moment of the near-fatal exchange in Atlas Park, they developed a psychic intolerance of each other. My hero has since amassed a small coalition to thwart my villain's efforts - efforts which, because he cannot kill her personally and end the "psychic noise" between them - to cause emotional and physical distress to her at every turn.

2. Is it money? Power? Or something less granular?

He's drunk with power and driven by the need to be alive to hear the psychic noise become silence.

3. What are their beliefs?

He believes in the tactic of manipulation, and what he cannot do outright he subtly influences others to do. He will often simply cause collateral chaos to stress out my hero and drive her mad with frustration. He has no value for most human life, but has been known to show compassion, such as in the saving of the life of his apprentice. But there are more selfish reasons for that at play.

4. Do they consider themselves "evil"?

He has no doubt that he is evil.

5. Are they connected to your hero in some way?

Yeah, I had to preempt this question in question 1.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deus_Otiosus This entire post should receive some kind of award for being both hysterical and fantastic. Well done.

It is how history remembers you. Usually how the victor manipulates their perception in history and propaganda.

Some of our heroes in history were actually the villains but history has them as heroes because they were the victors.

If Hitler won, he would have been considered a hero. Many Germans did not see Hitler as monster that he is remembered now.

If what I said disturbs you good. That is the point.

Villains end up losing in the end against the usual victors.

So what makes evil then?

Speaking for my main villain Iron Reign:

1. What motivates them?
   Revenge, plain and simple. Revenge against the Malta for burning him. Figuratively and literally.
2. Is it money? Power? Or something less granular?
   No, just revenge. Notoriety, money, and power were just side effects.
3. What are his beliefs?
   He's a nihilist; he doesn't believe in anything, except himself.
4. Do they consider themselves "evil"?
   More like "morally ambiguous." The ends justify the means.
5. Are they connected to your hero in some way?
   Not at all, except that he's a "villain" of the Rogue Isles, as are many others.

Sadness, Seeking Vengeance, Greed and lust, all can lead someone down the wrong path in life and becoming Evil.

OH and being freaking insane and eating people

Or the fact when given super powers, the first thought that pops in your head is: Just how fast can I make this block burn and how loud can get the fools that live here screams?

That how my brute thinks...