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Superhero Movies Killed the Arch Nemesis

Anthony Gramuglia

219,025 views

You ever notice that a lot of superhero movies don't have an arch nemesis anymore? The villain who would appear over the course of a whole saga, coming back again and again -- it's all over now. The mainstream superhero movie has foregone that entire process.

Why is this? Well, it's for a number of reasons....that we plan on exploring.

Thumbnail by ‪@thecrimsonender‬
Editing by Waverunner

Chapters

00:00 - Whatever Happened to Superheroes and Their Arch Nemesis?
02:13 - Lex Luthor Richard Donner Superman
05:23 - The Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman
07:31 - Magneto, Sabretooth, and the Rest in X-Men
12:01 - Green Goblin and Spider-Man
15:16 - Joker in The Dark Knight Trilogy
19:38 - MCU
26:31 - The Human Element
30:34 - James Gunn's Lex Luthor
32:22 - What's Going to Happen to Doctor Doom?

20 Comments

@Nathaniel_Kerr 1 year ago

Having seen Superman, there's no way that Lex doesn't come back with a Green and Purple suit, and try again to kill Superman.

@PaceFilmsProductions 1 year ago

Still shocks the hell out of me we have 4 Captain America movies and only one has Red Skull as the main villain.

@ToonBoom788 1 year ago

The closest answer to having an Arch Nemesis, is The Sonic The Hedgehog Movies. Which even then, are video game adaptations

@Mando44646 1 year ago

The MCU's obsession with killing villains off has been a huge problem

@theawesome925 1 year ago

I love the early mention that Riddler is far more of an archenemy to Batman than Joker in the '66 universe.

@alexandredesbiens-brassard9109 1 year ago

Honestly, I think this is simply a symptom of a larger truth: movies are not a serialized medium. They don't usually do recurring characters with relationship that changes over time very well. Franchise sometimes do it, but they can rarely maintain an arc for more than 3 movies at a time. Even something like James Bond is only serialized in small bursts.

This is the reason why I mourn traditionnal 20 episodes tv shows with season arcs, because they were the perfect medium for long-form serialization. Streaming has all but kill them unfortunately.

@mickeyveach3612 1 year ago

The Superman franchise is a good counterpoint to all of this. After six movies, all we had to show for it was Zod and Luthor. The fact that after 50 years we still don't have Brainiac, or Bizarro, or Mongul in any of these is baffling.

@Terminalsanity 1 year ago (edited)

I cannot stress how tone deaf & frankly not at all a good sign it is that we're getting Doom's proper MCU introduction in an Avenger's film when the entire motivation for the character's villainy is the man's ego is so massive is he cannot stand it that Reed Richards is ever slightly smarter than him.

@insupportofjunhado 1 year ago

Only the dramatic arch nemesis. The situational, comedic nemesis still wants pictures of Spider-Man!

@OBSDCC7 1 year ago

3 days later, and Superman absolutely sets Luthor up as a reoccurring arch-nemesis

@Akay4444444444444444 1 year ago

Sherlock without Moriarty is... Most of the Holmes canon with the exception of like 7 stories

@DiegoXRA 1 year ago

Ultron getting only one movie is still baffling to me

@KiramidHead 1 year ago

I think it's a difference between mediums. You only have so many movies, so there's less room for returning villains while bringing in new ones.

@thundernator64 1 year ago

This is why I think TV is a better medium than film for the serialized nature of superhero media. You're able to more easily Arch-Nemesises while still leaving room for the rest of a Hero's rogues. So I'm willing to cut some superhero trilogies some lack.

Though I think the MCU's in the best position to have Arch-Nemesises yet just doesn't.

@insupportofjunhado 1 year ago

Making Lex Luthor the enemy of the Justice League as a whole kind of misses the whole point of the Legion of Doom/Injustice Gang. Lex Luthor can't do it alone. If you want a mad scientist who is the enemy of the league specifically, there's plenty of those in the comic books. Doctor Ivo, Doctor Morrow, Prometheus with his stupid helmet, that dictator who ran Gamora Island, etc.

@nicwoolfe3885 1 year ago

…I’m not sayin’ nothin’ about Superman.

@shinkai2772 1 year ago

I think magneto leaving mystique when turning human shows how far down hating humans, becoming a reflection to the humans hating mutants and how far that hate can drive us from what seems like a good goal to one that is warped.

@justluka7590 1 year ago

forgot Aquaman movies where both villains come back

@KeithsGuest 1 year ago

17:00 Nolan specifically said he didn’t want to call back to it because of what happened with his passing, there was a plan for a scene in the 3rd movie that sets up joker escaping prison to be a larger part of it which is why the trilogy it self almost feels incomplete

@cosmicspacething3474 1 year ago

Tbf I don’t think Disney is allowed to make a hulk movie for complicated legal reasons so that’s why all his villains are elsewhere. They still at least should’ve interacted more though