*Main Post* 30 Days of Scans: Favourite Villain

[schmevil]

This would have been up earlier, but my internet connection has been dodgy today.

Today we celebrate our favourite comic book villains, (and I blather on about my favourite). What makes a great villain? Depends on the story, I suppose. Different kinds of stories need different kinds of evil-doers. But the basics: clarity of purpose, a distinct voice, an equally great nemesis. All of these are more important than a cool name or costume. (Where would Dr. Doom be otherwise, amirite?) There are a ridiculous number of great and memorable villains in comics, and if you're having trouble figuring out yours, IGN has got a top 100 for you here.

I grew up watching X-Men and Batman TAS and my best-of list is heavily populated by villains I first encountered in those series: Poison Ivy, Magneto, Mr. Sinster, the Joker. But my most enduring villainous love, has got to be Lex Luthor. (So unusual, I know. XD)

I actually first met him through the Superman comics my neighbor collected. I bought the X-books, he bought the Superman and Bat-books, and we traded on Thursdays. I guess I saw something in those comics (awful though many of them were!), because after that I was all over the Superman cartoon and Lois & Clark, and savoring every Lex episode. By the time Justice League and Smallville came around, I was an accept-no-substitutes Lex Luthor stan.

So what's so great about Lex Luthor? Well, a couple of things imho.

1. His usefulness as a foil for Superman.


(Action Comics)

A lot of the great villains are part of a matched set: Batman and Joker, Xavier and Magneto. Lex is a wonderfully enduring foil for an enduring hero. He's everything that Superman is not... and some things that Superman is. I mean, Lex and Clark share the same can-do, straight-on-til-morning heroic spirit, it's just that Lex has taken all his gifts (intelligence, drive, adaptability) and turned them to his own deification.

2. How he does (and doesn't) fit the mad genius/schemer archetype.


(Action Comics)

One of the things I love most about Lex is that he started out as one villainous archetype, gained depth over the years, and then shifted gears into whole new archetypal territory. He started out as a mad scientist, became a scheming, corporate plutocrat, and then regained a bit of his scientific genius. Now he's somewhere in the middle and the interpretive possibilities are endless. You can use him in crime stories, science-y stories, dimension-hopping epic adventure stories, straight up superhero stories, serious stories, and adorable, funny stories - he's versatile.

3. He obsession with cake.



BADASS. Dude rocks the pink and green (and purple and green) like no one else.

Anyway, have a couple of Great Moments In Lex:


(Lex Luthor, Man of Steel)


(The Outsiders)

And Lex with another of my favourites, the Joker, in: Joker and Lex


Lee Bermejo and Brian Azzarello


So who are your favourite villains?

Comments

[retro_nouveau]

Selina "Catwoman" Kyle



2. Harley Quinn, 3. Pamela "Poison Ivy" Isley, 4. Tom "Catman" Blake, 5. Victor von Doom, 6. The Joker, 7. Lex Luthor, 8. Doris "Giganta" Zeul, 9. James "Trickster" Jesse, 10. Eddie "Venom" Brock

And a few others in alpha order ... Morris "Hydro-Man" Bench, Angelo "Angle Man" Bend, Andrea "The Phantasm" Beaumont, Bizarro, Brainiac, Arthur "The Cluemaster" Brown, Oswald "The Penguin" Cobblepot, Curt "The Lizard" Connors, John "Metallo" Corben, Jim "The Gentleman Ghost" Craddock, Jonathan "Scarecrow" Crane, Victor "Sabretooth" Creed, Curaré, Raven "Mystique" Darkholme, Harvey "Two-Face" Dent, Donna "Scream" Diego, Maxwell "Electro" Dillon, Carol "Star Sapphire" Ferris, Wilson "Kingpin" Fisk, Eliot "Thunderball" Franklin, Victor "Mr. Freeze" Fries, Mac "The Scorpion" Gargan, Ra's Al Ghul, Grodd, Matt "Clayface" Hagen, HARDAC, Digger "Captain Boomerang" Harkness, Inque, Rudy "Parasite" Jones, Waylon "Killer Croc" Jones, Kyodai "The Ninja" Ken, Clark "Ultraman" Kent, Knockout, Lois "Superwoman" Lane, Kirk "Man-Bat" Langstrom, Floyd "Deadshot" Lawton, Karl "Sauron" Lykos, Erik "Magneto" Lensherr, Toby "Terra-Man" Manning, Cain "Juggernaut" Marko, Flint "Sandman" Marko, Peter "Ragdoll" Merkel, Albert "Atomic Skull" Michaels, Barbara "Cheetah" Minerva, Mxyzptlk, Edward "The Riddler" Nygma, Otto "Doctor Octopus" Octavius, Norman "The Green Goblin" Osborn, Derek "Blight" Powers, Hartley "The Pied Piper" Rathaway, Carl "The Shadow-Thief" Sands, Scandal Savage, Herman "The Shocker" Schultz, Sam "Mirror Master" Scudder, Claire "Volcana" Selton, Sinestro, Lisa "The Golden Glider" Snart, Leonard "Captain Cold" Snart, Starro, Roxanne "Roxy Rocket" Sutton, Richard "The Shade" Swift, Aleksei "The Rhino" Systevich, Jervis "The Mad Hatter" Tetch, Adrian "The Vulture" Toomes, Ultra-Humanite, Melanie "Ten" Walker, Thomas "Owlman" Wayne, Arnold "Ventriloquist" Wesker, Leslie "Livewire" Willis, Zod

I would have to say that Dr. Doom is the all-around best villain of all time.

[lonewolf23k]

Doctor Eggman (aka Dr. Ivo Robotnik, Dr. Ivo Robotnik, Robo-Robotnik, Robotnik Mach II or the Eggman) from Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog.

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100312041605/archiesonic/images/e/e1/EggmanData.jpg

He started out as "Robo-Robotnik", an alternate world version of Robotnik Prime, but after Robotnik Prime's defeat, decided to "fill in the void" by taking over for him (having gotten bored with his victory on his own world), and acquired his new, more game-like body over a series of events.

Since then, he's conquered Mobius twice (having regained control of the crumbling empire the first time, and reconquering the lands he was forced to give up during the Xorda attack), then suffered setback after setback until finally going insane in #200. He actually recovered from his crippling insanity, seemingly through nothing but random free-association (although it could be argued he's just a more functional insane). So now he's back in the game, and rebuilding his forces, which only means trouble for our heroes in the future.

Oh, and he still manages to be very frightening when he tries.

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100311220202/archiesonic/images/9/94/Th_DrIvoRobotnik-1-2-.jpg

[morgana006]

I love villains! Villains are awesome. I love Spidey's rogues, Flash's Rogues, Batvillains, the Reach, the Pride, Magneto. Love me some villains.

My favorite though? Riddler.



Oddly enough, I realized Riddler was my favorite when I was watching Batman Forever and got really annoyed that they were getting him wrong. So I started to think about how to do him right and, well... got a little obsessed.*

_{*understatement}

[lanternicity]

Avogadro's (!) market, love it

[werehawk.livejournal.com]

For some reason, I prefer DC's heroes and Marvel's (obscure, mostly B-lister) villains. My favorite villain to hate:

Swarm

runners up: Kulan Gath, Cottonmouth, Madcap, Venom (I know), Bushwacker, Arcade, Armadillo, Circuit Breaker and for DC, Count Vertigo and Shrike thanks to Suicide Squad as well as Floronic Man

In general the problems with liking villains is that the writers change so often that the characterization is inconsistent compared with heroes so greats like Dr. Doom and Magneto fluctuate between misguided and evil with no purpose.

[thehefner]

Favorite villains: Two-Face (naturally), Professor Hugo Strange, Dr. Otto Octavius, Lex, Dr. Doom, and Joker are who immediately come to mind.

[sweettart1823]

Max Lord :)

[bwhahahabeck]

Harley Quinn, Maximus the Mad


Honorable Mentions: Cameron Hodge, Mortis

[bwhahahabeck]

Oh! And how could I forget:

[grazzt]

I just have to say, Bullseye is at his best when he's being played for laughs.

"What's your favourite colour?"

"Even I have to admit, that was pretty awesome."

Doctor Developer

[jarodrussell]

He may not be an officially published villain, but he does all right...


I Can Explain by *TheBlackCat-Gallery on deviantART

...until he doesn't.

[cainofdreaming]

Circuit Breaker? You don't mean the Transformers one? And, yes, the original Suicide Squad had so many good moments for the villains.

[nezchan]

I was going to pick the always-entertaining Zorglub from the Spirou series, but he's not always a villain. So instead, I'll pick someone who never fails at villainy, Fantasio's ne'er-do-well cousin, Zantafio.



From his first appearance as a two-bit con artist, he's been a tin-pot dictator, a villain of science, an international conspirator and a generally dangerous adversary whenever he's appeared. Probably the most consistent of Spirou's foes, he's never once had a twinge to turn to the side of good. Which is one of the things I like about him, he never, ever gives up on who he is.

[cainofdreaming]

You know, I can't really name one. Sure, there's my obvious top x with Doom and Kang and Thanos and Lex and Joker and Deadshot, etc, but picking one out of those is just too damn difficult. So I'll just include the one I absolutely freaking loathe - which in itself is kind of an accomplishment for a villain I guess, though if you try to make me admit that as any kind of positive value I put on this villain you're in for an uphill battle.

So the dishonorable mention goes for Edgar Dill, of the "Bump" fame. I was actually excited about the crossover with Hack/Slash just so I could see the unforgivable bastard finally get his. And they still let him walk.

Argh.

[cainofdreaming]

Yeah, there's been some good stuff along that vein. Though I do like him also when he shows his professional and, sometimes, even his monstrous side.

All of which do come up in that Hit-Monkey #2 from which the linked scan is from, btw.

[arilou_skiff]

Thanos, Dr. Doom, Magneto, Kingpin... so many villains, so little time.

[jlbarnett]

does lex realize that most of the public probably considers Superman more human than him?

[icon_uk]

I hope so, Josie/Circuit Breaker was an interesting character

[cainofdreaming]

Yeah, she was. But I don't see her that much as a villain, even though she did start with that whole revenge kick against all 'Formers. She was misguided and didn't know all the facts, and let her anger get the better of her partly because of this, but she seemed to get over it as things got further along.

Dunno, though, it's been such a long while that I might have a bit skewed picture. That's just how I remember it.

[schmevil]

Ha ha, no. He definitely doesn't.

[crinos]

For me, its Xemnu the titan. Gotta love that big hairy yeti thing.

Gotta give it up for someone who can match the Hulk Physically AND take on moon dragon psychically.

Good runner up are the elders of the universe, if only because their manias make for compelling characters (especially the Collector and Grandmaster).

[icon_uk]

Yes, it was more of a mental breakdown she'd had which drove her hatred (She loathed all Transformers, not caring about the distinction between Decepticons and Autobots). Then towards the end of the series we saw her improving as part of the Neo-Knights (Rapture, Thunderpunch, Dynamo) but IIRC Blackrock had to deliberately push her back over the edge in order to save the world from Unicron... or something like that.

[icon_uk]

I doubt they do, Lex woulod still be remembered as the self made multi-millionaire and formidable philanthropist, former President and the guy who won the war with Imperiex.

[newnumber6]

I think I have to go with Magneto. He's just that classic case of the bad guy who thinks he's absolutely right, and you can sort of see his point, if he wasn't bugnuts about it. Occasionally he makes a decent anti-hero too, although he's gone back and forth from that to raging psycho a bit too often to really be at his best in the comics. Still, as an iconic villain type, I really like him.

I even considered getting one of his t-shirts (well, with some modifications).

[icon_uk]

Joker when in non automatic murder-death-kill mode.

Luthor when being an absolute bastard

Doom when he's being DOOOM!

Sidewinder as head of the Serpent Society

Too many others to mention