Why are Marvel villains so lame!?

[Iron Maiden]

The same can be said for Doom.

I don't think you can say that because Doom has always been a break out character. He doesn't have to be limited to the Fantastic Four. This year alone he figures prominently in the Incredible Hulk and the first arc of Winter Soldier. He has appeared in huge variety of titles over the years, plus a couple of GNs, back in the day when they were original material and not just collections. He's had his own solo titles (Doom 2099, SVTU, Astonishing Tales) but more recently they've been limited series like the 2 done by Chuck Dixon, Doctor Doom and the Masters of Evil, Doomwar, Legacy of Doom, etc. I don't think there is a Marvel villain that comes close.

I guess you can say Magneto was promoted to a supporting character as opposed to being a villain. But it seems to have limited his appearances outside the X titles over the years.

[FIFTY-TWO (52)]

Well when ever there is a top ten list of villains Marvel always have the most villain in the top ten sure they are subjective but a lot of subjective people tends to favor Marvel villain. Name one DC villain that is as complex as Magneto hell Marvel itself don't have a villain as complex as Mags.

The Joker.

[FIFTY-TWO (52)]

Quoted for truth.

DC really don't have many top villains outside of the Batman gallery and Lex Luthor. Sinestro and Black Adam are only recently coming up.

I mean, you have guys like Sabretooth, Loki, Doctor Doom, Magneto, Red Skull, Green Goblin, Apocalypse, Thanos, Kang, Ultron and the list goes on an on. DC don't have too many guys that stack up against these guys.

Unless you want to count guys like the Key and Starro the conqueror as amazing villains.

This group right here could walk the dog on many a Marvel superhero team.

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

This group right here could walk the dog on many a Marvel superhero team.

Many DC teams as well actually but only if they play them smartly. We've already seen what an enraged Black Adam could do solo.

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

The Joker.

Is the Joker really complex though? I mean he doesn't really have much of a set character and seems to change to the whims of the writer. That doesn't really make him complex as much as inconsistent. I mean I guess he won't let anyone kill Batman but what else does he have that makes him complex.

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

And then they have to contend with the crap Darksied, Joker, Lex Luthor, Sinestro, Parallax, Two-face, Ras al-ghul, Deathstroke, Black Manta, Gorilla Grodd, Felix Faust, the Rot, and many others fling right back at them. We should start a new topic titled "Marvel vs DC: Villain Poop Wars!!".

Are we talking fear bug Parallax or Mad Hal?

And Black Manta and Faust still aren't A-List. The Rot's too new in my opinion.

[KarateXplosion]

majority Marvel villains (discounting ultimate villains) have tragic pasts or semi-forced into being bad guys, and have some chance of being redeemed sans the few killers, they may have no problem killing a hero but it seems most don't kill bystanders. DC seems to have far more villains that will just kill anyone or anything (especially since relaunch). I think that is why most Marvel villains seem lame but those are the villains I prefer. I could be wrong I don't buy as many comics I used too so I can only go by 90's comics and the few comics I pick up these days

[Mobe1969]

Poor Magneto. I can't express my shock reading Mutant Massacre and Fall of the Mutants to see that for a time Magneto had been relegated to being den mother to a bunch of teen mutants. And a hands off teacher too. Like WTF did he do all day? Obviously not mentoring or training them as they always seemed to be just doing stuff on their own. Did he just sit in his room reading romance novels and sipping tea?

The best marvel enemies to my mind have been each other and the government and society itself. Stuff you can relate to more :)

[Sewersaint]

Marvel villains are so lame because they are comic book villains. We all love comics here but let's be serious for a second by there very nature individuals dressed in spandex smacking each other around is inherently lame. The question shouldn't be why are Marvel villains so lame but why are they so compelling?

Consider Ultron - An evil killer robot. Lame. The Kurt Busiek Avengers storyline where Ultron wipes out a whole nation. Awesome.
Mr Fear - A Scarecrow (DC) ripoff? Lame. Wait, did he just pull off the perfect crime and ended up in jail where he controls all the guards? Awesome.
Sabretooth - The original Wolverine ripoff. Lame. Weren't we all a little disappointed when Wolverine cut off his head and we weren't going to see these two go at it one more time (even though we've seen it like a hundred times before)? Yep.
The Kingpin - He's a really fat mobster. Lame. Really, I got to come up with a good Kingpin story. OK, in honour of the recently deceased Echo, he kills Echo's father and then raises her to be his personal assassin. Awesome.
The Leader - He's got a great big green melon head and a silly moustache. Oh and he's an evil scientist too. Super Lame. Um, I'm pretty sure ol'melon head has done something cool.

Look, not every story is good and that means that there are going to be a lot of stories where Marvel villains are going to look super lame. Of course there are other times when you go - "This is why I read comics".

[timeismoney]

This group right here could walk the dog on many a Marvel superhero team.

And I can come up with just as many Marvel hero who kick their asses. Sentry solo the lot of them.

[ronedog22]

In my opinion DC villains win in most areas except cosmic. Ill take Darkseid for DC, but Marvel has made a better effort of developing a decent amount of cool cosmic villains.

One trend I hate in Marvel is that Villains like Doom and Magneto who are big bads and in many top 10 villains of all time on the level of the Joker have at least started or seemed to switch sides. The biggest offender is Magneto. He is the biggest of the bad in X-men and Marvel has him on the sidelines in a way. Out of all the X-mens enemies he needs to be making their lives a living hell.

However, on a side note I have read series, events and whatnot on both sides. Marvel has more villains in the mainstream over their whole line, but as you read DC books, their villains stick with you longer. Batman's rogues notwithstanding, delving deeper throughout DC lesser known villains do some pretty badass stuff as well.

[tigerkaya]

Y'know I had something planned but you know what screw it. This thread sucks and rather outdated. Its clear this author of the thread has some pent up aggression over the fact Avengers movie showed Thanos before DC could even show Darksied. So really I pity this OP of this thread and their lack of reading the Marvel villains and only taking the surface and not looking deeper into the well. In short no I don't hate the Marvel villains I like them more than DC's.

[Hulk_Is]

And I can come up with just as many Marvel hero who kick their asses. Sentry solo the lot of them.

So could Rulk.

But, I'm still of the mind that DC's villians > Marvel's villains.

[USERNAME TAKEN]

This group right here could walk the dog on many a Marvel superhero team.

Black Adam would solo most Marvel teams.The dude's a friggin beast.

That being said, I love Black Adam because of his characterization not just because of his power.

DC have more powerful and threatening villains but in terms of complexity and character, I would take Marvel. Hands down.

[USERNAME TAKEN]

In my opinion DC villains win in most areas except cosmic. Ill take Darkseid for DC, but Marvel has made a better effort of developing a decent amount of cool cosmic villains.

One trend I hate in Marvel is that Villains like Doom and Magneto who are big bads and in many top 10 villains of all time on the level of the Joker have at least started or seemed to switch sides. The biggest offender is Magneto. He is the biggest of the bad in X-men and Marvel has him on the sidelines in a way. Out of all the X-mens enemies he needs to be making their lives a living hell.

However, on a side note I have read series, events and whatnot on both sides. Marvel has more villains in the mainstream over their whole line, but as you read DC books, their villains stick with you longer. Batman's rogues notwithstanding, delving deeper throughout DC lesser known villains do some pretty badass stuff as well.

Ironically enough, it's the moral ambiguity of guys like Magneto and Doom (although Mark Waid will disagree) that makes these villains interesting.

These guys are not just cardboard cut outs, they have some very human and very real motivations besides being just evilll. Thats an area where DC have recently picked up on with guys like Sinestro and Black Adam.