As an artist, I don’t think you draw a panel like ^ that ^ unless you very, very intentionally want to draw attention to the relationship between two characters. This is the panel that got me thinking, and my thoughts are under the cut.
Hawks, as a hero, exists to be the symbol of corruption within the system of heroism. There are other heroes who represent the ills of pro heroes in general but Hawks is very specifically political corruption. This is as opposed to a hero such as Endeavor, who serves a different role in the plot (strait-laced pro hero who is unheroic in his personal life, but ultimately sociopolitically normative). All heroes are explorations of the HPSC and the society it runs, and the kind of heroes they create implicitly an explicitly, but Hawks is the most explicit of all created heroes. Hawks is the HPSC’s special agent and future president, and he is therefore the most pertinent example of the HPSC personified. In a sense, Hawks is not corrupt because a system’s purpose is what it does, and his flaws simply mirror the HPSC’s flaws.
This is as opposed to Best Jeanist who is a more implicitly created hero, not by the HPSC but by the societal standards of heroism. He’s not exactly corrupt, he’s not a bad hero, but he goes to show a certain perversion of the point of heroism. Best Jeanist is just as much a hero as he is an idol, whose primary role in both of these jobs is entertainer. In much the same way Hawks’ corruption is technically non-corrupt, Best Jeanist is still just doing his job to chase fame and manage his image strictly.
Under The HPSC, heroism is not an inherently noble profession, and these two characters explore the ramifications of making heroism a profession at all.
In spite of their heroic perversions, both Hawks and Best Jeanist are absolutely diehard committed to their work, and neither can be said to have forsaken the core duty of heroism for their secondary pursuits. Hawks was always a double agent, but he was never a turncoat, and Best Jeanist was always seeking the limelight, but he dropped quite literally everything for the sake of Hawks’ mission. They both fell out of their lives just to fight the war, and while it wasn’t necessarily the good fight, it was their duty.
As good foils should be, they’re quite different on the surface, but on the deeper level, they have a lot in common. Best Jeanist is very by-the-book, very strict about his morals and how he goes about things in keeping with them, he is soft-spoken albeit stern, and his overall demeanor is calm, serious, and fundamentally put-together. He doesn’t rock the boat, he remains popular and well-liked. Hawks is, of course, very opposite that. He does things almost entirely the wrong way, his morals are largely obscure and prone to fluctuation, and he’s a far more emotionally-driven person. His image is kept by being grandiose and charming even when he behaves in ways that are usually off-putting, rather than never allowing himself to make mistakes.
That said, their use of image is very similar in spite of their differences in obtaining it. Hawks doesn’t make that great of an interpersonal manipulator for a secret agent, but that’s because interpersonal manipulation is significantly less important in a world like this. He excels in manipulating his image on a large scale and relying mainly on his charismatic personality in one-on-one situations. This is much like Best Jeanist, whose entire first lesson to Bakugou was how to convince the public, not individuals, of his nature. He’s awkward around civilians, and he folds to criticism, which lends poorly to maintaining the authoritative air as a hero, hence his more distanced approach that supports his image. These people aren’t concerned with how they come across as people, they’re concerned with how they come across as celebrities. The scale they operate on is not the skirmish, it is the war. Strategy and tactics differ, and these two are social strategists.
As such, their long-term strategies give great insight into the worldbuilding. Hawks explores the government’s ideal hero, and Best Jeanist explores the public’s ideal hero—both explore the depersonalization and self-destruction of heroism through their commitment to both image and duty.
My personal take as to why Best Jeanist never shows his face is not that there’s anything wrong with it, or anything unusual he is trying to hide, he just really struggles with his appearance. He is, however, quite beautiful under there. Also I think it is fun to imagine his sideburns being longer… this is based on nothing I just like it. Based on a photo I found on Pinterest :3
It is my entirely serious headcanon that Best Jeanist is on the schizophrenia spectrum for the record. I think he is schizotypal, but I could see him being schizophrenic also. We just lack good canon evidence that he has psychosis, but I could also feel it in my heart that he might be psychotic.
