Wanted: Some Supervillains

Isn't it curious the way the characters in Mark Millar's Wanted map to individual DC supervillains and not Marvel supervillains?

Issue 5 cleared up one of the last remaining ambiguities on this doubt by its revelation that the Emperor was an antagonist of "the Detective", i.e., he's superficially Fu Manchu or the Mandarin, but in deep structure, he's Ra's al-Ghul.

Here's a list of some of the correspondences to demonstrate what I'm saying.

The world of Wanted is controlled by five supervillains:

• Professor Solomon Seltzer: Lex Luthor. The smartest man on earth.
• Mister Rictus: The Joker. A deformed psychopathic killer with a terrible smile.
• Adam One: Vandal Savage. The oldest man on Earth.
• The Emperor: A Chinese lord; as noted above, working off a Fu Manchu archetype but playing a Ra's al-Ghul role.
• The Future: The only remaining ambiguity. Assuming a DC character, he probably refers to Per Degaton. Fascistic, uniform-wearing, and the name suggests a reference to Degaton's time-travelling shtick.

The protagonist and his girlfriend are Batman villains:

• The Killer: Deadshot. Distinguished from Bullseye because he uses guns.
• The Fox: Catwoman. Explicitly described as a jewel thief.

Most of Seltzer's gang consists of Superman villains:

• Fuckwit: Bizarro, an imperfect duplicate of Seltzer's enemy, who does the opposite of whatever you ask.
• Sucker: Parasite. Leeches the lifeforce and powers from others.
• Doll-Master: Toyman. Gepetto-like.
• Imp: Mr. Mxyzptlk. A super-powerful, capricious magical imp.
• Brain-Box: Brainiac. An alien super-computer android.

Most of Rictus's gang consists of Batman villains, all explicitly called out as enemies, with Rictus, of "the Detective":

• The Avian: Penguin. Bird motif.
• The Frightener: Scarecrow. Fear motif.
• Shithead: Clayface. Shapechanger. Has an origin that would be very apt (if not tone-appropriate) for a Captain Marvel villain, though. (The origin might also be referable to Solomon Grundy.)
• The Puzzler: The Riddler. Recites puzzles.
• Deadly Nightshade: Poison Ivy. Grows plants, exudes poison.

There are probably a few characters I'm forgetting, but other than a cameo by the Hate-Monger in a crowd scene in #5, almost all of the named characters are directly referable to DC villains and most of the unnamed characters who can be recognized by their appearance also point back to DC villains. In the same crowd scene as the Hate-Monger, for example, there's a character with Killer Moth's mask.

Now, the question is why? Marvel has an impressive roster of supervillains, with Spider-Man's Rogues' Gallery matching up to the best of DC's as well as standout villains like Dr. Doom.

I think it probably comes down to something we've talked about before, which is that DC tends toward the role-filling, abstract, mythological in their characters. DC makes archetypes. Marvel focuses more on the interior conflicts that the villains externalize, which anchors its characters far more in their individual selves. I.e., every super-strong flying invulnerable guy with a cape is Superman, but if you abstract Spider-Man enough to make him an archetype (teenaged, conflicted, wise-cracking, acrobat), you've abstracted away what we respond to in the character, which are the details of his conflict.

Millar's Wanted requires supervillains who can operate without their superhero counterparts. Marvel supervillains depend more on their superheroes, making DC a more fertile ground for mining. Also note that Flash's Rogues' Gallery isn't represented in Wanted, because their nature is bound up in their hero because their stories are about how Flash's superspeed gimmicks outwit their gimmicks. Similar Batman villains like Penguin and Riddler are marginalized in Wanted.

But I'm probably excusing too much of Millar's lameness. It takes little enough imagination to mix supervillains--why not set Dr. Doom (who's also more naturally European) as Joker's ally against Luthor instead of the relatively pathetic Per Degaton? There's no reason that Green Goblin can't stand next to Poison Ivy as the Joker's gang invades Seltzer's lair.

Posted by Greg at September 22, 2004 11:15 AM