The Kind Villains
9
plain
934422
2019-11-18T18:38:53-08:00
One might say superheroes are meant to be a little idealistic, so Captain Geriatric is not really that much more idealistic than any other work of superhero fiction. However, the work’s villains really do a good job of emphasizing the idealistic setting of the world. Whereas in other superhero stories the villains are maniacal and homicidal, in Captain Geriatric they are a nuisance.
The superheroes of Captain Geriatric don’t kill anyone or hold anyone hostage, as is the modus operandi of more conventional villains. The clown nemeses of Captain Geriatric go about town disrupting peoples’ lives, but not really much more than that. After they are all captured by Captain Geriatric, the Scotland Yard detective who was working alongside the captain informs him that the clowns were merely a smokescreen, and this villain has been committing atrocities while everyone was distracted. These atrocities the detective talks about are mostly just burglaries, and one assault. There are no casualties that the players are aware of. Here it truly shows an idealistic world, as, if petty theft and mugging is referred to as atrocities, the implication is that homicide and more brutal crimes are truly rare sights indeed.
Some may argue against having this idealistic of a superhero story, as it is not realistic, but as Monique Ocampo writes, there is plenty of cynicism in the world of superheroes, and some positivity and idealism is needed. As Ocampo explains, the recent iterations of most mainstream superheroes have trended towards cynicism and darkness, with a few, more-lighthearted exceptions. To most people, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but some positivity and idealism would help in balancing the spectrum a bit. Captain Geriatric certainly accomplishes that.
