Villain 10: Ares

(www.comicvine.com)

For my 10th post to this blog I am analyzing the DC version of the Villain known as Ares. Ares is the enemy of the Justice League, but in particular he is the enemy of Wonder Woman and Aquaman. Ares gets his magical powers from war. If there is a world with no war, then Ares is rendered weak and powerless, but if there is a mass amount of war for example a nuclear world war then Ares would become an all powerful Overlord of the Earth. Lucky for our sake Ares is fictional character so we don't have to worry about that. Anyway so Ares has many Romantic Ties. First of all he directly alludes to greek mythology. There is no arguing against that fact. Ares is the Greek God of War (no its not Kratos -_-). Ares is also a keen observer of the Human world. He has to be in order to remain powerful and knowing, at times Ares takes form of a trusted ally of a raging warlord and advises said warlord to attack. Other times Ares appears in his true form (shown above) he gets what he wants by inducing fear into his target. Although in romanticism the observer does not interfere, in other cases Ares does do that. In the Injustice: Gods Among Us storyline Ares is defeated within moments of Superman declaring to the world that his One-World Regime will happen or cities would be leveled. This rendered Ares weakened, and to top it all off the One-World Regime ended all wars, and made sure no more would happen. This caused Ares to only be able to observe the world, record details, and learn how to spark conflict so he may gain his magic powers back. This is in fact a romantic ideal. Well thats about it for Ares. I do not know if I will post again to this blog it all depends on my schedule and other things. If I do post again I will first write about the Demon Lord Trigon, and then I will move into some Marvel Villains finally, and maybe even freelance Villains such as Skeleton or Shredder it all depends. I hope enjoyed you enjoyed my blog.

Villain 9: The Phoenix Five

(marvel.wikia.com)

The next set of villains I am analyzing is a team of five Marvel (I prefer DC but I had to even it out a little bit) heroes that became influenced by the Phoenix Force, and thus turned evil. The Phoenix force is an intergalactic mystic force that has the potential to be absorbed by those who are worthy. Well to start with my romanticism analysis the Phoenix force is a force of nature. The Incredibly powerful energy source (Nature) allowed itself to be absorbed by five mutants which in this case are Imperfect Humans. There is obviously reverence to nature in these villains. Anyway so the 5 X-Men that absorbed the Phoenix Force were Emma Frost, Colossus, Magik, Namor, and their leader Cyclops. The absorption of the phoenix force caused a Superhero war, which is portrayed in the "Avengers Vs. X-Men" storyline. The Phoenix force itself is not evil, but it caused the X-Men it influenced to demand from the world the respect that the mutants deserved. The people of the world did not agree, so the Phoenix 5 and the X-Men joined together to reck havoc upon the world. Anyway so one romantic value in the Five belongs to Magik. Magik's powers involve controlling and summoning the demons in Hell. This is an obvious allusion to the Bible because the Hell that she is able to summon demons from is the Hell mentioned in the Bible. Another Romantic Allusion is from Namor (Marvel's rip off of the glorious Aquaman). Namor is the king of the seas, and he alludes to the ancient city of Atlantis. Atlantis was created by the ancient philosopher known as Platos, as an example of a utopian society with a perfect world. Utopian Societies are a romantic era value. Due to utopian societies the entire Phoenix Five has a romantic value there because The Phoenix five wanted to create their utopia. Thus they have a romantic value. Well thats about it for the Phoenix Five. For my 10th and potentially final villain I will be analyzing the God of War, the one the only Ares.

Villain 8: General Zod

(pixshark.com)

*Those who enjoyed the "Man of Steel" movie beware viewer discretion is advised*

"Man of Steel" was a movie like none other. It accomplished many important things, none of which have anything to do with the box office records (I don't know how they were that high. That movie made me cringe as a comic book reader). It is one of the few films that has caused an Internet war between the people who believe that the Movie was good, and those who believe that the movie was an absolute piece of garbage and due to its creation have vowed to never watch a movie made by the fiend Zach Snyder again (I'm not that extreme on disliking it but it was pretty bad). Not only did the Movie tarnish the Social Media's reputation of Superman by breaking his "No Kill" rule, but also it snapped something else. This object that was snapped caused an outrage on the internet. This object was General Zod's neck. Now enough of my bad manors towards such a terrible movie lets move on to the analysis of General Zod.

Dru-Zod was originally the leader of planet kryptons military. Zod attempted to overthrow the government of krypton by creating an army of Zod look-a-like robots with Bizzaro type powers. He obviously failed, and Zod was sentenced to rot in the phantom zone for 40 years. Zod has many romantic values. For example Zod has a reverence towards nature which is unexpected for a military man. Zod did not wish to destroy the nature of the Earth when he attempted to take it over (Yes the movie that shall not be named had the basic plot of a comic book storyline correct) all Zod wanted to do was enslave the human race and kill those who resisted. Was that to much to ask? The Earth obviously resisted and with the assistance of Superman the plan failed. He also is very individualistic, which is a very important romantic value. That's about it for General Zod, and I apologize for any hurt feelings for ranting about that terrible movie.

Villain 7: Black Hand

(dc.wikia.com)

Bruce Wayne is dead. The hero that social media has blown out of proportion known as The Batman, has died, and in The Blackest Night storyline recently resurrected William Hand uses his new Black Lantern Ring to resurrect the dead. By holding the skull of our caped crusader and chanting:

"The Blackest Night Falls From The Skies,

  The Darkness grows as all light dies,

  We crave our heart and your demise,

  By my Black hand, The dead Shall Rise!"

(Romantic Style poetry)

William Hand begins to raise the dead and attack the worlds beloved superheroes as they fall to his deathly grasp, and rise again as black lanterns. Many of the worlds beloved superheroes fell to the Black Hand. Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Superboy, Abin-sur, Azreal the Avenging Angel, and countless others all fell to the Black Hands power. This rampage lead to the "War of Light" which was a bloody intergalactic war between the Black Lanterns (Death), and The Red (Rage), Blue (Hope), Yellow (Fear), Green (Will), Orange (Greed), Indigo (Compassion), Star-Sapphire (Love), and White Lantern Corps (Life). Anyway so enough with the backstory lets get to the analysis. So the first romantic value that comes to mind is the clear allusion to the Bible. William Hand became the EMBODIMENT of death (if it didn't get to you the first time he embodied death). The Black Hand became one of the four horseman of the apocalypse, and this is a clear allusion to the Bible. Another Romantic value in the Black hand is the fact that he is completely flawed. William Hand is a Necrophiliac (someone who enjoys "touching" dead bodies. I'm not going to use a more clear term for obvious reasons) he defiles the graves of many people and throws the entire nature of the universe out of balance. This total destruction of the reverence of all embodiments of nature causes the White Lanterns to appear. The white lanterns are the natural defense force of the universe. The rings appear to those who are worthy when the world needs them the most. The white lanterns destroyed the Black Lanterns and William Hand with ease. Nature had the power to destroy the imperfect humans. This is a important romantic value. Well that's about it. In my next blog I will try to control my anger as I analyze another DC villain (I'm sorry marvel fans but the DC villains are so much deeper in meaning. I did Galactus to make you happy). This villain is known as General Zod, so beware fans of the "Man of Steel" movie because I may bash that piece of garbage into the ground. 

Villain 6: Lex Luthor

(www.comicvine.com)

The next villain that I am going to analyze is the richest man in the DC universe. This mans ego and persona are so self-driven and selfish, that he will stop at nothing to achieve his ultimate goal. This Villains name is Alexander Joseph “Lex” Luthor, he is billionaire, a businessman, a genius, an inventor, and a mortal man who is obsessed with killing a nearly immortal alien with godlike powers. Lex Luthor is the Arch-Nemesis of Superman, and Lex’s vast wealth and intelligence has given him a seemingly infinite amount of resources, and Lex does not hesitate to use all of them. Lex Luthor has been known to do anything in his power in order to kill Superman, in fact Lex has been known to plant all of his technologies, weapons, and armors with a large amount kryptonite, which is the only thing that allows for mortals to injure Superman.

In the video to the left demonstrates Lex Luthor’s large amount of resources and his endless drive to defeat Superman at all costs. *SPOILERS* In this video Lex Luthor and his allies are successfully able to defeat the Justice League and most big members. Lex Luthor lives to regret his obsession with defeating Super as seen in the end of the battle scene with the Looming Alien Ships of Brainiacs Galactic Invasion force.

This leads to one of Lex Luthors Romantic values. Lex ends up becoming an Anti-Hero in the DC Universe online story line. He does this in other storylines as well. For example in the Superman Red Son storyline Lex becomes the president of US, while Superman (who as an infant ended up crash landing in The Soviet Union instead of Smallville, Kansas) is the Dictator of the Soviet Union, and Lex shows an Anti-Hero like personality in this storyline. Lex forces Superman to pay ultimate sarifice, causing the entire world to become a better place under president authors rule. In Injustice: Gods Among us story line Lex secretly funds the rebellion against Superman's One-World Regime, and eventally pays the ultimate price when Lex confesses to Superman that he was his enemy by challenging Superman's leadership. Lex Luthor has many other romantic ties. For one his original appearance in Action Comics issue #23 was a romantic era comic book. Mr. Luthor also is known to be very observant, and if necessary Lex will wait and observe the actions of his target (generally his target is Kal-El) for as long as he needs to. Lex observes his target through a vast network of, surveillance cameras, spies, mercenaries and assassins (Deathstroke or Deadshot are generally the people he goes to for those sets of skills), and other human resources (politicians he bribes or blackmails, members of the justice league he interrogates, etc.). This patience is a key quality expressed in most romantic writers pieces and lives. Lex's constant battling with Superman also has an allusion to a simple game of chess. In fact when Lex finally beats superman in the Red Son storyline Superman's Last words are "Well Played, Old Friend". On the Next page it shows Luthor playing a game of chess while he is thinking about his accomplishments, and he says "Checkmate Superman." This allusion to something as simple as a game of chess is a very big romantic ideal of observation. To make something as simple as a game of chess be shown in the complicated and drawn out relationship shown between Kal-El and Lex Luthor takes a lot observation and deep thought. This is a very big romantic ideal. Thus this ends my blog on Lex Luthor I know that it is a little bit over board on words, but I am very passionate about Comic books. 

Villain 5: Deathstroke

(www.dccomics.com)

The next villain on my list of villains to analyze is one of my personal favorites. This Villain is the world's most deadly assassin, his name is Slade Wilson, but he he is more commonly referred to as "Deathstroke". Slade Wilson was originally soldier, he enlisted in US army at the age of 16, and began his training them. Slade quickly mastered every fighting style and task assigned to him. He quickly rose through the ranks of the US military, and eventually he became a test subject for the US armies program to create metahuman supersoldiers. Much like Captain America this project gave Slade Super-human reflexes, strength, endurance, a healing factor, and many other powers. Slade eventually started using his powers as a mercenary (in secret of course), and that is when he took up the name of Deathstroke. Although Deathstroke may not seem to have any romantic values or ties again that is wrong.

One romantic value that Deathstroke has is the deep emotional struggle that goes on within him. This emotional struggle has to do with the fact that Deathstroke was the cause of his son's muteness, and the break up of his family. Both of these things caused Slade a lot of physical pain, for example due to Slade causing his son's muteness, his wife promptly tried to kill Slade. She obviously did not succeed, but she did premaritally destroy Slades right eye. It is never stated why Slade's healing factor did not heal his eye, but most theories state that it is due to the emotional pain of what he did to his family. Another romantic value Deathstroke has is the fact that he sometimes sways between being a Villain, and being an anti-hero. Anti-hero's first started to appear in literature in the Romantic era, thus Anti-hero's are considered a romantic value. Deathstroke is far superior to the Marvel anti-hero rip off of Slade known as Deadpool. If you are interested in seeing the romantic values in Dead click HERE!

Villain 4: Atrocitus

(www.comicvine.com)

The next villain I am analyzing is probably the angriest creature to ever exist. His name is Atrocitus, the founder of the Red Lantern Corps and the destroyer of all. Atrocitus was originally a peaceful alien, but everything changed when the Rogue Manhunters damaged through Space Sector 666, and killed everyone (including Atrocitus's family) except for five beings. The survivors of this attack formed the Five Inversions, and they began their war against the Guardians of the Universe (The Green lanterns are Guardians of the Universe). They were defeated promptly, and imprisoned for all eternity on a planet called Ysmault. Unfortunately he escaped when green lantern Abun Sur was foolish enough to free him, and take him to earth under the false hope that Atrocitus would help Sur. Atrocities then went on a killing spree and was only stopped by Hal Jordan and Sinestro. Atrocitus has many allusions to the bible. First of all he is the embodiment of one of the seven deadly sins, Wrath. This shows solidifies the fact that he is completely evil. Also in Atrocitus's origin story the number 666 appears 3 times (666 and 3! Double Illuminati). This is an allusion to Satan, due to the fact that the number 6 is the number of Satan. Another allusion to the bible is the planet Atrocitus was imprisoned on. It is described as a land of fire where the wicked will spend their lives imprisoned for all eternity.  This is a religious allusion to hell. Due to these accessions it is widely believe and accepted that Atrocitus was created as an allusion to Satan. Another Romantic value seen in Atrocitus is the fact that he always kills Humans while in some form of unsettled nature. It is almost as if he is protecting Natures reverence and destroying the imperfect humans who are invading nature, and many times they are harming nature as well. This does not mean that Atrocitus is a "Good Guy" because he still kills many humans and even preforms a ritual that gives the prophecy that the Black Lanterns (also known as he Lanterns of Death) will come and basically destroy Earth (What is it with aliens and Forces of evil always attacking Earth?).

Villain 3: Doomsday

(dc.wikia.com)

For my third post to this blog I will be analyzing Doomsday. Obviously Doomsday's name is an allusion to the Bible he is what appears to be the end of all life. Doomsday was created in a lab on prehistoric Krypton. The Alien scientist Bertron released a humanoid infant onto the dangerous planet, the child obviously was killed extremely fast due to Prehistoric Kryptons dangerous environment. The Infant's remains were then collected and used to make a clone of the infant, which had evolved, so then it could make it a little bit longer in the hostile environment. This process was continued until the creature had evolved to a level where it could survive in any environment, and many creatures with ease. At this point Doomsday promptly killed Bertron and escaped on a ship, and went to many different planets and went on mass killing sprees. This a tie to romanticism because it is showing that if a mortal who is flawed (which is inevitable) tries to play god then he will be killed due to his mistakes. This allusion to the first commandment (thou shalt not have no other gods before me) can be seen in other works of literature such as Frankenstein. Anyway so Doomsday had a brief encounter with a member of the green lantern corps, who Doomsday promptly killed, and took the lantern's power ring. At that point the Green Lantern Corps then attempted to kill Doomsday. Hundreds of Lanterns died trying to stop him. Eventually a Guardian of Oa sacrificed himself to kill Doomsday (obviously the guardians sacrifice was in vain because Doomsday would regenerate in a form more powerful than his previous one). This cycle of evolution and mass murder continued for many years after this. Eventually Doomsday found his way to Earth, where he attracted the attention of the Justice League. Doomsday was easily able to defeat the Justice League (literally with one hand behind his back). After this Doomsday became obsessed with killing superman. The two practically indestructible fighters eventually clashed. For several hours the two fought, and eventually the two killed each other.

(www.comicbookmovie.com)

 Superman eventually came back due to his superpowers (allusion to the bible Superman is Jesus), and he promptly threw Doomsdays regenerating body into Deep space. This did not stop Doomsday because he has come back many times since then. Eventually Superman discovered the one thing that can defeat Doomsday, when Superman transported Doomsday through a portal to the end of time where Doomsday would infinitely fight his ultimate opponent: Entropy. Eventually Doomsday came back because of a wormhole the opened enough long enough for Doomsday to escape. This thus started the cycle of murder again.

Villain 2: Galactus

 (www.comicvine.com)

For my second Super-Villain blog I am analyzing Galactus. Galactus is a Marvel Comics Villain who is known for eating entire planets. Galactus appears to be several thousand miles tall, and obviously has a BIG appetite. Galactus sends his heralds to planets in advance in order to ensure that it is suitable to eat, then Galactus comes around and devours the planets life force, thus killing everything on the planet. Galactus is honestly the most powerful force in the entire Marvel universe, and is more powerful than most of the DC universe heroes (excluding Dr. Fate, Superman, etc). Galactus has many ties to Romantic values because of his sheer power.

Galactus is a force of Nature! He is not a Demi-God who just eats planets in his past time. Galactus is a force of Nature that destroys planets, and consumes energy to become more powerful. His power alone shows that Nature is the most powerful thing in the universe, which is an obvious Romantic ideal. Nature in this case is an entity meant to consume planets. Galactus also shows another Romantic ideal based on how the people of earth react to him trying to consume their planet. Galactus caused mass chaos on Earth, and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes were barley able to fight him off.  This shows that Humans are weak compared to the power of nature, and eventually all humans will erode away, and the only thing left will be nature. In the comic “Earth-616” Galactus says:

 “No living thing dares ignore my call. For I am that which has always been, since this Universe was birthed from the ashes of the last. I am the hunger that dooms worlds. I am he who is beyond such frail Concepts as good and evil. I am Galactus.”

This Quote from Galactus shows that he is a force that should not be reckoned with. Galactus's Infinite Hunger drives him to probably be one of the deadliest villain in both the Marvel and DC universes. He will come eventually to all planets in the universe, and he will devour every single one. 

Villain 1: The Joker

(www.myfreewallpapers.net)

To start off my montage of Super-villains I will first analyze my personal favorite villain. You know him, he has green hair, white skin, has an obsession with a Man who runs around Gotham City dressed like Bat, and has the Emotional stability of Phineas Gage. If you guessed the Joker then you are correct. The Joker is my favorite Villain because of his deep emotional backstory portrayed in Alan Moore's "The Killing Joke" and because he is so much fun to analyze (I have done this many times before).


Their is no doubt about the fact that The Joker is totally insane, he feels no remorse for blowing up Metropolis (population of about 11 million), he laughed when he tricked Superman into killing Lois Lane (who was at the time pregnant with a Kryptonian baby), and he was able to get Batman to laugh (which I believe is The Joker's greatest accomplishment because he is the only person to ever do that).The video to the right is a cinematic scene from the opening of "Injustice: Gods Among Us". The video truly shows how insane The Joker is based on his actions even at what seems like the end of his life. Anyway so the Joker's persona is due to deep emotional pain and suffering due to the death of his wife, and taking a plunge into a vat of chemicals which turned his skin white and his hair green.

The Jokers emotional state truly is one of a Romantic value because although his appearance is that of a Clown which are supposed to bring joy and laughter, he is an insane mass murder on the inside. This is like the Poems of Emily Dickinson, which are light sounding on the outside but most of them have a Dark meaning behind them to show her tortured soul. The Joker as well has a lot of time to think just like many romantic authors, because the Joker is in Arkham Asylum a large amount of the time. The Joker has many monolougues that show his deep emotional struggle, one that comes to mind as an incredible moment for the Joker is in "The Killing Joke" in this monologue The Joker says:
"MEMORY'S ARE SO TREACHEROUS. ONE MOMENT YOU'RE LOST IN A CARNIVAL OF DELIGHTS, WITH POIGNANT CHILDHOOD AROMAS , THE FLASHING NEON OF PUBERTY, ALL THAT SENTIMENTAL CANDY-FLOSS...THEN NEXT , IT LEADS YOU SOMEWHERE YOU DON'T WANT TO GO......SOMEWHERE DARK AND COLD, FILLED WITH THE DAMP, AMBIGUOUS SHAPES OF THINGS YOU'D HOPED WERE FORGOTTEN. MEMORIES CAN BE VILE, REPULSIVE LITTLE BRUTES. LIKE CHILDREN, I SUPPOSE. HAHA. BUT CAN WE LIVE WITHOUT THEM? MEMORIES ARE WHAT OUR REASON IS BASED UPON. IF WE CAN'T FACE THEM, WE DENY REASON ITSELF! ALTHOUGH, WHY NOT? WE AREN'T CONTRACTUALLY TIED DOWN TO RATIONALITY! THERE IS NO SANITY CLAUSE! SO WHEN YOU FIND YOURSELF LOCKED ONTO AN UNPLEASANT TRAIN OF THOUGHT, HEADING FOR THE PLACES IN YOUR PAST WHERE THE SCREAMING IS UNBEARABLE, REMEMBER THERE'S ALWAYS MADNESS. MADNESS IS THE EMERGENCY EXIT... YOU CAN JUST STEP OUTSIDE, AND CLOSE THE DOOR ON ALL THOSE DREADFUL THINGS THAT HAPPENED. YOU CAN LOCK THEM AWAY... FOREVER.” 

This monologue shows The Joker's deep pain, and his true insanity. In many Romantic ways he relates to the past, and the nature of all humans, and how it is flawed. The Joker also relates to the joys of childhood, and how they eventually turn into memories that you don't want to keep. This flaw in human nature is a major romantic value. Overall The Joker is truly an outrageous example of a Romantic period character. 

About this blog

       (www.unleashthefanboy.com)

So in this blog for my AP lang class (spring semester 2015) I will be analyzing Several Super-villains, Arch-Villains, or just plain Villains from the Marvel and DC universes (and multiverses) and their Romantic and transcendentalist values, and ties. Due to the MANY recreations of these Baddies I will be analyzing the most recent reincarnation of these villains in order to reduce the amounts of confusion. In advance I obviously do not own any of these villains, and please do enjoy my blog. I would like to give credit to the original creators of the images and videos used on this blog, without them i could not give as much visual representation. I would also like to thank a very good friend of mine, Mason Woodard, for allowing me to create a spinoff of his blog "Romanticism in Superheroes" Check it out HERE!