Greatest Villain???

Started by riv66724 pages

Yeah i'd have to agree with Bentley there.
Villainy is way more than just power rankings.

Joker is about as far from Thanos as you can get, in stats. He has, however impacted the Bat Family so profoundly that, in continuity AND out, his "greatness" cant be denied.

Originally posted by riv6672
Yeah i'd have to agree with Bentley there.
Villainy is way more than just power rankings.

Joker is about as far from Thanos as you can get, in stats. He has, however impacted the Bat Family so profoundly that, in continuity AND out, his "greatness" cant be denied.

👆

Carnage vis-a-vis the Maximum Carnage affair. Admittedly, I wouldn't put him anywhere near "greatest", but that entire arc had the "Oh sh*t" factor for me.

Depends what you mean by 'great', and also whether one-off moments count more than careers-worth nastiness. Take Doctor Light flipping out and then raping Sue Dibny, and the effect that has on everyone else in the story. It's not Thanos obliterating planets with the Infinity Gauntlet, but it is 'great' villainy in the sense that 1) the act is shocking and appalling 2) the toll on the other characters is appalling (remember Ralph's face melting at Sue's funeral?) but also because 3) nothing Darkseid, Galactus, Thanos, Lex or Doom has done quite matches that revolting, drool-mouthed, batshit-crazy, sadistic, leering horribleness that Doctor Light shows in that arc. It's not nice AT ALL, but is is great villainy.

Originally posted by wuleecat
Depends what you mean by 'great', and also whether one-off moments count more than careers-worth nastiness. Take Doctor Light flipping out and then raping Sue Dibny, and the effect that has on everyone else in the story. It's not Thanos obliterating planets with the Infinity Gauntlet, but it is 'great' villainy in the sense that 1) the act is shocking and appalling 2) the toll on the other characters is appalling (remember Ralph's face melting at Sue's funeral?) but also because 3) nothing Darkseid, Galactus, Thanos, Lex or Doom has done quite matches that revolting, drool-mouthed, batshit-crazy, sadistic, leering horribleness that Doctor Light shows in that arc. It's not nice AT ALL, but is is great villainy.

👆

Originally posted by Bentley
When Thanos goes omnipotent he stops being so much of a villain and becomes a troubled nightmare. I'd say Magus is more of a cosmic evil when it comes to high level feats than Thanos is.

I mean, you even listed feats of saving stuff as villaneous feats 😕

ikr. that's not villainy, it's the exact opposite.

destroying half the universe (if that's true) is impressive tho. However, if it wasn't permanent destruction, meaning it was somehow reversed, I'd count that as a failed machination.

Yeah.
It takes smaller comics companies or alt reality stories for universe or even global scale destruction to not be status quo'd.
Not really a criteria i see as being super important to this topic, though of course it should still be a factor. Just not THE factor.

Originally posted by Bentley
When Thanos goes omnipotent he stops being so much of a villain and becomes a troubled nightmare. I'd say Magus is more of a cosmic evil when it comes to high level feats than Thanos is.

I mean, you even listed feats of saving stuff as villaneous feats 😕

He asked for feats of the character and Thanos has played the hero as well as the villain due to being a very complex character.

Magus has never been even close to Thanos. Thanos from Magus' inception has defeated him and in the latest cosmic drama between them Magus was killed by the guy Thanos tricked into bringing down the cancerverse.

Yeah, all Thanos humor aside, he NOT a one dimensional villain.
Whatever he does there's usually an interesting motive behind it.

If we're consider more than just power level Green Goblin deserves an honorary mention, he's messed with Spider-man more than Joker with Bats. A little sample:

No order:

Joker
Thanos
Magneto
Loki
Lex Luther

Originally posted by SamZED
If we're consider more than just power level Green Goblin deserves an honorary mention, he's messed with Spider-man more than Joker with Bats. A little sample:


Good good choice.
I like how he became an MU wide threat a few years back. Surprised me, but it seemed a smart move.