Toast to the Villains

The latest season of Sherlock was terrible: the attempt to make Holmes a bit more human fell on its face; the plots were non-existent; and most important of all, there was no James Moriarty. As this article says:

“Indeed, a truly great superhero comic is defined by the quality of the villains. Batman has the Joker; Superman has Lex Luthor; Spider-Man has Doc Ock; Iron Man has the Mandarin. In each of those cases (and many more), the best villains have become just as legendary as their corresponding heroes, and are almost always more interesting.”

To this list, I would add: Sherlock Holmes has James Moriarty; and Harry Potter has Lord Voldemort. In any case, aren’t they like the yin and yang? Or as Moriarty puts it:

“We're just alike, you and I, except you're boring. You're on the side of the angels.”

Great villains don’t just liven up “banal stories about (heroes) saving the day and getting the girl while simultaneously standing for truth, justice, and the American way”; they even make you like them. This guy with the handle Grimsrasatoas puts it perfectly on Reddit about Moriarty:

“i actually love his character. not in the "I love villainy/evil" way, but the fact that he's so diabolical and everything he does is insane.”

Remember John Travolta in Broken Arrow?

The best villains don’t narrate their wicked plots like they do in Hindi movies. They are too smart for that. As Adrian Veidt said in Ozymandias:

“I'm not a comic book villain. Do you seriously think I would explain my master stroke to you if there were even the slightest possibility you could affect the outcome?”

JK Rowling surely agrees: remember how Dumbledore had to explain the Dark Lord’s actions to Harry Potter at the end of every book?

Besides, don’t heroes sometimes invoke envy, something Harvey Dent warned Batman about:

“You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

Moriarty implemented that very idea in the adapted TV series when he turned the public (and police) against Holmes. In Moriarty’s own words:

“Sir Boast-a-lot was the bravest and cleverest knight of the round table but soon the other knights began to grow tired of his stories about how many dragons he’d slain. And soon they began to wonder “Are Sir Boast-a-lot’s stories even true?” Ohhhh noooo. So all of the knights went to King Arthur and said “I don’t believe Sir Boast-a-lot’s stories! He’s just a big old liar who makes things up to make himself look good.” And then even the King began to wonder…”

Sony Pictures seems to agree with the importance (and commercial potential) of the bad guy. Recently, they decided to make two films centered on Spiderman’s villains, Venom and the Sinister Six.

And like Benicio Del Toro said, don’t the best villains provide potential for sequels?

“Villains used to always die in the end. Even the monsters. Frankenstein, Dracula - you'd kill them with a stake. Now the nightmare guy comes back.”

Look no farther than Lord Voldemort to see what he means.

Now, if only they resurrect (it’s so much fun to use the word for the bad guy!) James Moriarty and make the next season of Sherlock come to life...