46 Years Later, This Confusing Superhero Movie Trope Makes Even Less Sense

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With Creature Commandos, the DC Universe under co-CEOs Jamess Gunn and Peter Safran is officially underway. Their new strategy for building a shared continuity faces different challenges than their predecessors or the Marvel Cinematic Universe did. Audiences are more familiar with comic book storytelling than before. While viewers expect certain archetypal story elements, the DCU needs to avoid the confusing superhero trope where the villain kills their own henchmen to show how mentally unstable they are.

Movies and shows about superheroes have evolved from their inception in the early 20th Century to the modern day. In most cases, live-action adaptations of these characters try to avoid the campy, silly side of comics. As these stories shifted into darker narrative territory, the villains the heroes faced naturally followed. Instead of the cartoonish baddies and fights found in 1966’s Batman, villains like Lex Luthor, the Joker and others hatched plans with life or death stakes. As these stories become more grounded, certain tropes don’t make as much sense. The X-Men films did away with flashy costumes. The MCU mostly avoided secret identities. The DC Extended Universe did away with origin stories. The next trope to go is villains with foolish henchmen who don’t care about their own lives.

Richard Donner’s Superman Avoided This Trope, But Batman Didn’t

Tim Burton’s Joker Killed a Henchman, While Richard Donner’s Lex Luthor Didn’t

The first modern superhero film was Supermandirected by Richard Donner. In that movie, Lex Luthor’s main ally is Otis, a bumbling fool. Still, despite his frequent mistakes, Luthor never gets so angry that he kills him. In fact, it’s Miss Tessmacher who ultimately betrays Luthor by helping Superman get free of a kryptonite necklace. While the whole “reversing Earth’s rotation” thing isn’t very realistic, audiences understand why Lex’s allies don’t like him just the same.

In 1989’s Batman, however, Joker does kill his “number one guy,” Bob. In this case, the trope works because it happens near the end of the film. Earlier in the movie, boss Carl Grissom said the same thing to Jack Napier, just before betraying him. Grissom had good reason, since Jack planned to betray him first. Joker kills Bob for no reason other than Batman stealing his balloons, but it at least has some impact.

While darker and more grounded than Adam West’s Bright Knight, Michael Keaton’s Batman exists in a very “comic book” world. The Batman scene works because of that and its third-act placement. Joker’s goons are committed to his “cause” as a homicidal artist. They follow him with such loyalty because the story demands it. The next iteration of the Clown Prince of Crime takes this trope and makes it a defining characteristic.

Villains Killing Their Own Goons Is a Tired Trope That Should End

It Undercuts the Authenticity of Superhero Movies and Shows

While Heath Ledger’s Joker is iconic, serious criminals’ subservience to him stands out while rewatching The Dark Knight. Similarly, both Gotham and Arrow borrowed heavily from Batman lore, such as Ra’s al Ghul’s appearances. He often straight-up murders his followers. It’s meant to show their devotion to their leader, but in both cases it’s just silly. There are countless examples in films and series of villains wantonly killing their henchman. It doesn’t make them seem terrifying or dangerous. Each time this trope is used, it pulls more viewers out of the story.

While DC adaptations are the worst offenders, the MCU is not exempt from this trope. The HYDRA operatives in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,for example, frequently die at their leader’s hands. Still, the MCU is better at making these moments mean something. In Iron Fist, Harold Meachum kills his loyal assistant over nothing, but it leads to a moment of self-reflection and regret. In Black Panther, Killmonger kills his partner when Ulysees Klaue takes her hostage, but he was neither loyal to them nor in charge.

Like other instances of this trope, Kingpin kills the Russian without premeditation in a fit of rage. Yet, he uses the murder to frame Daredevil and take control of the gang’s operation. When he reveals what he did to his allies, they are shaken and less trusting of Fisk’s leadership. Still, the Kingpin convinced his allies the Russians were always going to be removed from their plans. Additionally, their absence increased the surviving criminals’ share of their ill-gotten profits. Later, when Wesley dies, Fisk mourns him.

Every Character Death Should Have Meaning, Even Villains’ Victims

From Kingpin to the Penguin, Killing an Ally Must Have Impact

Daredevil was successfully able to spin this trope to its narrative advantage, but it was The Penguin that perfected it. Oz Cobb killed Victor Aguilar, his most loyal ally, in the finale, but he didn’t do it publicly. The Penguin was only able to survive his war with Gotham’s crime families because of his ability to engender loyalty in others.If Oz had gone around shooting his “soldiers” for no reason, one of them would’ve killed him first. Killing Vic in secret better defined Oz as a villain.

The Penguin finale showed Oz becoming Gotham’s kingpin when the closest allies of the other criminal organizations’ leaders turned on them. Vic was Oz’s “number one guy,” and it was his faith in the Penguin that won him his allies. When Oz took out Vic, he did so in the dark with no witnesses. Not only did it remove the possibility that Vic would turn on him, but Oz’s genuine feelings for his young partner were a weakness that could be exploited. Watching him tell Vic he loved him as he choked him to death made Oz more horrifying and villainous than Joker shooting Bob or any other iteration of this trope.

James Gunn’s DCU is all about embracing the foundational elements of comic book storytelling in authentic ways. Randomly killing one’s followers is a supervillain staple, but it should be avoided. In Creature Commandos, Frankenstein’s monster is a murderous, unstable villain. Yet, the lives he takes in the first few episodes aren’t taken lightly. Villains who kill with a purpose are always more intimidating than those who don’t.

Creature Commandos is the first canon project in the DC Universe, currently debuting new episodes Thursdays on Max.

“}]] Both the DCU and MCU rely on comic book tropes to tell stories, but villains killing their allies publicly and without good reason makes no sense.  Read More