Recently, a friend asked me: if I could be a henchwoman for any villain in movies, TV, or any media, who would I choose? I chose the DC comic book villain Lex Luthor. Working for his business, LexCorp, would just be a 9-to-5 job with a 401(k) and a dental plan, with the bonus of never having to fight Superman or any other hero. Why would they bother fighting a low-level office worker?
In comic books, wealth is a superpower. The ability to make henchmen do their bidding is the only way most villains can stand up to heroes, and it allows heroes to focus on what they want to do. Batman, for instance, can maintain his lifestyle because of the people working for Wayne Enterprises. Even in fiction, an individual’s relationship to production dictates the manner of life they live. Superheroes and villains can perform super-powered acts of labor, or they have access to other people’s labor.
When I was younger, my favorite comic book was Green Lantern. Each Green Lantern gets their power from a ring given to them by space aliens called the Guardians of the Universe. These ancient beings have the ability to distribute superpowers like candy, using the recipients of their rings to form a galactic police force that suppresses their enemies and assists their allies. The Guardians’ control over the production of these rings gives them incredible power, even by comic book standards.
Strength alone isn’t what wins a fight in comics. The good guys usually succeed, and the bad guys typically lose in the end, but not before causing harm to raise the stakes for the hero. A villain who can’t beat the hero can still make that hero choose between saving the city and saving their love interest. A female love interest is often just a prop to move the story along; she has no real agency.
The term “fridging” describes a trope in fiction where women are harmed to motivate male protagonists. “Fridging” was coined after a 1999 issue of Green Lantern where the Lantern’s girlfriend was killed and stuffed into a refrigerator. Society conditions us to its worldview, and if we don’t think critically about what we consume, it leaves an impression on us. Feminism can help us understand media and power structures, but it takes multiple lenses to build a complete worldview.
I love questions like, “Who would you hench for?” It gives us a chance to think about media in a new way. Before learning dialectical materialism, I would have said I’d hench for the Guardians of the Universe and become a Green Lantern—mostly to start a conversation about how the Guardians are the real bad guys. Now, I’d rather answer honestly: if my boss told me to fight Batman, I’d quit.
Of course, I wouldn’t cut it as a real henchwoman; they wouldn’t even hire me. Why would an employer hire someone who won’t do what they want? Why would DC Comics hire a writer who writes about changing the status quo? In capitalist media, people who want to change the status quo are portrayed as the bad guys, while those who restore and protect it are good.
The more people see a piece of media, the greater the impression it leaves on society. DC Comics and every other major media producer know they have power over society that the average worker does not. They don’t want to give up that power, so their stories will always be biased in their favor. The rich heroes like Batman are good because they sustain the society they interact with. The villains like Lex Luthor are bad because they are trying to change things. Luthor’s changes might be harmful, but systemic change of any kind is almost always depicted negatively.
Movies, books, music—whatever form of media we consume—shapes who we are. “Who would you hench for?” doesn’t just look at media from a fictional perspective; it gives us a chance to examine ourselves and each other. Fridging not only leads to a misogynistic way of thinking, but it also shows that this is the status quo media wants to protect.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t consume media; I could only write this much about Green Lantern and Batman because I’ve read a lot of those comics. I’m sure Iron Man would be a good example, but I haven’t read many Iron Man comics. We should spend our leisure time enjoying what we love. Just remember, if we don’t work on conditioning ourselves, someone else will.
Feminism and dialectical materialism pair well together. Dialectics helps us understand how things are interconnected. The quality of a piece of media is not limited to how entertaining it is; it also includes who produced it and its effect on the consumer. How something affects and is affected by its environment is crucial to understanding it. Feminism can show us what qualities to look for. Media produced by men for men, with little input or consideration for women, often ends up with sexist undertones, even if it is entertaining.
We are what we eat, or as Ralph Waldo Emerson put it, “I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.” Sometimes (or: Perhaps?) the most radical thing we can do to take control over our worldview is to be critical of what we consume. We can seek out media that helps shape a revolutionary perspective.
I’d really like to know what my readers think. Tell me who you would hench for in the comments.
