Well, as far as recurring villians that were originally thought of as a good idea, I’m gonna go with The Vulture. He’s super-power? BEING OLD AND BITTER! Oh, and he has a suit that makes him fly. You know what? Half of spider-man’s enemies fly and have other powers too! Flying, by itself, is not a legitimate reason to be a super-villian!
I remember Red 9! He loved the three Fs - Football, Fighting and Women.
I remember that guy. Spidey laughed right in the guy’s face when he announced himself.
I think among Marvel villains, the Spot might take the cake. For runner-up, I give you … The Answer!
Yes, his schtick was that no matter what a hero could throw at him, he had the “answer” and could counter the attack. Someone should’ve locked him and Batman (“Dude, Batman could totally beat Kali, the Lord of the Nazgul, and everyone from ‘Kill All Monsters’ all at once—as long as he was prepared!”) in a room together and let them anticipate each other to death.
Hey…he might have a lame name, but his costume’s better than most of those mentioned, and that’s a pretty kickass power.
Tell me about it…Y’know, just once, I’d like to see one of these guys get taken down with a Punt Gun. (Or maybe a Stinger missile, now that we’re in the 21st century.)
How about Hammerhead? He was just like the Rhinoceros, only stupider-looking. Plus, he had his own crime syndicate, which he intimidated into following his lead via the ingenious and terrifying method of … um … ramming head-first into walls.
Morgan Macneil Hardy–a character who was a world threat because the writer (J. Marc deMatteis, originator of many lame-o villains) said so. I never felt threatened by him.
Of the Lee and Kirby canon, I’d have to go with the Trapster.
I like the Vulture! While the other Spidey villains are avatars of eeeevil, he’s in it for money and kicks. My kind of bad guy!
…and a sympathy vote for Spider-Man foe Fancy Dan of the Enforcers, whose “powers” consist of fast footwork and being good at judo. Not bad for a normal human, but pitting him against Spider-Man is an embarrassment – as if his stereotypical mobster outfit wasn’t embarrassing enough.
He’s even lamer in his earlier identity of Paste-Pot Pete, and deserves to be soundly mocked for both the name and the costume.
Look out! It’s the The Purple Pile-Driver!
Continuing with the purple motif, let’s have a lukewarm smattering of applause for the short-lived, yet somehow ineffectual Purple Beetle!
Tsk. What about the Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak, evil arch-nemesis of Strawberry Shortcake? Let’s all sing: Ha cha cha cha cha CHA, cha cha cha cha cha. Yah!
As for lame supervillains, you don’t get much worse than Goody Two Shoes and his Atomic Boots in the Days of Yore when Marvel engaged in wonderously profound silliness like Assistant Editors Month. The lead story – already funny – is funnier by a factor of 100 if you read Goody’s dialogue in an Arnold Schwarzeneggar accent. The back up, featuring John Byrne, is pretty funny, too.
I agree some of these are pretty stupid. But the Answer and the Calculator sound pretty awesome powers - if only they were used intellegently.
And I like the spot. I think he looks cool, and being a living portal is great! Sorry.
But on the side of good, they have Detective Chimp…
Not to mention Sam Simeon of Angel and the Ape.
If you can, get hold of the limited 4- or 5-issue series that Phil Foglio did of them about a decade back. Absolutely wonderful stuff – and he manages to tie together Angel and the Ape, the Inferior Five, and the Gorilla City in interesting ways.
Crazy Quilt. So lame, he wasn’t even known as a Batman villain - he was a Robin villain.
I can’t believe I got beaten to the punch on Turner D. Century. Bonus points for anyone who can tell us how Turner met his gruesome end (no googling!).
Spoiler alert:
Scourge! PUM… spak.
Hey, someone beat me to the “ten eyed man”. I always thought that this guy was some sort of joke between writers. “Hey, lets create the lamest villan we can think of, and then act like he’s some sort of badass, and see how many people buy it.”
Nostalgia and coffee out the nose! You owe me a new keyboard, MW-K!
Let us not forget the awesome power of Hostess Cup Cakes against… THE FOE!