Comic Villains You Forgot (Or Didn't Know) Existed

Mara (They/Them) has by accident on function made their total life about books and tales. Mara graduated with a B.A in inventive writing and theatre and is midway by means of an MFA in Creative writing. In addition to writing for Book Riot, Mara additionally has written for The Independent Book Review, Wargamer, and The Other Half, to call a couple of. They additionally work as a fiction editor with The Minison Project. Nearly all of their revealed articles might be discovered right here.

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If you’ve ever heard the phrase villain or monster of the week, you most likely know the place that is headed. For these of you unfamiliar with the phrase, it grew to become fashionable within the Sixties as a method to describe villains who would solely seem in a single episode of a TV present. It was rapidly tailored as a time period utilized by comics as effectively. The concept was that this new villain or monster would seem to struggle the heroes, lose, after which by no means present up once more. There are a couple of exceptions — the preferred one being The Joker. He was imagined to be killed off in the identical comedian he was launched in, however the plan was modified final minute. Now he’s probably the most well-known comedian villains of all time.

But what concerning the different villains who had been doomed by the narrative to all the time lose to the hero? Some of them might have been fortunate sufficient to have a two or three-part arc and acquired a bit of extra of a highlight, however then they pale into obscurity — nothing greater than a fandom quiz reply.

The factor is, a few of these villains had been really actually cool. It’s true that some are gimmicky and have the identical powers as many others, however not all of them. So I’ve determined to do my greatest to seek out a few of the greatest comedian villains that had been forgotten about. Who is aware of, possibly someday they could come again for vengeance.

Now, most of those villains are white males created by white males. Unfortunately, within the ’60s and ’70s, there was not an entire lot of variety within the comics world, which we are able to clearly see from the checklist under. The comics business has made large strides and nonetheless has an extended method to go. At least now now we have significantly better villains who aren’t solely written by white males.

Funniest Villain Names

These villains must be in your comedian repertoire simply so you can also make enjoyable of them!

Jackson Weele AKA Big Wheel: Yes, this villain is strictly what you’d count on. He’s a disgraced businessman who drives round a large monowheel that’s outfitted with varied weaponry. He’s largely a Spiderman baddie, and has 15 whole appearances throughout the ’70s. And certain, I’m making enjoyable of him a bit of bit, but when I had a final identify like Weele I might by no means cease with the puns, so like, I get it.

Art of a man in a green suit driving a giant yellow wheel from the inside — created by Marv Wolfman, Ross Andru

Weather Wizard: This man lives in a world the place the Justice League exists. There are tremendous individuals in all places, and the perfect identify you’ll be able to provide you with is Weather Wizard? It’s not very delicate, is it? Now this man has been in some current DC productions just like the Flash TV present, however they don’t actually touch upon the identify in any respect. Imagine having to say “I’m the Weather Wizard” on tv whereas preserving a straight face and a shred of dignity. It’s not significantly better within the comedian both.

Man surrounded by smoke and lightning with a text bubble that reads "Quite the weather we're having" — Art by Scott Kolins and Doug Hazlewood

Turner D. Century: Great identify! Terrible man! He made six appearances and fought onerous hitters like Spider-Woman, Deadpool, and the Punisher. His entire deal was he thought issues had been higher within the “good old days.” For him, this meant earlier than World War I. He had no powers, simply some huge cash and the shortcoming to deal with change. Huh, I really feel like I’ve heard of some individuals like that round as we speak! Weird.

Image of a man with a mustache and a woman with no face riding a tandem bicycle through the air. — Art by Stephen Leialoha and Bruce D. Patterson

Radiation Roy: is just about precisely what it says on the tin. His identify is Roy and he’s radioactive. He’s additionally very a lot within the lady boss, gaslight, gatekeep, crew of villains. He inherits cash and makes use of it to present himself powers, joins The Legion of Super-Villains, and is rapidly kicked out as a result of he can’t management his powers. He then makes his personal villain league who attempt to persuade everybody that Superman is definitely from Earth, not Krypton. He might be one of many extra well-known villains on this checklist, however I feel he’s simply obscure sufficient to make the lower.

Man in giant red metal suit that covers his entire body. — Created by Jerry Siegel and John Forte

Half Person, Half ???

There are about 1,000,000 and a half villains which are named Man [any noun you can think of]. Here are just some!

Plant Man: This man loves crops greater than the rest and is for certain going to make that your downside. In some variations of the character, he invents units that may management crops, whereas in others he simply…is a plant himself. And whereas I too typically like crops greater than individuals, I’m not gonna attempt to struggle Iron Man about it, y’know? He was additionally as soon as defeated by Wolverine who was wielding a mirror. That’s not likely vital. I simply suppose it’s an important enjoyable truth.

Close up picture of a man with pointy ears, and vines instead of hair — Art by Stan Woch

Ten-Eyed Man: This man is a Batman villain who, after going blind, had a surgeon put an “eye” on all of his fingers — therefore the identify. His superpower is that due to the model new optic nerves on his fingertips, he has a 360 view. The bonus sight additionally makes him a very good marksman. I really feel it’s additionally vital to notice, that there have been not one, however two Ten-Eyed Mans. They have very totally different origins, however they each wish to struggle Batman so dangerous!

a panel of the Ten-Eyed Man spinning circles around Batman, pointing his fingers towards him, saying "You can't lay a glove on me, Batman! Not with ten eyes to cover me in all directions at once! But I can hit you anytime! And I will...until your eyes are as sightless as mine!"

Tally Man: Very much like the Ten-Eyed Man, there are two totally different variations of this villain. The first Tally Man actually hates Batman, whereas the second Tally Man likes to make bother for different villains. When he was youthful, he watched his mom battle to pay the tallyman who got here to gather for the mob. Now his entire deal is accumulating money owed from heroes and villains alike, and not likely in a pleasant and pleasant method both.

an image of Tally Man shooting a gun and saying "You leave my mother out of this!" He's wearing a purple mask and hat and very long teeth — Art by Vincent Giarrano

I might go on and on about forgotten or area of interest villains, regardless that I might slightly most of those villains didn’t make a comeback. If you wish to find out about much more comedian villains, make sure to try this A-Z villain deep dive.

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