In the thread about insanely powerful super-villains who nonetheless inexplicably lose much of the time, I mentioned “overbilled” villains who can’t live up to the writers’ hype. Who are examples of the opposite; that is, are much more competent and dangerous then they’re usually given credit for? A hypothetical example would be someone who lives as a common street punk- only they’re the toughest, baddest, most formidable street punk in the Western world. Perhaps Obnoxio the Clown counts; in one story he actually managed to hold his own against the X-Men in their own headquarters! (Although I don’t know if he’s considered a mainstream Marvel character or not.)
Sandman
The Shocker
The Unicorn (snicker). Though he DID beat the Avengers once, so perhaps.
I have a couple of favorites here:
Arcade: he’s like a combination of an evil Tony Stark plus Doctor Doom, but better. His robots mimic the powers of any superhero, so he can design weapons like Cyclops’ optic blasts, Thor’s lightning, etc. He rivals Doctor Doom’s knowledge of robotics, and on at least one occasion I can remember, Doctor Doom asked him to build robots for him. He has easily captured the X-men (and Spiderman) on several occasions, and nearly killed them. Usually, one member of the group escapes, then frees the others from their traps. Therefore, without that one lucky hero, the rest would all die.
Klaw: he is the only supervillain that also uses Vibranium, the mystical metal used in Captain America’s shield, but he uses it as a sound gun. Klaw and Cap should be a huge heads-up battle of opposites, like Green Lantern vs Sinestro, but it never caught on with fans.
The Trapster/Pastepot Pete: He’s a somewhat underpowered villain, but I really like the way his traps include psychology and timing. Simply by immobilizing a hero, he can effectively neutralize up to say a class 10-20 hero like Spiderman or the Thing.
Red Skull: Not really unknown, but sorely underutilized. What really resonates about him is his utter disdain for humanity and democracy. The depth of his character and dialogue puts him heads and shoulders over much more powerful villains like Dormmamu, Thanos, Ultron or Kang. He should be featured as a villain for many different heroes if only he was a little bit stronger, like Norman Osbourne. Imho, when the Red Skull had the cosmic cube, that kind of shut the door on him becoming a villain across all comics rather than just as a convenient ideological foe of Captain America.
Bullseye: Probably the best non-super supervillain ever made, he’s quietly disappeared. Imho, he should be put up one-on-one vs the best Marvel has to offer:
“You’re good…But I’m magic.” Probably one of the best villain lines ever.
Namor, the sub-mariner: They never really decided which way to develop him, as a misunderstood hero or as a noble villain, but he always got stuck on second-rate teams like the Defenders. Maybe it’s good that he never really went anywhere…look at the horrible abortion Aquaman became.
Actually Bullseye has been quite visible. Check out Thunderbolts.
The Taskmaster. He’s finally started to get some respect in recent years, but for the longest time he seemed to be regarded as barely a B-list villain. I’ve always thought he was a cool character, and I loved his appearance in Moon Knight a couple years ago.