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[Ignatz Mouse]

I'm surprised to see Superman. I'm a lifelong fan, but I thought his villains were not his strong suit. Luthor, Brainiac, Zod... and... meh. I don't really count Darkseid as a Superman foe.

I like Mr. Mxyzpltlk, but don't really consider him a villain.

I agree with the consensus, Batman, Spider-Man, Flash in that order (though I have a particular soft spot for Flash foes in all their corniness).

Dick Tracy is great too.

 

[Sephzilla]

Superman has some decent villains but there's a pretty substantial dropoff after the big three of Luthor, Braniac, and Zod (or 4 if you consider Darkseid a Superman villain)

 

[Lulubop]

The Phantom Troupe from Hunter x Hunter



Probably one of the best anime/manga villain groups out there.

This and Hisoka, they're all reoccurring too

 

[Pizza]

Lol at people saying Spider-Man.

Half of them are just dudes in an animal costume called [animal] or similar. Vulture, Lizard, Scorpion, Doctor Octopus. A lot of them have very similar origins too.

It's Batman.

Scorpion is trapped in a robot mech suit forever because spider-man's boss wanted to annihilate him but goofed up with the suit

Also doc ock tried to fry the planet with magenfying glasses and almost tricked the international community into believing it was a source of renewable energy by having chameleon dressed as al gore testify at D.C.

Vulture is a senile old man and Lizard is a lot more like Swamp Thing in the comics rn afaik

Spider-Man has a dude who wants to make a ton of clones of him specifically. Also mr negative is rad

Doc Ock successfully rides around in Peter Parker like a meat mech, escaping death from brain cancer

Venom is a gooey alien suit that's nuts and fuses with someone who Peter fucks over. Later, peter's high school bully gets the suit after losing his legs saving a teammate in the Middle East, losing his legs. Also he joined the army because he was inspired by Spider-Man

Carnage is that suit's kid who crawled inside the open wounds of a serial killer and became a mess

Rhino has a whole tragic thing after he quits wearing the augmented suit and tries to be a normal dude

Kraven the hunter sees Spider-Man as the ultimate prey and, after he dies, his family tries to sacrifice Spider-Man to resurrect him (they use an imperfect clone of Peter by accident, ruining everything)

There's an entire arc where interdimentional vampires are eating all the Spider-Mans in the multiverse

Green goblin gets a lucky shot on the queen of an invading alien army and gets promoted to head of Shield and tries to scotch-tape together a team of bad guy avengers

Mysterio is a magician who may or may not be more than one person and its purposefully unclear how much of his shit is illusions like scarecrow or actual magic

Spider-Slayer is a second character created by Spider-Man's boss at work to kill him specifically

Spider-Man has some crazy shit going on past "man goofs in a lab and now is [animal man]"

Everything post-reboot is god tier

 

[Cornballer]

Not comic book related, but my vote's for Justified: Boyd Crowder, Mags Bennett, Wynn Duffy, Dickie Bennett, Arlo Givens, Dewey Crowe, Quarles, Mikey, Nicky Augustine, Yolo, Gary Hawkins, Bo Crowder, Theo Tonin, Johnny Crowder, Colton Rhodes, etc...

 

[lamaroo]

Not comic book related, but my vote's for Justified: Boyd Crowder, Mags Bennett, Wynn Duffy, Dickie Bennett, Arlo Givens, Dewey Crowe, Quarles, Mikey, Nicky Augustine, Yolo, Gary Hawkins, Bo Crowder, Theo Tonin, Johnny Crowder, Colton Rhodes, etc...

You forgot the worst of them all, Ava.

 

[roflwaffles]

I too think Spider-Man rogues are vastly overrated.

Majority of them are just thugs in animal costumes.

 

[SargerusBR]

Superman has some decent villains but there's a pretty substantial dropoff after the big three of Luthor, Braniac, and Zod (or 4 if you consider Darkseid a Superman villain)

Along with those, besides Metallo and Doomsday, i can't remember much about Supes villains.

 

[Nerd_Incognito]

I've never really understood the love Spider'Man's rogues gallery gets. With Batman's the argument can be made that they are each a dark reflection of himself. The vast majority of them have a very personal connection to Batman.

With Spidey, they're all just sort of loosely tied to his identity as a young, insect-based hero. So they're either animals, elements, viruses, adults, friends, mentors, etc. They have all felt pretty arbitrary to me.

How to Make a Spidey Villain:

Step 1: Pick an element from the periodic table.
Step 2: Add "Man" after it.
Step 3: Have them hate Peter for some random reason.
Step 4: Fight!

 

[mattwhite924]

I don't know if it counts as a true rogues gallery, but Transformers has developed a pretty good set of villains over the years. Especially the IDW comics. Their take on Megatron is amazing, they introduced the Decepticon Justice Division, and changed Overlord from an obscure character into one of the most popular villains in the franchise.

They're well written, usually have well developed motives, and aren't the cartoonist civilians that the franchise started out as in the 80s. Those I mentioned are just a small taste of the characters in the comics. Old stables like Soundwave, Starscream, and Shockwave all have good development.

Though even in the less developed stories and cartoons there are tons of them that are super recognizable.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

I've never really understood the love Spider'Man's rogues gallery gets. With Batman's the argument can be made that they are each a dark reflection of himself. The vast majority of them have a very personal connection to Batman.

With Spidey, they're all just sort of loosely tied to his identity as a young, insect-based hero. So they're either animals, elements, viruses, adults, friends, mentors, etc. They have all felt pretty arbitrary to me.

How to Make a Spidey Villain:

Step 1: Pick an element from the periodic table.
Step 2: Add "Man" after it.
Step 3: Have them hate Peter for some random reason.
Step 4: Fight!

Nah man. Most of his foes don't hate him personally, and the ones that do either hate him for a specific story-based reason, or for their past battles. Plenty of them have some other agenda that Spider-Man is interfering with.

 

[fallengorn]

Don't forget these guys...

 

[Sephzilla]

Along with those, besides Metallo and Doomsday, i can't remember much about Supes villains.

I forgot about Metallo and Doomsday. Parasite is also a pretty neat villain.

 

[Selddon]

 

[clockworkinyou]

Mega Man 3 -

Gemini Man
Top Man
Needle Man
etc.

 

[Dahbomb]

Does X Men count?


Magneto
Mystique
Sabretooth
Quicksilver
Scarlet Witch
Omega Red
Juggernaut
William Stryker
Azazel
Apocalypse
Mr Sinister
Dark Phoenix
Sentinel

 

[Megadragon15]

The Amazing Spider-Man, factually, has the best rogues gallery. Everything else is opinion.

 

[Ryce]

Along with those, besides Metallo and Doomsday, i can't remember much about Supes villains.

You don't know Bizarro?

 

[DeathPeak]

I agree with the few people that said Mega Man.

Also tossing DB/Z out there.

 

[Elegant Weapon]

Yes boo! They are all unique in their own way and funny in their own way. Princess is probably my favorite out of the gallery. I love that rich spoiled archetype. Who's yours?

It might just be Princess for me, too. I remember her first episode was straight up DBZ, it was glorious. What a wonderfully violent cartoon the original Powderpuff girls was.

 

[DeathyBoy]

Legion of Superheroes.

They have an entire prison world devoted to securing their enemies.

includes Lightning Lord, Saturn Queen, Cosmic King, Sun Emperor, Beauty Blaze, Ol-Vir, Tyr, Zymyr, Hunter, and Chameleon Chief, as well as Black Mace, Universo, Dr. Regulus, Grimbor the Chainsman, Mordru, Esper Lass, Magno Lad, Micro Lad, Echo, Terrus, the League of Super-Assassins (Silver Slasher, Lazon, Neutrax, Mist Master, and Titania), the Fatal Five (Tharok, Emerald Empress, the Persuader, Mano, and Validus), and the Justice League of Earth (Radiation Roy, Tusker, Spider Girl, Golden Boy, Storm Boy, and Earth-Man) and Time Trapper.

And that's just from FC: LO3W.

Shit, Future Darkseid counts. LOSH is fucking incredible villain wise.

 

[Jokergrin]

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

Akatsuki turned out to be such a massive letdown. I remember being hyped for them in like, 2003 or whenever.

 

[Cyan]

Obviously the answer is Worm. So many villains to choose from.

The Trio
Lung and the ABB
The Undersiders
Panacea and Glory Girl
Uber and Leet
Bakuda
Kaiser and Empire 88
Armsmaster
Leviathan
Coil
The Wards, especially you Clockblocker
Shadow Stalker
Dragon
The Merchants
The Slaughterhouse Nine
The Travelers (Seriously fuck Krause. And Cody.)
Echidna
The Simurgh
PRT bureaucracy
The Fallen (lol jk no1curr)
Alexandria
Glenn
Behemoth
Saint (Fuck Saint too.)
Zion
Cauldron, Doctor Mother, Contessa
Khepri, the greatest and most terrifying villain of all

I hope you have enjoyed this almost entirely context-free list of names.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

Legion of Superheroes.

They have an entire prison world devoted to securing their enemies.

includes Lightning Lord, Saturn Queen, Cosmic King, Sun Emperor, Beauty Blaze, Ol-Vir, Tyr, Zymyr, Hunter, and Chameleon Chief, as well as Black Mace, Universo, Dr. Regulus, Grimbor the Chainsman, Mordru, Esper Lass, Magno Lad, Micro Lad, Echo, Terrus, the League of Super-Assassins (Silver Slasher, Lazon, Neutrax, Mist Master, and Titania), the Fatal Five (Tharok, Emerald Empress, the Persuader, Mano, and Validus), and the Justice League of Earth (Radiation Roy, Tusker, Spider Girl, Golden Boy, Storm Boy, and Earth-Man) and Time Trapper.

And that's just from FC: LO3W.

Shit, Future Darkseid counts. LOSH is fucking incredible villain wise.

The Fatal Five alone is pretty amazing.

Good call.

 

[DeathyBoy]

The Fatal Five alone is pretty amazing.

Good call.

Pretenders ax that can cut through anything is so epically ridiculous.

 

[Nekofrog]

It's kind of insane the amount of good villains Batman has. All tiers, ABCD, all packed with good bad guys.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

Pretenders ax that can cut through anything is so epically ridiculous.

Even gravity!

I love it.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Yup it's for sure Batman. Most A-list villains would be top billing in any other property, and the Joker is a classic.

Behind Batman, it's Spider-man. His villains aren't as classic as Batman's, but they're also fucking great.

Yeah, I think objectively Batman has the best. There's quite a few who are really well known:

Joker
Penguin
Riddler
Catwoman
Scarecrow
Two-Face (maybe?)
Harley (more recently)

Any of these could easily be the sole nemesis for another superhero, and there's probably a few more who could arguably be on the list.

 

[The Omega Man]

These Badass mofos right here, all day everyday.

 

[PassiveObserver]

Kill Bill's Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. Each encounter is memorable asf.

 

[IrishNinja]

Lol at people saying Spider-Man.

Half of them are just dudes in an animal costume called [animal] or similar. Vulture, Lizard, Scorpion, Doctor Octopus. A lot of them have very similar origins too.

It's Batman.

yeah, a handful of psychosis that you know from movies and not a lotta great comic stories, phew what a lineup

Goat

^look at that. it's not even close.

 

[Lulubop]

trash tier shonen villain group

These Badass mofos right here, all day everyday.

Most of them were jobbers outside of Seta and Shishio.

 

[SENPAIatLARGE]

The 9 Egyptian Gods and Dio's inner circle from Jojo are pretty top tier. Vanilla Ice as Dio's second in command is terrifying and Dio himself was nigh unbeatable at the time.

 

[The Omega Man]

Most of them were jobbers outside of Seta and Shishio.

It's more like the good guys were OP
Hiko Seijuro anyone? XD

 

[phanphare]

as far as comics (where a rogues gallery is pretty crucial) it's spider man and it's not particularly close

heavy hitters that go toe to toe with anyone, lesser known people that are great, and no shortage of amazing b-tier jabronis. the quantity, quality, and variety are unmatched.

doc ock, green goblin, electro, kraven, kingpin, hobgoblin, fuck you can throw JJJ in there with smythe, tinkerer gets a nod, mysterio, sandman, shocker, hydro man, hammerhead, black cat (I count her), venom, carnage, scorpion, vulture, chameleon, the lizard, morlun, rhino, morbius, jackal, mr. negative, etc. etc. etc. etc.


no one can fuck with spider man's rogues gallery

 

[Weebos]

Seriously, The Powerpuff Girls have a seriously underrated rogue's gallery


HIM, Mojo Jojo, Rowdyruff Boys, Princess, Medusa, Ganggreen Gang, Fuzzy Lumpkins, the Amoeba Boys & Boogie Man

Actually came here to say this, weirdly was the first thing that came to my mind upon reading the thread title.

 

[True Savior]

JoJo off course.

 

[The Broken Ska Record]

as far as comics (where a rogues gallery is pretty crucial) it's spider man and it's not particularly close

heavy hitters that go toe to toe with anyone, lesser known people that are great, and no shortage of amazing b-tier jabronis. the quantity, quality, and variety are unmatched.

doc ock, green goblin, electro, kraven, kingpin, hobgoblin, fuck you can throw JJJ in there with smythe, tinkerer gets a nod, mysterio, sandman, shocker, hydro man, hammerhead, black cat (I count her), venom, carnage, scorpion, vulture, chameleon, the lizard, morlun, rhino, morbius, jackal, mr. negative, etc. etc. etc. etc.


no one can fuck with spider man's rogues gallery

Come on, bruh. I love Spidey, but you gotta admit Batman's gallery is pretty formidable.

 

[phanphare]

though I think a case can be made for James Bond

so many great villains throughout the years

fucking Jaws, Nick Nack, Scaramanga, Blofeld obviously, Le Chiffre, Oddjob, Drax, Max Zorin, Goldfinger, etc.

Come on, bruh. I love Spidey, but you gotta admit Batman's gallery is pretty formidable.

Batman has some heavy hitters to be sure and some not so well known villains that are also great but his rogues gallery as a whole lacks the quantity and variety that spider man's has

joker, riddler, scarecrow, poison ivy, catwoman, harley quinn, hugo strange, two face, penguin, freeze, bane, and then? killer croc? the mad hatter? clayface?

it just doesn't add up

 

[AWizardDidIt]

To be honest, I think the Fantastic Four has the best staple of villains Marvel side, above both Spiderman and the Xmen. FF unfortunately just hasn't had the benefit of good movies or a popular animated series.

But they have Dr Doom, arguably the preeminent marvel villain along with others like Annihilus, Galactus (and his heralds like Terrax), Kang (shared with Avengers), Namor, Molecule Man, Rhonin, and Super Skrull. Cosmic marvel probably wouldn't exist without the FF's rogues gallery and most of the best avengers villains also happen to be FF ones. Unlike Spider-man or Xmen whose villains don't really have any influence outside of those titles, FF's villains exercise wide influence over the entire marvel universe.

 

[Fancyarcher]

Superman has some decent villains but there's a pretty substantial dropoff after the big three of Luthor, Braniac, and Zod (or 4 if you consider Darkseid a Superman villain)

Mxyzptlk is my favorite Superman villain, but I wouldn't consider him one of Superman's most dangerous foe. He can destroy Supes if he wants to, but he'd rather have more fun.

He's had some good one-off / seldom used one-offs though. The Silver Banshee was actually a pretty interesting antagonist when she was first introduced for example. A ghost for Superman to face with an actual arc.

 

[phanphare]

To be honest, I think the Fantastic Four has the best staple of villains Marvel side, above both Spiderman and the Xmen. FF unfortunately just hasn't had the benefit of good movies or a popular animated series.

But they have Dr Doom, arguably the preeminent marvel villain along with others like Annihilus, Galactus (and his heralds like Terrax), Kang (shared with Avengers), Namor, Molecule Man, Rhonin, and Super Skrull. Cosmic marvel probably wouldn't exist without the FF's rogues gallery and most of the best avengers villains also happen to be FF ones. Unlike Spider-man or Xmen whose villains don't really have any influence outside of those titles, FF's villains exercise wide influence over the entire marvel universe.

Doom definitely tips the scale A LOT for the FF, as well as everything else you said

although norman osborn certainly had influence outside of just spider man. same with kingpin.

 

[Bladelaw]

There's a distinct lack of The Tick in this thread

Batman and Spidey are my favorites but the Tick's gallery is insane and dumb in the best way possible.

 

[The Broken Ska Record]

Batman has some heavy hitters to be sure and some not so well known villains that are also great but his rogues gallery as a whole lacks the quantity and variety that spider man's has

joker, riddler, scarecrow, poison ivy, catwoman, harley quinn, hugo strange, two face, penguin, freeze, bane, and then? killer croc? the mad hatter? clayface?

it just doesn't add up

Killer Croc, Hush, Mad Hatter, Clayface, Solomon Grundy, Ra's al Ghul, Calendar Man, Black Mask, Dr. Hugo Strange, Man-Bat, Professor Pyg, Catman, Deathstroke, Jason Todd/Red Hood, Joe Chill, the Court of Owls, Killer Moth, Firebug, Gentleman Ghost...

A ton of villains. And a ton more I'm intentionally leaving off.

 

[phanphare]

Killer Croc, Hush, Mad Hatter, Clayface, Solomon Grundy, Ra's al Ghul, Calendar Man, Black Mask, Dr. Hugo Strange, Man-Bat, Professor Pyg, Catman, Deathstroke, Jason Todd/Red Hood, Joe Chill, the Court of Owls, Killer Moth, Firebug, Gentleman Ghost...

A ton of villains. And a ton more I'm intentionally leaving off.

considering some of the ones you listed it's probably best that you intentionally left some off

I mean I could have throw in people like the beetle, shriek, molten man, and doppelganger but I didn't

 

[AWizardDidIt]

Doom definitely tips the scale A LOT for the FF, as well as everything else you said

although norman osborn certainly had influence outside of just spider man. same with kingpin.

That's true. Norman only in the past decade or so starting with Thunderbolts iirc (he's also probs my own fav spiderman villain). And Kingpin's the village bicycle of street level marvel.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

considering some of the ones you listed it's probably best that you intentionally left some off

I mean I could have throw in people like the beetle, shriek, molten man, and doppelganger but I didn't

You included some pretty z-list people yourself.

 

[phanphare]

You included some pretty z-list people yourself.

name names

also the beauty of the lower tier villains in spidey's rogues gallery is that they're treated as such and it's great. I mean, I did refer to some of them as "b-tier jabronis" after all.

(here's another shameless plug of the superior foes of spider man)

 

[pirateluigi]

I gotta go with GI Joe:

Destro
Cobra Commander
Baroness
Major Bludd
Zartan
Storm Shadow
Dr. Mindbender
Tomax & Xamot
The Dreadnoks
Firefly
Serpentor