Transcript

Panel 1

Cassie talking to her assistant, Jeremy, in her office: "Partnering with Evil Inc is the only way I can keep my mother in a facility that has any chance of handling her."

Panel 2

Cassie continues: "But putting supervillains into heroic roles has been... problematic. We're in negative numbers across the board."

[A laptop screen shows Silver Agency metrics dropping immediately after the Evil Inc takeover in the following categories: Guard/prevention, search/rescue, surveillance/patrol, battle, bodyguard, home security.]

Panel 3

Cassie: What happened to that pilot program? The one where we sent out a hero with the villain... to mentor them?

Jeremy: Disaster.

Panel 4

Cassie: Too much bad blood, huh?

Jeremy: Among other things...

The scene shows a villain and a hero on a rooftop overlooking a city. The hero is perched at the end of a gargoyle while the villain intones a ridiculously long monologue that fills the entire panel.

Hero: CAN'T YOU SEE I'M TRYIN' TO BROOD HERE???

For the ultra-curious, here is the entire villainous monologue:

Ah, at last, you stand before me, trembling in the shadow of your own folly. You believed you could stop me, thwart my plans, disrupt the symphony of chaos I so meticulously orchestrated. How quaint. You see, I am not driven by mere greed or power. No, my ambition transcends such trivial pursuits. I seek to reshape this world, to mold it into a realm where the strong thrive and the weak are culled, where order is imposed through the sheer force of my will.

Do you think your feeble resistance means anything to me? You, with your noble ideals and pitiful courage, are but a gnat to be swatted away. I have seen the true nature of humanity—selfish, ignorant, cowardly. They need a ruler, a guide, someone who can wield their fear and transform it into strength. That someone is me.

Look around you. The world is crumbling under the weight of its own hypocrisy and weakness. I am the purging fire, the necessary evil that will burn away the old and usher in a new dawn. And you, my dear adversary, will bear witness to the birth of a new order.

Now, kneel before your master, accept your place in the grand design, or perish in the flames of your futile defiance. The choice is yours, but the outcome is inevitable. This world will be mine, and no hero can change that.