In comic books, it's pretty easy for kids to grow up and become heroes. Since the 60s, there's been Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, which later evolved into the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. Here, young mutants learn to use their powers and (most likely) will graduate to becoming part of the X-Men.
The Avengers got into the act as well with the Avengers Academy. It might've started out under questionable means but young inexperienced heroes are getting proper training from the best superheroes ensuring the next generation will be ready to fight the evil forces in the world.
What about the villains? You can't have superheroes without supervillains. The future villains of the world are getting an unfair disadvantage. Those with evil in their hearts are not getting the training they will need to face the world's greatest heroes. They are often left alone which adds to their antisocial behavior. In Gladstone's School for World Conquerors, we do get a glimpse of what a school for young villains could be like.
== TEASER ==
Villains most likely know at a young age where their destiny will take them. It's usually the path they go down when not brought up in a cheerful environment. There might the rare occasion where a villain will suddenly turn based on one traumatic experience but that's not usually the case. In some cases, children follow in their evil parents' footsteps. Because their parents are evil, the children are probably not getting the guidance they need in order to be successful villains.
That raises another point. Why do villains often fail with their evil schemes? It's because they are forced to work alone. They simply do not know how to work with others. Their solution is to surround themselves with underlings or henchmen rather than attempt to work with someone whose evilness and intelligence rivals theirs. If they were able to attend a school for evil geniuses, they might be taught the benefit of teamwork.
Who would attend a school for villains? In order for a child to be sent to the school, the parents would have to be evil themselves. Would criminal parents be willing to pay to send their kids off to learn how to be evil if they are already evil themselves? Could these evil parents be trusted to keep the location and curriculum of the evil school a secret?
How would the evil children be graded? If they failed at being evil, there could be the threat of the child attempting revenge against the teacher. That could be considered extra credit but threatening teachers isn't a joking matter. If a student fails or drops out, what's to stop them from leaking the school's location to the authorities? Just because a kid's parents are evil, doesn't mean the child will be successfully evil. Sometimes kids turn out the opposite of what their parents are.
If an evil child has good parents (or at least what we'd consider normal parents), there's no way they would send the child to a school for evil kids. No parent would want their kids to grow up to become a villain unless they were one themselves.
Maybe there would be an evil Professor X type that would be able to detect the potential for true evil and seek them out. This person could put on an act to the parents that their child has been awarded a scholarship to some prestigious school. Then the recruiter could try to mold these future villains into whatever image or form he wished. He could then have an army of evil geniuses at his disposal.
In the world of Gladstone's School for World Conquerors, you get the impression there is more to the hero/villain dynamic than there appears to be. In the second issue, a battle that took place was pre-arranged with the outcome already worked out. The third issue (on sale July 13) will further explore this.
Logistically, a school for future villains wouldn't work. You can't look at a kid and know exactly how they will turn out. It's rare for villains to even have kids and if they do, chances are they won't want to pay the tuition for a private school. The location of the school would have to be kept a secret. A lot of kids are driven or influence by their hormones. All it would take is a pretty face to get a student to betray the secrecy of the school. Besides, evil villains can't be trusted so how could anyone expect them to keep a secret?
Villains can never have a school. Villains will rarely learn the value of teamwork. Villains will always lose to the more organized heroes. Perhaps someday there will be a successful school for villains and world conquerors.
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