All it took was seeing a movie. A movie with two actors that captured the attention of a creatively inclined internet fan, one for his imperfect hero, the other for his loveable villian. This is the page for the latter. History remembers Lucius Aurelius Commodus as a Roman Emperor who fought ostriches and other wild animals, called himself "Hercules" and was assassinated by a wrestler on 31 December 192 C.E. The real Commodus sent his sister Annia Lucilla to Caprae after she attempted to kill him, only to be later executed herself...

Then other movies entered into the picture. Max California gave us 8MM shock flicks and great quips, making us long all the while to hear his music. Doug Holt gave us a warm squishy feeling as we all wanted to be Liv Tyler. Coming soon, the Abbe de Coulmier will make us wish to confess our sins, and Willie Gutierrez will make the Yards something better than the weekly chore of mowing grass.

But this isn't a history lesson at the end of a U-Turn, nor something To Die For. This is about a movie character and the actor behind him. Commodus, as potrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, challenges those of us who dare to root for bad guys to new limits. Gladiator, a Ridley Scott battle flick that was surprisingly deep and laiden with rich characters, dances between fiction and fact, giving us a dark, troubled figure... one we love to defend. Sure, he's probably insane. Yeah, he's murderous.

But maybe that's because he's unloved. We're here to fix that.