I was getting ready some materials for a webinar that I was supposed to do at work. I had to touch on character development, and I got to think about writing for villains. I was quite familiar with the bald James Bond villain who sits on a chair stroking the cat, and somehow, it’s become the de rigeur image for villainy. However, there are relatively recent movie villains that I’ve watched and read about that are well-crafted characters. You understand their motivations and actually agree with some of their opinions. Here they are:
The following consists of spoilers from The Last Airbender, Black Panther, and The Incredibles II.
You have been warned.
- Prince Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender
Longtime friends know I am a fan of the series and I think that Zuko is one of the most complex characters of the show. In three seasons, he’s evolved from a selfish, hot-tempered and angsty teenager hell-bent on capturing an avatar to someone who wants to move forward to usher in an era of peace. What the writers did well with this character was to show in flashbacks how he became the angst-ridden teenager. His father had high expectations and abused his mother, while his sister bullied him. The worst and final straw was Zuko challenging a general to an Agni Kai (fire duel). However, he did not realise that he was challenging his father because his father made the decision to battle in such a way, not the general. The humiliation and defeat he suffered really warped his worldview, although I would argue that his dysfunctional upbringing shaped him to be who he was in the first season. Zuko’s inner conflict reaches its peak in the second season and we see him make a difficult choice–does he want to help the avatar or does he want his father’s approval more, no matter how warped it may be? Dealing with such inner turmoil and showing how it is linked to political issues is not easy, and this series did it well and showed children the very real dilemmas of politicians.
- Eric Killmonger from Black Panther
Apart from the fact that Killmonger is played by the incredibly handsome Michael B. Jordan, Killmonger raises good points about Wakanda — an African nation that is so prosperous should be responsible for helping other African nations that need help, and more importantly, the African immigrants who are suffering. However, this kind of rhetoric can easily be perverted and Wakanda as a nation can be seen carrying out its own imperialist agenda. Political ideologies aside, Killmonger is also part of America’s military industrial complex and suffers from being isolated and excluded from his family. He has every reason and enough motivation to go after T’Challa and a lot of the time in the film, I found myself rooting for him because his arguments were pertinent to this day and age. In fact, after he dies, T’Challa implements some of his ideas, too and there is hope for the future.
- Evelyn Deavor
In The Incredibles II, Elastigirl has to fight The Screenslaver, who says that society functions on instant gratification and that we’re all addicted to screens. Although the story is set in the 50s, this hits home. Well, I suppose that the name is The Screenslaver is a nod to the audience since it alludes to the screensavers that we have on our screens points out that people rely on superheroes too much for instant solutions and that she wants to destroy them for good. Fair point. But her other motivation lies in her hatred for superheroes, who she thinks the people have grown to rely on. All of these points are fair, but again, because she’s the villain, any of her arguments get cut off by action sequences and it’s Elastigirl and gang who save the day. The fact that her father used the phone to call superheroes to save their family when they were in distress definitely adds to her motivation as a villain, and I wish that the film had explored the points she had made.
So there you have it. My three favourite villains of this year, at least. I want to see more complex villains appear on screen and in books. This is better than the 2-D cutouts that I get and I’m looking forward to more.