We Ain’t No Delinquents, We’re Misunderstood: 3 Notable Ne’er-do-wells Who Would Have Benefited from Reputation Management
My mother used to tell me that bullies on the playground only used to pick on me because they were insecure about themselves. Taking that philosophy into pop culture, it makes me ponder how many villains were simply products of poor home environments and sick of playing second fiddle to the hero. A sour association to anyone’s name – whether it be an online reputation or based on in-person interaction, could end up becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. How many iconic villains were suffering from poor reputation management? Was Lex Luthor just sick of Superman getting all the girls? Here are three notable ne’er-do-wells who merely needed a bit of guidance, a marketing firm, and good PR.
1. Lex Luthor: One of Superman’s most notable archenemies, this mad scientist turned LexCorp founder had the smarts and resources that rival the likes of Tony Stark’s Stark Industries and Bruce Wayne’s Wayne Enterprises. According to canon history, Lex and the boy wonder, Clark Kent, were childhood buddies. Perhaps Lex was frustrated with the fact that Superman got the attention just because he threw on a cape and could pick up a tractor over his head. If Lex had used his business know-how to build up his own personal online reputation, perhaps he wouldn’t have had to turn to evil. Careful management of his image might have landed him on the cover of GQ or Forbes instead of on top of the list of Superman’s least favorite people.
2. The Wicked Witch of the West: While it’s difficult to overcome the fact that “wicked” is directly incorporated into her nickname, the emerald sorceress suffers from a serious case of being misunderstood. How would you feel if someone dropped a house on your sister? Unlike Lex Luthor, it seems that the wicked witch doesn’t need any guidance in terms of reputation management. The hit Broadway musical, Wicked, helped put certain misconceptions to death. Perhaps the bewitching antagonist from The Wizard of Oz had some careful hands composing that musical that did a lot for her reputation.
3. Two-Face: The famous rival of Batman was once a successful attorney with a strong moral compass. As we know, he was driven insane after an unfortunate encounter with a face full of acid and from then on he was at odds with Batman. Undoubtedly, without the irreversible scarring and traumatizing encounter, he would have continued practicing law and made a good name for himself. Perhaps with a bit of treatment for his post-traumatic stress and mental problems, he wouldn’t have been an enemy but a slightly disfigured ally. If his outer appearance made him self-conscious, he could have built an online reputation and dealt with people from behind a closed door and through a computer screen. Unfortunately, this was not the case and the man known as Harvey Dent failed to recognize the value of reputation management and wandered to the dark side.
Certainly, even the dastardliness of villains could have benefited from good reputation management. Before you go and write the aforementioned ne’er-do-wells off as being your most hated villains, remember that it’s possible that they were only misunderstood. A person’s reputation impacts every aspect of their life. If you were written off as only being capable of evil deeds, wouldn’t you eventually succumb to the self-fulfilling prophecy too? Remember that there are two sides to every story and that any villain could really just be a tragically misunderstood lost soul who simply needed guidance.
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