Which DC Hero/Group has the best Rogues?

[WonderScott]

What this discussion shows me that there are so many characters with great, undeveloped villain concepts (Wonder Woman) and a swath of characters who need the ranks of their personal villains invested in or even developed in some cases to deepen their bench of foes (Aquaman, Hawkman, Vixen, Black Lightning, Hawkwoman, Zatanna, etc.)

I mean, there's no reason some heroes shouldn't have five to six good villains themselves.

[DrNewGod]

What this discussion shows me that there are so many characters with great, undeveloped villain concepts (Wonder Woman) and a swath of characters who need the ranks of their personal villains invested in or even developed in some cases to deepen their bench of foes (Aquaman, Hawkman, Vixen, Black Lightning, Hawkwoman, Zatanna, etc.)

I mean, there's no reason some heroes shouldn't have five to six good villains themselves.

You are correct.

[The Darknight Detective]

Most people would probably assume Clock King is a Batman villain thanks to B:TAS anyways...

That's because there was a Clock King (played by Walter Slezak) as a Batman foil going back to the old TV show, making him far more popular as a Bats villain than an Ollie one.

[El_Gato]

What this discussion shows me that there are so many characters with great, undeveloped villain concepts (Wonder Woman) and a swath of characters who need the ranks of their personal villains invested in or even developed in some cases to deepen their bench of foes (Aquaman, Hawkman, Vixen, Black Lightning, Hawkwoman, Zatanna, etc.)

I mean, there's no reason some heroes shouldn't have five to six good villains themselves.

Does Zatanna and Vixen even have a rogues gallery? I'd be hard pressed to list any. And Hawkwoman shares rogues with Hawkman, but even then it's a pretty weak, under developed villains list. Black Lightning at least has Tobias and Syonide... Hmm maybe I should add him to my list.

1) Batman
2) The Flash
3) Superman
4) Wonder Woman
5) Green Lantern
6) Aquaman
7) Shazam
8) Blue Beetle
9) Firestorm
10) Green Arrow/Black Lightning

11)The Hawks/ Atom/ Cyborg/ Black Canary

[titanfan]

Does Zatanna and Vixen even have a rogues gallery? I'd be hard pressed to list any. And Hawkwoman shares rogues with Hawkman, but even then it's a pretty weak, under developed villains list. Black Lightning at least has Tobias and Syonide... Hmm maybe I should add him to my list.

1) Batman
2) The Flash
3) Superman
4) Wonder Woman
5) Green Lantern
6) Aquaman
7) Shazam
8) Blue Beetle
9) Firestorm
10) Green Arrow/Black Lightning

11)The Hawks/ Atom/ Cyborg/ Black Canary

Tobias and Syonide are Outsiders villains, who Black Lightning hijacked. :P

I think one of the signs of a good villain is how often they get re-used in other places...


1. Batman
2. The Flash
3. Firestorm
4. The Outsiders
5. Justice League (League Exclusive Villains)
6. NewTeen Titans (It was hard to reuse Titans villains since many of them had a familial tie)
7. Superman
8. Shazam
9. Blue Beetle

[BatmanJones]

Tobias and Syonide are Outsiders villains, who Black Lightning hijacked. :P

Tobias Whale made his first appearance in Black Lightning #1, six years before the formation of the Outsiders.

[BatmanJones]

11)The Hawks/ Atom/ Cyborg/ Black Canary

Do Cyborg or BC have any foes of consequence? I'm genuinely asking. I haven't kept up with Cyborg's solo series or Birds of Prey, but I'm not aware of them having any villains apart from Cyborg having an evil avatar in Grid/Crime Syndicate.

The Hawks and the Atom are severely lacking but at least they have a few.

If I were to redo my list I'd move Blue Beetle up based on your good posts and I'd certainly move Firestorm up based on many good posts in this thread.

[El_Gato]

Do Cyborg or BC have any foes of consequence? I'm genuinely asking. I haven't kept up with Cyborg's solo series or Birds of Prey, but I'm not aware of them having any villains apart from Cyborg having an evil avatar in Grid/Crime Syndicate.

The Hawks and the Atom are severely lacking but at least they have a few.

If I were to redo my list I'd move Blue Beetle up based on your good posts and I'd certainly move Firestorm up based on many good posts in this thread.

For Cyborg, he mostly just has Grid, who atleast showed up in Injustice 2. Black Canary has the White Canary as a foe. Basically both have at least one foe who is known, like The Hawks (Shadow Thief) and Atom (Chronos) do. Though The Hawks may be more in line with Green Arrow and Black Lightning since they also have Hath-Set. So:

1) Batman
2) The Flash
3) Superman
4) Wonder Woman
5) Green Lantern
6) Aquaman
7) Shazam
8) Blue Beetle
9) Firestorm
10) Green Arrow/The Hawks/Black Lightning

13) Cyborg/Atom/Black Canary

It's a shame there aren't more famale heroes on this list, though technically Jessica is a part of the GL franchise and Hawkgirl shares the same foes as Hawkman.

[Vampire Savior]

To me, Superman's villains often don't get the respect they deserve. I think they're incredible:

Lex
May as well throw Darkseid in there.
Doomsday (a rather generic brute, but he makes a strong impression)
Mongul
Cyborg Superman (awesome design)
Metallo
Bizarro
Braniac
The Phantom Zone criminals
Livewire
Myx
Eradicator
Intergang
Conduit
And so on...

To me,Superman's villains are a lot of fun. Far, far above Flash's, Green Lantern's, or any other character in DC except Batman.

[Vordan]

Do Cyborg or BC have any foes of consequence? I'm genuinely asking. I haven't kept up with Cyborg's solo series or Birds of Prey, but I'm not aware of them having any villains apart from Cyborg having an evil avatar in Grid/Crime Syndicate.

The Hawks and the Atom are severely lacking but at least they have a few.

If I were to redo my list I'd move Blue Beetle up based on your good posts and I'd certainly move Firestorm up based on many good posts in this thread.

Problem with Cyborg is no one builds on what previous writers do with him, everyone starts from scratch. I thought Semper did a good job building a supporting cast and giving him a few Rogues like Anomaly, Variant, and H8-Bit but we will probably never see them again.

[Vampire Savior]

Semper was silly. He just threw Spider-Man and Static villains and characters in Cyborg. What was her name... Black Orchid or something? Black Narcissus I think. She literally shamelessly flew on a Goblin Glider. I'm surprised she didn't throw pumpkins. Anamoly essentially had the personality of Green Goblin, and H8-Bit was so silly (god, his name) that he would only work on the Static Shock cartoon show. As for Variant, the artists couldn't decide on her race, which just made the whole thing, again, silly. That, and she was originally supposed to be called She-Borg.

I can't blame other people for not wanting to build upon that. Cyborg's problem is just no one has ever written anything good for him.

[BatmanJones]

Cyborg's problem is just no one has ever written anything good for him.

Agreed. I think he's getting a better treatment on the Doom Patrol TV show than he ever has in the comics.

[Vordan]

Semper was silly. He just threw Spider-Man and Static villains and characters in Cyborg. What was her name... Black Orchid or something? Black Narcissus I think. She literally shamelessly flew on a Goblin Glider. I'm surprised she didn't throw pumpkins. Anamoly essentially had the personality of Green Goblin, and H8-Bit was so silly (god, his name) that he would only work on the Static Shock cartoon show. As for Variant, the artists couldn't decide on her race, which just made the whole thing, again, silly. That, and she was originally supposed to be called She-Borg.

I can't blame other people for not wanting to build upon that. Cyborg's problem is just no one has ever written anything good for him.

You got to start somewhere though. It’s very rare for characters to come out the gate and have everyone love them. Mr. Freeze for example disappeared for decades before B:TAS completely reinvented him and made him popular.

[Aahz]

Does Zatanna and Vixen even have a rogues gallery?

Not really, which is not surprising since they have barely any solo issues.

[Aahz]

Tobias Whale made his first appearance in Black Lightning #1, six years before the formation of the Outsiders.

Syonide also appeard first in Black lighting (or at least the first character of that name), but that's such an obscure character, I don't think that you can really count him.