Defining Villain Stories

[your_name_here]

Just wanting to discuss/debate/compile what we think are the stories that defined certain villains? From A-List to lower, what was the best showing of the villain and what makes it arguably the defining story?

I’ll start with probably the most obvious one which Kravens Last Hunt. Often acclaimed to be THAT good that Spidey writers such as Slott refused to write him as his best story had already been done.

[jb681131]

To me there is no definitive story.
Characters evolve through time.

I don't know if he's a vilain but Punisher by Garth Ennis si wonderfull.

[LifeIsILL]

I really liked this one for Abomination. Hell, it's the only Abomination story I actually remember

[your_name_here]

Just reminded myself of this during my reread of Brubakers Daredevil...specifically the “Without Fear” storyline. A fantastic portrayal of Mr Fear. Solely to bring sorrow into Matts life, possibly making Matt (and us) afraid of what he could do the next time he got out. It’s very rare a villain gets to win, I think they did a very good job here.

[Iron Maiden]

When you bring up a villain like Doctor Doom, it gets a bit difficult since so many writers have tackled him over the years. So there is a lack of consistency. IMO aside from him origin in FF annual #2 and Byrne's This Land is Mine story in FF #247, his best stories aren't found in the Fantastic Four.

[LifeIsILL]

The Beetle was a character I never cared for until this Thunderbolts issue

[Snoop Dogg]

Under Siege for Zemo

DeMatteis and Zeck's last arc of Captain America for Red Skull

Superior Foes for Boomerang

Kang Dynasty for that guy

Ultron Unlimited for that guy

The Waid/Rivera Daredevil story for Mole Man

The Finesse/Taskmaster of Avengers Academy for that guy

[The Overlord]

Trapster's actual best story was not in the comics, it was from a short story called "Traps" by Ken Grobe, that actually treated Trapster like a human being who wants to improve his life and make a change.

To me that is more interesting than what we get in the comics:

''I am the Trapster, a supervillain, who wants to destroy the Fantastic Four, despite the fact that I could have made millions simply patenting my pastes because.....Mwa, ha, ha''!

[K7P5V]

I don't know if he's a vilain but Punisher by Garth Ennis si wonderfull.

If the Punisher can be considered, then I'll include Brock's Venom:

[manymade1]

Under Siege for Zemo

DeMatteis and Zeck's last arc of Captain America for Red Skull

Superior Foes for Boomerang

Kang Dynasty for that guy

Ultron Unlimited for that guy

The Waid/Rivera Daredevil story for Mole Man

The Finesse/Taskmaster of Avengers Academy for that guy

Solid list. I'd add:

Born Again for Kingpin

Issue #181 for Bullseye (Though arguably Miller's whole run)

Death of Gwen Stacy for Norman Osborn and Green Goblin in general

Original Galactus Saga for that guy

[SuperiorIronman]

For me Rage of Ultron really cemented Pymtron's (Ultron's) whole deal.

He's a misguided supervillain that's fault is simply who it was based on. Hank Pym has had such a hard time dealing with his demons and Ultron just owns it because he's right, the Avengers and even world do treat him like crap (especially the people writing him who simply can't move on). He's stuck in a place of knowing he's never going to be accepted, the world is terrible, and simply can't think of any way to solve the problems because the way the world is run is the problem. That's what makes his dynamic with Hank work because Hank is trying to hold on to what makes a person good and not be his worst impulse when on an objective level Ultron is right even if the way he goes about it is wrong. That's a good arch-enemy.

Then following this he never had a good plan ever again but at least the setup explained his whole deal.

[Mike]

This page from Fantastic Four #116 defined Doctor Doom for me.
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[DrNewGod]

Mastermind in the arc culminating in X-Men 175. We'd always known MM was a nasty bit of work. Claremont moved him out of the buffoon category in the Dark Phoenix Saga. But we never got a picture of just how vicious, and how dangerous he could be until Claremont had him tie all of the X-Men in knots, including the usually all-powerful Professor X.

Image.jpg

It was also, to me, Cyclops' finest hour. Still bitter at the douchification of the character that followed.

[ARkadelphia]

This page from Fantastic Four #116 defined Doctor Doom for me.
fadbd8bacf579dfaaa69fbc3c520e236.jpg

Great definition of Doom. But just as great for Sue. That’s a good scene there.

[your_name_here]

Warren Ellis on Thunderbolts was a good showcase for Osborn.