In this monologue, the speaker argues that pivotal adverse events—termed “Incident X”—serve as the catalyst that propels individuals toward heroic or villainous paths. Drawing on comic‑book archetypes, he illustrates how Batman’s loss of his parents, Superman’s destruction of Krypton, Lex Luthor’s and the Joker’s traumas all ignite their respective missions. He then parallels these narratives with a personal family story: his father, who lost his own father at a young age and grew up in poverty, faced an “Incident X” that could have led to bitterness. Instead, his father chose to become a metaphorical “father” to all children in need, aspiring to provide the support and protection he never received. The speaker emphasizes that the critical factor is the choice made after the incident—whether to channel adversity into altruism or into self‑serving antagonism—highlighting a universal principle that shapes both fictional characters and real lives.
Chapters
It's so very nice actually, this, this whole phenomenon. If you ask me, you look at Batman or Superman, you are very right that there was a trauma which pushed them towards being an antagonist or a protagonist. And if you look at the life of a villain as well, you will find that even they had a trauma. If you look at the starting points of Lex Luthor, or you are looking at the Joker, or if you are looking at any villain in the DC or the Marvel scenario, even the hero is motivated by event, and even the villain is motivated by an event. The same thing, if you want to make it relevant to your own life, even in our lives we have these incidents. I won't call them trauma because trauma is a very heavy word. Let us call them Incident X. Now that Incident X could be— I will give you the example of my own father. My father lost his father when he was very young. He could not even speak and he lost his father. My father had 8 brothers and sisters. And now let us fast forward to Incident X. Now Incident X is in comics where the superhero suddenly gets his powers. Flash gets struck by lightning and he gets all these powers where he can run very fast, or some incident happens. So in my father's life, Incident X was that he has lost his father. That is the backstory. He's sitting with his mother and the family is very poor. The family is so very poor that they are struggling to make ends meet. And they have fallen from grace. And my father is asking his mother, he is about 7 years old, that we used to have so much and now I also want the same toys which my friends are playing with. His friend was going on a nice cycle and my father said, Mom, I also want this cycle, can I have that? And his mother said, Son, the world is a cruel place. X, incident X. And because the world is a cruel place, you have lost your father. And because you have lost your father, you don't afford the same luxuries that other children afford. Now, this X could be the starting point of a villain or a superhero. It's about the thought. And my father says, okay, So if I don't have a father and I cannot afford luxuries, then let me think in such a manner that let me make my life in such a way that I become a father to all the children in the world who need a father. Let me give toys to all those who don't have. I want to be so successful, so powerful like Batman. Batman lost his family and he wants to protect all those children. And he don't want them to go through the same fate that went to his family. Superman, he lost his planet when he was a baby, and somewhere he has this trauma that I lost Krypton and there was no savior. So Superman will do everything. He will fight against Doomsday, he will fight against Darkseid, because he will save planet Earth from the same fate that happened to Krypton. And if you look at the saints, they also had these, these incident X in their life. It's about choice. And my father also at that time chose that I will be a father to all the children in the world, and I will help them, I will protect them, and I will show them the path so that they don't have to go through the same processes to realize the good.
