You Complete Me

As mentioned, villains define heroes and heroes villains. They really need each other in a literary sense of story to find who they are and then redefine the best they can be.

We use villains to test heroes, but sometimes it’s also vice versa. Each pushes each other’s comfort zones into doing things, acting in ways they normally would not have done.

Thanos, perhaps the Avengers’ greatest villain, achieves his goal of destroying half the universe in Infinity War, the first of the two-parter Avenger movies. When the Avengers discover a way to reverse Thanos’ evil in Endgame by going back in time to grab the Infinity Stones, Thanos (in the past) discovers that the Avengers are trying to thwart him in the future; that in fact he had succeeded in his (future) mission. He then decides he must find the Avengers, stop them from changing history, and carry his half-destruction to full destruction because he can’t take a chance of someone reversing him as the Avengers are trying to do.

In other words, in Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos thinks he’s achieved the pinnacle of his existence by dissolving half the Universe’s population, including several Avengers. But, in Avengers: Endgame, Thanos has to achieve even more ‘personal glory’ by taking his plans to the ultimate. The Avengers push Thanos to a much higher villainy; and to stop Thanos the Avengers must become even greater heroes with much fewer resources than the first time.

Now that’s really taking the hero-villain dance to new levels.

Perhaps one of the most memorable moments in film between pro/antagonist is in Michael Mann’s Heat with Al Pacino playing a cop and Robert De Niro as the criminal he’s after. They sit in a diner and talk about somewhat mundane matters until it gets serious and they both assure each other that if push comes to shove, they will act in a manner befitting their occupations.  Its six minutes of genius between men with an understanding of who they are to each other. It’s a respite smack in the middle of the script and is the calm before the storm to come between these two men. It shows they need each to define  each other.

NEIL
Then maybe you and me, we should
both go do somethin' else, pal.


HANNA
I don't know how to do anything
else.

NEIL
(the shared confession)
...neither do I.


HANNA
And I don't much want to.


NEIL
Neither do I.

Drama Mamas And Papas

Family makes particularly fertile grounds for conflict between hero and villain reflected in the close and intimate relationships we have with our relatives. The saying “You only hurt the ones you love” is never more true.

Loki is (adoptive) brother to Thor. Being gods and raised similarly, both have traits in common especially as shown in the films. Hamlet and his uncle are both royals directly connected by blood. Black Panther and Killmonger are first cousins who believe they both have Wakanda’s best future at heart.

In Gifted the Chris Evans character, Frank, must shield his genius niece, Mary, from a fate that befell Mary’s mother (Frank’s sister): which was suicide when Mary was still a baby. The pressure of being a math genius drove Frank’s sister to kill herself. Frank has sworn never to allow that same thing to happen to his niece.

Once a college professor, Frank has gone into ‘hiding’ as a boat repairman and is raising Mary away from academia. He doesn’t want his niece living with the pressures of being gifted and then being isolated from a normal childhood.

Frank’s controlling mother sees this as a crime. This child, her granddaughter, a once-in-a-billion prodigy, needs special training she reasons, that will bring out her talent. Mother and son fundamentally disagree with how to handle the child’s future, and that disagreement goes deep and into pain that is intimate to both of them through the loss of family.

Bertie (Colin Firth)

In The King’s Speech, Bertie, who becomes King George VI, has a horrible stutter because of his upbringing. His father, King George V, was brutal and unfailingly critical of both sons. This had different impacts on the boys.

George V, Bertie’s father, in trying to create monarchs, created two flawed sons. Bertie’s older brother does become King but quickly abdicates, pushing Bertie into a role he didn’t want and had not truly been prepared to undertake. The stutter is a continuing manifestation, a ghost if you will, of Bertie’s father, King George V.

Ray Donovan and his brothers love and hate their father who was never a good husband or father. And yet, the first thing Mickey (John Voight) does when getting out of prison is to kill the priest he thought had molested his son Bunch when he was an altar boy.

Mickey Donovan’s influence and connection to his son’s current lives is shown in a hundred touch points throughout the series. Loyalty, the kind that drives you to exact revenge on someone who did your family wrong, as well as situational ethics that justifies vigilante murder can be seen in both father and sons.

Look at the complex relationship between father and sons in At Close Range. Sean Penn’s and Chris Penn’s characters live in their criminal father’s long shadow. They both love and fear him. Christopher Walken’s character is as bad as they come and he’s dragged his sons down with him into his dark world.

The Sopranos featured a family of gangsters and killers as Tony fought both his mother and uncle for supremacy of the criminal organization. They defined each other in many loving and aberrant ways. Like murderous mother, like murderous son.

In Conclusion

These concepts are powerful and make for strong and fully realized characters in any script. Understanding dependent relationships between hero and villain will give your work deep texture, and cause it to soar to places unimagined.

Take a trait, slice it in two and build heroes on one side and villains on the other with different emphasis for the separate parts.

As in real life where we are both the heroes and villains of our existence, so too must your characters reflect this reality.

Good writing comes from understanding and utilizing these simple and yet terribly complex patterns to create a rich and fulfilling character base.