Anarky has now joined the list of villains who have enough charisma to inspire followers without even trying.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Robins #1, on sale now.
Anarky was recently murdered in the pages of I Am Batman #1, where the radical-anarchist supervillain was found dead in a Gotham alley. But despite his passing, Anarky left a lasting mark on the DC Universe, where a cult has sprung up in his name in Robins #1, by Tim Seeley, Baldemar Rivas, Romulo Fajardo Jr. and Steve Wands.
This highlights how despite being so vile, Gotham’s villains have an unbridled charisma about them that draws in followers. Joker has done it in the past, and Bane had his own personal army, so it seems fitting that someone as blatantly political as Anarky would have his own cult.
Created by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle, Anarky was introduced in 1989’s Detective Comics #608 as a supervillain whose goal was to overthrow governments to improve social conditions. Unfortunately, the ways he chose to change the system put the very lives he was trying to improve in danger, thus making him a consistent enemy of Batman. But apparently, Anarky’s ideals have resonated with enough people to form a cult that was willing to commit acts of terrorism in his name.
This group, known as the Devotees of Anarky, met through an internet chat board, largely being comprised of conspiracy theorists who believed in Anarky’s ideas of destroying governments to achieve their goals. But in this case, the cultists believed the enemy was the “deep state” and thus were willing to destroy a government building and risk lives to achieve their ends, believing that it was what Anarky would do.
Thankfully, the Robins showed up just in time to capture the cultists and defuse the bomb they had planted. But it shows that the villains of Gotham don’t actually need to do much to inflict harm. There’s a reason that they’re so dangerous when compared to villains from places like Metropolis or Apokolips. The Gotham rogues are much more human, and they reflect the darkness of humanity back onto the world. People see their worst selves in these villains and unfortunately, that can resonate with quite a few people. They take the actions of people like Anarky, Bane, or the Joker as an excuse to be their worst selves. If Anarky can blow up a building, why not them? But it is just misguided anger and delusion guiding them, not actual bravery.
Still, the amount of people who can connect with maniacs like this is staggering. The most recent example was during the Joker War. All the Clown Prince of Crime had to do to turn the city into a warzone was to tell people to put on clown masks and go crazy. And a good portion of the city did so. They took the Joker’s time at the top as a signal to just go berserk and burn the city to the ground. Gotham is still reeling from that attack today.
Even now people still support the Joker, found in the gangs and offshoots that still lurk in the shadows of Gotham months later. And he isn’t the only one capable of doing this. Bane has always had a consistent following because people admire his strength and cunning. Now Anarky seems to have joined the list of villains who can inspire others to commit acts of villainy. What’s even more unsettling is that his particular message can be applied to a vast range of people with troubled souls who want to lash out at the world.
Gotham’s villains have a charisma that stems from tapping into the darker desires people try to hide. By seeming to revel in their monstrous deeds, they make it okay for others to do the same. It’s very much the question of if this person jumped off a cliff, would others? And the answer is yes.
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