Great Super Villians

Great super Villains

No particular order here, just great villains from comics, for a variety of reasons.

Green Goblin – longetivity, the major rogue for one of comics’ greatest and most popular heroes, Spider-Man. The Green Goblin has been inhabited by a variety of characters, but the one I refer to here is Norman Osborn. He has learned Spidey’s identity as Peter Parker, he nailed Peter’s ex-love Gwen Stacy, (at least as far as recent spidey canon in Amazing Spider-Man, in which a story by JMS (Strasinski) showed that Norman manipulated a frazzled Gwen and had sex with her. We have also seen Norman’s influence in ruining his own son’s life (Harry Osborn, who died, but in new Spidey Canon, he’s inexplicably back—which is just one of a billion reasons I no longer read Spidey. ) Also, Greenie killed Gwen Stacy in the classic Amazing Spider-Man 121, (creepier now if we believe that Osborn nailed her and then killed – really amps his psycho feel – even better, in current Marvel Universe, Norma n is running a govt. sponsored super team that works to round up unregistered superheroes, the Thunderbolts. Written by Warren Ellis, the insanity and brilliance of Norman Osborn is illustrated in a very striking manner.

Dr. Doom – not the idiot in the FF movies, but the comics’ version. He is truly great, a monarch of his own country (Latveria) brilliant in both science and magic, and truly dedicated to his beliefs. He is a great villain because in his eyes he is a hero, a regal monarch living amongst inferiors.

The Joker – maybe the best ever, for me. He has been portrayed in so many different ways, from goofy in the 60’s batman TV show with Adam West, and a goof ball in comics. The best portrayals for me are easily Jack Nicholson in Batman by Tim Burton, The Killing Joke Joker who tried to convince James Gordon that all men are but a sliver from madness, (the Joker crippled Gordon’s daughter, Barbara Gordon, one time Batgirl and current Oracle in the DC universe, a brutal act that hasn’t ever gone away. Additionally, the Joker’s brutally beaten Batman’s second Robin, Jason Todd, to near death and then blew him up – killing him, until very recently when it became known that Jason Todd was indeed alive, and is currently running around in the DCUtrying to prevent the final crisis.

The Kingpin – he’s terrorized both Spider-Man and Daredevil, but the grim and gritty portrayal of Daredevil’s world from the Frank Miller days thru Brian Bendis and Ed Brubakers current work (three great writers) moved him into another level He utterly destroyed Matt Murdock (Daredevil’s) life. He has helped to set in motion the death of 2 women DD loved. He ruined his law practice. Yet the Kingpin has also suffered, being stabbed and blinded, survived amnesia and a rise back up0 from the sewers if life. He never, ever goes away for good.

Bullseye – hey, the dude turns anything he touches into a weapon. He has killed Daredevils love, Elektra, with her own weapon, a sai that stabbed through her heart in Daredevil 181. She lay down and died on the steps of her lover, matt Murdock. He also killed Karen Page, another Love of DD’s life. DD dropped the motherfucker a coupled so stories down and allowed his spine to fracture. DD then visited him in the hospital and played Russian roulette in the hospital. This guy is one bad dude. (Currently he is pretty fucked up, a quadriplegic in Thunderbolts.

Lex Luthor – the dude who gives fucking Superman a hard time. Is there really any more that need be said? The guy has run and won a presidential election. He is brilliant, ruthless, and not always wrong, which makes it even more frustrating he remains a villain.