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  1. #46
    Ultimate Member marhawkman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nero View Post
    What makes a good Superman villain is to make the antagonist just a good villain in general.

    1. The villain needs to look cool (and let's be honest, the same rule also applies to the protagonist): It's not a coincidence that villains that have a striking appearance often are utilized more sufficiently usually due to marketing. The look is the first thing that's obviously going to be noticed and if it connects, it's going to further warrant the attention of the observer. Case in point, when I first saw Conduit (who should have returned by now), it made me want to learn more about him thus I followed whichever Superman comics that featured him.

    2. There needs to be a stronger connection between Superman and the villain besides "good vs evil": To prevent the villain from being forgettable, the villain needs to make things personal with Superman. The villain has to find a way to not only get inside Superman's head but also create a long lasting impression once they're in there. Luthor does that by the way he controls Metropolis. Brainiac does that through his experiments. Zod does that by the way he uses Kryptonian ancestry as a weapon. For an example, having a villain attempt to drive Superman insane in an attempt to break him from within stands a better chance of cementing that villain in the rogues gallery than just simply showing up and getting into a physical altercation with Superman.

    3. More Boss, Less Stooge: Make it to where the villain is able to stand on their own merits. If the goal especially is to spotlight the villain in his or her entirety then having them share the spotlight with more established villains by working for them will take away from that. You have a better chance of emphasizing that the villain is their own man (or woman) by acting more independent.
    This also goes a long ways towards explaining why some characters are basically future sidekick fodder. They're Supers who really don't actually pose much of a threat, not because they lack power, but because they're not using that power to BE a threat.

  2. #47
    Ultimate Member Sacred Knight's Avatar
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    Number 2 in Nero's list is what does it for me most of all. I think the most intriguing Superman villains are the ones who have something against Kal-El in specific. Not necessarily the ones who are just violent criminals/supervillains or just have conflicting points of view. Lex hates Superman because he became beloved in "his" city and took that focus and dependence away from him. Brainiac hates Superman because he is the son of the only only being in the universe who ever matched him in intellect, and Superman has proven every bit as dangerous to him with his own intellect and sometimes just wits. Conduit hated Clark Kent because in his eyes he stole his father's love and was constantly second fiddle to him. He then hated him extra when he found out he was Superman because he "cheated" to gain all the things he had. Hank Henshaw hates Superman because he blames him for failing to do something to save him and his wife from their fates. He even wears Kal-El's own face and symbol to symbolically tarnish him with every evil deed. Xa-Du hates Superman because his father banished him to the Phantom Zone making him a specter and now Superman consistently foils his attempts to escape that prison for good.

    Those are just a few examples of my favorites.
    Last edited by Sacred Knight; 08-02-2020 at 02:53 PM.
    "They can be a great people Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you. My only son." - Jor-El

  3. #48
    Ultimate Member marhawkman's Avatar
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    With the Superman revenge squad they had grudges because Superman had sent them to prison. That makes it personal for the bad guys at least.

  4. #49
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nero View Post
    What makes a good Superman villain is to make the antagonist just a good villain in general.

    1. The villain needs to look cool (and let's be honest, the same rule also applies to the protagonist): It's not a coincedence that villains that have a striking appearance often are utilized more sufficently usually due to marketing. The look is the first thing that's obviously going to be noticed and if it connects, it's going to further warrant the attention of the observor. Case in point, when I first saw Conduit (who should have returned by now), it made me want to learn more about him thus I followed whichever Superman comics that featured him.

    2. There needs to be a stronger connection between Superman and the villain besides "good vs evil": To prevent the villain from being forgettable, the villain needs to make things personal with Superman. The villain has to find a way to not only get inside Superman's head but also create a long lasting impression once they're in there. Luthor does that by the way he controls Metropolis. Brainiac does that through his experiments. Zod does that by the way he uses Kryptonian ancestry as a weapon. For an example, having a villain attempt to drive Superman insane in an attempt to break him from within stands a better chance of cemeting that villain in the rogues gallery than just simply showing up and getting into a physical altercation with Superman.

    3. More Boss, Less Stooge: Make it to where the villain is able to stand on their own merits. If the goal especially is to spotlight the villain in his or her entirity then having them share the spotlight with more established villains by working for them will take away from that. You have a better chace of emphasizing that the villain is their own man (or woman) by acting more independent.
    Which category of Nero's list would Parasite or Metallo go under?

    With every megalomaniac mastermind with a personal vendetta against Superman or / and Clark Kent, it's still neatly nice to have perennial dragdown slobber-knocking beatdown grudge matches in between, from guys who does not need a personal reason to hate Superman, aside from the fact that he's beaten them up again and again.

  5. #50
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    Quote Originally Posted by marhawkman View Post
    With the Superman revenge squad they had grudges because Superman had sent them to prison. That makes it personal for the bad guys at least.
    Pre-Crisis, there were two different groups. Both were loose associations of villains. One was the Superman Revenge Squad, which were aliens from other worlds that Superman had offended in some way, who banded together to get their revenge on Superman--they started out as the Superboy Revenge Squad. The other was the Anti-Superman Gang, which were a number of Earth-based gangsters and crooks that worked together to destroy Superman--they seem a lot like the League to Destroy Superman, another loose association of gangland set on destroying Superman in the 1941 comic strip.

    The Post-Crisis Superman Revenge Squad seems to be an amalgamation of the two concepts into one--with some Earth-based super-villains and some alien super-villains.

    I prefer to have the two different groups. The Superman Revenge Squad as aliens suggests a larger universe, where there are many alien worlds--it has a potential (never fully realized) to show off the cosmic side of the D.C. Universe and the many unrecorded adventures of Superman in outer space. The Anti-Superman Gang gives attention to Earth's many criminal organizations and seems a reasonable response from gangland to such an imposing figure as Superman--they must put aside their differences to defeat a common enemy, but it's also something of a competition (as with the League to Destroy Superman) to see which outlaw cell can come up with the best strategy to take down their foe.

  6. #51
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    Ideal applicants must feel comfortable plotting against Powerful and Iconic hero.an actual vendetta is ideal but not Mandatory

    Impressive Super powers and/ or other worldly gadgetry a Big Plus

    Must be a motivated go getter with a can do attitude.

    Extraterrestrials and Members of The demonic communities are specially encouraged to apply.
    Must have reliable form of transportation
    Last edited by Photon Torme; 08-06-2020 at 02:01 PM.

  7. #52
    The Man Who Cannot Die manwhohaseverything's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Photon Torme View Post
    Extraterrestrials and Members of The demonic communities are specially encouraged to apply.
    Would these do?
    https://m.imgur.com/r/creepy/JU1G3

  8. #53
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    The first Metalo (note the spelling) only had one appearance in 1942. Then in 1959, a second Metallo (different spelling) appeared, with no connection to the first, but he had the good sense to die in the same issue. Then his brother showed up in 1977 and had a number of appearances before John Byrne retrobooted the 1959 Metallo.
    Actually, I discovered another Metallo. This would be the second character with the name and the first one with the double 'l' spelling, in SUPERBOY 49 (June 1956), 3rd story--"Metallo of Krypton" by Jerry Coleman and John Sikela; cover by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye.



    "It" was actually a good guy that the Boy of Steel met when the became a "Robinson Crusoe" on a distant asteroid.



    The robot Metallo was sent to this distant outpost and became marooned on the planetoid after Krypton's destruction. Because of an approaching cloud of Kryptonite, neither Superboy nor Metallo have enough power to escape and their doom is imminent.



    They build a lead igloo to protect them, but soon will die. However, in the end, Metallo devises a plan to save Superboy but sacrifice itself in the process.

    The story is rehashed for ADVENTURE COMICS 276 (September 1960), as "The Robinson Crusoe of Space," but this time the robot is called Metalman.

  9. #54
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    I may be in the minority ,but while I feel Lex is a good counterweight to Superman's hope and Idealism as well as opposite (mere normal human) .I feel Superman's best villain could actually be a well written female.Even if she like him was alien.Let us say was forcefully expelled by the people of her planet for trying to technically engineer their race and was using herself as a test subject.It would be cool to fuse elements of Doomsday with like Martian manhunter but without the monstrous (or maybe monstrous but beneath a human looking mask) look.

    I don't know are there any women out there who are a nemesis to Superman while being intriguing opposites? Maybe it's high time a new female Superman villainess is created that is alien just like him but with a different story

    If her whole idea is he is worthy of being her mate and they should be conquerors of the galaxy and Clark is thinking too small by allying himself or limiting his potential to only earth ,that would be interesting for me.
    Last edited by Rev9; 08-26-2020 at 05:00 AM.

  10. #55
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    Superman's enemy needs to be the out-of-the-box thing that really amazed you. *SHOCK* Lex Luthor is Superman's greatest enemy, but he is only a human, how can he defeat him. What an overlord from another planet and he even stronger than Superman, how can he defeat him. What!? A survivor of his planet, but the comic said he is the only survivor. Yeah, he needs that element on his villain because of how outrageous his backstory is (for that time).

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