Mad Max and Movie Villains

Oh My God he's horrifying!

Super Hero movies are often defined by the villains. For example, the first Spider-Man (not the Amazing kind) isn’t the movie where Peter Parker discovers his powers, it’s where Spider-Man faces the Green Goblin, and the second Spider-Man isn’t where Peter Parker has to choose between being a nerdy university student and being webslinger, it’s where Spider-Man fights Doc Oc. And the third Spider-Man isn’t the one where Peter Parker dealt with an identity crisis, it’s where he does battle with Sandman … and Venom … and New goblin … and I guess it’s the one where the movie deals with an identity crisis – probably because the three villains combined were weaker than one good villain.

I mean, is this anybody's favorite Spiderman?

nope.

For another example, look at Nolan’s Batman universe. Most people, myself included, consider the second entry to be the best because The Joker. The Joker is far and away the most memorable part of the film. There are many parts of superhero movies that are important, but take a second to consider what The Dark Knight would be like with a mediocre Joker opposed to Heath Ledger’s masterful and terrifying performance. In what is probably an unfair generalization that I am going to make anyway, Superhero movies, and those like them, are only as good as the villains.

Who was the most memorable?

This brings me back to Mad Max: Fury Road. Actually it doesn’t quite yet, but I promise we’re getting there. First, let’s address the question: why are villains so important to the success of the movie? My theory is this: Villains are crucial to the success of superhero movies, because the villain drives the action. Excluding the exceptions that don’t fit into this box I’m making, superhero movies follow this basic formula.

Villains are crucial to the success of superhero movies, because the villain drives the action.

Part 1. The Status quo exists. AKA New York is a flawed but overall pretty decent city.

Part 2. The bad guy puts his evil and convoluted plans into action to disrupt the status quo, because in the words of Dr. Horrible (best villain of all-time) “the status is not quo.” Often times this plan involves at least 67 steps one of which is getting captured. Usually by the end nobody has any idea what is going on.

Part 3. The Hero fights the bad guy because they don’t want to see the city, or world, or more specifically their love interest, because screw everyone else, get destroyed.

Part 4. The Hero wins. Hooray! They have defeated the evil villain along with his/her (his) probably overly complex plan and tacked on backstory to try to make the audience understand why they think killing millions is actually good. Like the giant blue guy says in the new X-Men, “And from the ashes of this world, we’ll build a better one.” Aww, he had good intentions after all. Their plan actually made sense … but did it really?

Let’s take a closer look at Part 2 of my four part analysis. Part 2: the bad guy disrupts the status quo by launching his evil plan that he has probably spent years concocting. The bad guy launches the plan, and the hero reacts. This means that the villain is the driver of the action. Sure the hero will create some counterplan that will fail once or twice before eventually succeeding, but it is the villain who drives the conflict. For example, what would’ve happened in The Avengers without Loki? Would it have been two-plus hours of the post credit scene? You know the one? Where they sit around eating greasy fast food and sort of stare off into the distance? Loki drives all of the action in the movie, and the heroes are reacting rather than initiating. My point is this: in the majority of superhero movies, the movie wouldn’t happen at all if the villain didn’t exist, which means that the villain had better be as good a character as the hero, or the movie is going down the tubes.

The Avengers if Loki didn't show up

Finally, this brings me to Mad Max: Fury Road. A lot of people have said that this was the best movie of 2015 and that’s because it was. Sorry Spotlight, you were a close second. Mad Max flips my previously mentioned 4-part formula. It is the hero who disrupts the status quo by stealing Immortan Joe’s wives, and it is Immortan Joe, the villain, who is literally trying to chase down the heroes and return things to the status quo, which by the way, was definitely not quo. This means that the heroes are in the driver’s seat and in this case sitting on top of “two-thousand horse power of nitro-boosted war machine!”

Having the heroes drive the story endears the heroes in our minds, and it also saves the movie from clumsily having to establish who Immortan Joe is. When the heroes spark the action the movie doesn’t have to concoct some weird back story explaining why Immortan Joe wants to take over the New York, or why he has some personal vendetta against Max or Furiosa. Instead, at the beginning of the film when we see him powerfully addressing the crumbling society he rules, we understand everything we need to know about him. 1. He is powerful. 2. His followers follow him religiously 3. He is super scary. 4. Don’t mess with him. 5. He’s got issues. These character traits make perfect sense for somebody who has risen to the top of the Wasteland, they establish a formidable enemy for Furiosa and Max, and they establish a character who sure as hell is going to fight back when our heroes steal his wives.

That’s all we need to know about him. It is simple and effective. Much like the rest of the film, the beauty is in the simplicity. Sure, it probably won’t win any awards for screenwriting or originality, but it 100% works, and it’s way better than trying to figure out the motivations behind a character like Silva in a movie like Skyfall. Sure a good mind bender is fun every once in a while, but in the end, all I really want in a big blockbuster is something that makes sense and isn't stupid. Not every movie can have the most clever cunning and sneaky villain ever, but every movie should have a villain that makes sense and fits into the world that the film has created. In Mad Max I understand what both the heroes and the villains are doing at all times, I understand why they are doing it, and as a bonus their motivations even make sense. And as a double bonus Immortan Joe’s scary as sh**!

Look at him ... or don't.

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