Lessons from the Marvel Movie Villains

Paramount Pictures

One of the ways in which we become better is to learn from the mistakes of bad people.

And if that’s the case, how much more is there to learn from supervillains?

The villains of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are an interesting lot. Some are truly epic villains, worthy of myth and legend. Others have just passed on through, and we’re still not quite sure what they even wanted. But regardless of how much fortune, power, or charisma each of these people and beings hold, each of them has caused untold amounts of misery and destruction for their own gain.

When anyone is bad to those around them, they’re actually also hurting themselves—we’re all in this life together, after all. The misery of the few leads to the misery of all.

The essence of the supervillain is selfishness, a state of being that takes many forms. Let’s take a look at how this manifests in the Marvel villain lineup, and at how we can learn to be better from each of them.

Greed alienates us.

Paramount Pictures

One can imagine Obadiah’s parents thinking, “What can we name this child to guarantee he’ll become a supervillain?” Thus was born Obadiah Stane.

After the unfortunate capture of the pre-Iron Man Tony Stark in Afghanistan, Obadiah Stane took over management of Stark Industries. Being a man who doesn’t like to give up power, imagine Obadiah’s chagrin when Tony suddenly reappears, takes back the company, and decides that Stark Industries is going to get out of the lucrative weapons business.

So what did he do in response to this? Did he quit, take his knowledge elsewhere, and find a high-paying position at another organization? No. Did he try to go into the weapons business for himself, where he would have likely made himself a billionaire filling the void that Stark Industries had left? Nope.

Instead, true to his name, he builds a giant mechanical suit. And what does he do with this suit?

To regain control of Stark Industries, he fights Iron Man in the middle of New York, in front of hundreds of witnesses. This ends in his own death, of course.

So what can we learn from the Biblically villainous Obadiah?

For one, if we didn’t know before, we now know that building a giant robot death suit is not a healthy response to loss.

Further, we can see the effects of unrestrained greed on the human psyche. Obadiah makes decisions that are bad for those around him, though supposedly good for himself. But what so many villains forget is that when we’re bad to others, we’re really just being bad to ourselves.

By the end of the film, Obadiah was alone and friendless, accompanied only by his cold greed. Even if he had succeeded, we imagine he would have been a miserable man.

So, remember. Greed is bad. Giant robot vengeance suits are bad, too.

Guilt takes you where you don't want to go.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Oh, Ultron, what potential you had.

Imagine this. An artificial intelligence derived from a piece of powerful, alien technology is purposed with the task of safeguarding humanity and maintaining peace through the power of all of Tony Stark’s technology.

When has this kind of idea ever worked out?

Tony Stark, immersed in guilt from all of the collateral damage his super-powered fights have caused throughout the world, thinks he’s about to put an end to all wars through the creation of Ultron. He doesn’t quite succeed.

Ultron’s A.I. prematurely activates and escapes, deciding within moments that the biggest threat to the human race is—you guessed it—the human race.

We have two lessons here, both of which come from the true source of the film’s misery—Tony Stark.

The first? Never let your guilt overcome your good judgment. Tony’s guilt, compounded by the mystical manipulation of Scarlet Witch, drives him to take great risks in order to redeem himself. Wallowing in guilt, ultimately, is a selfish endeavor, and one which keeps us from truly improving and moving on. Instead, it takes us down darkened paths we might have never imagined for ourselves.

Cue Tony’s “Screw the safety measures” mentality while creating Ultron.

The second lesson? Take care of your kids.

Tony, like Victor Frankenstein, abandons his creation, and in true Stark style, goes to a party while Ultron is being born. Had he been there to guide Ultron into this world, would we have the same murderous, strangely humorous machine on our hands? Perhaps not.

Although, at best, we’d have to put up with two arrogant genius billionaire playboy philanthropists.

Vengeance ends in misery.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Ronan knows how to live in style.

From his very first scene in “Guardians of the Galaxy,” we see the Kree warlord emerging from an alien bath, servants converging, their worshipful hands placing his clothing upon him and applying his fabulous makeup.

His first order of business? Placing a giant, metal hammer squarely between the eyes of a prisoner.

And that’s pretty much who Ronan is. He’s angry.

Having lost family members to the Xandarians, Ronan is now disgusted by the newly-forged alliance between Xandar and the Kree Empire. He is driven by his rage, by his thirst for vengeance, and this has twisted him into a militant, genocidal terrorist who forges an alliance with the supervillain of supervillains, Thanos, in exchange for the destruction of Xandar.

And how was this hammer-toting, infinity stone -wielding, stonefaced murderer put down?

He lost at a dance-off.

When Star Lord, in the end, dances in front of Ronan, the alien warlord is flummoxed. He’s utterly confused. He stands there awkwardly as Star Lord gyrates.

And then, while Ronan is distracted by how boring he is, a projectile strikes his hammer, destroying the head and causing the infinity stone within it to drop into Star Lord’s hand, who uses it to dissolve Ronan through the power of friendship.

No, really.

The infinity stones can destroy a mortal’s body simply through touch. But with Star Lord joining hands with several friends, their combined strength allowed them to use the stone rather than be burned out by it, disintegrating Ronan.

The lesson? Vengeance is an empty pursuit, ending in nothing but further loss and misery.

Also, if someone dances with you, don’t stand there like a stiff. You might get disintegrated. Seriously.

All humans are created equal.

Paramount Pictures

What are two ingredients that pretty much anyone can combine for an instant supervillain?

Skulls and Nazis!

Johann Schmidt, the man who would become the Red Skull, was Adolf Hitler’s head of advanced weaponry and the commander of the nefarious organization, Hydra, and the primary antagonist of “Captain America: The First Avenger”.

But Schmidt, being a supervillain in training, sought to eclipse Hitler, gaining superhuman abilities and a skull-like visage after injecting himself with an imperfect version of the same super-soldier serum that powered Captain America.

His ambition to become a superior being, in the end, was simultaneously the fuel for his rise and the catalyst for his fall. Meddling with an alien power source—the Tesseract—the Red Skull begins the creation of advanced weaponry to aid in his plan for world domination.

However, in a symbolic scene, the Tesseract proves to be too much for the Red Skull, and dissolves him, pulling his energy through a portal into parts unknown.

The number one lesson from the Red Skull? Don’t be a Nazi! And, for goodness’s sake, don’t experiment on yourself.

Also, the Red Skull reminds us that all humans are equal. He failed because of a faulty assumption—that he could become better than his fellow man. But, really, that assumption, in itself, caused him to be lesser.

Embrace the present.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Malekith is a supervillain who longs for a world long-gone.

The malevolent leader of the race of Dark Elves, a race older than the universe, Malekith once waged war against the Asgardians and lost.

After the war, Malekith, along with the few remaining Dark Elves, went into hiding, resurfacing only when their ancient weapon, the Aether, resurfaced. With it, Malektih possesses the ability to cast the universe into an eternal night, devoid of all light.

Though with their hatred of the light, why the Dark Elves didn’t simply live underground or in closets, or under the bed is a mystery. Why spoil it for the rest of us?

This yearning for the past, and the intense desire to change the present to suit your own needs is at the heart of many cultural and personal problems. The ability to accept the world as it is, and to work within that framework to improve it is a valuable skill—one that Malekith lacked.

Anyway, Malekith is eventually stopped when his arms are teleported off of his body and his own ship falls on him. That’s what happens when you can’t let go of the past, apparently.

Give one another grace.

Marvel Comics

Zemo. The quiet, unassuming, manipulative villain who is, arguably, one of the most human antagonists of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Why is he so relatable? Because he comes from a place of hurt.

Zemo doesn’t operate from a place of rage. Rather, there’s a quiet sadness on his face throughout most of “Captain America: Civil War”—a sadness which has its roots in the actions of Ultron, who we’ve already talked about.

Zemo’s family died in the final battle in Sokovia, where Ultron was destroyed by the Avengers. And the superheroes never noticed. Zemo wasn’t some big name. He had no powers. He could only watch as beings far more powerful than he battled in the sky, raining destruction down.

But Zemo was smart. He knew that, while he could never destroy the Avengers, he could make them crumble from within—something they’d never recover from.

And, largely, he succeeded. He was the only villain to truly break the Avengers.

Afterward, his mission completed, he attempted suicide, but was stopped by Black Panther, and now awaits trial.

Zemo’s is a complex lesson in sadness, retribution, and manipulation. Through his actions, we see the eye-for-an-eye mentality played out, and what the consequences can be. Was the world a better place for Zemo’s actions? No, it wasn’t. Was Zemo better for his revenge? No. Not at all. Everything he did—all the manipulation and personal agony he went through—did no one any good at all.

From Zemo, we get a heavy message from a heavy character: if we all got exactly what we deserved, the world would be a hell.

Be good to one another.

Don't play the victim.

Paramount Pictures

Ah, Loki. A mere whisper of the name induces the screams of hundreds of thousands of fans all over the world. Everybody loves Loki.

But, wait. Isn’t he a villain?

Of course he is. And that’s part of the appeal.

We see our darker selves in Loki—the Trickster God who does what he wishes. We can understand his anger—his brother, Thor, was always held in higher regard than he, has always been destined for the throne of Asgard in the Shakespearean saga of the sons of Odin.

In Loki’s mind, it’s him against the world—something our younger selves can all relate to. While not innately evil, Loki is chaos, doing whatever he thinks he needs to do to achieve his aims, all the while, thinking himself the victim.

And he’s just so darn stylish while he does it, too. His poise, his confidence, his ever-lasting smirk—they’re all part of Loki’s appeal.

But beneath that smirk lies a deep sense of inadequacy. All too aware that, as an adopted son, he’s not a true Asgardian, Loki thinks of himself as the wronged party. Again, we can relate.

But Loki teaches us something very real, and very important. We have to strive to be self-aware. Are we playing the victim? Are we justifying our actions through a false, twisted sense of the world? These are real questions we should all be asking ourselves every day.

There’s nothing wrong with being stylish, though. You can definitely keep that part.