Is it true that Marvel doesn't have "hero-exclusive" villains?

[LifeIsILL]

And you know, I really have read way more Marvel than DC in my time. I don’t have much experience besides some Flash and some Batman. Thing is, they seemingly recycled the same villains. For instance, the biggest stories I believe I’ve read for Batman are Year One, Dark Knight Returns, and Long Halloween/Dark Victory, Killing Joke, and a few others, and for the most part, it’s pretty much the same bad guys in all these books (except Year One, but that ended with a Joker tease). And when I read the new 52 stuff, it just seemed to reiterate that for me. Like I see a lot of use of what I consider the main rogues, Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, and a few others.

Well Batman (just like Spiderman, Superman etc..) has hundreds of villains, and 90% of them are never used, they just recycle the popular ones over and over again. I do wish they would use the more unknown silver age or golden age villains instead of recycling or creating someone new, because sooner or later you're gonna run out of clever ideas.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Well Batman (just like Spiderman, Superman etc..) has hundreds of villains, and 90% of them are never used, they just recycle the popular ones over and over again. I do wish they would use the more unknown silver age or golden age villains instead of recycling or creating someone new, because sooner or later you're gonna run out of clever ideas.

Batman has the best rogues gallery in comics so of course they're gonna reuse the villains. They can reuse the villains again and again and still make a profit.

Superman is tough because he doesn't have many interesting villains (Brainiac, Mxyzsptlk), and Lex Luthor is largely the arch-nemesis for legacy and adaptation reasons rather than actual story and character beats. Heck Superman is a case of villains from other series becoming his rogues. Darkseid and the Fourth World became annexed to Superman thanks to adaptations and Jimmy Olsen, and Darkseid is a major league Superman villain and also the DC-Wide villain even if he wasn't created to be one per se.

Wonder Woman should have a big rogues gallery but generally she doesn't have one.

[Anthony W]

One thing that doesn't make sense is that why the hell would a criminal choose New York when he knows the Avengers, FF4 and freaking Dr. Strange is there? Has anyone in Marvel ever tried to answer that question?

No, and they never will. What I really find fascinating is the majority of fans who don't live in New York going to extreme lengths to explain why everything has to be in New York

"Traditionally the West Coast doesn't have that many supervillains

"You could rob a bank in Cleveland and get away with it, but it wouldn't help your reputation!

New York has bars where they can all hang out, because that is what is really important...the camaraderie

[Agent Z]

Batman has the best rogues gallery in comics so of course they're gonna reuse the villains. They can reuse the villains again and again and still make a profit.

Superman is tough because he doesn't have many interesting villains (Brainiac, Mxyzsptlk), and Lex Luthor is largely the arch-nemesis for legacy and adaptation reasons rather than actual story and character beats. Heck Superman is a case of villains from other series becoming his rogues. Darkseid and the Fourth World became annexed to Superman thanks to adaptations and Jimmy Olsen, and Darkseid is a major league Superman villain and also the DC-Wide villain even if he wasn't created to be one per se.

Wonder Woman should have a big rogues gallery but generally she doesn't have one.

She actually does have a very large rogues gallery. Most are just rather obscure.

[LifeIsILL]

Superman is tough because he doesn't have many interesting villains (Brainiac, Mxyzsptlk), and Lex Luthor is largely the arch-nemesis for legacy and adaptation reasons rather than actual story and character beats. Heck Superman is a case of villains from other series becoming his rogues. Darkseid and the Fourth World became annexed to Superman thanks to adaptations and Jimmy Olsen, and Darkseid is a major league Superman villain and also the DC-Wide villain even if he wasn't created to be one per se.

Besides Darkseid who else? He's pretty much the only one. In fact, Green Lantern took away a few Superman villains (Cyborg Superman, Mongul).

[PCN24454]

Batman has the best rogues gallery in comics so of course they're gonna reuse the villains. They can reuse the villains again and again and still make a profit.

Superman is tough because he doesn't have many interesting villains (Brainiac, Mxyzsptlk), and Lex Luthor is largely the arch-nemesis for legacy and adaptation reasons rather than actual story and character beats. Heck Superman is a case of villains from other series becoming his rogues. Darkseid and the Fourth World became annexed to Superman thanks to adaptations and Jimmy Olsen, and Darkseid is a major league Superman villain and also the DC-Wide villain even if he wasn't created to be one per se.

Wonder Woman should have a big rogues gallery but generally she doesn't have one.

These are very big generalizations and secondhand opinions.

I thought that Superman had a small rogues gallery until I actually read his comics. That’s why the myth annoys me.

The same goes with Wonder Woman.

While Batman has one of the biggest rogues galleries in fiction, very few of them are treated as serious threats to anyone but Batman.

[LifeIsILL]

Wonder Woman definitely has the most diverse female villains in comics. But if you don't read her comics you wouldn't know about most of them.

[Somecrazyaussie]

Well, it certainly would make sense for most criminals to exit NYC, but they don’t. NYC is seemingly the place to be in the MU. I do prefer it this way, but have enjoyed a few books that took place outside NYC, for instance Scarlet Spider featuring Kaine was set in Austin, TX? Somewhere in TX.

From memory, I think it was set in Houston. Seemed like an odd at the time, but totally worked in the long run. Helped give the book its own identity. Still my favourite Scarlet Spider title.

Superior Spidey now is set in SF, same as Daredevil a bit ago. They all have had their villains there. The West Coast Avengers had their share of baddies and a lot of teams seem to play on the international or interstellar field.

Moving Daredevil to SF (the first time at least) was a means of shaking up the title because it was in serious risk of cancellation. They were originally going to fold it over into Iron-man (which was also doing poorly.) Instead they just made it bi-monthly and added Black Widow.

The trouble with moving DD is that his entire mythology is tied intrinsically with Hell's Kitchen. His rogue's gallery were also based in/around NY. In order to have his foes show up, they had to come up with way out excuses for having them suddenly being in San Francisco. This was certainly the case for The Owl and Gladiator.

And you know, I really have read way more Marvel than DC in my time. I don’t have much experience besides some Flash and some Batman. Thing is, they seemingly recycled the same villains. For instance, the biggest stories I believe I’ve read for Batman are Year One, Dark Knight Returns, and Long Halloween/Dark Victory, Killing Joke, and a few others, and for the most part, it’s pretty much the same bad guys in all these books (except Year One, but that ended with a Joker tease). And when I read the new 52 stuff, it just seemed to reiterate that for me. Like I see a lot of use of what I consider the main rogues, Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, and a few others.

This is true to an extent. If I never see another Joker story for the rest of my life, I'd die a happy man. But the guy sells books. So he constantly shows up. Likewise with the Rogue's (who haven't been in the current Flash title for almost two years.) Thankfully both Batman and The Flash are blessed with a rich and varied rogue's gallery. So it isn't much of an issue as it is for a hero like Superman who has a decent rogue's gallery of his own, but only Lex, Brainiac or Zod are the ones who get considerable showtime.