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Manic Maniac: We Are the Villain

"Would you rather be a superhero for a day or a super villain for a day?"

That question is among hundreds of dualistic conundrums presented in the game "Would You Rather?" And it happens to be the one that created the most heated, philosophical exchange among our group when we played. I've thought about that question from time to time since, and while I had previously believed there was no "right" answer, I think I've at least stumbled onto something that is approaching right.

So, for those of you who chose superhero, despite your benevolent intentions, you're wrong. Or, at least, you can tell yourself that you'd be a superhero for day, but once given the power, it's more likely that your actions would say otherwise. In short, we have no choice. We are a villainous lot.

The Hypocrisy of Moral Behavior

A recent psychological study by two Northeastern University profressors, Piercarlo Valdesolo and David DeSteno, actually tested just that. Well, almost. They tested what is unofficially known as the "self-halo" effect.

Given two possible chores, one challenging and one simple, subjects were asked to allocate one task to another, unknown subject, and take the other task for themselves. When an independent group was asked what they would do in this scenario, it roundly agreed that the fairest decision would be to assign the simple task to the stranger. Yet when it came time to actually choose who got off easy, more than 75 percent of test subjects picked themselves for the simple task and gave the stranger the more taxing one. And when questioned, they all claimed to have acted fairly. Valdesolo and DeSteno call this moral hypocrisy. People acting out in what they view as moral turpitude can still justify their actions. And it's this essential ingredient that defines a villain.

Villains, at their most interesting, are tragically flawed, but otherwise "human." Magneto, a holocaust survivor, is motivated by the preservation of the mutant race, like a misguided civil rights activist. Anakin Skywalker fought the dark side for years before ego and lost love reconstructed him as Darth Vader. Bladerunner's replicant Roy Batty—a mostly human humanoid—only became the villain when he realized his lifespan was about to expire.

While these "people" are ostensibly evil, they could each intellectually justify their actions as morally correct, even if their conscience knows what they are doing is antagonistic. In most cases, they are driven to "wrong" by selfishness, like those Northeastern test subjects. Though that focus group may not be vying for interstellar domination any time soon, the basic elements persist. To wit, villains are archetypes of our own fundamental flaws.

It's Too Hard to Be Good

So, to pose that question again, would you rather be a superhero for a day or a super villain, let's weigh out the circumstances. Plenty of us would like to assume that if we had the power, we would wipe out crime, save the kitty from the tree and police the world, just like those questioned said they would assign themselves the more difficult task. It's difficult to be a superhero. It's easy not to be.

Superman has the ability to hear all cries for help across the planet. In a realistic circumstance, even Superman has to pick and choose his good deeds. He can't conceivably mend a spilt oil tanker while a bank heist is being carried out simultaneously in the next hemisphere. That's a heavy burden for a conscience to bear, even a conscience of steel. Would the average person spend their 24 hours of super power living out that life? Or would he fly around, maybe down to St. Croix for some beach time, up to the Eiffel Tower for a photo, and then back home to use his X-ray vision to peer in on the neighborhood hottie taking a shower? After all, you can't save the world in a day. Tell yourself each and every time that you'd pick the former, but even if you acted in such an exhausting manner for half of your 24 hours, the best of us would succumb to the selfish act of taking a nap at some point.

And maybe that's closer to the truth. If a villain is someone who does everything a superhero wouldn't do, then wouldn't doing nothing be villainous? Perhaps that idea lies at the crux of the famous Edmund Burke quote, “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” But I digress.

This is particularly relevant given the opening of the antihero movie Hancock. Will Smith's character acts the reluctant superhero, drunk, misogynistic and self-pitying of his plight. As a result, he botches rescues, does as much harm as good and needs a PR specialist to polish his persona. What's interesting about the concept is the realness of the character. He isn't devoid of inherent human qualities. He's an average Joe with super powers. Give a human more-than-human qualities, and he still has to pay the bills, feed his family and survive. Where do those items rank in terms of saving the world? And if choosing between dereliction and a roof over your head, are you going to take time off to garner livable wages or incessantly prevent ill from blanketing the planet? We're me-first creatures, like any animal—self-preservation is at the fore of our existence. So, while you took five minutes to mend your wounds after catching that collapsing building, someone somewhere else just died. Fair or not, that makes you the villain.

So, what would you rather be for one day? A superhero or a super villain? This writer picks latter, only because he knows he has no choice.