How To Be a Super-Villain {an origin story}

0 • Prologue

          I wasn't born evil. Most kids don't grow up dreaming about being a world-class super-villain - at least the sane ones don't. Likewise, I didn't ever think I'd derail completely from the life-path my father, a renowned superhero, had set me on, but I did. I don't know when I decided to "go bad", and I don't think I actually did make that conscious decision (it's not like I joined a super-villain league. Us bad guys tend to work solo - maybe it's a sociopath thing?), but somehow, I've managed to become the most hated and feared Super in the entire world. For all you aspiring super-villains or even common criminals out there, this is how I did it; this is how to be a super-villain.

I was born into a wealthy, Upper-East-Side family twenty years ago. My father, Caesar Nova, was a successful businessman by day and the classic Superman by night, and they called him the Gladiator, AKA the most powerful and famous superhero in Argent City, New York. Maybe even the entire state. My mother was a socialite who went to wine-tastings and book clubs, and the only thing she did at night was relax in the jacuzzi, sipping on a glass of Chardonnay. I was an only child who craved attention and approval, as most rich only-children did - and that was my family.

Caesar Nova worked long hours, and the Gladiator did too, resulting in my father being the typical absentee father that most rich families had. My mother was your average telepath, who turned to alcohol to drown out the voices in her head, and she only played with me in my toddlerhood when she accidentally tripped over me on the floor. She died in a house fire when I was fourteen. Unsurprisingly, when I entered middle school, my father started taking notice of me and training me to take up the mantle and continue his legacy - to be a superhero. Equally unsurprisingly, I worked hard to fulfill his wishes and make him proud.

And so by the time I graduated high school, I was skilled in the arts of karate, tae-kwon-do, judo, a bit of jujitsu, fencing, and diplomacy. "Diplomacy and the ability to talk people into doing what you want is your most powerful skill, Cassius," my father always said. I've since tweaked it a little and have mastered the art of flirting. I've found that the subtle difference between getting people to like you and getting people to lust after you is enormous. Passion can drive even the most steadfast person to bend to your will.

I'm sure my father never meant for me to become a super-villain, and definitely never even dreamed of me becoming his arch-nemesis, but life is a cruel joke, especially if you try to play by the rules. He gave me the gun and taught me how to shoot, forgetting the fact that the man holding the gun also holds the power to decide. And I decided against him.

Before you decide that I'm a sociopath, I'd like to point out that I didn't wake up one day believing my father was Enemy Number One. Like I said, becoming a super-villain is hard work; a foundation of cynicism and ambitious resentment must first be built.

The first step to becoming a super-villain is to have a tragic backstory, where someone you trust - preferably a close family-member, like a father - betrays you. If you need an example, I'll gladly share mine.