Classic super villains you plain dislike

[Patroklos]

Ra's al Ghul for me. He's a solid concept with the immortality and great lifespan, but in every damn story (apart from the great O'Neill/Breyfogle origin) he reveals himself as this bad 1970's Bond villain with a cape, secret headquarters, legions of worthless uniformed henchmen and grand "Destroy the world!" plans. He's camp played straight, something that I've yet to see work in a comic book.

[AdamYJ]

Since no one else is doing it, I'll stick up here for the Reverse Flash. Look, here you had one of the most striking, streamlined costume designs of the Silver Age, and somebody on the Flash team--Infantino, Schwartz?--had the brilliant idea to see what it would look like if you simply swapped all the colors on it (and, while we're at it, reversed the direction of the emblem; wisely, they didn't go so far as to put the earpiece and boot-top wing accessories on backwards!) and voila! A new villain with a visual design almost as striking who fit perfectly with Infantino's cover design techniques, which so often relied on compositional reflections! The Reverse Flash looked irresistible on the covers, and I found him far more appealing than a visual double of the hero, which has of course been done to death.
More recent iterations of the idea, specifically the Hunter Zolomon character, have failed (in my eyes) by making the costume, not quite a pure reversal, altering, for example, the eyepieces of the costume, and giving the character a different body type than the Flash. Maybe that's more "believable", but, to me, it ruins the effect, and I've never, ever been able to tolerate that character.

I'm really not crazy about the name "Reverse Flash", though. I know technically his name is "Prof. Zoom" or "Prof. Zoom the Reverse Flash", but no one calls him that. They just call him "Reverse Flash". It's like no one could come up with a good evil speedster name.

[Reptisaurus!]

It's funny, but when I saw this thread, I figured I could come up with choices easily--I've always been highly critical of super-villains, and the most over-exposed ones usually tire me out, but now I'm having a hard time bringing myself to nominate any of them. It seems like every one I consider (of those with whom I'm genuinely familiar, unlike X-Men villains such as Mr. Sinister who I've only heard of in passing) has some worthy characteristics when I really ponder them. I don't like Kanjar Ro, but that's because he's a twerp...but he's supposed to be a twerp, and a twerp that can challenge the JLA is a nifty idea, even if he's a bit aggravating to this reader. I can say I've never, to my recollection, really enjoyed a Penguin story, especially in recent decades, with his tiresome portrayal as an apparently above-board nightclub owner and secret underworld racketeer.

If only modern portrayals count, I could name a couple dozen - There are plenty of villains I like that have been fundamentally altered from something cool to something "realistic" (Read: A vehicle for Friday the 13th style slasher movie violence) or for no reason at all, really. What's wrong with a bank robbing, theatrically minded genius with an umbrella fetish?

[Mormel]

I don't think I'm understanding this because Luthor, Green Goblin and Doom (who show up in the first five posts) are villains we "can't get into, can't care for, and just want to get over with for something cooler (paraphrased)"?!

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I love (to hate) those villains and would feel cheated if any of them were simply punched in the face to get the issue over with.

I'm far from the smartest poster on the boards, and I respect personal opinions, but I thought we were to list villains whose raison d'etre we couldn't get behind or something, not just slag off the creme de la creme. What am I missing? Seriously.

Villains whose motivations you can't get behind are a different thing from what I was aiming at in the opening post. While most villains are written in such a way that the reader won't sympathise with them completely (that is, won't find themselves on the villain's side; we can still sympathise with tragic villains, noble warriors, or brainwashed flunkies), they can still be great foils to the hero(es).

While I half-expected that most villains mentioned in the thread would be minor villains, I'm not surprised to also see some of the greatest names from the comic book rogues' galleries, some of which are favourites of mine. Slagging those characters off was not the intention of this thread, I just found while reading superhero comics that there are crooks who I'm not too keen on seeing when compared to others, and I wanted to know what other CBR posters' opinion was.

[LeDiableBlanc]

God, do I hate the Lizard. It's always the same stories with that guy. Spidey comics are usually great, so it bothers me when Connors shows up to make it another sewer story.
I know he pretty much was one of the starters of the generic animal-enemy, but that's the only way I can picture him.

[Alan2099]

If only modern portrayals count, I could name a couple dozen - There are plenty of villains I like that have been fundamentally altered from something cool to something "realistic" (Read: A vehicle for Friday the 13th style slasher movie violence) or for no reason at all, really. What's wrong with a bank robbing, theatrically minded genius with an umbrella fetish?

Because it's silly. What people depends from their comics about millionaries wearing spandex animal costumes and punching evil clowns is 100% realism and seriousness!... yeah. I'm not a fan of Penguin being a minor crimeboss boss that Batman always goes in to rough up whenever he needs info or Joker being a bloodthrist murder happy slasher.

I never liked Kraven the Hunter either. Oh sure, a guy that dresses in animal skins and plays the Most Dangerous Game 24/7 is a cool idea for a character, but he never seemed to have much personality to me and he really isn't the kind of guy that fits well into Spidr-man's rouge's gallery. If he was fighting somebody a bit more human level in powers, like Daredevil, Captain America, Wolverine, or Punisher, he'd probably have worked alot better.

[CromagnonMan]

there is probably some crappy Iron Man villain that ive forgotten about but hate a lot

[destro]

Because it's silly. What people depends from their comics about millionaries wearing spandex animal costumes and punching evil clowns is 100% realism and seriousness!... yeah. I'm not a fan of Penguin being a minor crimeboss boss that Batman always goes in to rough up whenever he needs info or Joker being a bloodthrist murder happy slasher.

I never liked Kraven the Hunter either. Oh sure, a guy that dresses in animal skins and plays the Most Dangerous Game 24/7 is a cool idea for a character, but he never seemed to have much personality to me and he really isn't the kind of guy that fits well into Spidr-man's rouge's gallery. If he was fighting somebody a bit more human level in powers, like Daredevil, Captain America, Wolverine, or Punisher, he'd probably have worked alot better.

Kraven was superhuman though. He had one of those "I drank secret potions mixed with jungle herbs for great strength/endurance" kinda deals. It's just that half the time the writers forgot that about him and relied more in traps and stuff. But if you think about it, a guy who regularly gets into punch ups with Spidey has to be superhuman. But he's not one of my favorites either.

[destro]

there is probably some crappy Iron Man villain that ive forgotten about but hate a lot

Unicorn? Always thought he was rather lame.

[Gothos]

there is probably some crappy Iron Man villain that ive forgotten about but hate a lot

Ooh, you suddenly brought back the memories I tried to bury of that horrible Denny O'Neil period, with losers like "Vibro," "Obadiah Stane," and what I think was a potty version of Captain Barracuda.

[benday-dot]

Forgive me, but as I mentioned earlier I can't really think of any super-villains I can't stand. And I think Reverse Flash is pretty striking as well. DC has constructed whole universes around parallel heroes and villains, so I have no problem stretching that concept of alternate versions to handle a character like Reverse Flash.

Maybe, Ill mention a couple of older villains I've always loved. I extolled above the virtues of the Rhino and the Sandman, but cousins of their proletarian ilk also have always tickled my fancy. Thus I've always dug Crusher Creel the Absorbing Man, the Enforcers, the Wrecking Crew, and yes, the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime.

[Dave2739]

Maybe, Ill mention a couple of older villains I've always loved. I extolled above the virtues of the Rhino and the Sandman, but cousins of their proletarian ilk also have always tickled my fancy. Thus I've always dug Crusher Creel the Absorbing Man, the Enforcers, the Wrecking Crew, and yes, the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime.

The Absorbing Man has always been one of my favorites too. As a kid, I really liked how he would take on the brick and mortar pattern of a brick wall or the rivets of a a steel girder (including on his ball and chain). I also liked how the Hulk could manage to defeat him by making him accidentally absorb the properties of water or a piece of glass. Classic!
And even though he was introduced as a Thor villain, I prefer to see him fight the Hulk.

[destro]

The Absorbing Man has always been one of my favorites too. As a kid, I really liked how he would take on the brick and mortar pattern of a brick wall or the rivets of a a steel girder (including on his ball and chain). I also liked how the Hulk could manage to defeat him by making him accidentally absorb the properties of water or a piece of glass. Classic!
And even though he was introduced as a Thor villain, I prefer to see him fight the Hulk.

Absorbing Man is great, there are so many fun things you can do with him visually. I just wish more writers would remember that he can supposedly absorb anything, not just rocks/steel.

[Cei-U!]

More Absorbing Man love here. My favorite Crusher moment is during the Michelinie/Byrne Avengers run: weary of constant defeats at the hands of super-heroes, AM tries to escape to South America aboard a freighter. But being the brain-dead bully that he is, Crush kidnaps some hapless sales clerk to keep him warm on the trip. This naturally sics a buncha Avengers (still pissed off about the government dictating their membership and looking for someone to take it out on) on his ass. Mayhem ensues until a heartsick Creel gives up, turns to water and floats apart on the tide.

Cei-U!
I choke on the nostalgia!

[Dave2739]

I just reread Incredible Hulk 209 about a week ago. Anybody remember the horrible yellow costume that "They Who Wield Power" gave Crusher? I don't recall ever reading an explanation for that or for who the "Wield Power" guys were.