"Villains Act, Heroes React"

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What are your thoughts on the ideas that most heroes are purely reactionary and that villains are more active and ambitious? Also, do you know any subversions of the rule?

Can't say I agree. Both have examples and each is not exclusive to hero vs villain.

If you spend more than seconds on U Tube you get bombarded by those "Master Class" ads. And one the most common features Dan Brown, author of the DaVinci Code, talking about his class on writing novels.

He says "I would suggest writing your villain first, because its your villain who defines your hero".

And that makes sense to me.

Now if you had your villain trying to destroy a hero it would be the other way, it's only that way because the hero starts out looking to stop the villain.

Come to think of it... I think that's right!

Some of the best plots are where the villain is just someone who starts by making a mistake and then compounds it as they try to cope with life. Black and white villain versus hero is so bland in comparison!

I think it is just easier to construct the plot that way:
A villain does something evil, puts the world (or some part of it) in distress and then a hero brings back the harmony.
Cheap, mass-produced kind of plot.