I used to be a huge fan of superhero anything. I watched superhero cartoons, movies, and even read some comics. In all capacities, I wanted to see myself as the hero. Be the ultimate symbol for good. In contrast, that meant that I had to hate the villain. It automatically puts me in conflict with another person. As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to empathize more with the villain. It’s not an endorsement of the deeds, but I can understand why they do what they do. If I can empathize with villains, it makes me wonder if evil is even real. Perhaps this is something worth exploring further.

We like to believe that our villains are something that’s out there. Especially in the sense that if I’m the hero of my life, the adversaries are something outside of me. Evil is something I should avoid. It still doesn’t really tell me what evil is. Evil is something we label as bad, and anything that is bad causes pain and suffering. I think it’s worth distinguishing between pain and suffering because it’s easy to get caught up in labels.

The Legend of the Two Arrows

There’s a subtle difference between pain and suffering. This can be described in the metaphor of the two arrows. The first arrow is pain. It’s the unavoidable physical or emotional pain that life naturally inflicts. It’s natural because pain is a universal experience that we’ve all had. The illusion of control tells us that we can prevent the first arrow from hitting us, but no one can ever predict a layoff, a broken bone, or an unexpected insult. Consequently, the first arrow is a catalyst for conflict, but not the origin of conflict.

True suffering only happens once the second arrow hits. The second arrow is the reaction to the first. Not only do we go through the pain of the first arrow, but we also add on to it with an internal subjective reaction. We start to ruminate on the thoughts that this shouldn’t be happening to me. I shouldn’t be threatened, hurt, or inconvenienced. With the first arrow out of our control, the second arrow is something we can choose to fire.

Instead of simply losing the job, we choose to be angry about it. Instead of hearing the insult, we ruminate over what the person said repeatedly. The second arrow is the conflict. This isn’t a fight between a hero and a villain. This is an internal war within myself, as I think that something that objectively happens to everyone shouldn’t be happening to me. I’m told I should be mad at someone for doing me wrong, but the true suffering comes from the mental story I’ve attached to the pain. If someone cuts me off in traffic during my morning commute, I’m still judging the driver at lunch. The event is over, but the conflict continues.

T’Challa & Killmonger

There’s not much difference between the hero and the villain. I’d actually like to say that they are the same. The only difference between the hero and the villain is circumstance, not substance. This idea was beautifully executed in the movie Black Panther. The conflict between T’Challa (Black Panther) and Erik Killmonger wasn’t a battle between good vs. evil. It was a struggle between two men who were made of the same Wakandan royalty, but were shaped into opposing roles due to vastly different circumstances.

One might look at the story and see them as fundamentally different people. We are taught to see the hero as good and the villain as bad. However, there were plenty of things between the two characters that are shared, making them more alike than different. Both T’Challa and Killmonger are the sons of Wakandan royalty. They are first cousins and both carry the blood of the Panther.

Not only were they family, they both shared the same purpose. They both shared an overwhelming sense of duty to the people of Wakanda. T’Challa wanted to protect Wakanda’s isolation and stability. Killmonger might seem like an enemy, but his intention was only to use Wakanda’s resources to protect people of African descent globally. The difference is merely an expansion of T’Challa’s goal. The ultimate ends of Killonger and TÇhaller were similar. Only their means were different.

The difference between T’Challa and Killmonger was purely circumstantial. The hero, T’Challa, was raised in a protected, isolated, and prosperous kingdom known as Wakanda. Here, he was groomed to be king while receiving love and security. In contrast, Killmonger was raised on the streets of Oakland, California, immediately after witnessing the death of his father. His experience has been nothing but oppressive.

Is Evil Just a Change in Perspective?

At this point, it’s a good point to question why T’Challa is considered the hero and Killmonger the villain. I hypothesize that T’Challa is the hero because of his role as someone who needs to maintain the status quo, and Killmonger is the villain simply because he wants to challenge it. Can we say the same thing about evil? What if evil is just a mechanism to disrupt the status quo? What if conflict is merely a method that points us to a different perspective? Killmonger was never external opposition, but the shadow reflection of T’Challa.

When we label someone as evil, we forget that they share our autonomy, our DNA, and our capacity to make a choice. You and the most evil person you can think of are made of the same substance. The only difference between the person who causes pain and you is the experience. We also have to remember that we, too, cause pain. So either we are all heroes, or we are all villains.

Defeating the Villain

The classic superhero storyline ends when the evil is defeated. Freedom is only earned when the villain is gone. What if I were to tell you that the peace you seek within any conflict is already there? Our happiness shouldn’t depend on whether or not we are fighting against an enemy. This happiness can’t be earned or lost, but the conflict and ideas of suffering can definitely obscure it. With so many years of consuming superhero content, I was made to believe that defeating the villain created the ultimate good. The conflict isn’t over until it’s resolved. I’m now convinced that the ultimate good remains even when the “villain” is active. Then it’s just a matter of realizing that the villain was within me all along.