Rewrite a hero's rogues gallery

[Hybrid]

Not everyone got to have a rogues gallery as good as Spider-Man or the X-Men. Here is where we rewrite the rogues gallery of different characters, such as how we would ravamp different villains, what kind of new villains we would add, and just what we would do in general. Let's say we're doing this for an alternate universe, and thus not confined to the established continuity.

For starters, Iron Man seems perfect for a good rogues gallery, it just wasn't utilized all that well giving us his infamously anemic set of villains. I feel like written today, he could have one that lives up. The core theme is technology, leaning heavily into the sci-fi aspect, and reflecting different elements of both the technology and Stark himself.

Here's how I would do it:

• As a general rule, like with Batman, very few villains have true superpowers. Instead, they have either their wits, their advanced tech, or connections, with some exceptions.
• The basis of his bad guys are either industrialists, profiteers, saboteurs, or just people using technology in general.
• Many of his villains are evil reflections of himself, such the idea of Tony going as far as he does without any morals, or if Tony remained a war profiteer, or if Tony abandoned all of ties in the pursuit of greed.
• Villains I would keep are Blizzard (heavily reworked to have an advanced suit of cryogenic armor), Ghost (kept the same, but maybe a former employee of Stark who stole and reworked his technology), Melter (heavily reworked to become badass and use heat-based weaponry), Spymaster (as an undercover threat), Justin Hammer (representing Tony Stark's evil reflection, rather than Iron Man), Iron Monger (representing Iron Man's evil reflection), and Mandarin.

New villains I would add include:

• An adrenaline junkie using a suit giving him super speed.
• A hacker using nanomachines and the connected web to mess with Stark Industries and his suits.
• A rogue, upgraded and dangerous Super-Sentinel sent out to hunt Iron Man.
• A mad scientist who pilots a mini-mecha and uses drones.
• A mutant supremacist, who views Iron Man as part of the human anti-mutant agenda and targets him.
• Another billionaire in a suit of armor, but represents all the opposite personality traits of Iron Man (as in, nice but only as a front, sadistic, greedy, uncaring of the safety of others)
• Someone who practices legitimate sorcery, representing the thematic conflict between magic and science.

What ideas do you have?

[Michael Watkins]

I would like the Living Laser to develop a destructive obsession with Monica Rambeau. he was basically stalking two different women in his origin story. it might be time to get him back to those roots. I picked Monica because she can realistically defend herself against a crazed individual with the ability to move at the speed of light and cut through Iron Man's armor.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

With Kamala, I would play up the fan angle and take more off a look at fandom's dark side. Some villains might be rookie supervillains like Chuck the Hydra Hipster but for other villain groups like AIM or the Hand. Others might be like Control Freak who is pastiches of toxic fandom itself. Don't worry we'd move on from neckbeard potshots soon enough.

[MichaelC]

With the Mandarin I'd play up how similar his upbringing was to Stark, yet uglier. Do Black Mask/Penguin type stories with lots of flashbacks.

[PCN24454]

In the case of Iron Man, I think it’s more that most of his gallery is outdated rather than straight up bad. They just don’t carry the same meaning to most people born after 1995.

[davew128]

In the case of Iron Man, I think it’s more that most of his gallery is outdated rather than straight up bad. They just don’t carry the same meaning to most people born after 1995.

Agreed. Foes like Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man, and even Mandarin don't carry weight in 2019 like they did in the silver age. More likely foes Obadiah Stane are either dead or ruined by MCU. Who could take Justin Hammer seriously after Iron Man 2?

[Raye]

New villains I would add include:
[LIST][*]An adrenaline junkie using a suit giving him super speed.

So.... Blue Streak and his gang. Sure, he's goofy, and one of the gang got killed recently in Valkyrie, but... tech based speedster, there you go.

With Kamala, I would play up the fan angle and take more off a look at fandom's dark side. Some villains might be rookie supervillains like Chuck the Hydra Hipster but for other villain groups like AIM or the Hand. Others might be like Control Freak who is pastiches of toxic fandom itself. Don't worry we'd move on from neckbeard potshots soon enough.

ooh, I like that. I maybe would try and tone it down a smidge, so it's more in the character's backstory, rather than their gimmick, that would seem a bit too 4th wall breaking for me. (would work in Gwenpool, maybe just not Ms Marvel) but how she's inspired by the aspirational and positive side of superhero fandom, there are some others who take from the dark toxic aspects of fandom, and it could inspire them to do bad things.

[Michael Watkins]

So.... Blue Streak and his gang. Sure, he's goofy, and one of the gang got killed recently in Valkyrie, but... tech based speedster, there you.

Can't believe no one mentioned Speedfreak. He was literally a drug addict tech speedster. Anyways I think Tony needs more villains that are the product of industry. There should be someone churning out super villains to make Stark bleed. Tony's business rivals should be spending a fortune on self augmentation or their own super soldiers. Tony's fear is not controlling progress. Why is Kang the only time traveler to come for the futurist?

[Michael Watkins]

They need an untold tales book to revisit pym's early days and reenvision all of his foes. Whirlwind is the only one to graduate. I would have made Egghead a closet mutant with a hyperactive brain, no need to sleep, and a sadistic streak. I would play up Madame Macabre's connection to the Mandarin and the Ten Rings.