Non-Evil Supervillains

[NK1988]

So, given the desigination SUPER VILLAIN, most people tend to think of some utter monster like Red Skull or Thanos.

But what I love about Marvel is the active supervillain community that shows they are real people. A lot of these "SUPER VILLAINS" are just weirdos, people with bad luck in terms of appearance, simple-minded and easily manipulated, etc.. I still remember all those guys who showed up for Stilt-Man's funeral. (dammit Frank)

My favorite examples are the Absorbing Man and Titania. Neither of them are angels by any means but they have tried to go legit several times. They're just not the cleverest couple around and often get sucked back into a life of crime by far more evil and intelligent villains.

I was also reading the TVTropes Anti-Villain Page on this and apparently Captain America once had a whole issue detailing villain profiles. Someone like "Bison" is a criminal largely because he can't find honest work given how he looks and he wants to support his girlfriend.

So, let's raise a glass to the misunderstood superpowered folks of comic books. Who are some examples you feel sorry for or maybe even admire on occasion?

[t hedge coke]

I always feel bad for Gladiator, because, well, he can't help it. He wants to not be that guy, but he's got problems and yeah, when threatened, pushed, or just sad enough, he's gonna be that guy.

[Ciriaco]

Gladiator? As in Kallark? But...he's no villain?

[ZephyrSurf]

Gladiator and Ronan are probably the best examples of "I don't wanna be that guy, but you're making me that guy."

Like in the optimal situations, they'd never bother with you.

[Ambaryerno]

Miss Sinister.

She started out as just a regular woman who was one of Sinister's unwilling experiments, and ends up being a pawn in one of his Crazy Prepared plans to escape death when he infects her with a virus allowing him to take over her mind and body. Everything she's done was ultimately just because she wants to survive as HERSELF.

[Triniking1234]

Non-evil villain?

Probably Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross.

[Darth Phoenix]

Goddess from Infinity Crusade was more a case of Good going to far than Evil

godess.jpg

[Michael Watkins]

So, given the desigination SUPER VILLAIN, most people tend to think of some utter monster like Red Skull or Thanos.

But what I love about Marvel is the active supervillain community that shows they are real people. A lot of these "SUPER VILLAINS" are just weirdos, people with bad luck in terms of appearance, simple-minded and easily manipulated, etc.. I still remember all those guys who showed up for Stilt-Man's funeral. (dammit Frank)

My favorite examples are the Absorbing Man and Titania. Neither of them are angels by any means but they have tried to go legit several times. They're just not the cleverest couple around and often get sucked back into a life of crime by far more evil and intelligent villains.

I was also reading the TVTropes Anti-Villain Page on this and apparently Captain America once had a whole issue detailing villain profiles. Someone like "Bison" is a criminal largely because he can't find honest work given how he looks and he wants to support his girlfriend.

So, let's raise a glass to the misunderstood superpowered folks of comic books. Who are some examples you feel sorry for or maybe even admire on occasion?

the majority of working class marvel villains are non-evil; your Sandmans, Beetles, Hypno-Hustlers, etc. when I started reading, Beetle/Abner Jenkins was my favorite. and it was because my first encounter with him involved him desperately wanting to be liked by his criminal co-workers but also having to betray them. seeing a villain have to struggle with his own conscience was fun to see. I prefer the D-Listers. they tend to have more personality than some of the take-over-the-world types (who rarely self-reflect). it's also fun (sometimes) to see a villain start out as kind of sympathetic but become evil due to circumstances. my example would be someone like Hydro-Man or Living Laser. Laser (one of my top 5 favorites) was originally just a lovesick borderline personality-disordered individual. but losing his human form (his sensory perception w/ it) drove him nuts. something similar happened when Hydro-Man realized that he was virtually immortal. he started casually drowning people and not in the course of committing a crime.

[dragonmp93]

Cyclops and Magneto.

[mugiwara]

Gladiator? As in Kallark? But...he's no villain?

Gladiator as in Melvin Potter, a Daredevil villain.

[t hedge coke]

Gladiator as in Melvin Potter, a Daredevil villain.

Yeah, this Gladiator. The delusional schizophrenic with buzz-saw bracelets.

[theoneandonly]

Frog Man A.K.A. Leapfrog or whatever his name is.You got to feel sorry for such a poor loser. Spiderman loses a lot of credibility as does some other heroes when you take a look at the more obscure villains they have fought.

[Namor'sWrath]

Shocker is my favorite. Also Diamondback.

[Doctor-Comics]

A lot of recent Marvel books take pains to show the workaday villains as non-evil. Perhaps because of Thunderbolts, there are some really nice books in the last few years that show that these bad guys are boy/girl scouts, but not terrible, either.

Maybe that can be traced back to the collegiality of the Rogues in DC's books?

We even saw this phenomenon during the original Scourge of the Underworld arc, when Scourge took advantage of all the villains hanging out together at the Bar with No Name.

Thinking of non-evil, there are also the villains that are more like forces of nature. I am thinking especially of Galactus. He's not evil. Just hungry.

[theoneandonly]

A lot of recent Marvel books take pains to show the workaday villains as non-evil. Perhaps because of Thunderbolts, there are some really nice books in the last few years that show that these bad guys are boy/girl scouts, but not terrible, either.

Maybe that can be traced back to the collegiality of the Rogues in DC's books?

We even saw this phenomenon during the original Scourge of the Underworld thread, when Scourge took advantage of all the villains having out together at the Bar with No Name.

Thinking of non-evil, there are also the villains that are more like forces of nature. I am thinking especially of Galactus. He's not evil. Just hungry.

He may not be evil but he will eat you all the same just soon as look at you like a shark. . Seriously but Galactus does seem to be beyond good and evil because he is GALACTUS! Similarl the pheonix force also seems like a force beyond good and evil. It simply is.