As I’ve probably mentioned somewhere on this blog already, superheroes and supervillains function as two halves, two different possibilities of the same foundational character, and thus become mirror or inverse versions of one another. Although any superhero will face many supervillains in the course of his or her adventures – and some supervillains act as opponents to more than one superhero – it is almost always possible to pair any given superhero and supervillain as two different versions of the same underlying character. This is especially true if the superhero and supervillain were created as a pair, meant from their inception to begin on the same path, take two different directions at some point along that path, and eventually become one of the great superhero/supervillain dyads. These are the pairs I wish to focus on today.
Captain America & The Winter Soldier
The Winter Soldier, Captain America, and Black Widow
One of the reasons why I love both Captain America films so much is that they have excellent symmetry, particularly character symmetry. The films arrange their characters in balanced sets of good versus evil, even though certain characters may cross back and forth between these categories now and then. Each of the major (and most minor) characters in the Captain America films has a counterpart in the opposite category. In The First Avenger (2011), for example:
Steve Rogers/Captain America — Johann Schmidt/Red Skull
Bucky Barnes — Gilmore Hodge
Agent Peggy Carter — Private Lorraine
Dr. Abraham Erskine — Dr. Arnim Zola
Howard Stark — Dr. Arnim Zola
Colonel Phillips — Senator Brandt
Cap’s Howling Commandos — Red Skull’s HYDRA units
Red Skull is technically a supersoldier experiment gone wrong, so there’s a nice parallel between Red Skull and Cap, but the more formidable pairing occurs in The Winter Soldier (2014) between Cap and the Winter Soldier, a supersoldier experiment gone right (though orchestrated by the bad guys). The relationship between Cap and the Soldier is also more complex due to the origins of both characters. Neither was “born into” the role of hero or villain (as were Thor and Loki, discussed below), and the Winter Soldier was forced to become a supervillain to serve his creators, HYDRA. Beware SPOILERS if you don’t already know the real identity of the Winter Soldier!
Close friends for many years, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes (Sebastian Stan) both fight in World War II in The First Avenger. Bucky enlists in the usual way, but Steve takes the special path of entering the Strategic Scientific Reserve and volunteering himself in an experiment to become the world’s first successful supersoldier. After he and Bucky are reunited during a battle at a HYDRA base in Europe, Bucky becomes one of the Howling Commandos, Cap’s special task force assembled to defeat Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) and HYDRA. During one of their missions, Bucky falls into a deep mountain ravine and is assumed dead; Cap later sacrifices himself on another mission and becomes trapped in ice for 70 years, and no more is said of the pair until The Winter Soldier.
Cap’s shield is uncovered in the remains of the Valkyrie plane that crashed in ice at the end of The First Avenger.
Set after Steve is revived in the 21st century and fights alongside the Avengers, The Winter Soldier follows Cap’s solo missions for S.H.I.E.L.D. after the Battle of New York. When a mysterious masked warrior appears and starts causing chaos, Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) tells Steve the urban legends of the Winter Soldier, a Cold War supervillain who has appeared, and just as mysteriously disappeared, all over the world.
The Soldier in every possible way is a dark mirror image of Cap and the ideals for which he stands. Cap represents everything about humanity that is just and good: honor, truth, loyalty, courage, fairness, compassion, humility, and a good heart. His red, white, and blue costume is not simply a signifier of his national origins but rather represents the abstract concepts of freedom, individuality, and liberty. Significantly, his primary weapon, the shield, is an inherently defensive weapon, though Cap is able to use it as an offensive weapon when needed.
The Winter Soldier, in contrast, is a character shrouded in mystery, chaos and destruction, and terror; his ideals and loyalties, if he has any, are unknown. His black armor and mask, set off against a mechanical silver arm emblazoned with a red star on the shoulder, indicate a character emblematic of the dark side of humanity, opposed to freedom, justice, and order. The Soldier’s weapons are guns, explosives, and knives, all suitable and intended for offensive rather than defensive tactics.
Examining the two costumes alone offers some key insights into this superhero/supervillain pair: the symmetrical design of Cap’s costume compared to the Soldier’s asymmetrical one. Cap’s shield is highly visible (indicative of honor?), while the Soldier conceals knives to pull on a moment’s notice (not very honorable).
Cap in his original WWII costume, with his new superhero partner Sam Wilson/The Falcon (played by Anthony Mackie).
And if you didn’t know this already…
The Winter Soldier is actually Bucky, who didn’t die in the mountain ravine during WWII but was found by HYDRA and experimented upon to create a warrior capable of matching Captain America (since Red Skull kind of failed in that regard!). Under the direction of Dr. Zola (Toby Jones) – the evil opposite, if you recall, of Cap’s creator, Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci) – Bucky’s memory was wiped, and he was turned into a programmable weapon for HYDRA to use against S.H.I.E.L.D. and, once he resurfaces, Cap himself.
Marvel logic: Technically, Bucky both dies a hero AND lives long enough to become a villain. (That would make him the opposite of Heroes’ Sylar.)
Because Bucky originated clearly on the side of Good – and because his actions as the Soldier are done without his free will – he doesn’t belong in exactly the same category as the usual supervillain (who generally is fully aware of his/her actions and commits them intentionally). In fact, based on the comic book storyline of the Winter Soldier, Bucky will one day regain his memories and assume the mantle of Captain America after Steve steps away from the role. This complicates the mirror relationship between Steve/Cap and Bucky/Soldier, even though their respective super-personas still align properly. Bucky begins on the side of Good, crosses over to Evil, and (theoretically right now regarding future films) will cross over again to Good. This isn’t the usual trajectory for a supervillain, who might begin Good but generally becomes Evil and stays there. (Come to think of it, though, Sylar in Heroes goes through the same pattern of Good-Evil-Good, so perhaps I’m underestimating how often this actually does occur. There are definitely villains who don’t ever become good again, though!)
Why make a big deal out of the mirror relationship? One, I think it’s really interesting, and two, simply recognizing that superheroes and supervillains function as inverse versions of the same character is just a starting point to a much deeper analysis. As we’ve seen with Cap and the Winter Soldier, Steve and Bucky are very similar characters at the beginning of their story – but, due to the different life events they experience, they end up becoming two very different characters, on opposite sides of the line between Good and Evil. The mirror effect allows superheroes and supervillains to demonstrate human nature in relation to choices made and opportunities taken or lost, making the superhero/supervillain pair the most significant one in superhero stories. We wouldn’t have superheroes without supervillains; the pairing of these opposing characters is essential to their stories’ ability to make meaningful comments about humanity.
Thor & Loki
Even though, like Captain America and the Winter Soldier, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) stand on opposite sides of Good and Evil and represent different facets of humanity, as a pair they are quite different from Steve and Bucky. Despite (or because of) Loki’s not knowing his true parentage for most of his life, when he does find out that he is not the son of Odin (Anthony Hopkins) but son of Laufey (Colm Feore), King of the Frost Giants of Jotunheim, his reaction to this information is what determines his fate. Rather than staying true to the Asgardian part of himself, Loki denies his place in Asgard and embraces the darker side of his character, using Odin’s “deception” to justify his lifelong sense of feeling different and inferior to Thor.
Thor makes poor choices of his own in the 2011 film, but through his experiences with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), and Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) on Earth, Thor is able to redeem himself and become the Good warrior he was meant to be. His fate, like Loki’s, depends on the choices he makes – but unlike Steve and Bucky, whose backgrounds are nearly identical, Thor and Loki’s choices are ultimately colored by two vastly different origins: Asgard versus Jotunheim. Had Loki been born on Asgard, he likely would not have experienced the same sense of betrayal as when he discovers that he was born on Jotunheim, that his real parents rejected him and left him to die in a temple.
Additionally, although they are both god-like figures, Thor and Loki have two different kinds of superpowers, whereas Steve and Bucky, again, have identical powers and skill sets. Thor wields Mjolnir and the power of lightning, while Loki has magical skills such as creating illusions, traveling between realms (without the use of Bifrost), and general trickery/deceit. Thor and Loki might be described as brothers, but their true origins hint at the two very different paths they are destined to take.
Batman & The Joker / Cassandra Anderson & Madeline “MaMa” Madrigal
Then there are the superhero/supervillain pairs whose origins are seemingly so different that it’s no wonder they function on opposite sides of Good and Evil. The Joker’s origin is not actually revealed in The Dark Knight (2008), which enhances his status as “an agent of chaos” and terror. Meanwhile, we know Batman’s origins exceedingly well from the first film in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy, Batman Begins (2005). Darkness is a huge part of both Batman (Christian Bale) and the Joker (Heath Ledger), but Batman’s dark side has a redeeming quality in that it is used for the greater good of Gotham’s people. The Joker has no such redemption in him!
Cassandra Anderson
MaMa
Similarly, in Dredd (2012), Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) and MaMa (Lena Headey) initially appear to be two very different characters. Anderson is a rookie Judge in training at the Hall of Justice in Sector 13 of Megacity One; she is a psychic paired with Judge Dredd (Karl Urban), the toughest and most infamous of Judges. Mama is an ex-prostitute turned crime lord, head of the MaMa Clan, who rules the Peach Trees megablock in Sector 13 and deals in the hallucinatory drug Slo-Mo.
As it turns out (if you’re paying attention beyond the intense gun fights and explosions of this film), Anderson and MaMa have more in common than is apparent at first glance. Both come from low-class backgrounds – Anderson was born on the edge of the city, close to the wall that separates megacity from irradiated wasteland, which indicates her family’s low socioeconomic status – and both have the power to know what people are thinking and feeling (though MaMa isn’t a psychic, just a good judge of character – no pun intended!). Both intend to achieve their goals by any means necessary, including excessive violence.
One of my favorite aspects of Dredd is that it turns the tables a bit on the superhero/supervillain mirror effect. Although Dredd is the titular character, it is Anderson – based on analysis of her background and character make-up compared to MaMa’s – who is structurally set up as MaMa’s opposite. Dredd, meanwhile, has an evil opposite in the corrupt Judge Lex (whose background seems to be more similar to Dredd’s than MaMa’s is). Anderson defeats Lex, saving Dredd in the process, and Dredd then defeats MaMa after Anderson is injured. Dredd therefore tests the structural possibilities of superhero/supervillain pairings by “crossing the lines,” so to speak: having Anderson defeat Dredd’s opposite and Dredd defeat Anderson’s. Because Anderson and Dredd are a superhero team, and MaMa and Lex are a “team” (Lex works for MaMa), there is greater possibility in this film to explore how the mirror effect works, specifically regarding team scenarios and cases of multiple superheroes and/or supervillains within the same story arc (versus the episodic story arcs found in superhero TV series).
Choices make a huge difference when it comes to becoming a superhero or supervillain! Make decisions like Loki’s, and you’ll probably end up leading an alien invasion of New York City (or whatever the non-superpowered equivalent of that is). Follow Thor’s redeeming choices, however, and you’ll probably end up giving said aliens a good whack on the head. And let’s hope we all have the good fortune not to be captured by HYDRA and reprogrammed into a destructive supersoldier (even though the alternative appears to be being frozen in ice for 70 years). It takes two different sets of choices to make a great superhero/supervillain dyad, to tell remarkable stories about humanity and the consequences of the choices humankind must make.
On Friday: Some thoughts about various critical reactions to superhero movies, and why they may not always receive the critical credit they deserve…
Time Lords, Superheroes, and Brave New Worlds 