Jensen Ackles finds a way to make villainous roles shine. From Jason Teague in Smallville to Soldier Boy in The Boys to Lucifer and evil Michael in Supernatural, the actor has had to tap into the dark side a few times. Though mostly known for playing heroic roles, Ackles has a wide range and can be very impressive in villainous roles.
His work in Supernatural has showcased his versatility; Dean Winchester takes him on a journey to fight evil forces. His recent role as Russell Shaw on Tracker also sees the actor tap into someone with an extremely dark side while trying to cover his tracks. In Smallville, his character goes through a 180-degree change from being Lana’s caring boyfriend to one of the antagonists. Jensen Ackles has many surprises.
Jason Teague Has a Dark Arc in Smallville
Jason Teague joins Smallville in Season 4 as Lana’s boyfriend, who follows her all the way from France to Smallville, Kansas. Jason takes a job at the local high school as a football coach. From the start, Ackles’ Jason Teague seems like one of the good guys. He looks harmless, charismatic and caring and he doesn’t have a big attitude. Even though he shows signs of jealousy about Clark and Lana, it’s more of a human response rather than an indicator that he’d later turn out to be a villain. Jason also seems like a genuinely good coach, who reaches out to Clark Kent about training and opportunities. He pays close attention to Lana and is the first person to find out that something strange is going on with her. Sadly, Lana’s ancestor possesses her body and Jason is caught in the middle of the supernatural drama.
Things start to turn for the worse when Jason’s mother, Genevieve, shows up. The two team up to find the stones. Despite his hatred toward the Teagues, Jason shows loyalty by helping his mother murder Bridgette Crosby. Together, they kidnap the Luthors. With Genevieve feeding his rage and jealousy toward Lana and Clark, Jason taps into his evil side, doing the worst thing possible. The story arc that sees Jason turn from a good guy to a villain caused some confusion among Smallville fans, resulting in it being seen as one of the wildest plot twists in Smallville. Still, Ackles was very convincing as an evil Jason. He was cold-blooded, full of hatred and troubled. Interestingly, the actor initially auditioned for Clark Kent, which went to Tom Welling. While Ackles has the marks of Clark, Welling, on the other hand, wouldn’t have pulled through Jason’s arc as well as Ackles did.
Soldier Boy Is a Nuanced Villain in The Boys
Soldier Boy is basically a satirical version of Captain America. Similar to Captain America, Soldier Boy gets his power through a human experimental trial during WWII. When the process succeeds, he becomes the image of superpowers. The military mainly uses Soldier Boy for promotional purposes while keeping him away from fighting real battles. When the character enters The Boys, he faces the same problem that Captain America faces, being trapped in a time when he’s irrelevant and already in the past while trying to establish his former glory, even though his entire existence is based on lies and government propaganda.
Soldier Boy is one of the main antagonists in Season 3 and an overarching villain in Season 4. There will be more of Ackles’ character in Season 5. Soldier Boy is essentially Homelander before Homelander. While Soldier Boy has many dark traits, he’s also someone broken. Unlike his other villain roles, Ackles gave Soldier Boy a very nuanced portrayal to show these different sides of him. In an interview with Discussing Film, Ackles revealed that as an actor, he’s often drawn toward “those unlikely or flawed characters,” and that’s how he viewed Soldier Boy. “He wasn’t a bad guy in his mind,” said Ackles. He further explained that Soldier Boy did everything “he thought a hero should be doing” while dealing with the fact that he’s not in his time. He’s “too old to learn new tricks” and very set in his ways. The contrast and feelings of loss Soldier Boy has make him a nuanced villain that Ackles thought was “oddly endearing.”
Ben Is a Serial Killer in Dark Angel
Jensen Ackles first appeared in Season 1, Episode 17 of Dark Angel as Ben, or X5-493, who was created and trained in a facility as a soldier. The interesting thing about Ben is that he’s essentially a golden soldier in the facility, but when he escapes the facility in 2009 along with 11 others, he has a hard time adapting to the outside world. Confused and lost, Ben becomes a serial killer. When bodies keep showing up, Max Guevara has to track the former X5 member and put him down. Even though Ben only shows up in one episode, Ackles gives an impressive performance.
In fact, Ackles’ Ben impressed the showrunner, who asked him to return for a bigger role in Season 2. Ackles then got the part of playing Ben’s twin brother, Alec, which was written just for him. Unlike Ben, Alec finds his way of adapting to the outside world. Alec also received a longer character arc in Season 2 and joins Team Max.
Russell Shaw Has a Dark Side in Tracker
Colter Shaw’s big brother is a complicated character, who has both evil and good. For the first part of Season 1, Tracker suggests that Ackles’ Russell Shaw may be a murderer, who killed their father by pushing him off a cliff. Russell has also been calling Colter all these years, and what’s interesting is Colter’s mother tells him not to answer. A Tracker theory suggests that their family feud seems a little deeper than just a misunderstanding. Russell, unlike Colter, rebelled against their father on the night that he died, refusing to join him on the run. They got into a physical fight. After failing to defeat Russell, their father ran into the rain. Russell then followed, and so did Colter. The next scene shows Russell standing atop a cliff, with their father lying below.
While the show leans toward the direction of Russell being innocent and more heroic so that Colter can heal his family trauma, it’s not hard to see that there’s so much more Russell is holding back. His ex-military connections, implied contract killing and secrecy all suggest that the guy has a seriously scary side. He’s willing to help Colter and be part of the team, but he might have intentionally made himself look like a good guy. The appearance of Ackles’ character also gives off a kind of ragged and dangerous vibe. Though the show doesn’t explicitly spell out the entire truth about Russell, there’s more about Colter’s estranged brother than what meets the eye. Russell isn’t a good guy. He also betrays Colter at one point. But as the elder brother of Colter, Russell also shields the rest of his siblings from the worst things in life, which can even mean bad things about their parents.
Jensen Ackles Was Evil Michael and Lucifer in Supernatural
Jensen Ackles’ Dean Winchester is one of the good guys. While his character isn’t a villain, on occasions, Ackles is tasked to play villainous roles when a dark force gets creative in tormenting the brothers. Dean’s occupation isn’t exactly safe. Being one half of the demon-hunting duo with his brother, Sam, Dean traces and fights evil creatures like vampires and monsters to save the world. Dealing with evil forces can sometimes backfire, even when they are cautious. He has been to hell and back and even died a few times. Dean, during his fight against darkness, stumbles upon a few powerful enemies who have special talents. Throughout Ackles’ journey playing Dean, he has tapped into villainous roles a few times. One is Lucifer.
Lucifer, being the main antagonist in Supernatural, knows a few tricks. Before Ackles steps into the devil’s role in a brief dream sequence in Season 7, the devil used Sam as a host, where Jared Padalecki tapped into the role. While Ackles only plays a very few seconds as Lucifer comes back to taunt Sam, Ackles’ Satan still sticks. Interestingly, this won’t be the last time Ackles gets to play a dark role on Supernatural. The next time, he gets to have a bit more fun than a few seconds.
Ackles played evil Michael when the archangel decided to “borrow” his body for purposes of his own. While Ackles isn’t the only one to play this role, he did have a unique take on evil Michael. Ackles’ portrayal leans heavily into the god-like and non-human nature of Michael. As an archangel, who has very little regard for human lives, Ackles’ evil Michael is detached and authoritative. He can also be very intimidating. While speaking with EW, Ackles revealed how he approached the role of evil Michael since the character had been played by several actors already.
He initially sought guidance from showrunner Andrew Dabb, who had encouraged him to reach out for direction. However, when Ackles reached out, the showrunner gave him the green light to “do whatever” he wanted to do without “any kind of concrete direction.” Dabb mentioned Christian’s performance in the previous season for reference, and just when Ackles thought he had a sense of direction what to do with evil Michael, the showrunner encouraged him to do his “own thing.” Ackles, in the end, came up with his own version of evil Michael, which was why his version looked very different from the previous Michael.
Source: cbr.com