This blog has taken on a different feel with all the talk of superheroes and such, but as I was reading the guest posts something suddenly hit me - there can’t be superheroes without super villains. When I was younger I would imagine a super villain to be a mad scientist of some sort, if not mad then a genius, an evil genius. The thing about super villains and even evil geniuses is that at one time they were young and innocent, much like my seven year old nephew is now. When I look at my nephew I’m amazed at how smart he is and at the same time, I fear that he may grow up to be a super villain.

A few weeks ago I took my four year niece to see the Disney movie The Princess and the Frog , which just came out on DVD. We took my seven year old nephew too, well, we kind of dragged him along, protesting the entire time that he didn’t want to see any “Girly princess movie…” He sat with his arms crossed across his chest, sulking as the lights dimmed, not even touching his popcorn, but as the movie progressed he was caught up in and enchanted by the Disney magic. After the movie he said that he loved it and when he grew up he wanted to be just like “The Shadowman” from the movie. I looked at him and wondered, “Why does that not surprise me?”

The Shadowman is the evil witch doctor who originally turns the prince into a frog. He is probably the most evil Disney character I’ve seen since the wicked fairy Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty. I don’t know but for some reason my nephew is attracted to the bad guys in movies.

I remember when he was about three years old, he took a lightsaber to where my niece was sleeping, I stood close because I thought he was going to whack her with it, but he didn’t. He simply went up to her and said, “You don’t know the power of the darkside. Join me and together we’ll rule the galaxy.”

At the time I thought it was funny and kind of cute in a geeky, fanboy kind of way, but little did I know he was serious.

Another time we went to the library and he checked out a book on robots. On our way home he said “I wish I knew how to build robots.”

Being the good uncle that I am I told him that if he went to school and studied real hard one day he might grow up and build robots if that‘s what he wanted to do.

He smiled and said, “I want to build robots that take over the world for me” I looked at him through the rearview mirror, he looked at me and smiled an evil little smile. “you can have Australia if you want it.”

My blood ran cold as I realized I was in the presence of a super villain in the making.

********

Don't forget your chance to win a signed 1st print "Kick Ass" comic book.