Supervillains: Do They Exist?
Superhero movies and comics have always been a niche part of pop
culture. Powerful heroes flying around the world protecting 'normal' people
who're helpless at the clutches of evil. Lucky for us, we don't need
superheroes outside of the fictional universes that they reside in because
there are no supervillains to defend us against. But what if they did?
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Trump's "The Art of the Deal" (Left) and
Luthor's "The Unauthorized Biography" (Right) |
What villain comes to
mind first when you think of the ongoing struggles between heroes and their
rivals? Some may think of Spiderman's foes, scientist's and experiments gone
mad. Others may think of the evils that Batman fights, sinister rivals with
clawing their way up from the bowels of the criminal underworld. Though beings
like the Joker or Dr. Octavious may seem cartoonishly exaggerated in the real
world, a foe like Superman's archenemy is much more of a reality. Lex Luthor, a
rich businessman with a lifelong grudge against the alien that Superman is,
shares striking similarity to the current President, Donald Trump.
Donald
Trump has recently taken it upon himself to try to manipulate his power as the
President to override the checks and balances in place that prevent imbalance
between the divisions of government. His recent threats to place the country in
a state of national emergency to redirect funding and power to build the wall
are discussed by Deanna Paul in a post from the Washington Post. She writes an
analytical piece discussing the feasibility of President Donald Trump's threat.
Not only does the article show the statutes present that give substance to the
threat, but also provides future implications that it may have. The reallocation
of funds and the seizure of property from private owners creates worry that is
nation wide. National emergencies have been issued in the past,
but they were always reserved for real threats against the United States like
the swine flu epidemic and the 9-11 terrorist incident. In a comic arc where Luthor was elected President, he
channeled all of power into bringing down Superman, a personal vendetta that
drives himself and his presidency to the ground. If Trump continues to play
with fire like Luthor did, the parallels may continue to a point where Trump
may no longer hold office.
Since
Trump's declaration to run for President and through his time in office, which
has currently climaxed at a point where he threatens to manipulate his power
for his personal antics, it seems as if Trump is using the Presidency as a
publicity stunt. In an article by Melissa Leon, she underlines the
parallels between Lex Luthor's fake presidential campaign seen in Justice
League Unlimited and Trump's campaign. They both built their platform
on the fear, both filled with "xenophobia,
militarism, misinformation, and outlandish promises neither can keep"
writes Leon. Luthor never wanted the presidency, saying that he would be giving
up power in the confines of the presidential office. Trump didn't
have as much foresight on what would happen if he did win, however, saying in
a Reuters interview that "I loved my
previous life. I had so many things going. This is more work than in my
previous life. I thought it would be easier". In hindsight, Trump now sees
his situation in the same light as what Luthor saw. They both wanted the
publicity, but not the limitations.
Even if their are similarities in their approach to
presidency, that wouldn't be enough to call someone a supervillain right? That
would be correct if the similarities stopped there. An article written on Forbes finds Trump's rise
to fame portrayed in the Netflix documentary "Trump: An American
Dream" seems like the fall of a man into madness as seen in numerous
supervillain origin stories. A strategic, ambitious and intelligent businessman
becomes "openly decadent, proudly immoral, [and]
inherently deceitful". This Forbes article continues to mention that
Trump is always honest with his intentions despite how disagreeable some of
them may seem. Since day one, Trump has said he wanted to build a wall between
the United States and Mexico. Despite how ridiculous and impractical the claim
seemed, throughout his presidency he has fought tooth and nail for it. There
isn't ever a question on Trump's actions; if he says he'll do it, he'll damn
well try. This overt honesty is key trait to all supervillains. There isn't
ever a question on whether Lex Luthor is trying to defeat Superman. The
question is rather how will he try to do it. How will Trump try to build his
wall next?
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