After years of superhero conflicts, are supervillains becoming impactful again?

[The Overlord]

After years of superhero vs. superhero conflicts, and supervillains being sidelined during those conflicts, are supervillains becoming impactful again?

[Anthony W]

After years of superhero vs. superhero conflicts, and supervillains being sidelined during those conflicts, are supervillains becoming impactful again?

No. Modern comic writers can't quite figure out what makes a villain, so they just make heroes fight.

[ETMike1988]

No. Modern comic writers can't quite figure out what makes a villain, so they just make heroes fight.

Or just makes the villains (anti)heroes...

[Huntsman Spider]

I think a lot of the issue is that Marvel started off as a somewhat more realistic universe compared to DC, where the superheroes were more imperfect and flawed as characters, but nonetheless sympathetic and endearing because they still strove to do the right thing in the end and didn't wallow in those imperfections and flaws. Over time, as people in real life did come to realize that those called heroes could at best have feet of clay and at worst be nowhere near as good as they wanted the public to believe they were, whereas those written off as villains or menaces to society could have valid points about the flaws of society or more positive characteristics that clashed or contrasted with their darker actions, shades of gray became more acceptable in superhero comics, especially Marvel.

The problem with that, as I'd see it, is that in the 21st century, that went a bit too far, to say the least, in the direction of superheroes not just being flawed and imperfect, but all too often corrupt and more selfishly motivated than they initially appeared to be, while supervillains by and large degenerated into unrepentantly murderous psychotics and sadists competing with each other for who could inflict the worst acts of wanton depravity and cruelty upon the general public, the heroes, or even their fellow villains who retained some semblance of sympathy or standards. In shorter words --- maybe --- shades of gray in a superhero universe can add depth to that universe and its stories if they're handled with good characterization, but the protagonists should still be the ones worth rooting for at the end of the day.

[Agent Z]

Hero vs hero conflicts are largely limited to events and even then, Marvel has scaled back on that. Reckoning War and Judgment Day weren't about heroes fighting heroes.

[Huntsman Spider]

Hero vs hero conflicts are largely limited to events and even then, Marvel has scaled back on that. Reckoning War and Judgment Day weren't about heroes fighting heroes.

Thankfully, yeah, even if Judgment Day was initially portrayed as X-Men vs. Eternals with Avengers caught in the middle.