Alright, so the Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 gave us the best villain in the MCU after
Thanos!
That's right, in my opinion The High Evolutionary is already a better villain than Kang the
Conqueror.
And in this video, I'm gonna give you 5 detailed points explaining why High Evolutionary is
a better villain than Kang!
The idea is not only to convince you, my audience but to reach out to the Marvel executives
who could learn a lot from Guardians 3.
James Gunn has really shown his incredible writing skills by turning this lesser-known
comic-book villain into one of the most terrifying characters in the MCU!
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Now let's get on with the video!
Number 1: The "Show and Don’t Tell” Approach.
The reason High Evolutionary comes off as a menacing villain is because all the dirty
things that he did happened on-screen.
The way he performed ruthless experiments on Rocket or the way he's obsessed with changing
things the way they are, it's all shown on-screen.
Almost none of the bad things he did was left to us, the audience to imagine, it was all
shown!
Whereas in the case of Kang the Conqueror, the first time we ever saw him in the MCU
was in Loki Season 1, Episode 6 in the form of He Who Remains.
Now, He Who Remains warned us that if he gets killed, it will unleash havoc upon the multiverse.
This specific line was meant to foreshadow the level of devastation his Evil Variants
could bring.
The entire point of Loki Season 1 was to establish just how dangerous Kang the Conqueror is!
But when he did appear in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, it was all talk and nothing
shown!
Kang’s biggest acts of destruction all happen off-screen.
In fact, during Janet’s flashback, we briefly see how Kang destroyed planets, realities
and even entire timelines!
But we still never get to see an actual scene where he does that!
On the other hand, we literally see High Evolutionary nuke an entire planet with civilizations still
living on it, a planet that he himself created!
And no no, we don't just see how he destroyed the planet he created, we first get to see
how a hybrid civilization is living on this planet.
We establish a connection with these characters and then they're killed.
This "show more and say less" approach makes High Evolutionary a better villain than Kang
who got an entire show with 6 episodes building him up!
Because all those "build-ups" led to nothing, whereas the High Evolutionary who we've only
seen in this movie has a better character arc.
Number 2: Personal Stakes as opposed to Higher Stakes!
High Evolutionary in Guardians 3 poses a direct threat to Rocket's life, a Guardian who we
have been seeing for the past 10 years!
As opposed to Kang the Conqueror who just wants to conquer the multiverse.
I understand that's what Kang is in the comics, but we have to make him much more interesting
if we wanna sell him on the big screen.
It's okay to deviate from the comics sometimes, as long as you're staying true to the character
and doing it for the sake of character development.
Let's take this scene for an example.
Here we see Peter Quill screaming in agony just by the thought of losing his dearest
friend Rocket.
He was ready to do whatever it takes to save the life of his friend and yet when Rocket
was dying and nothing was working, that's when Peter started to feel the possibility
of losing Rocket.
And I've seen the film twice on the opening day and believe me I've seen no one looking
at their phones or anything during this scene, it was that intense!
And sadly there were no intense scenes like this with Kang's victims!
Now you may say "But Thanos posed a threat to the universe and it was still intense"
Well, that's true but let me ask you a question!
In Infinity War, which scene do you think drew the biggest gasp from the audience?
Its when Thanos stabbed Tony Stark right in his abdomen.
And why do you think that is?
It's because at that moment Thanos was threatening to take the life of our most beloved superhero!
We have a personal connection with Tony Stark, just like we do with most of the Avengers.
And that's also why the audience gasped when Spider-Man got dusted, because he's probably
everyone's favorite character!
You see, Thanos was not only a threat to the universe, but he was a threat to our favorite
superheroes and then the universe!
And if I may bring DC into this: Christian Bale's Batman was the most furious
when Joker kidnapped Rachel out of all people.
When stakes are personal, the audience just feels it better.
Number 3: Irredeemable Character Style.
Now, up until Phase 5, whatever big villains we got aka Thanos, Killmonger or He Who Remains,
they all kind of got that "Redeemable factor" in them.
For example, Thanos wanted to wipe half the universe to prevent starvation and preserve
resources.
Killmonger believed he's righting the wrong against his people and He Who Remains strongly
told us how he helped keep the balance in the Multiverse.
But High Evolutionary has none of that, he is a horrible person by his own choice.
He hates things the way they are and wants to genetically erase every flaw in pursuit
of creating the perfect species.
This is what led him to Rocket.
And it is a breath of fresh air to have a villain that hasn't got the cliche "Redeemable
factor" in his character.
We see him tinkering with all sorts of animals, torturing and incinerating them to complete
his mission!
In short, High Evolutionary is an Irredeemable character.
And when you have villains that are that bad in character, you just want them to lose no
matter what.
Number 4: Giant Ants vs Guardians!
Now you know exactly what I mean by that, don't you?
Kang the Conqueror was literally defeated by Ants!
Yes I acknowledge they were super powerful ants but ants nonetheless!
While it took the combined forces of the Guardians to defeat the High Evolutionary.
In Guardians 3 when Rocket was up against High Evolutionary all by himself, Rocket was
losing!
It's only when Groot, Peter Quill, Drax, Gamora and Nebula join in, that's when they manage
to get the better of him.
And not only that, James Gunn first made sure that High Evolutionary's own army went against
him, and by making his own creation go after him, that made him weak, made him alone!
And even in that situation High Evolutionary came on top by destroying his own army.
That shows how ruthless he is, and that he will do anything to achieve his target.
But Kang on the other hand, who destroyed entire timelines, couldn't even come on top
against mighty ants.
So are you telling me those timelines didn't have powerful ants or are you telling me that
Kang isn't as powerful as he makes it seem?
Another example could be this scene: Here we see Kang using his telekinesis powers
to lift both Scott Lang and Cassie up against the wall!
By using this power, Kang is able to manipulate objects or people without touching them.
Now Scott was no match for Kang!
Kang said it himself: So Kang was using his telekinesis powers on
Scott who isn't a threat at all.
But when it comes to High Evolutionary, he uses the same powers to hold Adam freaking
Warlock up against the wall.
This vast difference between Kang and High Evolutionary does make an impact on the viewer's
mind.
Kang might be more powerful but it's High Evolutionary who fights a stronger opposition.
Number 5: A Brilliant Villain vs a Dangerous Villain.
After watching Guardians 3, one thing that's clear to me is that High Evolutionary is a
Brilliant character as opposed to Kang who so far has only been written as a Dangerous
character.
Now let me explain what I mean by that.
When young Rocket escapes from his cage and rescues Lylla as well, High Evolutionary intervenes
and says "Yes, I imagined you'd do something like this."
So he anticipated that Rocket would try to escape from his cage.
It didn't surprise him at all because he understood that someone with Rocket's intelligence will
surely wanna get outta here.
But Kang on the other hand couldn't even prevent Janet from reading his mind, which ultimately
got himself locked inside the Quantum Realm indefinitely.
Shouldn't someone like Kang take pre-caution so that someone like Janet doesn't read his
mind?
Why was he careless?
Is it because he didn't count on Janet as a potential enemy?
And if that's the case then he's just dangerous, not brilliant.
But High Evolutionary till the end of the movie knew each and every single step the
Guardians would take.
He's not only dangerous but intelligent as well.
He prepares for the worst case scenario whereas Kang doesn't even take a normal pre-caution.
Now these 5 points should be enough to explain why High Evolutionary is already a better
villain Kang who was built-up through an entire series.
Whether you like Guardians 3 or not, but you have to agree that James Gunn turned a lesser
known comic-book villain into a better villain than Kang!
And it all has to do with writing.
If good writing can turn a lesser-known villain into such a terrifying figure, imagine what
good writing can do to a character like Kang!
And that's all Marvel has to do.
Hire writers who are competent and have the courage to deviate from the comics if necessary
to make Kang live up to his own words.
Don't hype up a character only to disappoint at the end.
And please I'm saying this for one last time, take the "Show more and say less" approach
for Kang!
He has so much potential, the fact that everybody keeps saying he destroyed planets, realities
and even entire timelines, those in and of itself can be turned into
a good 2 hour movie!
So something that can be turned into a movie itself, don't convey those plotlines through
a few lines of dialogue!
My respect for James Gunn has increased immensely after watching Guardians Vol 3.
and I couldn't be more excited to see what he's gonna do with Superman: Legacy and Batman!
Now please let me know if you agree with the points I raised, or if you wanna add something
to my points, please comment below.
Guardians 3 is what the MCU is all about.
Great character development, incredible pay-offs and a magnificent villain!
And that's all we expect from Marvel moving forward.
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Till then, I'm Kevin Hart and I'll see you lads in the next one!