Perhaps many readers know that back when *The Legend of Maoshan Demon Slaying* turned out to be a massive hit, US President Roosevelt once gathered a group of American filmmakers to shoot a movie comparable to *The Legend of Maoshan Demon Slaying* to strike back at China. But they failed. The backwardness in technology and ideology made every self-aware director shake their head. In the end, they had to make do with a clumsy imitation of *The Great Dictator* called *The Eastern Dictator*. This movie has now become a legend—it is said that all 36 copies disappeared in a fire in Washington in 1935. Later, in his own memoirs, Roosevelt wrote: This movie, which mainly depicted "an Asian primitive tribe slowly breaking away from ignorance by stealing bits and pieces of Western civilization, and finally deciding to challenge Western civilization," was never publicly released because of its "clumsy script, disgusting acting, and vulgar visuals." Roosevelt, who had seen *The Legend of Maoshan Demon Slaying*, decided almost immediately not to release it, as it would be a humiliation.

But Roosevelt did not give up. On the one hand, he decided to constantly rerun *Sherlock Holmes vs. Dr. Manchu*; on the other hand, he convened representatives of the National Artists Association and, by presidential decree, required them to create an "evil villain fitting the American people's imagination" to counter "the brainwashing propaganda of the reactionary Eastern Communist Party," and relatively "subtly" required that his appearance must be consistent with "a certain dictator of a major Eastern country."

The National Artists Association quickly responded. An evil villain named "Chen" was created: he was an Asian man of about 40, proficient in chemistry, physics, and art, cruel and ferocious—almost a brother to Dr. Manchu...

But these early dark images undoubtedly carried the "standard villain template" of that era, and due to political reasons, these "stupidity factors" were infinitely magnified: they were either full of strength but incredibly stupid, or highly intelligent but loved to chatter endlessly.

The American people did not seem to buy these images. Even Roosevelt, who issued the presidential decree, privately said, "If the one across the Pacific is this kind of trash, then what are our European allies who were beaten by them until they were looking for their teeth on the ground?"

It must be said that the creativity of the American people is still very high. When they discovered their mistake, the overall style changed immediately.

And so, "evil mind" and "destructive power" completed their convergence. The combination of "undying Nero" plus "dark Sherlock Holmes" exploded with amazing potential. A figure called the "perfect villain" by the *New York Times* was born—"He has advanced technology, an unparalleled mind, and countless abilities. If he walked in the light, everyone would submit, but he is tired of the light; if he devoted himself to science and art, Archimedes and Shakespeare would regard him as a mentor, but he sneers at the human nature of pursuing beauty; if he appeared on the battlefield, Troy would be his stage alone, but he prefers to sit high on the throne and appreciate the slaughter among people—he is K, he is the Serpent of Eden, the Master of Sodom, the friend of Satan and the enemy of the gods—he is you, he is me, he is the deepest evil in each of our hearts."

This villain character was so successful that he gained public recognition in a very short time and appeared in almost every popular legend story in an even shorter time. According to incomplete statistics, as of last October, this Easterner named K has appeared in 13,897 works. If you care about American TV series, you will also find that the series *K—Deep Darkness* currently being prepared by FOX is about to air next March. For a character who has been born for nearly a century, this is the best proof of his popularity.

Also because this character was too successful, his "failure at the key moment" seemed extremely forced. After the serialization newspaper received a large number of protest letters, the National Artists Association launched a great debate on "weakening K's abilities" or "finding a weakness for K." The result of this debate, which was essentially about "whether a character should be perfect," almost established the rules for fictional character creation that persist to this day.

But the result exceeded everyone's expectations. The third path of "since there is a perfect villain, give him a perfect hero" rose abruptly. An alien who grew up in Kansas, with a red cape and a big "S" symbol, appeared. His appearance was so epoch-making, and later it triggered the "superhero" wave in the American art world. However, borrowing a sentence from the famous writer Renwuai Sinuo to summarize it is most appropriate—every superhero can only see the back of Superman, but opposite Superman, there is always K standing.