If This Be Doomsday...!

Tournament of Scoundrels Round 1

2010-01-03T21:16:00.000-08:00

First up in our fight between the Sinister Six and the Rogues we have Kraven the Hunter vs. Captain Boomerang. You can view the contest rules at the post below this one.

Here are the official write-ups for this contest:

Captain Boomerang

Real name: George "Digger" Harkness
First appearance: Flash (vol. 1) #117 (Dec. 1960)
Created by: John Broome and Carmine Infantino
Powers and abilities: Captain Boomerang is an unparalleled master of throwing boomerangs, and employs a number of trick boomerangs including razor sharp boomerangs, sonic boomerangs, exploding boomerangs, and remote controlled boomerangs. He has also been known to use giant remote controlled boomerangs as vehicles, traps, and weapons.

VS.

Kraven the Hunter

Real name: Sergei Kravenov
First appearance: Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #15 (Aug. 1964)
Created by: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Powers and abilities: Kraven is an expert hunter and tracker, and a master of numerous weapons and martial arts. Further, he has enhanced strength, speed, senses, stamina, and reflexes from an herbal potion which he ritualistically ingests. He uses numerous weapons in combat, most often spears, nets, axes, and knives, as well as various toxins and tranquilizers.

Now, right off the bat, you may think that Kraven has an advantage, but bear in mind two things: Captain Boomerang has the advantage when it comes to range, and Kraven's enhanced physicality does not propel him to a superhuman level. He's more akin to Captain America's level of strength, speed, etc.

I think it's gonna be a good fight!

The First Monthly Tournament of Scoundrels!

2010-01-03T20:31:00.000-08:00

Starting tomorrow (Monday), I will begin a feature that I plan to do for one week each month. I'm calling it the Tournament of Scoundrels, as I will be pitting two teams of villains against each other in combat. I will choose one team from Marvel Comics, and one from DC that I feel are an appropriate match up.

Here's how it will work: each day, I'll post a match up of two characters, one from each team. You, the readers, will cast votes on who you deem the winner of the match. At the end of the week, the team with the most wins under its belt will be declared the winner. In the event of a tie, either between individual combatants, or the team, the reader with the best argument as to why their choice should be declared the winner will determine the final outcome. I will determine whose argument is best. Further, I'll cast no vote in the proceedings, just to keep it fair.

Once a winner is determined for each day, I'll then post a drawing of the match on my sketchblog, located at http://ifthisbesketchblog.blogspot.com

Post your vote in the comments section of the individual match up. Voting will be open as soon as the match is posted, and will be closed at midnight. Feel free to tell us why each character got your vote, but keep it relatively brief, and save your best arguments for a tie!

I'll post a short summary of the combatants, including what will be considered the official power sets of the characters in question. I'll do my very best to be as impartial as possible.

Now, with the formalities aside, here are the first two teams to fight:
The Sinister Six, with their original line-up:

Kraven the Hunter, Electro, Mysterio, the Sandman, the Vulture, and Doctor Octopus

VS.

The Flash Rogues!

Captain Boomerang, Weather Wizard, Mirror Master, Heatwave, the Trickster, and Captain Cold!

Despite the fact that it's not entirely accurate to the proceedings, I couldn't resist posting this fantastic image by Scott Kolins.

I think the Sinister Six has an advantage in terms of raw power, but the Rogues could certainly take the title due to their far superior teamwork!

The first match up will be...

Captain Boomerang vs. Kraven the Hunter!

Top 25 Marvel Villains- You decide!

2009-12-14T09:38:00.000-08:00

Ok everybody. It's been a while. I've been busy.

Now that that's over with, I want to know what YOU think!

Who are your top ten villains? From your lists, I will aggregate the top 25 villains of the Marvel U. I'm gonna do something with the list, but you'll have to wait to see what happens with that.

Anyway, nobody is off limits. As long as it's mainstream Marvel continuity, it's on the table.

Here's Marvel's directory list of villains, if you need some help!

http://marvel.com/universe/Category:Villains

Ask Kang Vol. 2

2009-06-17T05:26:00.001-07:00

Today's question comes from Newsarama forums user edogawa.

edogawa: since Time Traveling doesn't actually change the timeline or time stream because all it does is creat an alternate reality, aren't your time traveling gimmick useless now? I mean, you could techinically be a foe of the Exiles.. maybe.and you lost your girlfriend to a robot, how does it feel?

Kang: What is this, DC Comics? Is this Hypertime? Do I look like the Time Trapper to you? Or Booster Gold or something? If you think that I can't make some real shit happen in the timestream, you better get a life right now. I WENT BACK IN TIME AND FELL IN LOVE WITH MS. MARVEL AND IMPREGNATED HER WITH MYSELF AND THEN SHE GAVE BIRTH TO ME AND WE FELL IN LOVE AGAIN! You know how I did it? With time travel. And guess what, doofus. That was in the good 'ol 616 (not my home reality). That's another thing your stupid question (yes, there are stupid questions) doesn't consider about mighty Kang: your precious 616 might even BE my alternate reality timeline duplicate mistake. Sorry to ruin your day.

Also, I could not feel better about that mechano-man taking that jailbait hussy off of my (or at least my younger self's) hands. Have you heard her taste in music? Plus I'm like 50, and my only love is Ravonna. Or Ms. Marvel. Or the Celestial Madonna. Or Stature.

Aww dammit...

Top-Ten Most Enduring Villains

2009-06-05T06:03:00.000-07:00

Today is Friday, which means it's time for another top-ten. This time I will explore the ten most prominent and enduring Marvel villains of the silver age.

10. The Mandarin

Here is the difference between Marvel comics in the sixties, and DC comics in the sixties. If this character had debuted at DC, his origin would be that he was a white guy who was hit by a space laser that not only turned him asian but granted him ten completely unrelated and arbitrary powers. Also, his name would probably be Chip Chop Chang, and he'd speak with that awful vaudeville chinese accent.

Instead, we have a much less racist Chinese villain with a cool gimmick that justifies his random collection of abilities and puts him on the same level as Iron Man. The Mandarin makes this list for that reason, but also because he's been a mainstay of Marvel comics for over 40 years, even appearing in a slightly skewed form in the hugely successful Iron Man film. He's part Kung Fu grandmaster, part mad scientist, all super villain.

He also once held the Unicorn as his "body slave." Poor Unicorn.

9. The Kingpin

I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on Kingpin, because this weekend will see part 2 of my article on Daredevil villains, at which point I'll great pretty in depth with fatty, here. Actually, that's not fat. It's muscle. Enough muscle to bench press an engine block or two. Enough muscle to crush a human skull in his bear hands. Enough muscle to harass Spider-Man until you're bored and then change your mind and go after Daredevil. Enough muscle to completely dismantle a superhero's whole life.

Many remember Kingpin as he was portrayed by Michael Clark Duncan in a little film called "Daredevil" that no one liked. I prefer to think of him as he was in "The Trial of the Incredible Hulk," as portrayed by John Rhys Davies, in which he was obsessed with television and rode around in a hovercraft. He had a VHS of some guys kicking Daredevil in the stomach that was going to make millions! MILLIONS!!!

Kingpin makes the list for being Marvel's premier crime boss for its entire modern history, even if his role has somewhat diminished recently.

8. Ultron
There is nothing funny about Ultron. Ultron has been badass for pretty much his whole life, from his humble beginnings as a Dalek to his days as the merciless destroyer of an entire country, Ultron has haunted the Avengers throughout their entire history. The mere mention of his name strikes fear in the hearts of those with hearts, because all he cares for is logic and cold, awful steel. Ultron is man's fear of technology given form.

Even though his most recent exploits consist of boringly trying to conquer space and getting a sex-change, Ultron remains an unstoppable whirlwind of cybernetic death who should be feared. He also once led the Masters of Evil, so if everything else wasn't enough, that proves how awesome he is. He makes this list because no one in the Marvel universe doesn't shit in his spandex at the mention of the name "Ultron."

7. The Red Skull

Who are the classic villains of modern history if not the Nazis? Nobody likes a Nazi except another Nazi, and probably not even then. The Red Skull appeals to the same values that his nemesis Captain America embodies, just on the opposite side of the coin. This is a man who willfully presents himself as the preening visage of death itself. He even troubled Captain America from beyond the grave. I love anything to which the phrase "from beyond the grave" can be applied. He wielded the Cosmic Cube, and his failure to conquer the world even with that unlimited power at his disposal proved what we already knew: that even ultimate power means nothing in the face of determination and an honest sense of justice. The Red Skull is a perfect villain because much like Creed for music lovers, he gives everyone everywhere something to hate

6. Loki
Loki is a classic villain in that he's been a villain for literally thousands of years. Loki inadvertently united the Avengers, thus ensuring that there would always be a whole gang of guys around ready to kick his prancing ass at every opportunity. Though he is often portrayed as effete and fey, Loki can also be quite vicious. He's had numerous children, most of whom are wolves or serpents or rulers of infernal realms of cosmic damnation.

I would also say that more of Marvel's villains have gotten their powers by accidentally hanging out around Loki than by any other method. The lesson we get from this is that if you see a guy who looks like a spokesman for Sprite running around in a pointy hat, stand close to him. Maybe even pick on him. Chances are that he will inadvertently grant you strange and wonderful powers. At the very least you will get a magic crowbar or gigantic hands.

Recently Loki turned himself into a girl, and, unlike when Ultron did it, it is actually badass because he's shown off his Machiavellian side like never before. The dude actually went back in time to his own childhood to engineer the events that led to his Godhood. Hello, time loop!

He still has the pointy hat, though, so if you're trying to find a way to getting beaten up by Thor, standing by his brother/sister here is still a viable option.

5. Galactus
Man, I don't even know where to start with Galactus. Sure, he's got pants now, but when he started out he was just another hundred foot guy in a kilt. I guess, at that size, what did he have to be ashamed of? Who was gonna tell him? Anyway, they say that Galactus appears to everyone who sees him in a familiar form, so humans see him as human, gelatinous cubes see him as a gelatinous cube, etc., but I'm almost positive that that's a convention of more modern thought on this character. I prefer the idea that it's jsut coincidence that when first came to earth, he just happened to have an arabic "G" on his chest.

Supposedly created when Stan Lee posed to Jack Kirby the unfathomable question, "What if the Fantastic Four met God?" Galactus is honestly one of Marvel's most novel concepts. Not truly evil, nor good, Galactus is simply a force of nature with a hunger to be reckoned with. Over the years, the only things that have really deterred him from eating the Earth are a spell by Dr. Strange that forced his awareness of every death for which he had ever been responsible, and the Ultimate Nullifier, a device so powerful that it not only kills its target, but changes history so that the target NEVER EXISTED. I guess I would be fucking afraid of that, too.

4. The Skrulls
Truth be told, I would rather have put Kang on this list than these little weirdos, but they have been so important in the last several years of Marvel comics that they made the jump all the way to number 4 on this list. Not bad for a bunch of little moon men who were once defeated by being hypnotized into thinking they were cows.

3. The Green Goblin
The most prominent villain in the Marvel universe aside from maybe the Skrulls in the last several years is Norman Osborne, who made his rep as the Green Goblin, arch-foe of Spider-Man. The Green Goblin has always been badass, and I am actually enjoying the current storyline in which he has become probably the most powerful man in the world. Although he no longer dresses like an extra from the Labrynth, I will always remember Norman Osborne for his early years as a costumed criminal moreso than his current turn as a Lex Luthor-like figure. I do appreciate, however, the fact that he is responsible for the return of actual supervillains to the Marvel universe after the last several years of hero vs. hero slapfighting.

2. Magneto
Magneto is such a great villain because he is so defensible, if not even relatable. Probably one of Marvel Comics's most recognizable and important villains, Magneto has filled many roles throughout his career, even leading the X-Men for a time.

There's one thing about Magneto that makes him really impressive, though, and that is that he is seriously like 97 years old. The healing power of magnets, ladies and gentlemen. Magneto must be following the Jack Lalanne method to be as ripped as he is at his age. He was a teenager in Auschwitz, and still doesn't look a day over 40 tops. I actually thought that Ian McKellen was an awesome choice to play him in the films for this reason. Not only is Sir Ian an extremely accomplished actor who managed to strongly balance the heart of his pathos alongside his unbridled arrogance, but he actually looked believable as someone that old.

Magneto is awesome even if he is a senior citizen.

1. Doctor Doom
Is this a surprise to anyone? Like, at all? Dr. Doom is the premier badass in all of Marveldom. He is the smartest man alive, the second greatest wizard, and the only guy in modern times who actually has time travel. This man is so badass he scarred up his own face because he couldn't wait to look scary as hell in that metal grill. If you are not at least a little afraid of Dr. Doom, you are stupid. Mr. Fantastic's college roommate built a machine that could summon the spirit of his dead mother when he was still at university. It ran for two minutes and thirty seven seconds before exploding and turning him into the supreme overlord of cool.

No, he does not shoot lightning. No, that is not a humanitarian award on his face. Yes, he will eat a human heart with his bare hands just to impress you.

He tricked the devil himself into releasing the spirit of his dearly departed mother only to turn the whole thing into a bid for power. He scarificed the only person he ever cared about besides himself JUST TO GET A LITTLE BETTER AT MAGIC. On a scale of evil wizards, 1 being Criss Angel and 10 being Venger from the Dungeons and Dragons animated series, Dr. Doom is a 32.

Ask Kang Vol. 1

2009-06-03T15:41:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, due to some changes in the schedule of my real job, I didn't get a chance to finish up my Daredevil article today. The good news is that Kang got back to me with the first question for Ask Kang, so here it is.

Our first question comes from Newsarama forums user doc_doom.

doc_doom: Kang, how come once Avengers Disassembled/New Avengers occurred, all of the Avengers top level threats (Yourself, Masters of Evil, Count Nefaria, the Zodiac, Terminus, etc...) have been conveniently not present. This is probably the team at their weakest point. Now would be the opportune time to strike. Instead we get Ninjas, a whiny Sentry, an overrated Hood and weak-sauce Skrulls.Can you answer?

Kang: Good question, doc_doom. It is true that my mortal enemies the Avengers are at what may seem to be their most vulnerable since Gilgamesh (the best-left Forgotten One) was among their ranks, but in truth, there are no less than three Avengers teams running aruond right now, and I am reasonably certain that at least one of them is full of people who will straight kill a man. While I am willing to die to achieve honorable victory over my lessors and let my name live on, I am not willing to be eaten by Venom or at least the cab driver who wears his skin these days. No, as anyone who is not a complete simpleton knows, I prefer my victories to be won hard-fought and honorable. What difficulty is it to great Kang to simply follow the timestream to the day of my enemy's birth and simply destroy him in the womb? None at all, but there is no true victory in this. Plus, there are really like 30 Avengers right now and that is just too much heat for me.

As for my "contemporaries," I think that about 90% of the Masters of Evil who were ever a threat are either Thunderbolts or part of the Hood's gang, and those idiots have been bungling their way through Norman Osborne's laundry list for some time now. This may be a better question for him. Also, what the hell is a Terminus, and the Zodiac are probably making out somewhere. I know Libra was pretty much a jerk all along. He dared challenge mighty Kang... once.

I hope that answers your question. To sum up, I am not weak enough to have to attack my enemies at their lowest point, for that is not truly a victory (also there are actually a whole ton of Avengers these days), and everyone else is playing patsy to that lout Osborne and his delusions of grandeur.

Thanks, Kang!

The A to Z of Villainy!

2009-06-02T06:12:00.000-07:00

Today I am beginning a new feature here on "If This Be Doomsday...!" I will be going down the list and spotlighting a villain for each letter of the alphabet.

Naturally, since today is the first day of this feature, I'm going to begin with a character most everyone should be familiar with. This well-known ne'er-do-well began his career as an enemy of the Mighty Thor, but has also prominently squared off with the Incredible Hulk, and was even featured (albeit in a slightly altered form) in Ang Lee's ill-received Hulk film adaptation.

That's right; it's Absorbing Man.

This is Carl "Crusher" Creel. What a bag o' donuts. Like many of Thor's enemies, he was granted his marvelous powers by Thor's dickweed half-brother, Loki. The big difference though is that Loki gave Absorbing Man his powers on purpose. I'm not sure what Crusher here did to deserve such a gift, because usually to get powers from Loki you have to steal his hat, or at least be friends with the guy who did. In any case, while in prison for racketeering (not a surprise) Loki slipped him some magic asgardian herbs, which gave him the ability to adopt the physical properties of any material with which he came into contact.

"Dude... I'm seriously like... like one with this chair. Like we're brothers and the whole universe is connected. I need to become one with some Doritos, next..."

Anyway, maybe Loki just figured that this guy was born for a life of crime and bestowed on him these wonderful gifts which allowed him to escape from prison and never change his pants again. Seriously, I guess those prison scrubs are comfortable. Oh, you know what? Actually his pants look like they change into stone or electricity or whatever along with him, so it's probably best that he just keep those on, because I don't think they sell matter-transmuter Dockers at the Gap, and I honestly fear what the other options might be.

Absorbing Man is actually a really cool villain, though, and his powers are pretty original. Much better than your standard "accidental super-strength" which was typical of many villains of the day. He gave Thor a run for his money a pretty good number of times, too, because all he had to do was absorb the properties of Thor's hammer, and he was pretty much unstoppable. Most fights between Thor and Absorbing Man ended with Thor tricking him into changing into something useless like water or flowers or something. Once, he even tricked him into turning into cancer.

That's right, cancer.

Absorbing Man also once challenged Odin, the Lord of the Norse Gods himself. Odin summarily launched him into space because, hello, Odin. An ex-con with a skin condition is no match for the King of the Gods. After catching a ride back to Earth on a comet (!), he went on to challenge the Hulk a few times, and even tried to flee the country after getting sick of being tricked into turning into glass or cancer or whatever, but he accidentally took a hostage and the Avengers tricked him into merging with the ocean. A while later he married a female villain named Titania and they both joined the Masters of Evil, earning my respect and fearful adoration in the process. Unfortunately he also lost a fight with the Dazzler.

Absorbing Man's last known whereabouts include being turned into cocaine by the Owl and sold off.

And that is really gross.

Updated List.

2009-06-02T06:10:00.000-07:00

Abomination
Absorbing Man
The A-Chilterians, The Cyclops, & Kraglin
The Actor
Amphibian
The Ani-Men (Ape-Man, Bird-Man, Cat-Man, Frog-Man)
Annihilus
Ares
Attuma & The Atlanteans
The Awesome Android
The Banshee
Baron Mordo
Baron Zemo
Batroc The Leaper
The Beasts of Berlin
The Beetle
Big-Man
The Black Knight
The Black Widow
Blastaar
The Blob
Boomerang
The Brainwasher
The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (Magneto, Mastermind, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Toad)
The Burglar
Byrrah
The Carbon-Copy Man
The Cat Burglar
Centurius
Chameleon
Chuda
The Circus of Crime (Bruto the Strongman, Clown, The Great Gambonnos, The Human Cannonball, Livewire, Princess Python, The Ringmaster)
Cobalt Man
Cobra
The Collector
The Commissar
Comrade X
The Controller
Count Nefaria
The Crime Master
Crime Wave
The Crimson Dynamo
The Crusher
Death’s Head
The Defender
The Demi-Men
The Demon
Destiny
The Destroyer
Diablo
Doctor Doom
Doctor Dorcas
Doctor Faustus
Doctor Octopus
Dominus
Dormammu
Dragon Man
Dredmond The Druid
The Eel
Egghead
Ego, The Living Planet
Electro
El Tigre
El Toro
The Enchanters 3 (Forsung, Brona, Magnir)
The Enchantress & The Executioner
The Enclave (Carlo Zota, Maris Morlak, Wladislav Shinski)
Factor 3 (Agent 10, Agent 14, The Master)
The Faceless Ones
The Fenris Wolf
Fin Fang Foom
The Fixer
Frankenstein’s Monster
The Freak
The Frightful Four (The Mighty Medusa, The Sandman, The Trapster, The Wizard)
Galactus & The Silver Surfer
Galaxy Master
Gargantus
Geirrodur
The Gladiator
The Glob
Gorgon
Gorki
The Gortokians
The Grandmaster
Gregory Gideon
The Green Goblin
The Grey Gargoyle
The Grim Reaper
Grotesk
The Growing Man
Half-Face
Hatap, The Mad Pharaoh
The Hate-Monger
Hawkeye
Hela
The Hidden Man
The High Evolutionary
Him
The Hulk
The Human Top
Hydra, Baron Strucker, Imperial Hydra & Madame Hydra
Immortus
The Impossible Man
The Infant Terrible
The Invincible Man
Ixar, Ultrana, & The Ultroids
Jack Frost
Jack O’Diamonds
The Jester
J. Jonah Jameson
The Juggernaut
Kala
Kaluu
Kang the Conqueror
Karnilla
The Keeper of the Flame
Kingpin
Klaus Kruger
Klaw
Konrad Zaxon
Kraven the Hunter
The Kree & Ronan, The Accuser
Lava-Man
The Lava Men
The Leader
Leapfrog
The Living Brain
The Living Eraser
The Living Laser
The Living Monolith
The Lizard
The Locust
Loki
Loko
The Looter
The Lords of the Living Lightning
Lucifer
The Machinesmith
Madame Masque
The Mad Thinker
The Man-Ape
The Man-Beast
The Mandarin
Mangog
Man Mountain Marko
The Master Planner
Master Mold & The Sentinels
The Masked Marauder
The Matador
Maximus the Mad
Mekano
The Melter
Mentallo
Mephisto
Merlin The Mad
Mesmero
Metal Master
Mimic
The Mindless Ones
The Minotaur
The Missing Link
Mister Doll
MODOK & AIM
Molecule Man
The Mole Man
Molten Man
Mongu
Mr. Fear
Mr. Hyde
Mysterio
Namor, The Sub-Mariner
Nightmare
The Ogre
The Organizer
The Owl
The Painter
The Phantom
Pilai and the Kosmosians
Plantman
The Plunderer
Pluto
The Porcupine
Powerman
The Protector
The Prowler
Psycho-Man
The Puppet Master
The Purple Man
Quasimodo
Radioactive Man
Rama-Tut
The Red Barbarian
The Red Ghost & The Super-Apes (Igor, Mikhlo, & Peotr)
The Red Guardian
Red Raven
The Red Skull
Replicus
The Rhino
Sando & Omar
Sandu, Master of the Supernatural
The Savage Land Mutates (Amphibius, Barbarus, Brainchild, Sauron)
The Scarecrow
The Scarlet Beetle
The Scarlet Centurion
Scorpio
The Scorpion
Second-Story Sammy
The Secret Empire
Seeker
Sentry #439
The Shocker
Silvermane
Skagg, The Storm Giant
The Skrulls, Emperor Dorrek, Morrat, & The Super-Skrull
Skybreaker
The Sleeper
The Sons of the Serpent
The Space Phantom
Spencer Smythe & The Spider-Slayers
The Squadron Sinister (Dr. Spectrum, Hyperion, Nighthawk, The Whizzer)
Stilt-Man
Stingray
The Stranger
The Stunt-Master
The Sumo
The Super-Adaptoid
Supremacy
The Supreme Intelligence
Surtur
The Swordsman
Tana Nile
Tazza
The Terrible Tinkerer
The Thermal Man
Tiger Shark
The Time Master
Titanium Man
The Toad Men
Tomazooma
Torgo
The Torpedo
Trago
Tri-Man
The Tumbler
Typhon
Tyrannus & The Moloids
Ulik
Ultimo
Ultron
Umar
The Unicorn
The Unknown
Unus the Untouchable
The Vanisher
The Vision
The Voice
The Vulture
The Warlock
Warlord Krang
Whiplash
Whirlwind
Wonder Man
The Wrecker
“Wrecker” Smith
Xemnu the Titan
Xemu
Yagg, The Invincible
Yandroth
The Yellow Claw
Ymir, the Frost Giant
Zarrko, the Tomorrow Man
Zom
Zota

The Chronicles of Kang: Space Hustler

2009-06-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

In working on Friday's upcoming article about the Top-Ten most important Marvel villains of the Silver-Age, I realized that, much to my dismay, I simply cannot include Kang, probably my very favorite Marvel villain. Don't get me wrong, the dude is pretty much a cosmic badass. if there were an extra slot, he'd be on it, but he's just not as prominent as ten other dudes who needed to be on the list. Because of that, I've decided to add a regular feature to my blog. I've already planned to do a new Top-Ten every Friday, and I have a contest coming up, but other than that I'm kind of winging it. Therefore, I am proud to announce "Ask Kang," a feature in which Kang himself will attempt to answer your most pressing questions with all the knowledge of time and space. Nothing is out of bounds!

Please e-mail questions to ifthisbedoomsday@gmail.com, with the subject line "Ask Kang." I will forward them on to the mighty Conqueror, as he has asked me not to publicly reveal his private e-mail address.

Incidentally, how awesome is this picture of Kang, our once and future master? Lookin' all chill in his invisible space bean bag with some kind of cyber-pipe.

Spotlight on Daredevil Villains

2009-06-01T05:29:00.000-07:00

Today I'm going to begin a brief rundown of one of Marvel Comics' most ecclectic rogues galleries; that of Daredevil, the Man Without Fear. Ranging from the absurdly silly (the Ani-Men) to the calculatingly cold (Bullseye), Daredevil's compelling archvillains occupy a unique place in Marvel Comics lore.

Arguably the most "street level" of Marvel's prominent heroes, Dardevil likewise spends his time facing off against villains that would almost feel at home in the panels of a Dick Tracy strip if they were less brutal, or an early Batman strip, if a little less colorful.

Daredevil started out fighting villains like The Fixer, and Electro, both of whom were originally enemies of Nick Fury and Spider-Man, respectively. It would be 3 issues before the debut of his first original nemesis, The Owl.

Oh, the Owl. He looks like Wolverine from the universe where everyone is a character in A Christmas Carol, but don't let that fool you. While his "powers" may as well consist of a hang-glider and some nice spectacles, the Owl is smart enough to a) know his limitations and let his henchmen do the fighting, and b) not keep trying to commit crimes right under his arch-enemy's nose. If Daredevil busted up his operation in New York, the Owl would move to New Jersey. If Daredevil showed up in Jersey, he'd head accross the country. Eventually, he attempted to form an alliance with Doctor Octopus (a team-up that would have been really very cool), although that ended with Doc Ock handing him all of his ass in his own hideout. After that, he moved back into the New York underworld and got very close to the top, informing on his rivals and having them all locked away, including Daredevil. If the Owl has one major drawback, it's that he's constantly willing to wreck his own body by trying to improve it. The serum he took to augment his natural gliding powers caused his legs to go lame. In trying to fix his legs and spine, he took an experimental serum that somehow made him even more owly than before. Most recently, he was shot to death by the Hood while trying to sell Deathlok.

After the Owl, Daredevil spent some time fighting the Purple Man, a character who rose to prominence a few years ago as an enemy of Luke Cage, and then moved on to a go-nowhere goofball called The Matador. Shortly after this, he fought Mr. Fear, the next prominent villain in his menagerie of menacing mooks.

No less than 4 people have occupied the role of Mr. Fear. Zoltan Drago, the first Mr. Fear, tried to use his advance knowledge of chemistry to develop a special chemical to bring wax statues to life, but instead all it did was give people the creeps. Correct me if I'm wrong here, because I don't have a degree in chemical engineering, but those seem like pretty disparate effects. That's like setting out to make chloroform and ending up with grape soda. In any case, Drago and his Fellowship of Fear (Ox from the Enforcers and the Eel) got pretty much demolished by Daredevil almost right away. Drago was later killed in prison by Starr Saxon, who became the next Mr. Fear.

Starr Saxon took a novel approach to villainy, by humiliating and defeating Dardevil in the public eye as often and as soundly as possible, while staging events to make himself seem like a hero. He eventually plunged to his death in battle, but his loyal army of robots preserved his mind (obviously) and he became the Machinesmith, arch-enemy of Captain America and Bill Clinton.

Next came Larry Cranston, whose first few appearances were not very special, except that he apparently died after jumping off a building because he assumed he was wearing a jetpack.

He assumed he was wearing a jetpack. What a tragedy.

Later on he came back with a whole slew of henchmen and turned Dardevil's life upside down by removing the fear of death from almost everyone in Hell's Kitchen, including Daredevil's wife. Eventually, he became the most effective Mr. Fear of the bunch.

The fourth Mr. Fear really only fought Spider-Man, so fuck him.

Next up came Stilt-Man. Everything that can be said about Stilt-Man has been said a hundred times over. He's a guy with stilts so he naturally decided to become a super-villain because stilts are the perfect weapon to blah blah blah there is nothing redeeming about Stilt-Man. After Stilt-Man came Klaus Kruger who was pretty cool, but I guess Stan Lee realized that he was really just a very not badass version of Dr. Doom and he never went anywhere. He fought the Ani-Men, a bunch of purple crime-furries, most of whom were (thankfully) killed in an explosion. He fought The Plunderer, brother of Ka-Zar, and the Masked Marauder who looked like a Christmas Cylon.

Then came the Gladiator, who, while a kind of a lame villain, had a very cool backstory in that he was a costume designer before becoming a villain. Pretty novel, but very unfortunate when you consider that this is the Gladiator:

He later retired, becoming Matt Murdock's bodyguard and really turning over a new leaf until Larry Cranston, the 3rd Mr. Fear drugged him up and sent him on a rampage which eventually led to his death.

Daredevil fought the Leap Frog, who, much like Stilt-Man, is a piece of crap. I am not threatened by Super Mario 3, and fortunately neither is Daredevil. Daredevil's encounter with Leap Frog did lead to him pretending to be his own twin brother Mike for a while though. Eventually "Mike" was outed as Daredevil and then died.

Daredevil and Thor teamed up to fight Mr. Hyde and the Cobra, two of Thor's old foes. He then fought The Beetle, who was primarily an enemy of Spider-Man. All of this harkens back to Daredevil's early career, facing off against the enemies of his fellow crimefighters.

Daredevil next faced the greatest challenge of his life (not) when he fought the Emissaries of Evil, a group comprised of Electro, Stilt-Man, Leap Frog, the Matador, and Gladiator. After beating up what essentially amounts to Electro's cosplay group Daredevil fought the Trapster, a Fantastic Four villain, and then fought Dr. Doom.

That's a hell of a progression.

In Daredevil #42, he fought The Jester, the next notable original Daredevil villain on our list. The story was entitled "Nobody Laughs At The Jester," which is an awesome name for a story. The Jester was a struggling actor who used weapons fashioned after gags and novelties, like exploding yoyos and fake hands and stuff. Really, he never did a whole lot of anything, but he was a very cool recurring villain who eventually was possessed by a demon that was summoned by a Ninja which is pretty damn awesome.

The Jester was really the last of Daredevil's nemeses who was introduced in the sixties, after which there was a long period of retreading older villains. The seventies introduced several major villains into Daredevil's life, two of which in particular warrant their own article. Tune in Wednesday, when I will discuss Kingpin and Bullseye, along with several more of Daredevil's latter day rogues.

Top-Ten Crime Jerks

2009-05-29T06:09:00.001-07:00

It seems to me that the best way to start this whole affair is to give you a little insight into what I enjoy as far as supervillains are concerned. I love a good gimmick, or a good codename, or a garish costume. I love a guy who is just too dumb to do anything but pull a heist, or too crazy not to try and fight the Mighty Thor. So here are my top-ten b-list villains from Marvel comics in the 1960's.

10. The Wrecker
Dirk Garthwaite is a guy who is just too dumb to do anything but rob banks and punch the Mighty Thor in the face. He got his start as the Wrecker trying to rob a hotel room in which Loki, the Norse God of Mischief was staying. The Wrecker managed to overpower Loki while he was trying to summon his girlfriend, and stole his pointy hat, which, when he put it on, gave him super-strength.

Let me reiterate.

HE OVERPOWERED LOKI, A NORSE GOD, AND STOLE HIS FUCKING HAT.

"Nice hat, prancy! Looks like it belongs to the Wrecker now!" Sadly Jack Kirby did not draw the scene where the Wrecker sits on Loki's chest and spits in his mouth.

This of course lead to a long history of the Wrecker habitually fucking with Thor and getting the shit beat out of him, because, let's face it, he's just a dude with a onion mask and a magic crowbar, and Thor is the God of Thunder. To be fair, he DID beat up Thor's brother before he even had powers, so he probably figured things would work out differently...

9. Radioactive Man

I'm gonna be real with you guys.

Radioactive Man is on this list because he is a gigantic glowing green guy.

He never really did anything super crazy or exciting. Pretty much he irradiated himself so that he could wrestle Thor after Thor stopped China from invading India. He was also part of the Masters of Evil and the Titanic Three, both of which mean that he is fucking awesome and should be feared. In recent years he's become more of an anti-hero, as happens to many classic villains. I'm pretty sure he still melts people just by standing close to them though, so that's pretty awesome.

Also, he's still a gigantic glowing green guy, and it is hard to beat that.

8. Psycho-Man

Look at this fucking guy. He is pure Kirby bad-ass awesome. He has a little box that shoots different colored lasers, and each laser makes you feel like shit in a different way. One color makes you jealous, another makes you angry, another makes you sad, you get the picture. Basically, he has all the powers of your mom when you have not called her in a while. Did I mention he is also like an inch tall? He lives in a gigantic robotic version of himself because he comes from Sub-Atomica, which is a microscopic world that exists in an alternate dimension. He basically built a huge version of his feel-bad box and tried to make everyone so sad that he could conquer Earth. It took the Fantastic Four, the Black Panther, and the Inhumans to take him down. Later, he decided that just turning everyone into mopey-ass emo kids wasn't good enough and decided to become Captain Cosmic, which I'm pretty sure didn't happen but would've been cool. I think he also said a couple times that he feeds off of "fear energy" like a vampire, but that's a little too Twilight for me.

7. Boomerang

Guess what this guy does? Guess where he is from?

The Marvel wiki lists his trick boomerangs as follow

Shatterangs - These detonate with a force equivalent to twenty hand grenades.
Gasarangs - These release highly concentrated tear gas upon impact.
Razorangs - These razor-edged boomerangs are capable of slicing through steel.
Screamerangs - These generate high-intensity sonic waves as they fly through the air.
Bladarangs - These whirling boomerangs cut like buzzsaw blades.
Gravityrangs - These Create a local gravity field around their target.
Reflexerangs - These are solid-weighted boomerangs

Absolutely nothing else needs to be said to exlpain why Boomerang fucking rules, although I should point out two things: first, his "Shatterangs" apparently explode with the force of "twenty hand-grenades." That's a shit load of hand grenades. Second, apparently he has technology capable of generating "concentrated fields of gravity," and yet all he can think to do with it is stick it on a boomerang. This really highlights the pathos of a great villain.

6. The Unicorn

Once again, the Unicorn never really did anything too crazy. In fact, his story was pretty cool. He was a Russian scientist who worked alongside the original Crimson Dynamo. When Crimson Dynamo defected, the Unicorn was sent to America to kick his ass.

But seriously folks.

Take a look at this guy. He has a giant hat with a lens on top so he can shoot a laser from his face. Oh, also, his face laser is called the "power horn."

According to Wikipedia, he was last seen "attempting to walk from New York to Moscow, and is assumed to have drowned."

What a sad ending for this most noble of God's monsters.

5. Batroc, the Leaper

Or should I say "Batroc, ze leepair!" There is nothing about Batroc that is not crazy and amazing. First, he's a snooty French d-bag with the worst taste possible. He has a Salvador Dali moustache and apparently

stole that costume of Hawkeye's that went into the laundry with a mustard colored sock. Further, he knows karate. He's even good at it. So good, in fact, that he is almost the equal of Captain America. Truly, he is the French super-soldier. He's also apparently an olympic level weight-lifter and can lift as much as 500 pounds.

If none of this was enough, he is also the leader of a team of mercenary supervillains known as Batroc's Brigade. Batroc's Brigade counts among its alumni such luminaries as The Porcupine, and Machete. Basically they are there to make Batroc look more threatening by comparison.

If you see this guy coming at you, distract his ass with a baguette and run like hell.

4. The Looter

Ah, the Looter. Enemy of Spider-Man, threat to nobody. I must confess, much of my love for this guy comes from Todd Dezago and Mike Wieringo's run on Spectacular Spider-Man, wherein he was hilarious. Pretty much the Looter found a meteor which he naturally decided to investigate, hoping it would hold the mysteries of the universe or whatever. Anyway, it shot green gas all over him (gross), which he decided gave him super strength.

He just decided that. It didn't.

He figured that now all he had to do was take out Spider-Man, and the world would be his oyster. Unfortunately, since he's just a dick with a green rock, things never really went his way, and we will never have to raise a salute to President Looter. Ah, well.

3. Mysterio

I really don't have much to say about Mysterio. He's honestly one of my favorite villains. He has a solid gimmick, and a great costume, and much like many of Steve Ditko and Stan Lee's inspired villains, he has endured and become a mainstay of Marvel villainy. Does anyone not know why Mysterio is straight up badass?

2. The Melter

Fuck yeah, the Melter! Aside from telling kids to get off his damn lawn, the Melter does exactly what he says he does. He melts shit. And I don't mean like popsicles or whatever; I mean he melts Iron Mans. He was part of the original Master of Evil which, like Radioactive Man, means he is to be feared and respected. Pretty quickly into his career, he ditched the cape and the giant steel adult diaper and got a new costume, but I like this one better. He was eventually shot by the Scourge, but lives on in my memory.

1. Tiger Shark

Why is Tiger Shark number one? Well, i have some very compelling reasons with which I am certain you will agree. First, he looks awesome. What a great costume. Second, there aren't many underwater themed villains, and pretty much all of them are either boring or just straight up lame all around. Tiger Shark on the other hand is very awesome. Here we have an olympic swimmer who realized that he was not badass enough and so decided to become part shark.

Think about that for a second. Let that sink in.

Imagine if Michael Phelps decided to splice his genes with that of the ocean's greatest predator. Would anyone be safe? Would you even try going in the water? I fucking wouldn't. What this all adds up to is a terrifying, bloodthirsty man-shark with eight gold medals in murder. Pretty much the only Sub-Mariner villain who wasn't completely goofy, and a force to be reckoned with outside of the water as well. He kidnapped the queen of Atlantis and had himself declared king in his first outing. He was also a latter-day member of the Masters of Evil, which means that he is the best of the best, forever.

Next, I'll explore the ten best and most enduring villains of Marvel's silver age. Not necessarily my favorites, but the ones that deserve the most recognition.

All images and characters are copyright Marvel Comics.

The list!

2009-05-29T06:05:00.001-07:00

As I said, I'm beginning with the Marvel villains of the 1960's. Some of these characters pre-date the Silver Age, but they appeared, often very prominently, in the 1960's. As far as I know, this is the most complete list of Marvel villains that appeared in the '60's anywhere, though by no means do I claim it to be comprehensive or exhaustive. If you know someone I missed, shoot me an e-mail, or leave a comment!

The List:
Abomination
Absorbing Man
The A-Chilterians, The Cyclops, & Kraglin
The Actor
Amphibian
The Ani-Men (Ape-Man, Bird-Man, Cat-Man, Frog-Man)
Annihilus
Ares
Attuma & The Atlanteans
The Awesome Android
The Banshee
Baron Mordo
Baron Zemo
Batroc The Leaper
The Beasts of Berlin
The Beetle
Big-Man
The Black Knight
The Black Widow
Blastaar
The Blob
Boomerang
The Brainwasher
The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (Magneto, Mastermind, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Toad)
The Burglar
Byrrah
The Carbon-Copy Man
The Cat Burglar
Centurius
Chameleon
Chuda
The Circus of Crime (Bruto the Strongman, Clown, The Great Gambonnos, The Human Cannonball, Livewire, Princess Python, The Ringmaster)
Cobalt Man
Cobra
The Collector
The Commissar
Comrade X
The Controller
Count Nefaria
The Crime Master
Crime Wave
The Crimson Dynamo
The Crusher
Death’s Head
The Defender
The Demi-Men
The Demon
Destiny
The Destroyer
Diablo
Doctor Doom
Doctor Dorcas
Doctor Faustus
Doctor Octopus
Dominus
Dormammu
Dragon Man
Dredmond The Druid
The Eel
Egghead
Ego, The Living Planet
Electro
El Tigre
El Toro
The Enchanters 3 (Forsung, Brona, Magnir)
The Enchantress & The Executioner
The Enclave (Carlo Zota, Maris Morlak, Wladislav Shinski)
Factor 3 (Agent 10, Agent 14, The Master)
The Faceless Ones
The Fenris Wolf
Fin Fang Foom
Frankenstein’s Monster
The Freak
The Frightful Four (The Mighty Medusa, The Sandman, The Trapster, The Wizard)
Galactus & The Silver Surfer
Galaxy Master
Gargantus
Geirrodur
The Gladiator
The Glob
Gorgon
Gorki
The Gortokians
The Grandmaster
Gregory Gideon
The Green Goblin
The Grey Gargoyle
The Grim Reaper
Grotesk
The Growing Man
Half-Face
Hatap, The Mad Pharaoh
The Hate-Monger
Hawkeye
Hela
The Hidden Man
The High Evolutionary
Him
The Hulk
The Human Top
Hydra, Baron Strucker, Imperial Hydra & Madame Hydra
Immortus
The Impossible Man
The Infant Terrible
The Invincible Man
Ixar, Ultrana, & The Ultroids
Jack Frost
Jack O’Diamonds
The Jester
J. Jonah Jameson
The Juggernaut
Kala
Kaluu
Kang the Conqueror
Karnilla
The Keeper of the Flame
Kingpin
Klaus Kruger
Klaw
Konrad Zaxon
Kraven the Hunter
Kree & Ronan, The Accuser
Lava-Man
The Lava Men
The Leader
Leapfrog
The Living Brain
The Living Eraser
The Living Laser
The Living Monolith
The Lizard
The Locust
Loki
Loko
The Looter
The Lords of the Living Lightning
Lucifer
The Machinesmith
Madame Masque
The Mad Thinker
The Man-Ape
The Man-Beast
The Mandarin
Mangog
Man Mountain Marko
The Master Planner
Master Mold & The Sentinels
The Masked Marauder
The Matador
Maximus the Mad
Mekano
The Melter
Mentallo
Mephisto
Merlin The Mad
Mesmero
Metal Master
Mimic
The Mindless Ones
The Minotaur
The Missing Link
Mister Doll
MODOK & AIM
Molecule Man
The Mole Man
Molten Man
Mongu
Mr. Fear
Mr. Hyde
Mysterio
Namor, The Sub-Mariner
Nightmare
The Ogre
The Organizer
The Owl
The Painter
The Phantom
Pilai and the Kosmosians
Plantman
The Plunderer
Pluto
The Porcupine
Powerman
The Protector
The Prowler
Psycho-Man
The Puppet Master
The Purple Man
Quasimodo
Radioactive Man
Rama-Tut
The Red Barbarian
The Red Ghost & The Super-Apes (Igor, Mikhlo, & Peotr)
The Red Guardian
Red Raven
The Red Skull
Replicus
The Rhino
Sando & Omar
Sandu, Master of the Supernatural
The Savage Land Mutates (Amphibius, Barbarus, Brainchild, Sauron)
The Scarecrow
The Scarlet Beetle
The Scarlet Centurion
Scorpio
The Scorpion
Second-Story Sammy
The Secret Empire
Sentry #439
The Shocker
Silvermane
Skagg, The Storm Giant
The Skrulls, Emperor Dorrek, Morrat, & The Super-Skrull
Skybreaker
The Sleeper
The Sons of the Serpent
The Space Phantom
Spencer Smythe & The Spider-Slayers
The Squadron Sinister (Dr. Spectrum, Hyperion, Nighthawk, The Whizzer)
Stilt-Man
Stingray
The Stranger
The Stunt-Master
The Sumo
The Super-Adaptoid
Supremacy
The Supreme Intelligence
Surtur
The Swordsman
Tana Nile
Tazza
The Terrible Tinkerer
The Thermal Man
Tiger Shark
The Time Master
Titanium Man
The Toad Men
Tomazooma
Torgo
The Torpedo
Trago
Tri-Man
The Tumbler
Typhon
Tyrannus & The Moloids
Ulik
Ultimo
Ultron
Umar
The Unicorn
The Unknown
Unus the Untouchable
The Vanisher
The Vision
The Voice
The Vulture
The Warlock
Warlord Krang
Whiplash
Whirlwind
Wonder Man
The Wrecker
“Wrecker” Smith
Xemnu the Titan
Xemu
Yagg, The Invincible
Yandroth
The Yellow Claw
Ymir, the Frost Giant
Zarrko, the Tomorrow Man
Zom
Zota

If this be Doomsday...!

2009-05-28T20:27:00.000-07:00

Hiya. My name is George. I'm a pretty ok guy. I love comic books. More than anything, I love supervillains. The purpose of this blog is to discuss, highlight, and sometimes even ridicule some of my favorite ne'er-do-wells from comic book lore. I'm going to begin with Marvel comics villains appearing in the 1960's, because that's where almost all my favorites come from. In the coming days, I'll move forward through the '70's, '80's, '90's, and into the present. I'll eventually explore characters from both Marvel and DC, and other companies as well. I'll probably even move back through time to the '40's when supervillains first started to show their ugly mugs.

Hope you enjoy, and if you have a favorite villain you'd like highlighted, please feel free to e-mail me at ifthisbedoomsday.gmail.com