Irrational confidence is one reason villains resonate across culture, says Kevin Wynter, a media studies professor at Pomona College. “In a repressive society like ours, which advocates conformity to better cultivate consumers, characters who actively reject the trappings of capitalist fantasy or who operate according to the codes of a self-created morality in contrast to the dominant society will inevitably emerge our way of being appealing.” Maybe not everyone wants to admit it openly,” he says.
Today, traditional notions of villainy have been replaced by complex, sometimes paradoxical standards of what different groups consider acceptable or threatening. Wynter believes this has led to a “post-villain world.” Tech moguls (Elon Musk), politicians (Mayor of New York City). Eric Adams), Podcaster (Joe Rogan) – for many people they are the biggest violators of our time (and for others, heroes). They are anti-establishment. They want to undermine “the system”.
“There are few, if any, villains who combine clowning, wealth and power as deftly as Donald Trump,” Wynter added. “Even his newest parasitic friend, Elon Musk – who is a figure of the perfect villain for some, is a swashbuckling futuristic cowboy for others.”
That’s the thing about the future: you never know exactly how it’s going to turn out or who it’s going to benefit. For some, artificial intelligence was the main adversary of 2024. Across Hollywood and the gaming industry, AI revealed itself as such more than an existential threatas many workers were worried about it Loss of jobs.
Others, feeling lost in the face of the dramatic shift in social media, have rightly pointed the finger at the digital gentrifiers. “I’m angry that everything about the Internet that was fun and useful 10 years ago is now broken. “This site, of course,” Tracy Chou, an app developer, posted to X. “Reviews are artificial lies. Search is a hallucination. No place to share with friends and family without influencer/meme/polarized content flooding the feed.”
In times like unprecedented like oursFor all the fear and excitement, a realignment seems less shocking to the truly transgressive when viewed as part of a larger societal realignment. Villains have long permeated the cultural imagination—American history, after all, is built on the sensibilities of loners, vigilantes, and outsiders—but in 2024, she has become the main character.
Why? It could be that villainy, more than heroism, offers a different structure of meaning, one closer to reality, one that sees our world for what it is right now—deeply fucked up—and responds accordingly.
What I can say for sure is that villainy has no special loyalty. Ultimately, it consumes everyone. In December, it was announced that Warner Bros. had canceled Discovery Sesame Streetthe long-standing children’s program. Understandably, the decision was not well received. On Bluesky, the current social media app, @valhallabackgirl fired back with a level of anger that many people had also experienced this year. “I think this is the origin story of my villain,” she said wrote.
