You Know Who Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 Batman and Spider-Man have arguably the best rogues galleries of any comic book superheroes, but which one(s) has the worst? A lot seem to have a few great villains with the rest possessing varying degrees of weakness--like Daredevil with Kingpin and Bullseye--but are there any that are lackluster all over? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dc20willsave Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 Iron Man. He has The Mandarin and otherwise it's a ton of guys who want to be Iron Man. Oh, and a guy who likes to whip people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stavros Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 Agreed on Iron Man, his gallery is significantly worse than Cap or Thor. On the DC side I always thought that Nightwings lack of any decent solo villains hurt him a lot. Basically just Blockbuster, a bunch of spandex-clad acrobatic assassins and whoever Batman hadn't fought in a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missy Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 The Punisher has nothing but mobsters, which gets old after a while.I've never been impressed by Wolverine's foes, either. "Look! It's another guy with adamantium claws... or skin... or shell... or spine... or cock."And, honestly, Superman's foes do very little for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dc20willsave Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 I kinda do love Superman's rogues gallery... until I looked at it on Wiki and realized how much of it is Kryptonian renegades, pseudo-Supermen, and people with an irregular amount of Kryptonite based weaponry. Wow, that's a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stavros Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 I don't think Superman can be considered to have a weak rogues gallery though. Lex, Brainiac, Zod, Darkseid, these are pretty well known bad guys. I should clarify that my comment on Iron Man's roster would be from before Fraction's run. In the end Zeke Stane, the Mandarin, Controller, Ghost, Living Laser, Madam Masque, Spymaster, used right it's actually quite a strong array. Its just that until Fraction no-one put those pieces together. Martian Manhunter always got a raw deal though, I mean how many last survivors of Mars can he fight? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
You Know Who Posted September 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 Not disagreeing with most of what's being said so far, especially about Nightwing. I think it's also telling that in each of the Iron Man films, the villain to some extent was a weak point. I'm tempted to say the rogues galleries of Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the Fantastic Four are pretty weak too, but haven't read enough comics to know for sure. I don't doubt that Spawn has a weak one, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightWing Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 Superman has Lex Luthor, one of the greatest villains of all time (up there with Joker, Darkseid, Magneto, and Doom). He's also got Brainiac, Darkseid and the rest of Apokolips, Metallo, and Parasite. It's no Batman or Spider-Man rogues gallery, but it's decent at worst, epic at best. I concur with Iron Man and Nightwing. Tony's villains are lame and Nightwing's aren't iconic or important enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missy Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 I should clarify that my comment on Iron Man's roster would be from before Fraction's run. In the end Zeke Stane, the Mandarin, Controller, Ghost, Living Laser, Madam Masque, Spymaster, used right it's actually quite a strong array. Its just that until Fraction no-one put those pieces together.If I recall correctly, the same can be said of Geoff Johns and The Flash's foes.And, to me, that's the joy of comics. Weak or underused characters can be turned around in a snap with the right creative team. Look at all of the characters from the 1970s (eg Power Man, Iron Fist, Spider-Woman, Ms. Marvel) that have been made major stars in the past 10 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James D. Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 Green Lanterns have a pretty weak rogues gallery, too, don't they? I mean, after Sinestro and Star Sapphire, who else is there that really stands out as a good recurring villain for them? (I ask this not knowing a ton about the GL mythos.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
You Know Who Posted September 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 Green Lanterns have a pretty weak rogues gallery, too, don't they? I mean, after Sinestro and Star Sapphire, who else is there that really stands out as a good recurring villain for them? I'm not an expert, but outside of Sinestro and Star Sapphire, the Green Lantern rogues gallery consists mostly of lanterns of other colors, the avatars of those other lanterns (such as Parallax), and a few wacky aliens like Despero. O, and Hector Hammond. On the surface of it, not a very impressive one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 12, 2013 Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 I think having a strong Rogue's Gallery kinda makes a superhero ineffectual. The Punisher only has a few because he's actually good at what he does. I say all of this understanding that my stance on what superhero comics should be is vastly different than most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Molly Posted September 12, 2013 Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 I take issue with anybody talking down the FF's enemies: Doom, Namor, Galactus, Mole Man, The Wizard, all awesome. And lest you forget, The Red Ghost and his Super Apes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koete Posted September 12, 2013 Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 I love Iron Man's rogue's gallery. They're the Flash Rogues of the Marvel Universe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missy Posted September 12, 2013 Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 I think having a strong Rogue's Gallery kinda makes a superhero ineffectual. The Punisher only has a few because he's actually good at what he does.That's a great point, actually.I take issue with anybody talking down the FF's enemies: Doom, Namor, Galactus, Mole Man, The Wizard, all awesome.And lest you forget, The Red Ghost and his Super Apes.And Klaw. Let no one forget Klaw, The Murderous Master of Sound! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightWing Posted September 12, 2013 Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 I think having a strong Rogue's Gallery kinda makes a superhero ineffectual. The Punisher only has a few because he's actually good at what he does. That's a great point, actually. It's a great point for the real world, but in the mythic world of comics, it's totally different. The way in which ideas are expressed is more important than practical realism for the most part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 12, 2013 Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 There's no reason you can't express those ideas in the context of practical realism. The comics industry is just deathly terrified of evolution in any form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightWing Posted September 12, 2013 Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 That's a vast oversimplification and I think it largely denies the entire purpose of superhero comics, but we're also getting really off-topic. Maybe someday we should actually hash this out; it'd be fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 12, 2013 Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 Most mainstream superhero comics are written with vastly archaic and oversimplified ideas; one giant bubble formed out of self-fulfilling prophecies. It feels like the people creating and reading them just want to watch someone make the same ship in a bottle over and over. It's not really a stance worth arguing because I learned a long time ago I'm not going to change anyone's mind. If I want any sort of tension and consequence, there is a ton of other stuff for me to read. So I do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stavros Posted September 12, 2013 Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 Green Lanterns have a pretty weak rogues gallery, too, don't they? I mean, after Sinestro and Star Sapphire, who else is there that really stands out as a good recurring villain for them? I'm not an expert, but outside of Sinestro and Star Sapphire, the Green Lantern rogues gallery consists mostly of lanterns of other colors, the avatars of those other lanterns (such as Parallax), and a few wacky aliens like Despero. O, and Hector Hammond. On the surface of it, not a very impressive one. Mongul, Black Hand, the Controllers, Krona, Nekron, Major Force, etc. Again, I think before John's run you might have had a point but the modern GL has a wide ranging effective group of villains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Molly Posted September 12, 2013 Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 Thinking about it, Spider-Man's rogues are actually really overrated: you have a couple of cool villains like Norman Osbourne, Doc Ock and Kraven, then you get seven or eight knockoff Goblins, like three symbiotes, a bunch of douches in animal costumes, and losers like the Shocker, Big Wheel and the Spot. Meh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stavros Posted September 12, 2013 Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 He does fight a lot of animals. May be controversial, but I think the X-men's villains tend to suck hard outside of Magneto. It's the extremely ragtag band of whoever makes up the Marauders, the Hellfire Club or the dudes in charge of the Sentinels. By the time you're getting into the uber-esoteric guys like Bastion I'm just begging for something more grounded. It's like the X-men are always on these epic quests or infighting so they never actually save anyone. They're a totally inward-facing part of the Marvel U. Or they were until that Avengers/X-men merger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Molly Posted September 12, 2013 Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 Oh, and Wonder Woman is a weird case: She could have a great Rogues Gallery, if only someone would use any of her sweet-ass Nazi villians from the 40's, rather than the same rotation of Cheetah/Giganta/Figure from Myth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
You Know Who Posted September 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 May be controversial, but I think the X-men's villains tend to suck hard outside of Magneto. It's the extremely ragtag band of whoever makes up the Marauders, the Hellfire Club or the dudes in charge of the Sentinels. By the time you're getting into the uber-esoteric guys like Bastion I'm just begging for something more grounded. It's like the X-men are always on these epic quests or infighting so they never actually save anyone. They're a totally inward-facing part of the Marvel U. Or they were until that Avengers/X-men merger. I agree to a point. I think Sinister and Mystique stand above most of the others, who are just standard bad mutants and people who hate mutants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
You Know Who Posted September 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 I'm not sure the Avengers or the Justice League have great rogues galleries either. They seem to consist just of world-conquering aliens and the nemeses of the team's members. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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