Rewrite a hero's rogues gallery

[Sutekh]

Would it be cheating to establish that Blue Marvel's rogues gallery would consist of every major villain that was alive and active during the 1960s, including several immortals?

It would be amusing to retcon him into the backstories of some of the other powerful villains.

Selene had been hiding (licking her wounds) for two decades after being 'destroyed' (she escaped, just by the skin of her teeth, by using a lookalike pawn to die in her place) in Nova Roma after a no-holds-barred dustup with the Blue Marvel in the '60s.

Sinister / Essex *used* to be much more open and active, and even worked *with* people like Herbert 'High Evolutionary' Wyndham when they were hobnobbing around England, being quasi-Victorian gentlemen-of-science, but after they parted ways, his predilections got darker and, decades later, had turned decided nasty (subjecting poor and desperate folk in New York to random mutations, which attracted Blue Marvel's attentions, and led to him deciding to take his operation even further underground than the 'free clinic for the homeless' / 'bargain basement Power Broker' set up he had going on.

When they fought regularly, the Mandarin only used a couple rings at a time. He was still mastering the others and making them responsive to his will (they weren't designed to be used by *humans,* you see, and it's something of a question whether he broke them to his will, or he trained his mind to operate on their wavelength. and now thinks in increasingly alien ways...), and is much more terrifying a foe, these days. (To be fair, so is Blue Marvel, who wasn't nearly as buff, when they used to throw down.)

[Michael Watkins]

i could see someone like Count Nefaria being your standard european crime boss until Blue Marvel busted up one of his operations. that would have led to him becoming obsessed with gaining some kind of augmentation. because, otherwise, it's kind of looney toons that some mafia figure purposely set out to become "superman." he didn't do it to make himself more competitive as an organized crime figure. Blue Marvel's primary enemy was self-doubt. he let the politics of that era push him underground.

[chamber-music]

You would think that AIM and the Enclave would be long time rivals of Pym. Both organizations have "bee" motifs. I could see the Enclave seeing Pym as a menace because of his recklessness with science and refusal to focus on practicality. And AIM would have the opposite opinion; championing his reckless pursuit of progress without concern for humanity (skewed interpretation).

AIM have had run ins with Pym. There was the whole Modam Maria storyline, Dr Nemesis spying on Pym in Marvel features and Monica Rappacini tried to recruit Hank to AIM.

I always thought it would of been cool if Pym did join AIM and either tried to reform it to do good like they later did with Sunspot's takeover of AIM or if he tried to bring the group down from the inside in a espionage type plotline.

I agree the Enclave would also make a good foe for him.

[The Overlord]

They could update the Roxxon villainess Saboteur with elements of movie Ghost. She is obscure enough for that kind of overhaul. Doesn't necessarily need to be an Ant-man rogue. Likewise, Spencer updated Scott Lang in a way that allows, for example, past history with the man who became Ghost.

Me, I think they've overlooked a real threat in Trapster. He is fighting outside of his weight class with the FF. Scott is the opponent who could give him a fair fight. They are both underdogs who rely on cleverness to survive the job. Plus Pete's look is that of an exterminator.

The problem with Trapster is he is a very one-note character and they have been hitting the same character notes with him for 50 years. He is either robbing banks, joining the Frightful Four or attacking random superheroes, why not give him a story that shows you what makes the character tick? Explain why he became a supervillain or explore aspects of the character we never saw before, Geoff Johns over at DC has been doing a great job at revamping old B-list and C-list villains, while in Marvel they just rehash the same old stories with these villains and give them zero character development or don't explore their backstories at all. Villains in kids cartoons have backstories and get character development nowadays (unless they are comic relief villains).

There was a short story in the 90s (it was in a novel, so it's non-canon), that dealt with Trapster trying to reform, get a girlfriend and try to actually cash in on his inventions (why did he use them for crime in the first pace)? His attempt at reform failed, but it made seem like a human being, a tragic villain, rather than some one-note super-villain with no backstory and pretty generic motives. What would be wrong with doing a story that actually shows what makes the character tick?

As for many other Silver Age villains who have not well, frankly, Silver Age comics did not really explore something like Marxism well, so all the communist villains like Red Ghost and Titanium Man were one-note characters, they are super villains because they are communists, they are communists because they are supervillains. With these villains, you have to define what their beliefs are in the modern era, are they true believers in Marxism (heck do they still support state socialism or have some moved on to anarchism) or have they become sellouts who work for Russia's oligarchs? Both those things could work, what doesn't work is just recylcing the same old stories from the 60s with them.

[Michael Watkins]

He can do all of that while being an Ant-man villain.

[The Overlord]

He can do all of that while being an Ant-man villain.

Sure, that's fine. Make him an Ant Man villain, but give him new things to do, rather then just trying to same old stories with him. You can certainly contrast those 2 by making them both losers, but I think giving Trapster more sympathetic moments would make him more sympathetic losers, rather then just a mean and cruel loser (Whirlwind is often written as a cruel loser). I think if Trapster is a sympathetic loser, it's a better contrast with Ant Man.

If Trapster tries to reform, fails and has a meltdown in the process, Ant Man could be the one to stop him. I would just adapt that short story into the comics.

Scott Lang is a reformed criminal, so having Traspter try to reform and fail at, really nails home the contrast. Trapster tried to make his life better, while Lang kinda succeeded.