Which Marvel villains don't make sense as characters?

[The Overlord]

Which Marvel villains don't make sense as characters? I am not talking about the science behind guys like Sandman, Electro, or Klaw not making sense, Marvel comic books are not science textbooks, those are acceptable creative liberties.

I talking about villains who don't make sense as characters. I am not talking about a character with a simple motivation, if your actions fit your motive, its fine. Bullseye likes to kill people and get paid for it, he could make money legitimately elsewhere, but his love of violence prevents him from doing so, that's fine.

So I am going to pick on two Fantastic Four villains, Trapster and Wizard. Trapster's motive is supposed to be greed, but why didn't he just patent his glue and market it, he could have made millions legitimately, but didn't, for no good reason. Trapster has nearly died several times, gets punched out by superheroes constantly, and has been subjected to Ghost Rider's penance stare and he is still a supervillain, why? The writers also can't decide whether he is a real serious supervillain or a comic relief character, pick one lane and go with it. Either have Trapster quit, up his game by a lot, and pick on a street-level character instead of a team that fights gods for a living or have him be a purely comic relief character. There is a prose novel short story from the 90s where Trapster tries to reform, that is more interesting character work than anything that has been done with him in the comics, but it's not canon.

Wizard is worse on this score, he has even less reason to be a public supervillain, if he wasn't a public supervillain with a record he would be a dangerous force in the business world. Instead, he is a third-rate supervillain. He is jealous of the FF's fame and Reed Richard's abilities, but did he think becoming a public supervillain would make him more beloved than the FF? He is supposed to be smart, but he makes the same stupid mistakes over and over again, he always tries to defeat the FF with a Frightful Four instead of trying to overwhelm them with a Frightful Fourteen, he and the Frightful do not seem remotely in the Fantastic Four's league. He's too evil to be sympathetic and not evil enough to actually be sinister or menacing. He is similar to the type of villains kid shows having parodying for the last 20 years.

[Digifiend]

Crimson Dynamo, because he's a Soviet version of Iron Man and that origin no longer works with the sliding timescale as Iron Man's entire career is now long after the USSR ceased to exist. The same goes for any other Soviet villains.

[Iron Maiden]

Which Marvel villains don't make sense as characters? I am not talking about the science behind guys like Sandman, Electro, or Klaw not making sense, Marvel comic books are not science textbooks, those are acceptable creative liberties.

I talking about villains who don't make sense as characters. I am not talking about a character with a simple motivation, if your actions fit your motive, its fine. Bullseye likes to kill people and get paid for it, he could make money legitimately elsewhere, but his love of violence prevents him from doing so, that's fine.

So I am going to pick on two Fantastic Four villains, Trapster and Wizard. Trapster's motive is supposed to be greed, but why didn't he just patent his glue and market it, he could have made millions legitimately, but didn't, for no good reason. Trapster has nearly died several times, gets punched out by superheroes constantly, and has been subjected to Ghost Rider's penance stare and he is still a supervillain, why? The writers also can't decide whether he is a real serious supervillain or a comic relief character, pick one lane and go with it. Either have Trapster quit, up his game by a lot, and pick on a street-level character instead of a team that fights gods for a living or have him be a purely comic relief character. There is a prose novel short story from the 90s where Trapster tries to reform, that is more interesting character work than anything that has been done with him in the comics, but it's not canon.

Wizard is worse on this score, he has even less reason to be a public supervillain, if he wasn't a public supervillain with a record he would be a dangerous force in the business world. Instead, he is a third-rate supervillain. He is jealous of the FF's fame and Reed Richard's abilities, but did he think becoming a public supervillain would make him more beloved than the FF? He is supposed to be smart, but he makes the same stupid mistakes over and over again, he always tries to defeat the FF with a Frightful Four instead of trying to overwhelm them with a Frightful Fourteen, he and the Frightful do not seem remotely in the Fantastic Four's league. He's too evil to be sympathetic and not evil enough to actually be sinister or menacing. He is similar to the type of villains kid shows having parodying for the last 20 years.

I can't even remember the last time when the Wizard and the Trapster (formerly Paste Pot Pete) appeared in a comic. I would like to see Marvel revisiting the concept of the Frightful Four but I can't come up with any worthwhile members. Maybe Lucia von Bardas can take Medusa's place. The last time I saw her in a story she had become a cyborg.

[Alan2099]

I can't even remember the last time when the Wizard and the Trapster (formerly Paste Pot Pete) appeared in a comic. I would like to see Marvel revisiting the concept of the Frightful Four but I can't come up with any worthwhile members. Maybe Lucia von Bardas can take Medusa's place. The last time I saw her in a story she had become a cyborg.

Hydro Man would make a great member. Not only is he a good substitute for Sandman, but he manages to match the FF characters far better.

He's water, so he's the opposite of Human Torch.
He's got a blue shape change-y body so he matches Mr. Fantastic.
He's see through, so he matches Invisible Woman.
Thing is the only one he doesn't really match well against, but there's still mileage you can squeeze out of water vs stone.

[Babylon23]

Trapster's motive is supposed to be greed, but why didn't he just patent his glue and market it, he could have made millions legitimately, but didn't, for no good reason.

This could apply to a lot of the 60's villains - Beetle, Porcupine, Stilt-Man, Blizzard, Plantman, Shocker, Whiplash, Leap-Frog, Living Laser, Melter, etc. There were so many engineers/inventors creating devices that could have been patented and marketed for either domestic or military purposes.

[marhawkman]

This could apply to a lot of the 60's villains - Beetle, Porcupine, Stilt-Man, Blizzard, Plantman, Shocker, Whiplash, Leap-Frog, Living Laser, Melter, etc. There were so many engineers/inventors creating devices that could have been patented and marketed for either domestic or military purposes.

Well several of them had their motive for being a villain that they'd been screwed by the legal system into being unable to market their creations.

[Babylon23]

Hydro Man would make a great member. Not only is he a good substitute for Sandman, but he manages to match the FF characters far better.

He's been a member on a couple of occasions. He was part of the late 80's team that included Wizard, Titania and Klaw. He was also in the team that battled the FF post Civil War.

[Babylon23]

Well several of them had their motive for being a villain that they'd been screwed by the legal system into being unable to market their creations.

True, although you'd think that with some variations to their initial creations they could have reworked them into different devices rather than move straight onto crime.

[Lorendiac]

Crimson Dynamo, because he's a Soviet version of Iron Man and that origin no longer works with the sliding timescale as Iron Man's entire career is now long after the USSR ceased to exist. The same goes for any other Soviet villains.

Sometime back in the 2000s, when the Soviet Union had been defunct for over a decade, I saw someone suggest that perhaps Marvel's sliding timescale should be interpreted to mean: "The USSR just collapsed a few years ago as far as Marvel Universe characters are concerned. And 10 years from now in the real world, it still will have just collapsed a few years ago!"

That way, Natasha Romanoff and the Red Ghost and the Abomination and Colossus and the Winter Guard (formerly "the Soviet Super-Soldiers") and various other Russian-speaking heroes and villains could still have "Soviet roots," as stated in their various origin stories. I thought that was really clever, although I don't know how much attention any of the current writers and editors at Marvel have actually paid to that suggestion.

[marhawkman]

True, although you'd think that with some variations to their initial creations they could have reworked them into different devices rather than move straight onto crime.

That's AN option, but is it THE option? well.. now.....

[Huntsman Spider]

Sometime back in the 2000s, when the Soviet Union had been defunct for over a decade, I saw someone suggest that perhaps Marvel's sliding timescale should be interpreted to mean: "The USSR just collapsed a few years ago as far as Marvel Universe characters are concerned. And 10 years from now in the real world, it still will have just collapsed a few years ago!"

That way, Natasha Romanoff and the Red Ghost and the Abomination and Colossus and the Winter Guard (formerly "the Soviet Super-Soldiers") and various other Russian-speaking heroes and villains could still have "Soviet roots," as stated in their various origin stories. I thought that was really clever, although I don't know how much attention any of the current writers and editors at Marvel have actually paid to that suggestion.

Speaking of, I do believe Mark Millar in Marvel Knights Spider-Man #1-12 attempted to slip in a retcon that many of the early supervillains, even ones with Soviet/Communist affiliations, were really the results of a consortium of crooked corporate executives and governmental or military officials who wanted to use them to distract the then-nascent superhero community from focusing on using their powers to change the world for the better, as that would threaten the corporate execs' bottom line and the power of the governmental or military officials.

[chamber-music]

The Soviet Union has long gone but the nations that formed it have not. It's not like there isn't real world doesn't have shady state backed actors with Russia doing 'villainous' stuff like the Alexander Litvinenko murder. It's not like Russian espionage isn't real either. The Illegals spy rings in the United States was exposed by the FBI.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegals_Program

The Soviet communism of the 20th century type ideology is gone but having regional heroes or villains is ok.

[Huntsman Spider]

The Soviet Union has long gone but the nations that formed it have not. It's not like there isn't real world doesn't have shady state backed actors with Russia doing 'villainous' stuff like the Alexander Litvinenko murder. It's not like Russian espionage isn't real either. The Illegals spy rings in the United States was exposed by the FBI.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegals_Program

The Soviet communism of the 20th century type ideology is gone but having regional heroes or villains is ok.

Yeah, that makes sense. There are always going to be malingering remnants of (seemingly) defeated geopolitical foes still operating on the world stage, even if less obviously and perhaps more covertly compared to before.

[Dreaded Porcupine]

This could apply to a lot of the 60's villains - Beetle, Porcupine, Stilt-Man, Blizzard, Plantman, Shocker, Whiplash, Leap-Frog, Living Laser, Melter, etc. There were so many engineers/inventors creating devices that could have been patented and marketed for either domestic or military purposes.

These guys are all great. Would love to see them all in a mini. Like Superior Foes. That was a blast.

[Will Evans]

Shocker doesn’t patent his equipment invention. He uses it to rob banks. Then complains when he’s beat up by superheroes or arrested.