A simple question for the guys and girls with encyclopedic comic book knowledge out there:
We all know there’s some superheroes that are frequently subjected to ridicule (Aquaman comes to mind - even Letterman questioned his manhood on the Late Show the other day). But who was the single worst, lamest, and plain dumbest supervillain ever created in comicdom? I’m talking about the guy that was standing in the back when all the cool powers/gimmicks/backstories where handed out.
The Calculator comes to mind.
Bah. The Letterman I know would never question his own manhood. He’d just take the M from his varsity sweater, and use it to cover over whatever twisted evil misspelling the Spellbinder had attacked with this time around.
I’ve always considered The Riddler, whose one and only shtick was to tell Batman his plans and hideout location, a complete waste. He’d get away with everything if he stopped leaving detailed clues all over the city.
Marvel had an X-men villan in one issue that was called “Ice Scream” and could change himself into any flavored ice cream and ooze under doors etc.
I asked a comic book store owner essentially the same question for a story I was writing: What was the stupidest Spider-man villain. He immediately pointed out The Kangaroo whose power was a super hopping ability. Alas, Marvel realized their mistake and killed him off pretty quick.
I had to make do with The Rhinoceros. That was probably why Stan Lee turned it down. 
The Cameleon was also pretty lame, not so much for his power (he could disguise himself as anyone he wanted), as for the fact he always chose to disguise himself as Peter Parker, so Spider-Man had little trouble spotting him.
Though he really was a first-class villain, lots of people make jokes about Super Gorilla Grodd. He was one of The Flash’s most dangerous enemies, but the concept is too much for people to accept these days (especially since the TV version on Super Friends was just plain stupid).
There was also Egg Fu – a giant “Red Peril” villain shaped like an egg who went after Wonder Woman. Stupid and racist to boot: a winning combination! 
And, frankly, with all the dissing of Aquaman, he was nowhere as bad as Robbie Reed and Dial H for Hero.
The Ten-Eyed Man
A blind crimimnal who, in a prison experiment, had optic nerves impanted in his fingers, enabling him to see from them. Okay, kinda freaky (in the deformed muderer vein of Batman and Dick Tracy) and not totally useless (he can see around corners and behind him), but what made him utterly lame was how everyone (including Batman, for God’s sake!) acted like this “power” made him the most dangerous super-felon since Gorilla Grodd!
I mean, the guy can see where he points. Oooh! Scary! He can’t make a fist or grip a gun without losing sight of his opponent. He can’t cross the street wearing gloves! Wiping himself is a greusome ordeal. Geeze. When Bats finally put him away they had to lock him in steel mittens, blinding him, since he was so dangerous. Christ.
Make your own masturbation joke here.
DC also has WAY too many super-gorillas. OK, there’s Grodd, Nnamdi, Solovar, (and the other gorillas of Gorilla City) Ultra-Humanite (sort of), and Monsieur Mallah, that I can think of…still that’s pushing the number of super-gorillas a little far.
The first one that comes to mind is Spidey’s enemy, “The Spot.” It was like the writers saw the “Sea of Holes” sequence in the animated Yellow Submarine and thought it was a great concept for a character.
It wasn’t.
Then you obviously haven’t read the “Hush” storyline (long story short: of late he has not only deduced Batman’s secret identity, he also knows who killed the Joker’s wife [from before he was the Joker] - although the latter was mostly due to luck). Although it may indicate that SOMEONE at DC generally agrees with you, if you see it as a step to trying to “redeem” the character.
As for the Chameleon, three points: 1) how is the pointed out “flaw” his fault? 2) the commentary is evidently based on older stories, with little shrift given to more modern stuff, and 3) if he’s at all “lame” these days, it’s because of the whole insanity/schizophrenia thing he was hobbled with, which I never liked.
Anyway, read Wizard magazine sometime; they LOVE to dredge up lame villains (and my GOD are there lame ones) from the past, like Crazy Quilt. This month’s issue has a layout of covers from Luke Cage with examples of generally offensive villains, mostly based on 70’s blaxploitation stereotypes.
Turner D Century.
A foppish dandy who had a handlebar moustache, wore an outdated suit and straw hat and carried an umbrella. He didn’t like young people and would set them on fire using his umbrella. He also had a flying bicycle built for two, the back seat of which was occupied by a mannequin he dressed up in an old-fashioned pink dress and bonnet.
He had created an old-fashioned “horn” that when used would kill everyone under the age of 65. But it didn’t work, so Spiderman just beat him senseless and they threw him in prison.
Legion of Super-Heroes…Doctor Mayavale.
This guy supposedly was re-incarnated 1000 times and was so good, he was told he need to commit evil to achieve karmic balance. So, in 30th-century intergalactic space, he went around in a 1970’s-vintage subway car, sported a white Afro, a button that says “I like Ike” and six extra arms.
He’s definitely the biggest laughingstock of a villain in Legion fandom.
Quoted from Reality Chuck:
A couple of years ago we had a similar thread here, and I suggested Egg Fu s the worst villain. As a kid, I was actually embarassed to be seen reading this, and I thought it was ridiculous and racist even then. Here’s a page with a partial pic of Egg Fu, along with some of the other bad villains:
He sounds awesome to me.
What about Cock-knocker from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back?
I remember that issue. I don’t know if that counts – because it was Assistant Editors’ Month and Eye Scream was intended as a “joke” villain. In fact, that was the driving force for the plot – he wanted to take down the X-Men because he was painfully aware their mutant powers made his look ridiculous by comparison. For this thread, let’s stick with villains who, to their creators, probably seemed like a good idea at the time.
Way back when, I read an issue of Spider-Man where Spidey went up against a villain called The Ringer.
The guy had a super-suit that permitted him to create rings and ringlike objects by condensing the air pollution into a circular shape. Basically, what we had here was a villain who had an endless supply of metallic hula-hoops to throw at you.
Even Spidey didn’t take him seriously, and beat him stupid.
Around that same time, Spider-Man fought another, even dumber villain, called Red Nine, who looked like an idiot football player with no helmet.
Red Nine was a dippy teenager who’d wandered into his uncle’s research laboratory and found the exoskeletal suit that Unc was working on. The kid put it on and found that he had super-strength and could fly.
…so what does he do with it? He thinks it would be fun to go get in a fight with Spider-Man. Yup. That’s it. No robbery. No mayhem. No murder. No impressing girls. He wants to go tussle with Spider-Man.
Whereupon Spidey beat the doodle out of him and handed him over to the cops. Red Nine was very unhappy about the destruction of the super-suit. Apparently, jail didn’t bother him so much as getting his uncle mad at him.
At least Spidey didn’t take his lame villains very seriously…
…and now that I think about it, during the seventies, I seem to remember a whole horde of villains that, despite cosmic power, earthshaking potency, and might beyond the comprehension of mortal man…
…folded up like card tables when Spidey or Batman or someone threw Hostess Fruit Pies at them…