Greetings nerdy list aficionados and welcome back to top 10 nerd the channel where we go
over a whole host of nerdy topics usually from comics and compile some interesting lists
for all of you.
I know the interest level varies for some of you.
Today we have a fun one it’s useless villains who are now powerful now I’m going to be
taking this from a different angle slightly and widen powerful from just physical strength
but to being a credible threat or someone who is now taken seriously be it because of
a cool plot, or an adaptation.
These villain are now no longer laughed at most of the time.
I’m Sasha and let’s give these villains their due, let’s get started.
Number 10 – Hugo Strange – this character first debuted in Detective Comics #36 (February
1940) he’s from the golden age, and is one of Batman’s first recurring villains and
the first to discover his secret identity but not in a cool way.
In an oh Bruce Wayne walked by and there was a bat shadow he’s Batman.
Hugo strange started off as a scientist who stole a concentrated light machine to take
on Batman.
He didn’t even become associated with being a doctor medical type until the 70s.
Despite his historical significance he wasn’t really much of a threat and his plots were
well pretty silly though that could be par for the course.
The Doctor Strange people have come to know and appreciate wasn’t introduced til after
crisis so post crisis on infinite earths in 1985.
Here he is a psychiatrist trying to capture Batman.
But he becomes obsessed his whole origin was tweaked it made him a much more compelling
character.
And also eventually increased his intelligence and strategizing levels.
He moved up from being a one time threat to someone who worked in the shadows and could
mobilize other threats against Batman.
Cold clinical and insane Strange began to make the leap into adaptation and has now
become a recognized character.
From appearing in video games, to Gotham to even batman the animated series.
Hugo Strange has secured his place amongst Batman’s impressive Rogue’s gallery.
Number 9 – Kite Man – Kite man comes to us from the silver age debuting in Batman
#133 (August 1960) he was man who decided the best way to commit crimes was with kite
themed weapons for what is more menacing than a kite.
This character quickly became a joke and was treated as such an inconvenience rather than
a credible threat and really his whole get up was kind of unwieldly but wait for it wait
longer than crisis we need to go all the way to DC Rebirth.
Where all of a sudden kite man got a make over and a tragic backstory.
He becomes a lynhpin in the backstory of other criminals for example working to design the
jokermobile and his villainous career was a result of failed dreams he ends up getting
dragged into events he never anticipated.
His affinity for kites is now an homage to his son it’s all sad it’s daring you to
laugh at it now in kind of an oh yeah you thought that was funny.
He becomes kite man because his son was killed and loved kites.
Killed in the war of jokes and riddles and he takes it on as the ultimate joke before
joining the joker’s side and viewpoint.
It’s an update that’s for sure.
Number 8 – Dr. Light – Dr Light has had a rocky journey as a villain we’re talking
Arthur light here not Jacob finaly.
Arthur first debuted in Arthur Light: Justice League of America #12 (June 1962) and at first
was a villain who fought against the justice league and the green lantern etc but the became
kind of a joke when he was paired up againt the teen titans the first iteration not the
cool 80s new teen titan iteration.
No the popular but aggressively hip 60s version what’s the pitch daddio.
Yeah it was kind of hard to have cred when you’re fighting teens.
However, then something would occur that would ruin light’s character for years Identity
Crisis.
This 2004 story line would turn Doctor Light into a why just cause he has no motivation
it’s literally oh I’m on the jla watch tower and sue dibney is here.
I’m evil.
So after this he was mind wiped by Zatana and this is said to be the reason for his
more kiddish switch and hence why he became a less credible villain, but then he becomes
aware of what happened and well he becomes a menace once more but for awhile writers
would just make him rapey.
The new 52 would change all this making him a mire enhanced meta human who was a threat
from the start.
I mean one could argue since he’s on teen titans go so much he’s still jokey but that’s
not a bad thing.
All villains have a function and if you end up the a villain of a teen team hey that’s
not so bad.
At least not in my opinion anyway.
Number 7 – Mr. Mind.
Captain Marvel Adventures #26 (August 1943) this is a two inch telepathic worm who is
an evil mastermind the concept is inherently silly but one of those ones that does a 180
and becomes awesome an evil worm.
It’s too good.
He formed the first super villain comic team the Monster Society of Evil don’t let your
dreams be dreams.
Still Mr. Mind would vanish for quite awhile after the folding of Fawcett comics.
A lot of Billy Batson at the time Captain Marvel’s characters were quite outlandish
and considered by some too kiddish to be utilized.
But Mr.Mind would return with avengenace in the 70s.
Now Mister Mind was never useless but he was kind of niche and less well known the concept
of him has become cooler over time the thing is he keeps being shelved people aren’t
sure what to do with him, but thanks to Shazam people are aware of this little critter again
and just how powerful he can be.
This is Mister Mind’s time to shine or at least I hope it is please give me Mister Mind
as the lead villain of a movie, I want the plushie.
Number 6 – Kraven The Hunter, scandalous some of you cry but Kraven was not always
considred the hard core cool character he is today in fact a lot of that cred can be
attributed to Kraven’s Last Hunt.
Where he quite succinctly takes down spider-man just to prove he can.
Kraven first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #15 (August 1964) he’s also the chameleon’s
half brother fun fact.
Kraven is sergei kravonoff and well here’s the thing certain spidey writers at the time
didn’t like him.
They thought he was silly it was only during last hunt storyline when DeMatteis learned
the character was Russian and it made him think he would have a tragic personality did
he even get cast in that story.
Kraven’s last hunt was initially conceived with another character and then it became
the kraven story.
This began Kraven’s ascent to beloved villain though of course some had been there all along
villain hipsters.
Kraven is now sought after to be adapted into live action whenever people here there’s
a new villain there’s always a group who is like Kraven what where.
Number 5 – Captain Cold – A lot of this is owed to the CW but not all.
Captain Cold has long been an antagonist of The Flash both Barry Allen and Wally West.
He first debuted in Showcase #8 (June 1957) Leonard snart fell prey to a rep ascribed
to the flash’s villains oft times by people who didn’t read the flash namely that his
villains were silly.
And how could cold be the opposite of fast shouldn’t his true antagonist be the turtle
man thank goodness it wasn’t.
Overtime Captain Cold would come to be the de facto leader of Flash’ rogues quasi frenemy
to the flash and one of his most well known rogues.
Then The Flash CW show happened and now many people crush on Captain Cold a move that cements
you in the public consciousness just look at low key now he’s got his own solo series
again and is wearing terribly punny shirts that cause me physical pain.
Captain cold has been credible for awhile now but I still wanted to talk about him also
cause I wanted to tell you about this hilarious classic tale where Barry Allen thought he
was captain cold.
It’s great.
Number 4- Sinestro – This may be hard for some to believe since Sinestro is so credible
now and his history is iconic but there was time when Sinestro was just kinda meh as a
villain and the sinestro core was pretty much just Sinestro with a yellow ring that only
mattered cause it was yellow and lanterns couldn’t fight against yellow for reasons.
Sinestro suffered a few resets along with hal Jordan the silver age green lantern because
thoughout the period leading up to his death the common complaint about hal and the green
lantern book in general was that it was boring with a capital B. I disagree but I read it
now I can’t speak to what it was like reading it at the time.
The time when you read things adds context to how it is received and thusly how much
you enjoy it.
It’s always important to examine these things, or you know don’t.
Sinestro first debuted in Green Lantern (vol. 2) #7
(August 1961) and was an ally to Hal at first before his true nature was revealed.
However it would be after his death at the hands of hal and his resurrection that he
would rise more powerful than ever before with a rerally lame explanation as to how
he was fine but we’ll let that go.
Sinestro would become leader of the yellow lantern corps or the fear corps his rigid
well disciplined personality making him a perfect threat to the galaxy and counterpoint
to Hal Jordan.
Sinestro is up there with the core villains now.
It was hard fought.
I’ve always liked sinestro and I don’t think I’m boring.
I’m fun!
Number 3 – The Penguin – The penguin first debuted in Detective Comics #58 (December
1941) Now the penguin started off as just your average villain distinguished largely
by his birdlike appearance and iconic umbrella at first an affectation brought on by an overprotective
mother.
He was a thief who would team up with other rogues.
And would largely vanish for a time post crisis.
But then after a tale helmed by alan grant his cred would begin to rise the aspects of
his personality that made him want to be a gentleman criminal would begin to come to
the fore his desire for sohictication which so contrasted with his appearance made an
intriguing combination and he was one of the villains to get the spotlight on the seminal
Batman the animated series which launched the dcau that being the dc animated universe.
Penguin would eventually become the owner of the ice club and cement himself as a villain
who had ties to organized crime and was about petty street level fare.
The thing is he can do both and he has friends in both worlds.
The penguin is a serious villain he’s always been around but he’s definitely increased
his credibility over the years.
Number 2 – Cat Man na nan a nan a catman.
He first debuted in Detective Comics #311 (Jan. 1963) he was Thomas Reese Blake a jungle
trapper who turned to crime cause he was bored and had wasted all his money.
He actually modelled his costume off of Catwoman and she was annoyed that he was stepping on
her turf ass a cat themed villain cause of yes he used to only go for cat themed items.
He would later adopt an African styled costume and would always suffer from the fact that
he looked like a lame batman rip off.
But then Gail Simone created the team the secret six and on it was a revamped version
of catman you know one of those attempts to make a character hardcore and awesome only
it worked larely because it acknowledged his lame past and makes fun of it.
Now Blake was grizzled a cat lover yes but no longer a hunter of them, he was a loner
and reluctant leader he was also bisexual which you’ll find out cause Gail Simone
was tweeting about it and about how she was going to make it canon next time she wrote
him.
Everybody on twitter is J.K rowling.
Still I mean it was pretty obvious he had a thing for Deadshot.
What secret six really did for catman was it made him interesting and detailed and I’m
a sucker for him and the huntress hero villain things sign me up.
He’s now been permanently upgraded to cool or so it seems.
And he even kept the costume for a bit now that’s a feat.
Number 1 – The Riddler – Now some of you may be going hold up come on, but hear me
out.
The riddler first debuted in Detective Comics #140 (October 1948) his gimmick was that he
loved riddles puzzles and fare and it would come to be an obsession that he had to leave
riddles even if they would lead to him being caught.
While the riddler wold be a threat that Batman would have to deal with it many times at the
start didn’t feel too dire it was more of a game and sometimes the riddles were well
they were lame.
But overtime the Riddler would get a cunning boost and go through phases of being menacing,
knowing Batman’s identity or planning elaborate chess like crimes where the riddles could
be multi-nuanced.
He would find legitimacy in games as a mastermind and an intriguing portrayal on Gorham arguably
one of it’s highlights.
His complexity would be increased and his desire to be taken seriously as a villain
would become a plot point.
There’s been a big push for him of late at the time of this recording like in the
changed ending of the animated hush film which is a major mileage varies moment.
Personally I’m a fan of the reformed riddler myself connor wants me to talk about Jim Carrey
Riddler but we’re talking about increasing menace and cred not taking him back to camp
although there are some moments there hints of darkness that make me wish it had been
played that way.
The riddler’s definitely up there with being able to be a threat to batman on multiple
fronts now and is finally a villain other villains take seriously as well.
So those were 10 useless villains who are now powerful who do you think should have
been on the list share all your thoughts down below.
Also thanks to those who corrected an error I had on the boys scary stories it’s always
appreciated well retcon that it’s appreciated when it’s nice and informative when it’s
rude well then it’s unappreciated and the name goes on my list.
I’m Sasha thanks so much for watching Top 10 nerd don’t forget to like share comment
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