The problem with antiheroes
is that not usually they are more “hero” than “anti”. That
is, while they tend to be on the darker side of the spectrum of
heroics they still tend to be basically heroes. Look at Frank “The
Punisher” Castle: Sure, there's no question that the guy can get
violent and he thinks that a lot of heroes are pansies, but the guy
still has a definite code of honor and only breaks a specific set of
laws. That is, he's not likely to steal just for the money or kill
someone just for kicks. The same applies to a lot of antiheroes; they
are just paladins that don't mind getting violent.
What we need are more
antiheroes that are actual villains and fully acknowledge it. I'd
qualify Captain Jack Sparrow here, as the guy make no bones that he's
one of the bad guys and wears his prison record like a medal. The
Suicide Squad definitely qualify; if it weren't for the bob in their
neck most would have no problem killing others just for another slice
of pizza and that slice is optional. You also have Lobo, who brags
about the very misdeeds that earned him his rep. These are
unrepentingly evil; being evil is just part of who they are.
Nonetheless, they usually end up on the right side even if it is just
by accident or getting hired by the good guys; they may be evil but
they end up on the side of angels somehow.
And then there are the
lunatics. The problem is that you have two basic flavors: Accidental
forces of good and purposeful forces for evil. Ignoring the evil
version, consider the good-aligned psychopaths: The Mask is the
former, where he has no problem with violence and such but his
actions tend to support the forces of good: He only attacks
evil-doers. Look at Dexter: He kills people, but the victims tend to
be pretty heinous criminals who would have escaped punishment; he's
helping society in his own twisted way but he's still helping
society. These aren't really heroes so much as villains with a
limited code of ethics; they do things that make them feel good, and
punishing those that have slighted them makes them feel good. Their
purposes may be selfish, but they still tend to do good.
[This is opposed to evil
psychopaths, such as The Joker and Carnage, who do what they do to
harm someone, usually the hero. Carnage seeks to punish Spider-Man,
for example, just as Joker is trying to teach Batman that life is all
about pain; the Joker is all about the thorns and not the rose. Just
clarifying things a bit....]
These characters tend to
have one of three arcs: Redemption, spiralling, and bouncing.
“Bouncing” is probably the most annoying, where the character
keeps bouncing from side to side; this character needs to die or
otherwise suffers bad enough that he is eliminated from the story.
It's just going to hit a point that the character has no credibility
as a character and uses up any value he has especially for suspense.
However, spiralling can be fun to watch as the character starts
becoming more and more evil, and must compromise his beliefs, such as
they are, in order to succeed at the chosen mission. Eventually the
character must either become an even bigger force for evil or pull
back to some former level. It could even put them on a redemption
track.
Try to save the redemption
track for characters that deserve it. It's just way too overused, and
comes off as trite unless the character has actually deserved it. A
fun variation is to set the character on the track and then derail it
somewhere, as either those around him won't let him forget the past
or he decides the struggle isn't worth it. He can then engage in some
sort of hard fall as he commits even worse sins than normal as he
accepts his place in the cosmic balance, sort of like Mr. Glass in
the movies. You can always redeem the character, just don't default
to it every time.
When it comes to playing
with an antihero, keep in mind that he should be the lesser of two
evils, but not by much. It can only help to have some fun with the
character, using him to show that the universe is so bad that the
hero is almost as bad as the villains. The antihero should not just
be a darker paladin, but a lighter villain. Keep that in mind and you
may just have an interesting character.
No comments:
Post a Comment