Ranking Marvel's Rogues Galleries

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

So, I'm in a list-making mood. There are lists of the best villains, but lets play a different game. Let's rank rogues galleries.

I can't imagine anyone on this board doesn't know what a rogues gallery is, but in the case that you've randomly stumbled onto a comic book forum for some inexplicable reason, here's a definition. A hero's rogues gallery is the name for the group(s) of individual villains or villain teams that tend more often than not to come up against that specific hero.

A few ground rules:

the gallery in question must be assignable to a specific hero;
no double dipping UNLESS its justified by continual antagonizing of another hero (ex. no grouping Doom in with the Spider-Man villains cuz he fought Peter once or even twice; but you could count Kingpin as both a Spider-Man and Daredevil villain because Wilson and Matt have fought so often for decades)
you can do whatever type of list you please; this doesn't have to be a list of only the best, you can have a list of the worst or rank them best to worst or vice versa; that being said though, please state whether its one way or the other
this is all subjective; so please be respectful of others' opinions.


Okay, with that out of the way, I'll go first. I'll be doing a best to worst, so 1-3 would be like the best; 4-8 would be like the middle of the pack; 9-12 are the lower end of the spectrum:

1. Spider-Man's Villains: As I said when Batman's was top of the DC pile: Shocker! (puns, I've got them). Whose else was going to take the top spot? Y'all don't need to hear the spiel.
2. X-Men Villains: From Magneto to Mystique to Apocalypse to Mr. Sinister to the Dark Phoenix, the X-Men rogues gallery includes an incredibly diverse set of compelling characters.
3. Fantastic Four Villains: Dr. Doom. Galactus. Annihulus. Nothing else really needs to be said.
4. Avengers Villains: Kang, Ultron, Thanos, Korvac, etc. are among the heaviest hitters in the Marvel Universe. There's also the likes of Taskmaster, the Masters of Evil, and MODOK for more grounded threats
5. Captain America's Villains: I think Cap's villains belong this high on the list if only because of Red Skull and Helmut Zemo. There's also Crossbones, Heinrich Zemo, Strucker, and Viper/Madame Hydra to keep things interesting.
6. Thor's Villains: The pool thins once we get outside of Loki, Malekith, and the Enchantress, but those three are so compelling and iconic (Loki especially) that it propels Thor's villains up farther than it would be otherwise.
7. Hulk's Villains: Abomination and the Leader are front and center in this pack, but there are also Maestro and Thunderbolt Ross aka Red Hulk (even though he's been more heroic of late)
8. Daredevil's Villains: Kind of thin once we get outside of a select group, which is part of why he's not higher on the list, but that select few is pretty great. Matt fights against the likes of the Hand, Bullseye, Lady Bullseye, Typhoid Mary, and Kingpin. However, he did actually kind of steal Kingpin from Spider-Man (and Kingpin is still a Spider-Man villain), and that's another part of why he isn't higher on the list. He literally had to borrow from another hero for his arch nemesis.
9. Black Panther's Villains: I really liked Achebe and White Wolf from Priest's run (I'd love to see them in the sequel). M'Baku the Man Ape, Killmonger, and Malice are also interesting characters.
10. Dr. Strange's Villains: Dormammu and Mephisto are some pretty decent heavy-hitters.
11. Iron Man's Villains: Mandarin is kind of the only one that actually is a heavy hitter, but he does have the likes of Madame Masque, Justin Hammer, and Crimson Dynamo who are all interesting in their own right
12. Guardians of the Galaxy Villains: Yeah, they face some very big cosmic baddies, but a lot of them are kind of borrowed which they aren't higher up on the list.

That being said, it is hard to categorize villains in the Marvel Universe, as they all fight multiple heroes on a regular basis.

[Magneto]

I agree with almost everything you said. X-Men, Spider-Man and F4 are definitely the top 3.

[responsarbre]

I'd rank Daredevil higher than Hulk, but admittedly I know more about DD. Even without the Kingpin (who I'd still count as more of a DD villain since his better stories are always in Daredevil, and since he's marketed as more of a Daredevil-family character), his villains are really memorable and he has a great breadth of "big-time villains" vs. incidental villains and one-offs like Stilt-Man, the Owl, the Purple Man, and Mr. Fear (and more recent ones like Lady Bullseye and Muse).

[MichaelC]

Kingpin IS a Daredevil villain. It doesn't matter that he began as a Spider-Man villain, he transitioned into being Daredevil's arch-enemy over almost forty years ago. He's been the villain of both the Daredevil movie, and the Daredevil Netflix series. He's Daredevil's.

[jump]

With some on the rogues it's hard to just say they are an Avengers or FF foe since they cross over so much.

For example you could include Thanos as an Iron Man villain since that's where he first popped up or as a Silver Surfer/Adam Warlock foe and even the times he's fought the Avengers it was more of a cross over event with all heroes rather than just the Avengers. Even Mephisto when I think of him the first thing that pops into my head is Spider-Man rather than Doctor Strange.

[Marvel Forever]

With Galactus and Dr. Doom and Molecule Man and the original Frightful Four, I would rank Fantastic Four #1.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

Kingpin IS a Daredevil villain. It doesn't matter that he began as a Spider-Man villain, he transitioned into being Daredevil's arch-enemy over almost forty years ago. He's been the villain of both the Daredevil movie, and the Daredevil Netflix series. He's Daredevil's.

I mean, he does still appear in Spider-Man comics and he was one of the main villains of the Spider-Man animated series. So, he's at least partly still a Spider-Man villain.

[protege]

With some on the rogues it's hard to just say they are an Avengers or FF foe since they cross over so much.

For example you could include Thanos as an Iron Man villain since that's where he first popped up or as a Silver Surfer/Adam Warlock foe and even the times he's fought the Avengers it was more of a cross over event with all heroes rather than just the Avengers. Even Mephisto when I think of him the first thing that pops into my head is Spider-Man rather than Doctor Strange.

Speaking of thanos, i just read that he’s related to the eternals. Has he ever met them?

[Star_Jammer]

I can't disagree with OP's 1-4. 5 and onward all start to get very forgettable for me (with only one or two major standout villains in each group), but I'd probably rank Daredevil a bit higher.