Which hero has the worst rogues gallery?

[married guy]

Captain Atom - has Major Force and I cannot think of anyone else!
Blue Beetle (both Ted and Jaime) have pretty slim pickings.
The Question - Take your pick Vic or Montoya.
Martian Manhunter - Poor J'Onn has been well & truly shafted in the villains department.
Green Arrow - Ollie's rogues list is surprisingly thin considering his publishing history.
Nightwing - Other than Blockbuster and Torque.... maybe Shrike?

[Aahz]

Snyder made James Jr to be Dick's mirror but only Babs uses him due to the evil relative angle so there's another one gone.

To be fair the evil relative angle makes him just work way better as a villain for Babs.

[ducklord]

To each their own. Personally, I'm not seeing what is so impressive about most of the guys you mentioned. The only ones I'd say are worth a damn are Sinestro, Krona, Star Sapphire and Nekron. Tattooed Man is certainly not who I would call a top tier villain.

A fair critique

All in all, I'd be likely to slot GL and Wonder Woman's rogues into a "perfectly fine, but not as stellar as one might expect for a character that's had a solo title for 50+ years."

At least they're not Green Arrow.

[ducklord]

I’ve come to the conclusion that you really only need 4-9 rogues for a decent rogue’s gallery. Any less it starts to get repetitive any more you start to get thematic repeats( Do you really need the Riddler and Cluemaster?) 6 or 7 is ideal because you have enough slots to house a nice variety of types of threats ( both physical and mental), without feeling like half the gallery is underused. It’s also worth mentioning that though Batman and Spider-Man have huge galleries it’s really only about 9 of their villains that get any major amount of page time.

THIS is an interesting notion, which leads to an interesting question: What kinds of thematic villains do you need in your stable?

The Mirror Darkly
The villain that shares an origin and visual look with the hero, but is evil.

The Femme/Homme Fatale
She/He is bad for the hero, but they just can't resist.

The Pest
Not really overly evil, but annoying as all get out.

You're Doing It Wrong
Purports to have the same goals as the hero, but is going about it in an evil way.

U Can't Touch Me
The evil businessman/political ringleader who can't simply be beaten up.

I Don't Know How to Fight This
The villain who uses methods things the hero doesn't. Magic vs. Science. Craziness vs. Logic.

My One Weakness
Slightly different than the previous one, the living embodiment of the hero's Achilles Heel.

The Black Sheep
The member of the hero's family (or the family they've made) that has gone bad.

Oh, Lighten Up
Distinct from the Pest, this one pops up to add zaniness to the proceedings.

The Monster
An unstoppable scary force that must be put down.

The Mindf*cker
Someone to induce nightmares and scary visions.

The Gorilla
'Cause every hero needs to fight a gorilla. Sometimes the gorilla can be a shark.

What other archetypal villains does a hero need?

[TheRay]

Couldn't we make the Anti-Monitor a recurring foe of everyone?

[scary harpy]

I’ve come to the conclusion that you really only need 4-9 rogues for a decent rogue’s gallery. Any less it starts to get repetitive any more you start to get thematic repeats( Do you really need the Riddler and Cluemaster?) 6 or 7 is ideal because you have enough slots to house a nice variety of types of threats ( both physical and mental), without feeling like half the gallery is underused. It’s also worth mentioning that though Batman and Spider-Man have huge galleries it’s really only about 9 of their villains that get any major amount of page time.

THIS is an interesting notion, which leads to an interesting question: What kinds of thematic villains do you need in your stable?

The Mirror Darkly
The villain that shares an origin and visual look with the hero, but is evil.

The Femme/Homme Fatale
She/He is bad for the hero, but they just can't resist.

The Pest
Not really overly evil, but annoying as all get out.

You're Doing It Wrong
Purports to have the same goals as the hero, but is going about it in an evil way.

U Can't Touch Me
The evil businessman/political ringleader who can't simply be beaten up.

I Don't Know How to Fight This
The villain who uses methods things the hero doesn't. Magic vs. Science. Craziness vs. Logic.

My One Weakness
Slightly different than the previous one, the living embodiment of the hero's Achilles Heel.

The Black Sheep
The member of the hero's family (or the family they've made) that has gone bad.

Oh, Lighten Up
Distinct from the Pest, this one pops up to add zaniness to the proceedings.

The Monster
An unstoppable scary force that must be put down.

The Mindf*cker
Someone to induce nightmares and scary visions.

The Gorilla
'Cause every hero needs to fight a gorilla. Sometimes the gorilla can be a shark.

What other archetypal villains does a hero need?

ducklord, this is great list. I hope DC reads this.

mathew101281, I agree. Every hero needs, at least, 4 villains...especially characters like Roy Harper, Donna Troy, Garth and etcetera.

Any hero, supporting or otherwise, who has existed for a few decades definitely needs a few good foes of her/his own.

[Alpha]

THIS is an interesting notion, which leads to an interesting question: What kinds of thematic villains do you need in your stable?

The Mirror Darkly
The villain that shares an origin and visual look with the hero, but is evil.

The Femme/Homme Fatale
She/He is bad for the hero, but they just can't resist.

The Pest
Not really overly evil, but annoying as all get out.

You're Doing It Wrong
Purports to have the same goals as the hero, but is going about it in an evil way.

U Can't Touch Me
The evil businessman/political ringleader who can't simply be beaten up.

I Don't Know How to Fight This
The villain who uses methods things the hero doesn't. Magic vs. Science. Craziness vs. Logic.

My One Weakness
Slightly different than the previous one, the living embodiment of the hero's Achilles Heel.

The Black Sheep
The member of the hero's family (or the family they've made) that has gone bad.

Oh, Lighten Up
Distinct from the Pest, this one pops up to add zaniness to the proceedings.

The Monster
An unstoppable scary force that must be put down.

The Mindf*cker
Someone to induce nightmares and scary visions.

The Gorilla
'Cause every hero needs to fight a gorilla. Sometimes the gorilla can be a shark.

What other archetypal villains does a hero need?

I think every hero trying to adhere to that list is lame.

If I put together a top 10 list of Superman Villains, I wouldn't have a Femme Fatale or a Black Sheep, and I wouldn't need one.

Heck, Spider-man doesn't have a Mindf*cker or a "my one weakness" (Mysterio creates Illusions but it's nowhere near nightmare inducing)

And Wonder Woman is a great case where DC writers tried to create those trope villains over the years and we got copycats like Veronica Cale

[TheRay]

Some people try to include Hitler in certain peoples' rogues, like Darkstar, but that just feels off to me.

[ducklord]

I think every hero trying to adhere to that list is lame.

If I put together a top 10 list of Superman Villains, I wouldn't have a Femme Fatale or a Black Sheep, and I wouldn't need one.

Heck, Spider-man doesn't have a Mindf*cker or a "my one weakness" (Mysterio creates Illusions but it's nowhere near nightmare inducing)

And Wonder Woman is a great case where DC writers tried to create those trope villains over the years and we got copycats like Veronica Cale

There's nothing wrong with Veronica Cale in theory. An evil businessperson character is a trope that has been driven into the ground, but having one in Wonder Woman's stable of villains isn't inherently bad. A cynical technocrat who's all about the money bounces nicely off of Diana's core beliefs and makes for a good conflict. Where her character may have spun off the rails a bit is making her a little too much of a "Female Lex Luthor."

In any event, I wasn't in any way suggesting that this is a completely necessary list, just a jumping off point if you're trying to create a new villain. Some, like "My One Weakness," only apply to a few heroes (Kryptonite Man/Metallo for Superman, for example... and also an example of having two villains where one would suffice), and some overlap (Sinestro covers the Mirror Darkly and My One Weakness, which makes Goldface seem kind of lame and second rate). And although some villains don't seem appropriate for some heroes (a Femme Fatale for Superman, say), that doesn't mean that writers haven't tried (Maxima).

Thinking about villain archetypes can also help writers when they're dreaming up new characters, both in seeking out blank spots in a rogues gallery and in possibly avoiding cramming more villains into overstuffed slots (if you're going to cram another creepy serial killer into the Batman rogues at this point, you'd better have a damn solid hook - "Ooh, this one wears a spooky rubber horse head" isn't going to cut it)

And Mysterio is pretty much a Mindf*cker these days

[TheRay]

Highball and Mr. Terrific.

[mathew101281]

I think every hero trying to adhere to that list is lame.

If I put together a top 10 list of Superman Villains, I wouldn't have a Femme Fatale or a Black Sheep, and I wouldn't need one.

Heck, Spider-man doesn't have a Mindf*cker or a "my one weakness" (Mysterio creates Illusions but it's nowhere near nightmare inducing)

And Wonder Woman is a great case where DC writers tried to create those trope villains over the years and we got copycats like Veronica Cale

I think the kinds of villains that make up your 4-9 depend on your hero. I don't think Superman and Batman would have the same types of villains for example. And even the same general types of villains would have completely different manifestations in a Superman book then in a Batman book.

[Somecrazyaussie]

Green Arrow - Ollie's rogues list is surprisingly thin considering his publishing history.

Ollie has an extensive gallery. The problem is most are B-level or C-level. So many of them have huge potential though and that's the most frustrating thing about it. There is a gold mine waiting to be unearthed with villains like Big Game, Printer's Devil, Steel Claw, Bad Penny, Sling Shot, Death Dealer and Vengeance.

But all he has that is notable is Merlyn, Count Vertigo, Cupid, Brick, China White and, at a stretch, Deathstroke.

[TheRay]

The heroes with the worst rogues are the ones that people deem not even worthy of getting 2 villains that are uniquely theirs. Even characters from Dial H for Hero got rogues.

[mathew101281]

You have to consider that some heroes are simply easier to make villains for then others. I’d argue this is why Batman has such a big rogue’s gallery. Essentially all you need to make a good Batman villain is a regular human with a weird, interesting or twisted personality quirk. I’d argue that a villain seems lame when they are perceived as weak and ineffectual when compared to their hero/heroine. Just putting a weird quirk on a regular human doesn’t work with characters like Superman or Wonderwoman because their is a very definite chance of the villain being perceived as underpowered and weak compared to a god-like being.

[PCN24454]

I feel like it's a double standard. Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, etc. don't really have better rogues; it's just that they themselves are more popular characters than most others, so their supporting characters get more focus.

I've never really been impressed with Batman's rogues, but Batman himself has always been an interesting character.