Evil is a relative term, but it does have certain standards. Villains are defined by a distinct lack of compassion. In the Marvel Superstars Trading Card Game, the bad guys are easy to spot. They are joined together as one team, and they are as ruthless as they can be.

The Villains of the Marvel movie universe are legion. Every time one of our heroes stops a hateful plan to destroy the world, another mythological miscreant starts plotting a new assault on humanity. This incessant evil makes these legends come alive in their audience, since everyone has a tendency toward the dark side.

The dictionary definition that drives these devious designs sounds rather familiar:

e·vil [ee-vuhl]

–adjective

1. Morally bad or wrong; wicked: an evil tyrant.

2. Causing ruin, injury, or pain; harmful: the evil effects of a poor diet.

3. Characterized by or indicating future misfortune; ominous: evil omens.

4. Bad or blameworthy by report; infamous: an evil reputation.

5. Characterized by anger or spite; malicious.

We can all relate to that. Life has its ups and downs, and sometimes it gets pushed over the edge by someone who doesn’t play nice. Things fall apart, and entropy never sleeps. There are constant choices to be made, with one side bright. The world awaits our influence at every moment. We can help, or we can hurt.

Always picking good over evil is not an easy gig. Grabbing personal gain at the expense of others is awfully tempting. It often seems that grand malicious forces are working behind the scenes to guide us into wicked schemes beyond our individual motives. That’s where superheroes come in.

“Legends are a way of understanding things greater than ourselves; forces that shape our lives, events that defy explanation.”

—Sam Elliott as Caretaker in Ghost Rider.

The list is wicked: Blackheart, the jealous son of Mephistopheles himself. Abomination, born of the unbridled desire to dominate and destroy. Typhoid, ready to poison anything that breathes. With each member of the Villains team, we see a sickening reflection of an unseemly aspect of humanity itself. Rather than running from our true nature, we invent monsters to create a sort of story-based evil concentrate. The malice is trapped in symbolic comic book characters, making it less likely to find footing in real life.

Much of the villainy that we perceive is based on biology. Eat or be eaten is a way of life for the creatures of Earth. Extrapolating the aggression necessary for survival into the realm of superheroes, we imagine characters of monstrous menace and pure evil. If the urge to dominate were given truly free reign, hellish horrors would be unleashed. Such is the world of the Marvel movies.

The most basic and barbaric ugliness is captured quite completely in Hulk’s biggest nemesis. Abomination embodies all that is wrong with raw aggression. Emil Blonsky just wants to fight. He does not care what happens to others, and he does not care what happens to his body. As long as he is bigger and stronger than his opponent, nothing else matters. True evil is blind, and it wants to win at all costs.

“Maybe it’s time we forgot about discretion. What difference does it make how the world ends? Morality doesn’t even enter into it.”

—Stephen Dorff as Deacon Frost in Blade.

Once a fiendish foe gets beyond the pure drive to conquer an immediate opponent, the villainy goes global. Deacon Frost does not only want to beat Blade—he wants the whole world. By becoming La Magra and unleashing the deep red tidal wave of the Blood God, everyone will be turned toward the underworld. When we all go totally evil, good takes on a new meaning—big plans for a bad boy.

Most of these nefarious plans seem completely insane. While each of us may occasionally entertain such radical notions, we control our wildest impulses and conform to society and civilization. We band together for the good of each other. We get along, and we work hard to keep ourselves from going crazy. As an outlet for the pandemonium of possible alternatives to being a functioning citizen, however, we shudder at the thought of Villains such as Loony Bin Jim.

Lucky for us, it is only a movie. Punisher had to deal with some seriously deranged dudes in providing cinematic catharsis for the cold-blooded realities of our human condition. The potential for psychosis and unspeakable evil is acted out for us on the silver screen so that we can rise above it. Soon the squeamish horror will be held in our hands on Marvel Superstars cards.

“Let’s play.”

Colin Farrell as Bullseye in Daredevil.

Being able to face the darkest corners of ourselves is a very difficult task. Celebrating the most fiendish and foul desires by capturing them in myth and defeating them with complementary capes is glorious therapy. Turning our favorite folktales sideways while enjoying a strategic exercise in creative gaming with Marvel Superstars will be bliss. Even though the Villains team is bringing serious ugliness to the table, it is a beautiful thing.

“Since time began, a war has been waged in the shadows between the armies of good and evil. It may be fought on a grand scale or within the heart of a single individual. The evil has taken many forms and used the darkest of arts.”

—Terence Stamp as Stick in Elektra.

The portraits of pure evil that we have enjoyed today show just a few of the possible supporting characters for the bad guys in Marvel Superstars. The dark arts of the Villains team will not be exploiting brute force and driving aggression alone. While the Abomination deck destroys with its furious fists, Magneto and Dr. Doom will be plotting and scheming with a much more cerebral form of mythic malice. Tune in next week for a more sophisticated take on the coming cardboard terror. It promises to be a thrilling threat indeed.