#one of their commanders is a former assassin who genuinely considers whether killing someone is a viable solution to many problems

[shepherds-of-haven]

Oh, if we’re talking about subtle hilarious SHOH moments… I always laugh at the scene during the briefing for Lockwood when Chase, Tallys, and MC are clowning Lavinet for sending such a huge cheque in the mail like “she’s SO naive lol we can cash this and she wouldn’t even be able to dispute it for weeks teeheee” and Shery is just like “…..is it naive for her to trust OFFICERS OF THE LAW not to swindle her??” and everyone just goes dead quiet.

Lol, I'd forgotten about that moment, thanks for remembering it for us! 😂😂 Sometimes the Shepherds are so chaotic that Shery--when she can forge past the excruciating experience of Being Seen--is the necessary moral compass that keeps them in check... the only one who can shame them...

[animebw]

Binge-Watching: Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Episodes 55-58

In which Reinhard rises to the occasion, we return to the cradle of humankind, and I struggle to care about any romance in this show.

Golden Boy

There’s a saying by someone in American politics I find myself thinking of a lot lately: “Power doesn’t corrupt. Power reveals.” When someone has enough power to do what they’ve always wanted with minimal consequence, they tend to reveal what it is that they’ve always wanted to do, deep down. Now that Reinhard’s essentially conquered the galaxy, that’s the position he’s in. He’s the most powerful person in the universe, with the freedom and opportunity to do whatever he pleases. What he does with this power will reveal who he truly is, and whether or not he truly believes in all those lofty ideals he preaches deep down. And... yeah, so far, Reinhard is fully living up to his dream. He doesn’t throw lavish parties that just waste the people’s money on gaudy expenses. He pays visits to everyone in his political sphere, not just the ones who explicitly curried favor with him. He even shows mercy to an attempted assassin and refuses to drag his name through the mud, focusing instead on the greater power structures behind his attack (Though he does get a sick one-liner or two off in the process: “ Kill me and my name will go down in history as the putz who only lasted 14 days as Kaiser.”) The universe gives him every opportunity to let power corrupt him and turn him into the very thing he swore to destroy, but he’s just not taking the bait. He’s genuinely committed to ending the sins of the Goldenbaum dynasty and setting a better example for the empire to follow. Even a bitter, cynical man like Reuenthal can’t help but fall in line behind his righteous spirit.

The question is, though: will it last? Reinhard’s always walked a very dangerous path between glorious purpose and selfish ambition, and achieving complete dominance isn’t gonna make that struggle any easier. There’s a dark moment where he considers that he’s now stronger than any of the nobles he railed against for abusing their power, a David who’s grown into the greatest Goliath of all, and wonders if he should crush himself just to be safe. It was one thing to fight against impossible odds to win the universe; it’s quite another thing to maintain that power with stability and good statesmanship. As the saying goes, winning is easy, governing is harder. And grand ideals that guided you into the light may not survive the endless, practical drudgery of day-to-day governance. Reinhard hasn’t cracked yet, but there’s plenty of time left for his good intentions to lead him down a much darker path. Or maybe he’ll actually stave off his darker impulses and remain a mostly just leader for his entire reign. Either way, I’m not gonna stop biting my nails until he’s truly out of the danger zone.

Forgotten Earth

On the other side of the galaxy, with the Alliance dissolved and Yang retired under blissful surveillance, it falls to Julian to keep the spacefaring adventures going strong. And the next one up is a doozy: Earth. Once the cradle of humanity, now an abandoned shell home only to the Church of Terra’s religious restorationists trying to return it to its former glory. As we learn in another episode-long  exposition dump (Side note, it’s a testament to LOGH’s quality that when I realized we were in for another fictional history lesson, my reaction was “Oh yeah, baby!”), Earth got a little too big for its britches trying to command the entire galaxy as more and more planets were colonized. There was war, atrocities, genocide, assassinations, the explicitly called-out evils of capitalist exploitation, rebels who overthrow a tyrannical government only to become corrupt themselves when they step into power, all that good History Is a Flat Circle(tm) stuff that proves this show knows how to write a convincing fake timeline. And in the end, the planet that gave birth to humanity and once stood as the center of galactic civilization was reduced to a bombed-out, dilapidated wilderness, left behind as the galaxy’s colonization continued to grow. What secrets Julian will uncover here, I don’t know. But with that asshole from Fezzan serving as the Church’s archbishop and a military force from the Empire on its way, things are sure to get messy in all the best ways.

Wedding Pains

So, here’s the thing: Legend of the Galactic Heroes kind of sucks at human drama. The interpersonal relationships between its cast work about as well as they need to in order to make them believable as characters, and that’s it. Whenever it tries to mine those connections for emotional pathos, as opposed to the broader, sweeping pathos of their place in the grand narrative of history, it usually falls flat. I can appreciate Yang and Julian’s complex relationship, how the younger learns from the older and tries his best to live up to/surpass his mentor. But the moment it tries to make Julian jealous of Yang because he was also in love with Frederica, it just comes off as cheap melodrama. And the moment it throws another obvious love interest right into his path, I could feel my eyes rolling into the back of my skull. I haven’t really brought this up before because until now, it’s mostly been unobtrusive background details that don’t matter much to the bigger whole. But between the stuff with Julian and Hilda now implied to be in love with Reinhard, which ties into the question over the Lohengramm legacy that’s increasingly plot essential, I’m less than thrilled about this show’s mediocre relationship drama encroaching on its excellent political drama.

And listen, I’m the first person to jump at a good romantic subplot. I don’t even mind Yang and Frederica’s marriage; as forced as their relationship is, they’re both still interesting characters who are interesting to watch play off each other, and that helps soften the blow (even if Yang with his hair combed just looks wrong on so many levels). But they only get away with it because their romance hasn’t been played for any kind of serious drama, so it can exist in a comfortably neutral state. The romances in this show only work in those uncomplicated moments that just let couples exist naturally as couples (See, for example: Mittenmeyer’s brief reunion with his wife: ”If I’d known that, I would’ve looked cooler when I proposed to you.”) The moment it asks me to seriously care about them, I feel my eyes glazing over. These romances just are not nuanced enough, compelling enough, entertaining enough, or even smart enough to work as emotional investment. And that’s without taking into account all the weird age gap stuff going on with Julian’s various entanglements. It’s not outright fetishized like some modern anime I could name, but the way this show casually accepts girls dating and being married to much older boys and men leaves a sour taste in my mouth all the same. The less LOTGH relies on this stuff to drive its drama, the better.

Odds and Ends

-HOLY SHIT YANG’S IN THE NEW OP

-”There are plenty of specialists in those fields already. I just need enough knowledge to know which specialists are trustworthy, yes?” I like how Hilda approaches things.

-”Admiral, I’m amazed you manage to lead these backstabbers to victory.” pfft

-”You wouldn’t happen to have any young ladies on this ship, would you?” Alright, that’s a nice bit of humanization for this random Empire inspector.

-Ooh, moving the capital to Fezzan? That’s gonna be interesting.

-Yeah, the hardest part of planning a rebellion is the waiting for the right moment. Bide your time.

-oh my god of course the corrupt army guy named his ship Dixieland

-”But a neutron bomb fired at his car permanently removed him from that position of power.” kdjfhskdjfh WOW SAVAGE

-Oh right, forgot Trunich ended up an expat in the empire. What a loser.

-ew ew ew not the brains

-”If the Oberstein line ceases to exist, the public will not mourn.” kdjhskdfh way to roast yourself buddy

-Jesus, Reuenthal, maybe leave the rape jokes for another day.

-”Polish that a little more and it would look nice on a gravestone.” ahahaha what a line

Era three, begin. See you next time!

[anghraine]

I will never get over the "i don't believe in love at first sight / but godamn" gifset for jyn/cassian, it's perfect. also, your tags on the partisan jyn rec have me imagining a persuasion au, this time with cassian as anne and jyn as wentworth (draven as lady russell, I guess??) I love Persuasion AUs and that fic is so good :)

Heeeh, I love it!

I hadn’t really thought of the details of an alternate AU, beyond thinking that captaincy and gender aside, Wentworth (careless, impulsive, generous, spirited) is the most like Jyn, and Anne (obedient, withdrawn, intense, faithful) the most like Cassian. But I think it could work. 

(Completely scattered thoughts on the ‘how,’ but I definitely think it would be fun and interesting!)

Draven is definitely the obvious Lady Russell candidate (he could even be ambiguously positive in the way Ly R is, which would be an interesting take on him). Mon Mothma would be very interesting, too—I think she’s more of a Lady Russell-type personality (which would leave Draven as Sir Walter, omfg). And I think it would allow for some exploration of what’s the most interesting part of Persuasion for me.

The thing is, Persuasion never really answers the question of whether Anne was morally wrong or right to break off her relationship with Wentworth under Lady Russell’s influence. It feels wrong. It turned out badly. But morality is not determined by consequences alone, and here, there’s a complex system of obligations and risks at play. Anne felt an obligation to listen to Lady Russell’s advice—not to obey unthinkingly, but to strongly factor it into her decision-making process, given her own youth, Lady Russell’s role as her surrogate mother, and her deep respect for her. 

And Lady Russell was right in believing there were real risks to Anne marrying Wentworth so young, risks to any children they might have, etc. His ‘I don’t need to save anything, I’ve always been lucky, I’ll always be lucky’ shtick did him zero favours—Mr Price probably thought so, too, and the fact that Wentworth’s luck did hold is … well, lucky. “I’m going to go fight Napoleon and make a bunch of money, everything’s going to be fine” is not a compelling argument! 

On top of that, the winning point in Lady Russell’s argument—the thing that finally swayed Anne—was that the marriage would be bad for Wentworth. A young, delicate wife with no dowry and a collection of snobbish, expensive, totally douchey relatives would be a genuine disadvantage to a young sailor with no connections and no money. And that is also, in fact, perfectly reasonable.

So it’s not simply a snobbish woman dissuading a weak-willed girl who then develops a stronger sense of self through suffering and maturity. Snobbery absolutely played a part in Lady Russell’s motives—all of this would have been much less pressing if Wentworth were someone more like Colonel Fitzwilliam, who would double as a Worthy Alliance and bring powerful, wealthy relations into the picture. Anne may very well have been less swayed by Lady Russell’s arguments if she hadn’t faced uniform opposition from her family, hadn’t been so young and uncertain. But nevertheless, those arguments were largely reasonable, and in the end, Anne’s view is that she wishes she hadn’t taken Lady Russell’s advice, that she would never give the same advice, but that morally she was right to take it. 

I mean, there’s a lot going on there, ethically, and the book doesn’t offer clear conclusions. (UNCLEAR ETHICAL DILEMMAS

ANYWAY, MULTIPLE PARAGRAPHS LATER, that’s not something I often see confronted, even in full-on adaptations. (Particularly, one might say. >_>) And I think it would be interesting to play with it—something where Draven/Mothma/whomever have entirely valid reasons (but also dodgy ones) for their interference, and where Cassian has a real obligation to consider their opinions, and where the killing blow (as it were) would be that he is bad for Jyn (only too easy to believe he’d find convincing!). 

It’s even … like. I can definitely see Draven being profoundly unenthusiastic about his 23-y-o prodigy spy suddenly getting entangled with a 19-y-o Partisan who is also the daughter of an Imperial collaborator. But I think it’s very possible that the likes of Mothma and Draven would probably not care that much about the flings of teens and 20-somethings. The kind of concerted, intense effort leveled against Anne in Persuasion might need something more.

But Cassian, despite his sidelines in assassination and field command, is primarily a recruiter. So. Suppose that his ostensible mission is rebuilding ties with the Partisans and working out some mutual support arrangement. But in reality, the judgment of Intelligence is that the Partisans are doomed by their extreme insularity, drastic collateral damage, unclear objectives, and attraction of Imperial attention. Coordination with the Partisans is an acceptable start, but the actual goal is to draw as many of Saw’s highly-skilled fighters into the Alliance as possible before the whole organization self-destructs or gets obliterated, but without turning Saw actively against them. 

Of course, it’s not a secret that the Alliance is generally out to peel off as many recruits as they can get, and ofc the Rebel agent is going to be trying to draw people into the Rebellion. But what they don’t know is that this is why Cassian is there. 

Okay, anyway, this is what 23-y-o Cassian is up to. It’s a task of extraordinary trust, and he’s on guard against almost everything. But falling madly in love with Saw’s foster daughter was not one of those things. And it’d be one thing if he was just pining (it would be awful, but—), but no, this ferocious, shining supersoldier is (for some reason) also in love with him. 

On top of that, they’re both very much older than their ages, but in some ways younger—they were never able to be kids, to have silly crushes, anything like that. So they’re dorky and overwhelmed and unrealistic, just swept off their feet. They hold hands and talk about … running off together? But they can’t stop fighting the Empire. Cassian would never make a Partisan, but Jyn could join the Rebellion. And then they could be together!!!

(I suspect that at heart, Jyn wants out; large-scale collateral damage is not her gig.)

Anyway, Cassian would get a very sharp reality check, because the point was to draw away as many useful soldiers as he could without completely antagonizing Saw, and wow is “seducing away his best soldier and, oh yeah, DAUGHTER” not included in that description. Of course, he’s horrified because It’s Not Like That, but also … well. Yeah. 

And while Jyn is brashly sure that of course she’ll succeed at whatever she does, she always has, he’s increasingly doubtful that she’d be at all happy in the Rebellion. The Partisans are her family, the only life she knows; she doesn’t know anyone else in the Rebellion at all, she’d chafe under the command structure, she’d lose everything, and have nothing to counterbalance it all but one tormented spy. 

They’re not going to demand that a talented soldier not join the Rebellion, of course, or involve themselves in the obvious affair. But they don’t have to; once persuaded, Cassian does the dirty work himself. He persuades Jyn to stay with the Partisans after all, breaks things off, and leaves, having carefully arranged for a good number of Partisans to defect to the Rebellion over the next several months. Jyn, naturally, feels furious and betrayed (all the more after some of her friends leave). 

And that’s where it starts, lol. Now I’m thinking—like, taking ‘little sister’ and running with it, Sophy would be Baze and Admiral Croft would be Chirrut (AMAZE). While I don’t see Cassian getting winded by a long walk à la Anne, he could be hiding an injury or something that Jyn notices (and hates that she notices, and hates more that nobody else does). 

I don’t know at all who would play the Louisa Musgrove role (it’s not my favourite element of the plot tbh, but kind of necessary). And I don’t know how the scene with Wentworth helping Anne with her nephews would play out but it needs to happen, it’s my favourite. And of course the gender politics wouldn’t really work. (Though Wentworth/Jyn coming to their senses via competence kink would, lol.) And we’d need some terribad teammates or something to serve the role of the Elliots.

(Draven would really be the best bet, if not already taken as the Lady Russell. That really works best as someone that Cassian is actually close to, though, which is… like, nobody. And honestly, Lady Russell is the only person Anne is close to, but—OMG, KAY. IF KAY IS LADY RUSSELL … JESUS. HAHAHA WOW. That’d even work with Kay and Jyn being super chilly at each other, and Cassian could overhear Jyn talking ~idly~ with some of the rest of the team about a mission that went hilariously-in-retrospect wrong thanks to Rebel!Mary Musgrove this shitty commander. They’d have much rather had Andor, since SpecOps do serve under Intelligence now and then, but couldn’t get him. The rumour was that [x] talked him out of it. And Jyn’s like, huh, he’s very easily persuaded, isn’t he? And they’re … not really? That damn droid and direct commands are pretty much the only thing that stops him.)

((For bonus awful: during their brief honeymoon phase, the idea had been that Jyn would join up with SpecOps and once he made captain, they could build a joint Intel/SpecOps team.))

Oh, and Benwick is a former Partisan who was in love with a civilian in Jedha who died before they could settle down. I think the Harvilles joined the Rebellion (probably Cassian’s not!recruits, in fact). Also, there definitely needs to be a way of working in the ‘even when hope is gone’ speech (though as above, the gender politics don’t work at all). 

Ha, even the ‘I should not have known her’ slam could work? I mean, it’s absurd to talk about Cassian as ~faded~, but he is definitely prematurely aged, and Jyn could easily make a snide remark about hardly recognizing him. 

I can’t see Jyn writing anything so melodramatic as Wentworth’s letter, but it’d be sort of hilarious if she types up her vision into a datapad and then is trying to figure out a way to casually leave it lying around, but not so casually that Cassian doesn’t notice. (As if, but Emotions.)

[aion-rsa]

Violence is Golden: 16 Bloodthirsty Superheroes

Two things can usually be expected when reading a comic book story: a hero and a villain. Of course, when we think of villains, we generally assume they want to cause death and destruction, to commit atrocious acts of violence. Meanwhile, we think the hero does the other thing: saves the day with non-violent righteousness. But that isn’t always the case.

RELATED: 15 Superheroes Who Are Total Jerks

We forget that comic book heroes are just as capable of violence as their opposite numbers, and sometimes come across as even hungrier for bloodshed than their infamous villains. Just take a look at the list below; these cases-in-point are heroes whose taste for justice have twisted, turned and soured into a lust for bloody vengeance.

WOLVERINE

Being the best he is at what he does, the most obviously bloodthirsty hero is Marvel’s one and only Wolverine. He first appeared in “Incredible Hulk” #180, bearing his claws and boldly snarling at the Hulk, so a little violent streak was to be expected. While the next issue didn’t actually contain an epic fight, Wolverine would more than make up for that lacklustre appearance over the next few years.

With Logan’s uncontrolled rage, several powerful villains and some heroes have met their violent deaths and/or dismemberments at the end of his deadly adamantium claws. The “Old Man Logan” story arc, for example, saw him burst out of a tyrannical Hulk, and also showed us how he could completely eviscerate the X-Men. He’s certainly no stranger to violence, but where others like Captain America might show a little restraint, you’ll get no such mercy from Wolverine. Considering he’s more than a hundred years old, it’s been speculated that he’s killed thousands throughout his time on this earth, on top of the multitudes he’s killed in the pages of comics.

ELEKTRA

She swings around two Okinawan sai, she’s mastered a wide variety of weapons and she’s a trained ninja assassin, so she’s bound to have some blood on her hands. Of course, you might have guessed that after hearing that she was created by Frank Miller, known for graphic novels like “Sin City” and “300,” both of which are violent as hell.

Elektra’s violent nature stems from quite a dark past. In Marvel’s “Elektra: Assassin” #1 (written by Miller), it was revealed that she’d been self-harming as a means to cope with haunting voices and doubts over vague memories of abuse. She also witnessed her father’s death, she’s been killed multiple times and there’s doubt as to whether the psychotherapy that was supposed to give her some sense of stability ever actually worked. That anger and turmoil manifests in the violence, blood and gore she leaves behind her in her comic series, like the slew of S.H.I.E.L.D agents she slaughtered (though had no memory of), for example, before killing a hitwoman and the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who put a bounty on her head in “Dark Reign: Elektra” #5 (written by Zeb Wells and illustrated by Clay Mann, Mark Pennington and Matt Hollingsworth).

HIT GIRL

Don’t be fooled by the eleven year old girl you see before you. From an even early age, Mindy McCready was trained to be a lethal assassin with a heart of stone. Since her first appearance in Icon’s “Kick-Ass” #3 (written by Mark Millar and illustrated by John Romita Jr.), we’ve come to know Mindy as a foul-mouthed violent little superhero, the yin to Kick-Ass’ yang. Where she teaches David Lizewski to live up to the name of his alter-ego, David tries to teach her how to just be a “10 and ¼” year old girl. Because of her violent nature, that’s not always easy.

In “Hit-Girl” #3 (written by Millar with artwork by John Romita Jr.), we see Mindy taze her bully, Debbie Foreman, before dangling her over the edge of a recycling facility and allowing the terrified Debbie to fall straight into a passing garbage truck. That’s actually the least violent thing Hit Girl has done to an enemy, so it’s no wonder the character has stirred controversy in both her comic books and subsequent film adaptations, though controversy for the latter was more focused on her constant cursing and not the trail of broken corpses she left behind, weirdly enough.

HAWKMAN

Next on the list is the Thanagarian with an ancient soul, bashing his way through his enemies with his Nth metal armor and various medieval weapons. He first appeared in “Flash Comics” #1 (written by Gardner Fox and illustrated by Harry Lampert) and while over the years the DC universe has changed quite a lot, Hawkman’s terrible violent streak hasn’t. He’s got quite a temper and it shows in the mess he leaves behind. Even in his appearance in 1940’s “All Star Comics” #1, he was seen defeating the sorcerer Trygg by destroying his lair with an explosion while the sorcerer and his assistant Beldame were still inside.

This is one superhero any villain definitely wouldn’t want to cross, because unlike most heroes, there’s a huge chance villains will not walk away. It’s undeniable that Hawkman has little to no regard for human life, which often puts him into conflict with members of the Justice League, at one point battling Green Arrow due to differing views on how best to handle villains.

BLACK ADAM

If you thought that was harsh, just take a look at this next DC superhuman claiming to fight for justice. Son of Rameses II, this ancient Egyptian dictator was imbued with the powers of the gods by the high priest, Shazam. Betrayed and corrupted by the high priest’s own daughter, Teth-Adam became Black Adam and was buried, only to be discovered and unleashed upon the world a thousand years later by the unknowing archaeologist, Theo Adam.

Black Adam does not shy away from violence; in fact, he constantly uses it to intimidate his foes or make a point. That earned him the distrust of almost every superhero in the “52” series, after he very literally tore the villain Terra Man in half in front of the press as an example of his stance (and by association his country, Kahndaq’s position) on crime. That’s not even the worst of it. While enraged by the death of his beloved wife, Isis and her brother, Osiris, he massacred the nation of Bialya, just for being associated with the forces that stole the lives of his family. In doing so, he single-handedly began World War III.

MIDNIGHTER

Like all superheroes, Midnighter fights for justice and peace. What sets him apart from the rest is that he genuinely enjoys the violence and bloodshed in fighting crime. He was first introduced in “Stormwatch Vol.2” #4 (written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Brian Hitch), along with his partner in heroism and romance, Apollo. He has limited precognitive abilities (a computer in his brain analyzes every fight he gets into, telling him all the different ways to win), he’s incredibly fast and strong. He also has regenerative abilities, which come in handy, since he never shies away from dangerous situations and always seems to have everything under control. Many have said that he’s basically Batman, but with superpowers… and a great love of killing.

The best example of just how violent Midnighter can comfortably get can be found in “The Authority” #16 (written by Mark Millar and illustrated by Frank Quitely, Trevor Scott and David Baron). After the implied assault and sodomy committed against Apollo by The Commander, Apollo and Midnighter take down The Americans in the most brutal way possible. At one point, he smashes someone’s head clean off with a stick and the whole thing ends with Midnighter standing over The Commander with a jackhammer to inflict a terrible retribution. If you’re not crossing him, however, he’s actually quite compassionate and has a very soft and sweet side. So don’t cross him.

RED HOOD (JASON TODD)

Within the realm of DC’s Batman-esque characters without the limit of his one rule, we find Red Hood with Jason Todd beneath the crimson helmet. Even when he was Robin, Jason was angry and lived in a moral grey area. He fought for justice, certainly, but his kind differed greatly from that of his mentor, Batman. This was most notable in “Batman” #422 (written by Jim Starlin and illustrated by Mark Bright, Steve Mitchell and Anthony Tollin), wherein Robin hunts down and sees the murder of a serial rapist who had diplomatic immunity. We never really find out whether or not Todd actually did push him off that balcony, but given all he’s done to date, we can make an educated guess in the affirmative.

In other comics, he’s seen wielding guns and trying to hunt down the Bat-family, essentially because Bruce never avenged Todd’s death, his return from which drove him insane. Generally, though, having taken advice and resources from Talia Al Ghul, Todd’s aim is to strike a more adamant fear into the hearts of Gotham’s underworld, and he has rejoined Batman’s most-trusted ranks as an ally. With his tendency to solve problems with blood, though, he’s best described by Ra’s Al Ghul who called him a curse upon the world.

RORSCHACH

As we’ve seen, sometimes wearing a mask can bring out the more savage side of a crime-fighter. The mask and all its anonymity might engulf the person beneath it, making him or her all the more fierce (sort of like a Twitter handle). That’s essentially what happened to Rorschach, as we can see when he refers to the ever changing ink blots as his real face in Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” series, published by DC.

Rorschach sees the world around him in black and white, which leads him to do some extremely brutal things to decidedly evil people. The best evidence of his extremely violent streak is when he’s locked in prison, surrounded by people he put away and every single one of them wants to kill him. One of them tries and immediately gets hot oil thrown in his face, while another is outright murdered. Then we’re given his interview with the prison psychiatrist to whom he admits incinerating dogs and their murderer/kidnapper owner, going into detail and revealing that he watched the fire for hours. That’s the crazy kind of vengeance you can’t just wave away.

THE COMEDIAN

Rorschach wasn’t the only ultra-violent superhero in the “Watchmen” series. Eddie Blake, also known as The Comedian, is guilty of quite a lot, some of which wasn’t done in the name of justice or doing the right thing. He just had a temper and didn’t value human life, which is what led to him shooting a Vietnamese woman he’d impregnated after she scratches him in the face.

In fact, in “Before Watchmen: Minutemen” #1, it was revealed that before becoming a costumed vigilante, Blake had a long record of criminal activity, none of which he seems to be trying to make up for. Then there’s the reason he was kicked out of the Minutemen group: after a photo shoot, he tries to get Sally Jupiter to sleep with him. When she rejects his advances, he violently assaults her, though he’s stopped and beaten by Hooded Justice. This vile character isn’t part of superhero team because he believes in it, but because he loves the violence that goes with it. This is one ‘hero’ who needed to die.

RED HULK

Marvel’s Hulk is the embodiment of pure rage. However, he just wants to be left alone. Red Hulk on the other hand, isn’t as simple. Thaddeus Ross first appeared as the Red Hulk in 2008’s “Hulk” #1 (written by Jeph Loeb with artwork by Ed McGuinness, Dexter Vines and Jason Keith), though his true identity wasn’t revealed until later. We find that he became Red Hulk with the aid of A.I.M and Intelligencia in order to fight Hulk. Unlike Hulk, Ross maintains his mind, although that doesn’t seem to help. Thaddeus Ross is generally just a violent person.

When his daughter was getting married to Bruce Banner, seemingly cured of the Hulk in “Incredible Hulk” #319 (written by John Byrne with artwork by Byrne, Keith Williams and Andy Yanchus), he entered the venue wielding guns and making threats. When Rick Jones attempted to stop him, Ross shot Jones (don’t worry, there’s a happy ending there). As Red Hulk, Ross has destroyed an entire S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier with everyone on board; he’s even punched Uatu the Watcher in the face, just for trying to watch his fight against the original Hulk! Yes, he’s an Avenger, but a hero? Not exactly.

VENOM

Though he was introduced to us as Spider-Man’s greatest foe in “Amazing Spider-Man” #300, Venom was more crazed and misguided, rather than actually evil. Aside from fighting the wall-crawler, Eddie Brock used the power of the symbiote to become a lethal protector of the innocent. It was something the symbiote continued to do even after forcibly leaving Eddie Brock. As an anti-hero, the monstrous symbiote found a way to save people and sate its appetite for blood. During Flash Thompson’s brief period as Venom, the symbiote devoured Flag Smasher’s arm during the rescue of Yusuf Kassim in “Amazing Spider-Man” #654.1. There was also the murder of Angelo Fortunato, an act committed by the symbiote which allowed Angelo to fall to his death, just because it saw him as being weak.

While Venom has worked with many superheroes to save lives, it’s pretty safe to say that Venom has destroyed or ended more lives than he’s saved. Interestingly, the symbiote’s species — the Klyntar — were recently revealed as being not just non-violent, but actual protectors in space, though easily manipulated once attached to the destructive power of the human ego. So you have to ask, who was the true bad influence in Venom’s various relationships?

LOBO

Considering this character was DC’s reply to Marvel’s Wolverine and Punisher, it would be silly to expect anything other than the most ridiculous displays of violence and bloodlust from Lobo: The Main man. Being a galactic bounty hunter, this Czarnian really only has one rule: he keeps his promises to the letter. That’s exactly as confining as it sounds… which is to say, not at all. He’s free to indulge his sadistic nature by carving a path of destruction through his enemies and contracts.

Lobo is the last of the Czarnians. That might sound tragic, but in “Lobo” #0 it was revealed Lobo unleashed a host of flying scorpions upon Czarnia and single-handedly annihilated the population of the planet. Why? For fun! If that somehow doesn’t persuade you of how bloodthirsty he is, remember that when he died and went to heaven (yes, that heaven) “Lobo’s Back” #4 (written by Keith Giffen and Alan Grant, illustrated by Christian Alamy and Daniel Vozzo), he massacred everyone there and was subsequently banished. Hell didn’t want him so he’s essentially trapped on Earth forever, unable to die even if his incredible regenerative abilities fail him.

DEADPOOL

Speaking of regenerative abilities, our beloved Deadpool actually began as a supervillain in “New Mutants” #98 (written by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicienza, illustrated by Liefeld and Steve Buccellato). Over the years, he’s grown far more over the top and violent (and as a result, more popular). He’s immortal and is really neither a hero nor a villain, meaning he’s free to indulge himself in violence, especially since he’s completely aware that he’s a fictional character and none of the blood and gore really matters. That applies even when that blood and gore is his own, like in “Deadpool Kills Deadpool” #1 (written by Cullen Bunn with artwork by Salva Espin and Veronica Gandini), when he killed alternate universe versions of himself violently and on a whim.

Of course, there’s that time he killed everyone in the Marvel Universe, too, in “Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe” (written by Cullen Bunn, illustrated by Dalibor Talajic and Lee Loughridge). Heads are separated from shoulders, bodies impaled on street signs and what was it all for? The voice in his head told him to. That’s one way to end crime.

SPAWN

From the depths of hell and the imagination of Todd McFarlane (which incidentally may be the same place) comes a hero unlike any other. Arguably more powerful than most comic book superheroes, Spawn’s power does have a certain usage limit, but his rage doesn’t seem to be so restrained. He’s been to hell and back, and been caught in a war between its forces and the forces of Heaven. Generally, he doesn’t really take a side and can usually be found in dark alleys and dangerous situations. Sometimes he does good things and helps people, but most of the time he’s just venting his anger. Seeing as how he lost everything and everyone he loves, he’s got a lot of anger to vent. As you might expect of someone given the power of hell, it’s made him pretty violent.

Take, for instance, his battle against Thamuz, grand master of torture and someone who now probably regrets torturing Al. During the “Armageddon” storyline, a more angelic Spawn encounters Thamuz as the latter is rampaging on Earth, as part of Satan and Mammon’s apocalyptic plot. Spawn swiftly defeats Thamuz by punching his face clean off, killing the demon. He just wasn’t cut out for being an angelic being, we guess. Though afterwards, his face was pretty… holy.

PUNISHER

Marvel’s Frank Castle lost his family in an ill-fated visit to the park where a gangland war took place. That moment birthed the Punisher, a ruthless anti-hero who will use any means necessary to ensure that bad guys stay down. That’s what makes him bloodthirsty: his philosophy. Essentially, he believes that if he lets some murderer get away, he’s responsible for the next life they take. It has made him deeply cynical and dark, putting him at odds with other superheroes in the Marvel Universe.

For example, in “Civil War” #6 (written by Mark Millar, illustrated by Steve McNiven, Dexter Vines and Morry Hollowell), when Goldbug and the Plunderer humbly offer their aid for Anti-Reg forces, the supervillains are immediately gunned down in cold blood by Punisher, who seems confused by the angered reaction he receives. But the best example of his need for violence is in “Secret Wars” #1 when he visits a room full of villains and promises to rain bullets upon them, even though the world around them all was about to end. There was no point to it, but he was going to kill them anyway; not because it was necessary, but because he had to.

BLADE

Marvel’s half-vampire vampire hunter is probably the most literally bloodthirsty hero on this list, even if his victims are generally vampires, the immortal lives of which Blade clearly does not value very highly. It all began with his hunt for Dracula. Sure, he was always pretty dark, having killed vampire children in “Marvel Preview” #8 (written by Doug Moench with artwork by Sonny Trinidad). Over time, he grew even more ruthless in his methods, and you’ll often see him depicted wielding various weaponry drenched in blood, reflecting how he’s also grown to care less about saving lives, and more about killing.

We can’t forget that he even spends Christmas surrounded by death, like that time he went toe to toe with Santa Claus! Okay, it wasn’t really Santa, but it did end with some jolly-looking demon losing a lot of blood in “Blade” #4 (written by Marc Guggenheim with art by Howard Chaykin), as he stood atop a pile of dead bodies, the only one still standing.

Who do you think is the most bloodthirsty hero? Let us know in the comments!

The post Violence is Golden: 16 Bloodthirsty Superheroes appeared first on CBR.com.

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