Supervillain Rehabilitation

Inspired by this◊ scene◊ from Marvel's Illuminati #1.

The thing is, most supervillains aren't really evil. They're weirdos and idiots and maybe do a few small-time crimes but they aren't irredeemable or anything.

But what prospects do they have of finding a better life? They get out and then their potential employers see they were associated with the Masters of Evil, that they have super-strength and that's about it. Ignoring how Status Quo Is God, these people could largely be ushered into more simple, law-abiding lives if they were just given a chance.

A lot of jokes are made about the rotating door prisons of comic books and things like Pleasant Hill seem to be answers to this. But they are obviously the wrong answers. Instead of more elaborate, awful and gimmicky prisons, why can't The Avengers or someone do a sponsorship to help villains who want to turn over a new leaf do so? Carl and Mary could find a better life if they were just given a chance. I'm sure the same is true for mos tsupervillains.

There is of course always the idea of becoming superheroes instead but that shouldn't be the only answer.

I think this is what Luke Cage'ss Thunderbolts was about

There's the idea as well that power necessitates it's own use, so that it's unlikely that a super-powered individual is going to be able to lead a completely normal life. Villains as well frequently seem to have the mindset, if they're superpowered, that their powers make them superior to others and entitle them to things.

Rehabilitation for supervillians is an interesting notion, though. It would definitely be nice to see a villain who clearly displayed some form of mental instability actually getting help; I remember in Chuck Dixon's run on Nightwing, you got to see the villain Amygdala living a relatively normal life, taking medication for his mental issues. That's certainly the exception, though.

Thing is that it's rather unlikely for bad guys to become superheroes, at least not for long.

And if they won't become superheroes, then they might as well be gone. Batroc the Leaper, the shampoo salesman isn't exactly useful character in your standard Captain America comic book.

So that means that only lame forgettable villains, the kind that no writer will regret getting rid of, can reform, again, at least for long.

Thing is, continually reusing good villains is only a problem if you make it one. For instance, the revolving door of Gotham prisons and the continual fan-snark about the damage caused by the Joker's continual existence in the face of everyone's refusal to do something permanent about him is only a problem if you're a longtime reader, and you insist on it's being a problem (and if often unfortunately the case in Batman, the writers keep bringing it up).

I'd like to see writers stretch themselves and come up with compelling new villains, instead of continually reusing old ones until the fan-snarkers can't help themselves.

I would like to offer up Emma Frost as a good example of a villain being reformed.

She still did some pretty shady things even after her reformation.

They did precisely that back in 1965. It's why Black Widow, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch are on the team.

Also, when Marvel inevitably resurrects Doctor Octopus, I'd love if Spider-Man offered him a job at the company he founded.

Speaking of Marvel, there has been a lot of instances where the villains of that universe reform and become good (whether it is for a moment or full time).

• Mole Man of the Fantastic Four gave up his plans for world conquest to instead use his kingdom to bring in and protect outsiders like himself.
• I want to mentioned Namor, but he have always been treated as a tweener ever since the Golden Age
• Medusa likewise, though for different reason as she was never evil to begin with (this could also apply to Hawkeye)
• Magneto many times join the X-Men to atone for his deeds. Alas it's a revolving door with him as he would eventually regress to his anti-human ways. His ongoing series deconstruct said revolving nature of his character.
• Sandman is definitely one of Spider-Man's key villains to legitimately reform and use his powers for good. Sucks Wizard at one point brain wash him to be bad again.
• Silver Surfer is also the whole never really all that evil to begin with case. The same could be said for Galactus given his Beyond Good and Evil morality. I'm starting to think a lot of the Fantastic Four villains are more complex then they initially are.
• Thunderbolts in all their Thunderbolt-ness.
• Deadpool gradually went from psycho for hire to heroic comedic sociopath as he developed as a character. His portrayal in Cable & Deadpool summarize said development perfectly. One could argue he is just being a tweener like Namor, but when you compare his first appearance in New Mutants to any of the recent stories there is a noticeable difference in how he acts.
• Skurge the Executioner have played a sort of wild card role as he is an honorable warrior but always aid in the efforts of villainy. But compare his first appearance to his last and there is a noticeable difference.
• Rogue. Nuff said

And there are many more example of Marvel villains reforming to be good guys. Though not a lot where they reform and just have normal lifes.

Didn't Molecule Man reform and lead a normal life? At least until his girlfriend dumped him?

I meant sponsor them to get real jobs though, not superhero work. Otherwise I would have just said join the Thunderbolts. Like in that issue I linked to in the OP, She-Hulk got Titania a job doing security at a pawn shop. That didn't work out because of The Hood's machinations but my point is, rather than hope for a random act of kindness from a superhero, there should be a system in place where superheroes help supervillains find alternate forms of work so they don't have to be criminals.

edited 2nd Jul '16 5:59:53 PM by Nikkolas

But, see, if you're a superhero or a supervillain, then you're almost guaranteed to be a Weirdness Magnet. All attempts at leading a normal life are going to go sideways.

Both Pied Piper and Heat Wave had reformed over in Flash (Piper was even a supporting character for Wally) before they decided to have them un-reform. Trickster sorta reformed at various times, though he remained kinda shady regardless of what he was doing.

I liked how the Justice League cartoon had Flash trying to help his rouge gallery get better.

It kind of helps that they don't seem particularly malicious.

Most rogues aren't that malicious. They have superpowers so they can cause more damage than average crooks but that doesn't make the more evil.

A lot of them are people just trying to get by.

Speaking of DC Animated Universe wanting their villains to reform, that is a pretty common plot line in a lot of episodes of Batman The Animated Series.

Among them are Riddler, Penguin, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Two Face, Harly Quinn, Baby Doll, Man Bat, Ventriliquist, and Mr. Freeze (at least in Beyond).

It pretty much ends the same way, they made a good attempt at being normal but a las they went back to their old ways . . . okay except for Man Bat.

I don't think super-powered criminals count as people "just trying to get by." These are, at best, thieves and bank robbers. I mean, you can't tell me the Weather Wizard couldn't have made a legitimate fortune renting himself out to farmers, if he so desired.

Well yes, they are getting by in an illegal fashion but not all supervillains have useful abilities like WW. A lot of them are just dumb muscle types or part-animal or something else that doesn't lend itself to finding a nice, steady job.

Thing is, this is Marvel and DC. This is a world of rocket-powered apes and time travel. This is the world where The Hulk has been one of its greatest heroes for decades yet regularly causes god knows how many billions in property damage. In light of these things, robbing a bank is practically a low-level misdemeanor.

I remember an X-Men story where Juggernaut destroys an entire bar and then just walks away. He even left some money to cover the damage. No one tried to stop him, no one cared.

It's a crazy world but standards just seem far more lax there than they do IRL.

I remember in the early Spider-Man comics where they'd introduce a villain, and he'd get a super-power, discover how to use it, and then go into a "Nobody can stop a man who can.(fill in the blank)!" I remember thinking it was particularly ridiculous when the Vulture made that speech (Nobody can stop a man who can fly? How about someone with a high-powered rifle?). But then, Spidey villains were generally designed to invert Spidey's "With great power comes great responsibility" bit, being guys who got super-powers through accidents and then proceeded to misuse them.

But yeah, you've got the world-beaters, and then you've got the dumb, unimaginative muscle. I always liked the Parasite over in Superman, being a guy with serious powers (he absorbed energy from people, and could absorb the super-powers of any super-powered individual) but absolutely no imagination. The played on that in Superman the Animated Series by being able to talk him into going back to prison by promising him cable tv.

edited 4th Jul '16 9:53:39 AM by Robbery

Electro's another example of "vast power, no brains". As Spider-Man himself has repeatedly commented on, Electro could make millions working for a power company, but no, he has to blow up city blocks and cackle about it.

Something I thought of...from the perspective of Marvel and DC, 10-15 years have passed in all those decades of comics. There's a good chance that things like humans accepting mutants or villains ending their Chronic Villainy can actually happen within their lifetime, it's just we won't see it since it's set in the near-future of the comics

I remember that episode! I think that was the first episode I saw.

I think Parasite's a good example of why rehabilitation isn't always viable. Parasite was originally Rudy, an ex-con and a loser who was left for dead. Now he's Parasite, the monster who almost killed Superman on several occasions. He's taken seriously now, which is what he always wanted. Why get rehabilitated?

One villain I'd like to see rehabilitated is Jinx of the Fearsome Five. Though this is due to me liking her animated counterpart more (aside the whitewashing of course).

A current Marvel ongoing, "Patsy Walker aka Hellcat", is basically entirely about stopping supervillains before (or shortly after) they happen by offering them alternative methods of using their powersets to make a living. Patsy's running a temp agency for supers staffed almost entirely by formerly-misguided supers who wanted to use crime to fix their lives.

edited post.

edited 1st Aug '16 8:44:15 AM by windleopard