Unreasonable self-confidence is one of the reasons villains are so pervasive throughout culture, says Kevin Wynter, a professor of media studies at Pomona College. “In a repressive society like ours that promotes conformity to better consumerism, characters who actively reject the trappings of capitalist fantasy or who operate by the codes of a own morality that goes against the dominant society is inevitably attractive in ways that we. Maybe not everyone wants to openly admit it,” he said.

Today, traditional ideas about evil are replaced by complex, sometimes paradoxical, standards of what different groups find acceptable or threatening. Wynter believes this leads to a “post-villain world.” Tech moguls (Elon Musk), politicians (New York City Mayor Eric Adams), podcasters (Joe Rogan)—for many people, they are the leading transgressors of our time (and heroes, to others). They are anti-establishment. They want to destroy the “system.”

“There are few, if any, villains who combine clownery, wealth, and power as easily as Donald Trump,” Wynter added. “Even his latest parasitic attachment, Elon Musk – who, again, is to some a picture of the perfect villain to others a swashbuckling futurist cowboy.”

That’s the thing about the future, you never know how it’s going to turn out, or who it’s going to be in favor of. For some, artificial intelligence is the cardinal antagonist of 2024. Across Hollywood and the gaming industry, AI is revealing itself as more than an existential threatas many workers are concerned about loss of jobs.

Others, feeling lost as social media undergoes a sharp transformation, rightly point the finger at digital gentrifiers. “I’m angry that everything about the internet that was fun and useful 10 years ago is now broken. this site, obviously,” Tracy Chou, an app developer, posted of X. “Reviews are astroturf lies. The quest is to have a hallucination. no place to share with friends and family without influencers / memes / polarized content overrunning the feed.

In those times nothing like ours has ever happenedall the grief and turmoil, a reorientation towards the truly transgressive reads less shocking if you consider it part of a larger social change. The villain has long permeated the cultural imagination—American lore, after all, is built on the sensibilities of mavericks, vigilantes, and underdogs—but in 2024 it has become a full-fledged main character.

Why? It may be that villainy, more than heroism, offers a different sense of purpose, one that is closer to reality, one that sees our world as it is today – deeply mocked – and responds accordingly.

What I can say for sure is that the villain has no particular allegiance. Eventually it consumes everything. Last December, it was announced that Warner Bros Discovery was canned Sesame Streetthe long-standing youth program. Understandably, the decision did not end well. On Bluesky, the social media app of the moment, @valhallabackgirl is back with the rage that many people have also experienced this year. “I think this is my origin story of the villain,” he WRITES.