The diagnosis of sociopath and psychopath are often used interchangeably, but they have a distinct difference. A psychopath understands that they lack something normal people have—empathy. Sociopaths, however, do not understand what empathy even is and cannot pretend to be normal. Not without coaching, anyway.
I bring up this distinction because there’s a habit of lazy thriller writers to just call their villain a psychopath in lieu of giving him/her any motivation for their crimes or even an inner life. Great villains don’t have to be psychopaths. But they can be, if you want, as long as they’re drawn just as richly as the non-psycho villain.
A good example of the difference between a sociopath and a terrifying, non-sociopath villain can be found in Netflix’s Daredevil, season 3 (Now on Disney+) in Kingpin and Dex.
As played by Vicent D’onofrio, Kingpin is as Big and Bad as they come. Obey him or he will kill you. Though keep in mind, he might kill you even if you do obey him. Hypothetically, he might savagely crush your head in a car door if you are simply the bearer of bad news. Hypothetically.
Though Fisk is the centerpiece of Daredevil's parade of villainy, he is not the subject of this blog posting. Most pressingly, because Wilson Fisk is not a sociopath. He is violent, evil, and generally terrifying... but not a sociopath.
We know this because of his emotions, which are on display in every scene he is in. We saw him as a wounded boy in DD Season 1, one who just wanted his abusive father's love. We saw his fierce protective instinct of his mother, his heart-wrenching devotion for his girlfriend, Vanessa, his filial loyalty to his assistant, James, and his mournful rage when he discovers who murdered him.
FBI Agent Benjamin Poindexter AKA Dex, however, has none of these emotions. He does not love. And he simply doesn't understand why other people do. Dex is a sociopath. One who ended up in the FBI.
The reason he was able to do this was that he had help from a psychiatrist. A well-meaning but ultimately irresponsible woman I wanted to choke the life out of in every scene she was in.
When Dex was a boy, he killed his baseball coach for having the temerity to take him out of a little league game. When his psychiatrist asks him about it, Dex freely admits he did it on purpose.
In watching his nonplussed demeanor, the doctor understands immediately he is a sociopath. And instead of recommending he be removed from decent people, she tries to help him. It seems she does this out of love, with the idea that he can be aimed in the right direction. But she's fooling herself. She doesn't aim him anywhere.
She teaches him to mimic normal human emotions he doesn't feel, like empathy. She teaches him to hide his absolute disregard for other people behind a structured job and a script for human interaction. Even on her deathbed, he wants to kill her because she is leaving him. She is not meeting his needs.
And his needs are the only things that matter.
Dex and his amazing skills (Comic fans will recognize him as Bullseye) come to Fisk's attention and he steps in to be Dex's new mentor, pointing him in an entirely different and far darker direction. In doing this, the show walks us down the fine line between evil and genuine sociopathy, between the cool control of Fisk and the white-knuckle just-below-the-surface rage of Dex. It also uses these two men to show us the shades of grey all good people face.
Why does the show do this? It is so rare to have a real portrayal of sociopathy. Often, sociopaths are portrayed as cool and edgy, as glamorous and alluring. Daredevil shows the reality. Loneliness and anger and constant aching needs that are only rarely fully met. Because who could keep up with that level of need?
One of the more powerful scenes of Dex is of him feeling the rage encroach and he is cut off both from the young counselor he'd gone to for help and from Fisk, who is busy with other things. In his crippling need for affirmation and direction, we see the anguish on his face ... and we hear the sound of swarming bees. Dex is simply not able to control himself.
In contrast, Fisk is a control freak who kills anything he can't control.
The villains of Daredevil and in the Marvel TV universe are some of the best out there because they magnify our own flaws, talking us out of taking the easy way out. Sure, it's easier simply not to care... to use people for your own purposes and then discard them. But it will not bring you peace. It certainly won't bring you happiness.
Not even if you're a sociopath.