Random Bibble Thoughts · 9:40am March 14th
So, I just watched / listened to a video that was kind of a deep dive into the Bibleman franchise. And it touched lightly on the lamentable villains.
And suddenly I was clubbed over the head with an outline for an entire story arc for a soft reboot, starring the original actor as his old character - no longer Bibleman, he canonically retired - who is now mentoring the new Bibleman. Kind of a Bruce Wayne / Terry McGuinnes thing, sorta.
And it would introduce the evil master computer ATH-1, stationed at the far end of a Mysterious Board Room of Villains, all of whom except for ATH-1 are shrouded in shadow. The intro would even show the evil compy as the director over the shadowy figures, while the compy says in a creepy inhuman voice, “God is not necessary, and therefore must be opposed.”
Across the scope of the season, one by one, the shadowy figures are introduced:
Greed. Envy. Wrath. Gluttony. Sloth. Vanity. And Cruelty (because it’s still a kid’s show, though certainly darker than the original, and this is the US).
And no, they don’t have the supernatural power to induce their namesake sin into humans... their names are whatever sin they represent. But they have powers associated with or aiding in their particular portfolios. Gluttony, for example, can eat and drink anything without ill effect. He also is the most jovial of the Sins. He may or may not be planning to eat Bibleman. Envy is a shape changer, obsessed with getting whatever others have that she doesn’t. She gets along with Greed and Vanity very well.
And sure, there’s prayer, because that’s kind of B-Man’s thing. But he also has a flaming sword, and there’s lots of fighting action too. Plus philosophical / theological discussion between B-Man and his mentor, especially when B-Man is feeling down or defeated.
There would even be a little in-joke for the adults when Cruelty is introduced as the next-to-last boss for the season. All the other Sins have had civilian names they would use as part of their evil schemes (Gluttony is John Falstaff, etc.). But when they face off, he asks her, “aren’t you going to tell me your other name?”
And she smirks in her leather long coat with spikes and her chain whip and says, “You don’t get to know my other name. Now die.”
And at the very end of Season One, Bibleman confronts the evil computer ATH-1, and realizes that this big final boss they’ve been working towards is itself just someone else’s construct. And sure there’s a big boss battle, but the evil compy is defeated and the good guys save the day and wander off. One of B-Man’s sidekicks wondering out loud, “Yeah, but one thing I still don’t understand... who built ATH-1?”
And alone in the dark, the sparking, beaten remains pf ATH-1 starts repeating, over and over, “This is impossible, the plan was perfect... this was impossible, the plan was perfect...”
And a crimson, clawed hand reaches out from the darkness. We only see the hand. It flips a switch down, and the whole machine turns off. Then the hand flips it up again - obviously a reboot - and the same computer voice starts saying, “Everything is going according to plan... everything is going according to plan...”
And as the screen fades to black, demonic laughter is heard.
Season Two is a search for the maker of ATH-1, fighting bad guys all the way. But Bibleman doesn’t finally face off with him until the end of the second season. And then the series introduces Louis Cypher, aka the Adversary, as this ultimate political / corporate tycoon (CEO of Jackal Industries, just as a nod to The Omen).
“Louis Cypher, I presume.”
“For the moment. You may call me the Adversary, if you like.”
“You know, you aren’t what I was expecting.”
“I like to come in a pleasing shape.”
And in a massive battle of swords, and then hand to hand, and then finally of words... B-Man gets absolutely trounced by the the Adversary.
It’s a battle of wills, where they start in Cypher’s board room, and then (obviously illusions - “lord of lies,” etc.) travel from one landscape to another. Louis Cypher always asking the hardest questions that Christians legit have to face in life, with B-Man faltering more and more with every challenge.
And at the end, Bibleman is on his hands and knees, completely defeated and broken. And Cypher crouches down and says:
“You know, you and your false beliefs took a lot from me. Followers. Servants. But I can always get more followers. And my servants will always re-spawn.
“But Me... I took away your precious, deluded faith. And that... you can never get back.
“So, I think I’ll call this one a win.”
And then the same demonic laughter as from the end of Season One as they’re back in the boardroom, with Cypher walking out and leaving B-Man in a fetal position on the floor, unable even to weep.
(Yeah, go ahead and cancel me now, Christian Network! I dare ya! I double dare ya!)
Third season would be B-Man’s friends finding him, and then his personal quest to regain his faith (going into the actual history of the early Christian church, with none of that “we were always hunted by the state, just like modern times” bullrush)
And we’d be spending maybe half the season focusing on him, and the rest focusing on Cypher and the (now re-spawned) Sins and their continuing plan to (”Dare I say?” “Dare! Dare!”) RULE THE WORLD...!
Bibleman eventually regains his faith, and goes back to ATH-1. The confrontation between the two of them this time is much more philosophical, with B-Man finally winning ATH-1 over, in no small part because the Adversary abandoned it. Then, aided by ATH-1 (now renaming itself 2WJD, and acting as the Oracle to his Batman), Bibleman tracks down the various Sins and defeats them, sometimes several at a time - they have new resources, but he’s all super-empowered by faith and stuff - before re-confronting the Adversary backstage of his announcement that he will be the World President For Life.
(Also, if any of the actors can’t return for some reason or the character is problematic to write, then Gluttony ate them and absorbed their powers into himself.)
Anyway. Of course B-Man wins, because he’s the good guy. And then he takes advantage of the media setup to promote his own Christian beliefs to the entire viewing world.
End credits, end of series. Three seasons, I’m thinking eight to ten 40-minute episodes in each one.
Mind you, I am not particularly Christian. And I certainly don’t agree with what most of the “moral lessons” would likely be in such a program (the original Bibleman was extremely Evangelical). But it would at least be engaging, fun to watch, and would hopefully be without some of the more “problematic” villains of the original run.
This is what my brain does. Stories. Lots of them. Without warning.
Would that I could do this for a living, but oh, well. (A common lament on this site, of course! 
) I just wanted to share this with you all, because goodness knows I have no intention to write it. Maybe I could take some of the ideas and work them into a kind of Sunset Shimmer Meets the Wizard Shazam and Becomes Captain Marvel tale someday, but I dunno.
Right now I need to finish polishing the last chapter for The Last Changeling War, and then focus on Taking Back Canterlot. Maybe also that MLP:FiM / The Prisoner crossover I’ve been contemplating.
Sometime again!
"I'll bet you say that to all the boys."
A good villain is in some ways even more important than a good hero.
Also, this sounds like heck of an outline for a series, and likely would be far superior to the real thing. Possibly because you're more interested in telling a good, gripping story than in evangelizing, or preaching to the choir.
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