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Supervillains

A supervillain (also called a super villain or super-villain) is a villain greater than other villains (or in some cases, intend to be), usually through various powers, abilities, skills, resources and other qualities that set them apart from regular villains. In many cases, though not all, they are presented as foils for a superhero, though there are also stories where supervillains square off against ordinary men or other villains.

History in superhero fiction[]

There were archtypes who would go on to define what supervillains would become. Many classical villain traits in fiction would become standard to the supervillain and many traits and elements of iconic fictional villains such as Sherlock Holmes' archenemy Moriarty (such as megolomania and constantly returning to threaten their enemies repeatedly) would go on to define them. One of the earliest supervillains (and one that headlined his own series of books) was Fu Manchu, a "yellow peril" villain constantly plotting to take over the world. The villain was a genius and had an army at his disposal and spawn various adaptations in a variety of media, though the character's controversial portrayal of race has since made the character unpopular.

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