All heroes/villains are not interchangeable. Oh, back in the day, perhaps, there was an almost disturbing similarity between characters; every hero was pretty much the same as every other, just with different abilities. Villains sometime had a theme that helped distinguish them from one another, but that seldom amounted even to a difference in style let alone substance.
Nowadays, we've put some more tools in our literary toolbox to make the writers' job easier. Not only are there varied heroes, villains, and secondary characters, but many are specialized tools for special jobs. They are the "go-to guys" of comics, and deserved to be recognized as such.
For example: you want to write a story where crazy, impossible things happen, particularly ones that are cool to draw like protagonistic dismorphia. And you may to set a bizarre situation or problem to solve, not just a simple bank robbery. But in the end you still need a villain who can be taken out with a punch in the jaw. Who do you go to....?
Abra Kadabra.
He's as goofy or as terrifying as you need him to be!
Let's see, with Abra Kadabra I can...
turn Superman into a puppet
turn Jay into a turtle
and force heroes to race to their deaths.
And why...? That's the best part. Abra Kadabra's motivation is the same as the writer's:
he just wants you to be entertained.
Ladies and gentlemen, a big round of applause for our first Go-To Guy: Abra Kadabra.
turn Superman into a puppet
turn Jay into a turtle
and force heroes to race to their deaths.
he just wants you to be entertained.
