Top 9 Villains
Jun. 19th, 2004 12:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jkcarrierGreg over at Howling Curmudgeons posted his list of Top 9 Comic Book Supervillains, so I thought I'd follow suit. My list overlaps his a bit, since he covered most of the classics. In no particular order:
1. Dr. Thaddeus Bodog Sivana
Barely edges out Lex Luthor in the mad scientist category (Luthor loses points for being rebooted into a much less interesting character). What sets Sivana apart is the sheer sadistic glee with which he carries out his nefarious schemes. "Heh! Heh! Heh!" he cackles, as he aims his latest death-ray at the unsuspecting populace. He's utterly irredeemable and unreformable; no code of honor or grudging respect for his enemies here. They tried to give him a "sympathetic origin" at one point, something about his theories being rejected and him fleeing to Venus to escape the taunts of his colleagues; but honestly, deep down you know that he's just a rotten bastard, and proud of it. His greatest shame was a collection of screwed-up inventions that accidentally ended up having beneficial uses! It should also be mentioned that our boy Thaddeus was apparently banging a supermodel at some point, since two of his four kids (Beautia and Magnificus) are these statuesque blonde gods. His other offspring, Thaddeus Jr. and Georgia, sadly got the short end of the genetic stick, and take after dear old Dad. Best story: Captain Marvel Adventures #100, "The Plot Against The Universe" - Sivana kicks the old wizard's ass, steals his powers, and gloats mercilessly as Captain Marvel's life slowly ebbs away. Heh! Heh! Heh!
2. Galactus
He's not out to conquer anything. He doesn't want revenge on anyone. He's not even greedy. He's just HUNGRY, and the only thing that can keep him alive is devouring planets. You can't physically stop him, and you sure can't reason with him. He's so far above humans on the evolutionary ladder (and the food chain) that he doesn't even consider us intelligent, so he has no guilt about draining our planet of life. If your life depended on you stepping on an anthill, would you hesitate even a second? Pretty heady stuff for a kids' comic. Best story: The original, Fantastic Four #48-50.
3. The Joker
Yes, at this point he's been run into the ground. But it's not hard to see why he's so enduring. Before John Wayne Gacy, he was the original creepy clown. Before Hannibal Lecter, he was the eloquent monster who would eat your liver and smile while doing it. He kills for the thrill of it. Because it's funny. He's pure chaos... the perfect counterpoint to the rigid, hyper-disciplined Batman. Even his middle-period stories (during the strictest era of the Comics Code) are memorable -- he couldn't kill anyone any more, so he had to settle for humiliating them instead. Watching him force Batman & Robin to jump through hoops to keep up with him was always a hoot. Best story: "The Killing Joke" by Moore and Bolland. Although I'm awfully fond of "Rackety-Rax-Racket" (Batman #32), where the Joker puts Robin through a series of fraternity-style hazings that remind me of the best "Bugs Bunny getting one over on Elmer Fudd" cartoons.
4. Doctor Doom
The best of all the megalomaniacal, scenery-chewing, refers-to-himself-in-the-third-person world-conquerors. So egocentric that he can't stand the idea that there's one person in the world smarter than he is. So colossally vain that a single scar is reason enough to hide his face forever. Overcompensation on an epic scale. Not to mention his obsession with rescuing Mommy from Hell, which borders on the Oedipal. You get the impression that all Doom really needs is a hug, and he's covered himself in cast iron from head to toe to make sure he never gets one. Best story: Fantastic Four #84-87. The FF fight Doom on his home turf, and we get a glimpse of what his day-to-day life is like. Doom surrounds himself with art, music, fine food, and robots who cater to his every whim. People are no damned good, and exist only to be pushed around and, when they inevitably disappoint him, destroyed. In the end, Doom has a sort of existential moment of clarity, and lets the FF escape to fight another day, because this endless, pointless dance is really all he has to live for.
5. Eclipso
The blurb on his old series says it all: "Hero and villain in one man!" Jeckyll & Hyde transformations are nothing new, in comics or elsewhere. But here we have two personalities who are completely aware of each other, and actively conspiring against each other. There's a real urgency to the series, watching Bruce Gordon and his friends desperately scrambling for a cure, racing against the clock before the inevitable eclipse triggers his transformation once more (Eclipses seemed to happen a lot more often in the DC Universe than in ours. And eventually they softened the rules to the point where he was practically transforming every time the sun passed behind a cloud). I don't know who designed Eclipso's costume (Alex Toth, maybe?), but it's pretty stylin' -- he looks more like some evil genie from the Arabian Nights than a conventional supervillain. Best story: Justice League of America #109, "Doom of the Divided Man". Eclipso holds his own against the entire JLA. (As a bonus, this issue features one of the earliest examples of the "Batman is three steps ahead of everyone else on the team" plot-twists that have become so popular in recent years).
6. The Composite Superman
His brief sounds like something a 6-year-old would come up with: "He has, like, every superpower EVER!" (Ok, technically, he has the powers of a couple dozen members of the Legion of Superheroes, but that's still a buttload.) When downtrodden janitor Joe Meach gets hit with the proverbial Freak Scientific Accident, he does what most of us would do: Starts showing off and pushing people around. Specifically, Superman and Batman, whom he's always been jealous of. First he invites himself to join their partnership, solely for the purpose of showing them up at every turn. Then he gets bored with that, and decides to take over the world. The great thing about the Composite Superman stories is that he completely overwhelms the heroes at every turn. He's stronger than Superman and smarter than Batman, by several orders of magnitude, and he swats them aside like flies. It's only through the dumbest of dumb luck that he's defeated -- it turns out his power charge was only temporary, and when it fades, his memory goes with it. Which on the one hand seems like a cop-out. But I love the idea of Superman and Batman living in fear of this unstoppable weirdo who seemed to come from nowhere and then disappeared, and never knowing when he might show up again to finish them off. Best story: His first, World's Finest #142.
7. The Green Goblin
Actually managing to kill the hero's girlfriend would be a notch in any villain's belt, but even before that the Goblin was memorable. One of the best examples of the "mystery villain", they kept the audience guessing about his true identity for years (and apparently the solution was a bone of contention between his co-creators, Lee and Ditko). Respectable businessman Norman Osborn (even his name sounds conventional and mundane) goes off his rocker and starts scheming to take over the New York mobs. After several run-ins with Spider-Man, he goes even MORE bonkers, and focuses all his efforts on squashing his enemy. You can see his fragile sanity falling to pieces in every subsequent appearance. Norman's strained relationship with his loser son Harry humanizes him a bit, but still in the end you know the Goblin is a rabid dog that's going to have to be put down. His freaky halloween mask and matching gadgetry (bat-glider, pumpkin-bombs, et. al.) were some of Ditko's coolest design work. The movie screwed up the costume, but the acrobatic flying scenes, and the angst of a man who's mind is coming unravelled, were straight outta Lee / Ditko / Romita. Boo on Marvel for diluting the Goblin's terrific character arc by introducing countless knock-offs and dragging him back from the grave. Best story: The death of Gwen in Amazing Spider-Man #121 has the most impact, but you pretty much can't go wrong with any of Gobby's appearances up to that point.
8. The Flash's Rogues Gallery
You really can't separate these guys out, since a large part of their charm is the way they would frequently team up, or engage in friendly rivalries over who was Flash's greatest foe. Mirror Master, Captain Boomerang, The Top, Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Pied Piper, the Trickster, and Weather Wizard, all looking very dapper in their Carmine Infantino costumes, would come up with the craziest schemes for wiping Flash off the face of the Earth. Turn him into a mirror and shatter him. Age him 100 years. Switch legs with him. Freeze-dry him. Launch him into outer space. But really, you knew it was all just a game, and if they'd ever actually managed to kill Flash, they'd probably feel terrible about it. These guys epitomize the charming naivete of DC's Silver Age. Best story: Too numerous to mention, but Flash #174 (pictured above) is a typically fun multi-rogue adventure.
9. Egg Fu
He's a giant egg. With an animated Fu Manchu mustache. Who speaks stereotypical Engrish. He's so completely retarded that he's magnificent! Best story: Wonder Woman #158-159 is more Egg Fu than anyone really needs.
1. Dr. Thaddeus Bodog Sivana
Barely edges out Lex Luthor in the mad scientist category (Luthor loses points for being rebooted into a much less interesting character). What sets Sivana apart is the sheer sadistic glee with which he carries out his nefarious schemes. "Heh! Heh! Heh!" he cackles, as he aims his latest death-ray at the unsuspecting populace. He's utterly irredeemable and unreformable; no code of honor or grudging respect for his enemies here. They tried to give him a "sympathetic origin" at one point, something about his theories being rejected and him fleeing to Venus to escape the taunts of his colleagues; but honestly, deep down you know that he's just a rotten bastard, and proud of it. His greatest shame was a collection of screwed-up inventions that accidentally ended up having beneficial uses! It should also be mentioned that our boy Thaddeus was apparently banging a supermodel at some point, since two of his four kids (Beautia and Magnificus) are these statuesque blonde gods. His other offspring, Thaddeus Jr. and Georgia, sadly got the short end of the genetic stick, and take after dear old Dad. Best story: Captain Marvel Adventures #100, "The Plot Against The Universe" - Sivana kicks the old wizard's ass, steals his powers, and gloats mercilessly as Captain Marvel's life slowly ebbs away. Heh! Heh! Heh!
2. Galactus
He's not out to conquer anything. He doesn't want revenge on anyone. He's not even greedy. He's just HUNGRY, and the only thing that can keep him alive is devouring planets. You can't physically stop him, and you sure can't reason with him. He's so far above humans on the evolutionary ladder (and the food chain) that he doesn't even consider us intelligent, so he has no guilt about draining our planet of life. If your life depended on you stepping on an anthill, would you hesitate even a second? Pretty heady stuff for a kids' comic. Best story: The original, Fantastic Four #48-50.
3. The Joker
Yes, at this point he's been run into the ground. But it's not hard to see why he's so enduring. Before John Wayne Gacy, he was the original creepy clown. Before Hannibal Lecter, he was the eloquent monster who would eat your liver and smile while doing it. He kills for the thrill of it. Because it's funny. He's pure chaos... the perfect counterpoint to the rigid, hyper-disciplined Batman. Even his middle-period stories (during the strictest era of the Comics Code) are memorable -- he couldn't kill anyone any more, so he had to settle for humiliating them instead. Watching him force Batman & Robin to jump through hoops to keep up with him was always a hoot. Best story: "The Killing Joke" by Moore and Bolland. Although I'm awfully fond of "Rackety-Rax-Racket" (Batman #32), where the Joker puts Robin through a series of fraternity-style hazings that remind me of the best "Bugs Bunny getting one over on Elmer Fudd" cartoons.
4. Doctor Doom
The best of all the megalomaniacal, scenery-chewing, refers-to-himself-in-the-third-person world-conquerors. So egocentric that he can't stand the idea that there's one person in the world smarter than he is. So colossally vain that a single scar is reason enough to hide his face forever. Overcompensation on an epic scale. Not to mention his obsession with rescuing Mommy from Hell, which borders on the Oedipal. You get the impression that all Doom really needs is a hug, and he's covered himself in cast iron from head to toe to make sure he never gets one. Best story: Fantastic Four #84-87. The FF fight Doom on his home turf, and we get a glimpse of what his day-to-day life is like. Doom surrounds himself with art, music, fine food, and robots who cater to his every whim. People are no damned good, and exist only to be pushed around and, when they inevitably disappoint him, destroyed. In the end, Doom has a sort of existential moment of clarity, and lets the FF escape to fight another day, because this endless, pointless dance is really all he has to live for.
5. Eclipso
The blurb on his old series says it all: "Hero and villain in one man!" Jeckyll & Hyde transformations are nothing new, in comics or elsewhere. But here we have two personalities who are completely aware of each other, and actively conspiring against each other. There's a real urgency to the series, watching Bruce Gordon and his friends desperately scrambling for a cure, racing against the clock before the inevitable eclipse triggers his transformation once more (Eclipses seemed to happen a lot more often in the DC Universe than in ours. And eventually they softened the rules to the point where he was practically transforming every time the sun passed behind a cloud). I don't know who designed Eclipso's costume (Alex Toth, maybe?), but it's pretty stylin' -- he looks more like some evil genie from the Arabian Nights than a conventional supervillain. Best story: Justice League of America #109, "Doom of the Divided Man". Eclipso holds his own against the entire JLA. (As a bonus, this issue features one of the earliest examples of the "Batman is three steps ahead of everyone else on the team" plot-twists that have become so popular in recent years).
6. The Composite Superman
His brief sounds like something a 6-year-old would come up with: "He has, like, every superpower EVER!" (Ok, technically, he has the powers of a couple dozen members of the Legion of Superheroes, but that's still a buttload.) When downtrodden janitor Joe Meach gets hit with the proverbial Freak Scientific Accident, he does what most of us would do: Starts showing off and pushing people around. Specifically, Superman and Batman, whom he's always been jealous of. First he invites himself to join their partnership, solely for the purpose of showing them up at every turn. Then he gets bored with that, and decides to take over the world. The great thing about the Composite Superman stories is that he completely overwhelms the heroes at every turn. He's stronger than Superman and smarter than Batman, by several orders of magnitude, and he swats them aside like flies. It's only through the dumbest of dumb luck that he's defeated -- it turns out his power charge was only temporary, and when it fades, his memory goes with it. Which on the one hand seems like a cop-out. But I love the idea of Superman and Batman living in fear of this unstoppable weirdo who seemed to come from nowhere and then disappeared, and never knowing when he might show up again to finish them off. Best story: His first, World's Finest #142.
7. The Green Goblin
Actually managing to kill the hero's girlfriend would be a notch in any villain's belt, but even before that the Goblin was memorable. One of the best examples of the "mystery villain", they kept the audience guessing about his true identity for years (and apparently the solution was a bone of contention between his co-creators, Lee and Ditko). Respectable businessman Norman Osborn (even his name sounds conventional and mundane) goes off his rocker and starts scheming to take over the New York mobs. After several run-ins with Spider-Man, he goes even MORE bonkers, and focuses all his efforts on squashing his enemy. You can see his fragile sanity falling to pieces in every subsequent appearance. Norman's strained relationship with his loser son Harry humanizes him a bit, but still in the end you know the Goblin is a rabid dog that's going to have to be put down. His freaky halloween mask and matching gadgetry (bat-glider, pumpkin-bombs, et. al.) were some of Ditko's coolest design work. The movie screwed up the costume, but the acrobatic flying scenes, and the angst of a man who's mind is coming unravelled, were straight outta Lee / Ditko / Romita. Boo on Marvel for diluting the Goblin's terrific character arc by introducing countless knock-offs and dragging him back from the grave. Best story: The death of Gwen in Amazing Spider-Man #121 has the most impact, but you pretty much can't go wrong with any of Gobby's appearances up to that point.
8. The Flash's Rogues Gallery
You really can't separate these guys out, since a large part of their charm is the way they would frequently team up, or engage in friendly rivalries over who was Flash's greatest foe. Mirror Master, Captain Boomerang, The Top, Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Pied Piper, the Trickster, and Weather Wizard, all looking very dapper in their Carmine Infantino costumes, would come up with the craziest schemes for wiping Flash off the face of the Earth. Turn him into a mirror and shatter him. Age him 100 years. Switch legs with him. Freeze-dry him. Launch him into outer space. But really, you knew it was all just a game, and if they'd ever actually managed to kill Flash, they'd probably feel terrible about it. These guys epitomize the charming naivete of DC's Silver Age. Best story: Too numerous to mention, but Flash #174 (pictured above) is a typically fun multi-rogue adventure.
9. Egg Fu
He's a giant egg. With an animated Fu Manchu mustache. Who speaks stereotypical Engrish. He's so completely retarded that he's magnificent! Best story: Wonder Woman #158-159 is more Egg Fu than anyone really needs.
