Can a hero’s rogue’s gallery be to big?

[mathew101281]

Character’s like Batman and Spider-Man have a lot of villains attached to them. But they also have multiple books so villains have opportunities to show up in different places. Other characters Like the Flash only have one book, but still have a pretty extensive cast of villains. This usually results in some villains barely getting used, because most writers tend to gravitate towards the three or four most popular rogues. Can a hero have to many villains in relation to their popularity?

[MyriVerse]

I would say no. Even archvillains can go the better part of a decade of one-and-done stories without being used.

But rogue's galleries can absolutely be too small. 3-4 is not a gallery, imo.

[Kusanagi]

No, imo some of the bigger named villains should be used sparingly so their stories have impact and it keeps them from becoming stale from overuse. So it pays to have A-, B, C villains to fill the gap in stories.

[Mister Mets]

No. There will always be the fan-favorites who will be the A-listers, and there are still uses for the more obscure characters.

It's a problem if readers are expected to know who the Crime Master or Professor Milo are, but aside from that, there's value in having some characters who have history but aren't that obvious.

There's also value in new villains who don't require readers to have any understanding of their history with the lead.

[mathew101281]

I would say no. Even archvillains can go the better part of a decade of one-and-done stories without being used.

But rogue's galleries can absolutely be too small. 3-4 is not a gallery, imo.

I’d say the ideal number is between 5 and 8. Any less then that it feels like the hero is lacking in variety as far as villains go. And more than that and you start having a bunch of villains that aren’t particularly developed as characters and seem like they are just their to pad the number count. You also start to get retreads after that 8-9 range to. Do you really need so many goblin-themed villains, symbiotes, or clown themed villains?

[LordMikel]

I’d say the ideal number is between 5 and 8. Any less then that it feels like the hero is lacking in variety as far as villains go. And more than that and you start having a bunch of villains that aren’t particularly developed as characters and seem like they are just their to pad the number count. You also start to get retreads after that 8-9 range to. Do you really need so many goblin-themed villains, symbiotes, or clown themed villains?

So assuming two issue storylines, that would give you 16 issues before you are repeating villains. Every year and a half we are reusing a villains. That seems really small. 3 issue storylines get us to the two year mark. I would go with 12 to 16. That makes 3 to 4 years without reusing.

[Jonny_Centurion]

It's not so much the number as it is the quality. Sure having a lot of characters with unique gimmicks is great but they have to transcend their gimmicks. I'm not the biggest fan of the likes of Two-Face or Riddler, but at least the writers try to break out of their general "one note" natures.

[MyriVerse]

I’d say the ideal number is between 5 and 8. Any less then that it feels like the hero is lacking in variety as far as villains go. And more than that and you start having a bunch of villains that aren’t particularly developed as characters and seem like they are just their to pad the number count. You also start to get retreads after that 8-9 range to. Do you really need so many goblin-themed villains, symbiotes, or clown themed villains?

Well, Spidey's rogue's galley has tons more than just goblins and symbiotes. He probably had triple that number before Venom was even a dream. Not every story has to be about rogue's gallery members. Even top rogues can go years between appearances.

I don't really like Spidey's symbiotes, but that's mostly because after Carnage, they all seemed too much like Carnage. They didn't need to though. A hero like Spidey dabbles in almost everything. His common villains can, as well.

[KOSLOX]

I like big rogues galleries. It give creators freedom to retire characters for a while, or put a new coat of paint on lesser knowns.