Supervillain: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Fictional supervillains are the foils to comic-book superheroes and other fictional heroes. The typical supervillain is an evil genius. They are villains, but with extraordinary power or ability which makes them viable antagonists for the most gifted heroes.

It could be said that the first supervillain was Professor Moriarty.

Supervillains are often depicted as seeking to commit spectacular crimes and/or rule the world through terror from their secret underground lair. Some supervillains like Mr. Mxyzptlk prefer to simply torment the heroes for their own pleasure. Some supervillains like Magneto have laudable goals such as his desire to protect his people, mutants, from persecution, but his methods are so extreme and violent that superheroes have no choice but to oppose him.

Also at least until recently, most supervillains were not team players and prone to fight amoung their contemporaries. They're also typically highly vindicative with a great desire to kill their superhero enemies for interfering in their crimes, often to expense of more profitable ventures.

Examples of fictional supervillains include:

• Ernst Stavro Blofeld (adversary of James Bond)
• Darkseid (adversary to the New Gods and the DC superhero community in general)
• The Joker (adversary of Batman)
• Lex Luthor (adversary of Superman)
• Doomsday (adversary of Superman, famous for having "killed" Superman in the Death of Superman story of the early 1990s)
• Magneto (adversary of the X-Men)
• Doctor Doom (adversary of the Fantastic Four)
• Doctor Gloom (adversary of the Explorers of the Unknown)
• Palpatine and Darth Vader (Star Wars)
• Carmen Sandiego (adversary of the ACME Detective Agency)
• Lord Voldemort (also known as "You-Know-Who") (adversary of Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore)
• Khan Noonien Singh (nemesis of Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek)
• Man-Killer (Marvel)
• The Master (adversary of Doctor Who)
• Dr. Evil (the arch-foe of Austin Powers)
• Fem Paragon (AC)
• Rad (AC)
• Skeletor (adversary of He-Man)
• Evil Ernie (Enemy to all that are living and breathing) (Chaos! Comics)

In fantasy the supervillains are typically Dark Lords.

The supervillain stereotype applied to real life

This stereotype led to the real-life terrorist Osama bin Laden being portrayed in the media as if he was a supervillain. The Nazis are also depicted as supervillains in a range of fictional works, including the Indiana Jones stories.