Can a hero have to many villains?

[LifeIsILL]

Batman and Superman have hundreds of villains. It's a shame we only see about 10% of them in comics these days.

[ducklord]

The only time this ever gets to be an issue, in my opinion, is when new villains start treading on the conceptual "turf" of existing villains. In the case of the Flash, for example, how many evil speedsters does one rogue's gallery really need? When I was a kid, there was one, and every time he showed up it was scary as heck (I also wore an onion on my belt, as was the fashion at the time). Nowadays there's what, a half dozen of them?

But otherwise, bring 'em on - a lame or empty rogue's gallery is a super-hero's undoing. Looking at you, Green Arrow.

[DrNewGod]

Batman's been through multiple cycles of new enemy generation, with the early 1940s, the late 1960s-early 1970s, and the mid-late 1980s being standouts in my mind.

...there was a period in the 80's and 90's, especially with regards to Spider-Man and Superman, where it felt like we were getting a "monster of the week" villain and it definitely saturated their rogues gallery at the expense of other more prominent and interesting villains.

In fairness, Spider-Man kind of made a goodly chunk of his name on monsters-of-the-week. It just happened that he got a string of fairly good monsters early on.

[ducklord]

Also, let's face it, super-villain creation is HARD.

It's pretty easy to motivate a character to go out, wear a funny costume, and do GOOD things. Dead parents. Fame. Setting a good example.

But if all you wanna do is steal money, for example, do you REALLY wanna put on a goofy outfit and draw attention to yourself?

If you want to secretly control the world's governments, do you REALLY want to anyone to know who you are?

I mean, yeah, if you're in it for the chaos and blowing up society, I can see going loud, proud, purple and green, but other than that?

[DrNewGod]

Also, let's face it, super-villain creation is HARD.

It's pretty easy to motivate a character to go out, wear a funny costume, and do GOOD things. Dead parents. Fame. Setting a good example.

But if all you wanna do is steal money, for example, do you REALLY wanna put on a goofy outfit and draw attention to yourself?

If you want to secretly control the world's governments, do you REALLY want to anyone to know who you are?

I mean, yeah, if you're in it for the chaos and blowing up society, I can see going loud, proud, purple and green, but other than that?

Actually, from 1939 on, i think there's been a fairly easy asnwer to that. The World Doesn't Care About My Pain And I Will Make It Hear Me! I'm not an expert in the area, what else are mass-shooters doing but hoping to don The Joker's makeup?

[SixSpeedSamurai]

The problem with this is writers are now more reluctant to create a new character for DC or Marvel to make potential millions out of.

Creators at least get better taken care of better than they used to.

Got to have new blood from time to time, most characters don't have a large enough gallery of rogues to say they have too many, even Batman. Bane I think is the last member of the rogues and he's been around almost 27 years now.

[scary harpy]

No, you can't have enough villains.

The problem with this is writers are now more reluctant to create a new character for DC or Marvel to make potential millions out of.

They shouldn't have to. They should revitalized existing villains.

For example, Batman has over 500 villains. A good writer should be able to take an obscure Batman foe and write an outstanding story.

Batman and Superman have hundreds of villains. It's a shame we only see about 10% of them in comics these days.

Agreed.

Especially the villainesses.

[Zero Hunter]

They shouldn't have to. They should revitalized existing villains.

That has always been my first choice too. I love it when a writer can come along and take a dated tired villain and revamp them. Just look at characters like The Calculator, the Key, The Shaggy Man, and man others that with a facelift and some new interesting ways to use their skills or powers they become great again. There are tons of villains that with just a little tinkering could be great.

The problem is so many writers are too attached to the version of the villain they grew up reading so even if they do get a make over the next writer wants to reset them. Not that every revamp is good like giveing the Flash Rogues actual powers instead of it all being tech.

[cranger]

They shouldn't have to. They should revitalized existing villains.

For example, Batman has over 500 villains. A good writer should be able to take an obscure Batman foe and write an outstanding story.

It is not an either or. They can create new villains, use existing popular villains, or reinterpret villains that are underused. It is all fine, but my preference is to see new villains created from time to time.

And it has nothing to do with what married guy wrote. Not that I can prove it, but I have heard the same thing that the reason for the lack of new stuff being created in the big two is that creators do not want to give their ideas away to the big publishers just for them to maybe make tons of money. That is why I bought into the New Age of Heroes launch and tend to check out books with new characters the odd time they come out. No matter how 'good' a writer is, reinterpreting an existing character just does not scratch the itch for me.

[Frontier]

The only time this ever gets to be an issue, in my opinion, is when new villains start treading on the conceptual "turf" of existing villains. In the case of the Flash, for example, how many evil speedsters does one rogue's gallery really need? When I was a kid, there was one, and every time he showed up it was scary as heck (I also wore an onion on my belt, as was the fashion at the time). Nowadays there's what, a half dozen of them.

In fairness to The Flash, a lot of those evil Speedsters are linked to individual Flashes instead of just one (well, until they started giving all of them to Barry).

[WonderScott]

I’m just the opposite. The more and differing types of opposition the better to explore all aspects of a hero’s character.

[Vampire Savior]

There are instances when concepts start to get watered down. For example, there are way too many symbiotes, goblins, ad evil Lanterns than there needs to be. When your IP gets to that point, you need to stop and take a good look at what you're doing. Generally speaking, though, a large rogues gallery is a good thing.

[cranger]

There are instances when concepts start to get watered down. For example, there are way too many symbiotes, goblins, ad evil Lanterns than there needs to be. When your IP gets to that point, you need to stop and take a good look at what you're doing. Generally speaking, though, a large rogues gallery is a good thing.

"A man has an idea. The idea attracts others, like minded. The idea expands. The idea becomes the institution. What was the idea?"

Maybe one of the reasons I like new villains (and not just variations/legacies) so much is that I find that when old villains are used over and over, so much gets changed and added that the original concept gets lost. Obviously not every villain gets handled this way, but even a single character like the Joker can get to the point where, because every single writer needs to write 'their Joker', the character is just existing on importance and not purpose any more.