Rank their rogues galleries from greatest to least in terms of threat level (in terms of actual power, intellect, resources, etc.). This is counting actual rogues/recurring enemies, not one off time threats or big event villains that never return.
Superman
Dr. Strange
Batman
Hulk
Green Lantern
Thor
Wonder Woman
Iron Man
Flash
Captain America
they aren't the most powerful, but for my money, Batman has some of the best rogues in comicdom. Every one of them is a study in human psychology when done well.
EDIT: I'd probably go with Strange in terms of power. Aren't like ancient demons and such included among his rogues?
Batman easily has the most iconic group of villains in comics, agreed, with the likes of Spider-Man and Superman behind him. And yeah, all of his villains have some sort of psychosis and a tragic element to them, which is something that some writers have gotten away from.
Strange does face off against demons, other sorcerers, elder gods, and other mystical/supernatural threats of great importance.
Thought about it, but I didn't want to go overboard and tried to keep the lists at a manageable number. Spidey, X-Men, and the F4 were the choices I strongly considered adding.
Diana's foes (at least pre-reboot) include: Ares, Cheetah, Circe, Silver Swan, Dr. Psycho, and Giganta (obviously, there's quite a few more, but those are the most frequent and pervasive). I'd say her foes are around the same "type" (though perhaps not to the same degree) as Thor's. She deals with primarily gods/mythological beings, conventional super villains, the occasional cosmic/alien threat, and everything in between.
You think Superman's rogue gallery is really that iconic? I don't think a random person on the street would be able to name more than Lex and Zod... although it now occurs to me that sadly that might be enough for the number three spot. Doubt civies can name a single Hulk, Flash, WW, GL or Dr Strange rogue, let alone two. Might get a Loki response for Thor and Red Skull for Cap.
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Brainiac and Bizarro are both referenced fairly often by non-comic book fans (calling a smart guy "brainiac", calling a weird situation or occurance being stuck in "Bizarro World"). Doomsday is also fairly well known by the general public, especially if you ask "Who was the guy who killed Superman?".
I'm going to call shenanigans on all three of those points. Calling a smart person brainiac is not a reference to Brainiac, and a bizarro world reference has been ingrained into popular culture for so long that most people have no idea what the original reference refers to. I wear a Batzarro hat almost every day and people are always asking me "Why is the Bat-symbol upside down?" and I tell them that it's Batzarro... which that leads to me explaining who Batzarro is, and what the Bizzaro world is, and they have no clue what I'm talking about.
If you asked 100 random people who killed Superman. You get a bunch of "Lex Luther?" and probably as many or more people saying Hulk then you would Doomsday.
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I'd like to think I hang out with a lot of non-comic book/superhero fans/followers, and most people I've talked to, including strangers, can name at least three or four Superman villains (Mxy, oddly enough, comes up quite a bit, even if they butcher his name). To that end, I'd definitely argue that Superman's villains are likely the third most well known or popular rogues gallery behind Batman and Spider-Man.
Considering Doomsday has made the news way back when, I'm thinking more people would know who he is, even if they may not recall his actual name ("big grey dude with spikes?").
It could be a regional thing, though, idk. I'm about three hours or so away from Chicago and most people my age who don't regularly read comics or whatever know the basics of these characters and what not. Heck, even people in my parent's generation know quite a bit.
If people could remember everything that was in the news two decades ago, the human race would be a lot smarter than it is.
I'm the only person in my group of friends and acquaintances that reads comics, and everyone knows it so I have to field questions all the time, and my experience is that most people don't know shit about comics. I've lost count of how many times I've had to answer "Who would win in a fight? Superman or Goku?" The same guy asks me the same question every couple months, and my answer is always the same, and he is always shocked by it. Most people just don't have super heroes in their head space. My friends are mostly genre savy people with a pretty good base understanding of geek culture, and I would think they know more about comic characters than the average no reader, not less.
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Jun 24th, 2013 08:47 PM
