Villainous Valour / Comic Books

---

• The final Brian Michael Bendis Avengers story (for now) has the classic original four Avengers (if Hulk was there it'd be everyone) Thor, Giant Man, Iron Man, and Captain America head to the 'Microverse' to rescue the presumed-dead last classic Avenger, Janet Van Dye. They find her involved in battle with a villain named Lord Gouzer, and assist her in his defeat. They return to the normal world, only to find Lord Gouzer taking advantage of their process to follow them for revenge...and due to plot circumstances, finds himself confronted by both then-current Avengers teams, who had gathered to provide backup if needed. So what does Gouzer do when confronted with 20+ superheroes, seven or eight them VERY heavy hitters? HE CHARGES AND IMMEDIATELY ATTACKS THEM. True, he had no idea who they were, and the assembled Avengers (heh) stomp him into the ground in about ten seconds, but still...points for effort and balls.
• Baron Zemo, archenemy of Captain America and the Avengers, frequently has moments like this. Despite being a normal human being who's only real physical advantage is good combat training, he's always taking on enemies that should be way beyond his abilities. Captain America is a Super-Soldier who's famous for being the ultimate badass, and yet Zemo never hesitates to grab a blade and leap into battle with Cap. This is a guy who once took on Captain Universe in a one-on-one fight and won, using nothing but his own wits and manipulation skills to briefly get himself imbued with reality warping powers.
• Batman villains:
  • Admit it, it takes balls to go up against the Goddamn Batman when your motif is penguins because you have the physique of one.
  • The Scarecrow's own phobia is the constant fear of Batman himself. That's right: the one and only thing in the world he himself fears is the thing he is most constantly willfully opposing, and someone whom he frequently seeks out and starts the fight with of his own accord. Although it may not so much be valor as a sort of emotional masochism... He craves fear.
• Marvel's Iron Man faces some opponents who clearly can't match his technological advantage. Whiplash/Blacklash must have solid steel cajones, given that he repeatedly goes up against Iron Man armed with... a titanium whip and nothing else. No power armour, no magic, no lasers, no nothing. Similarly, the audience is almost always rooting for Ghost to come out of the story okay despite the fact that he's a supervillain. His odd code of honor, cleverness, and sheer bravery in taking on a guy decked out in power armor means that it's next-to-impossible to not like the guy.
• Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire: Even though you know that the Pogs are the bad guys at that point, it's hard to not get a bit misty-eyed when a single rifle platoon gets sent out to fight J-bots and Uligb mercenaries. The platoon leader's response says it all:
  "Awright, you heard the impossible order! FIGHT!"
• Copperhead has a couple in the second arc.
  • Brexinfoyle is an unrepentant criminal who resents Budroxifinicus for working with the enemy, baiting Brex into a fight, and using Brex as a landing cushion. He refuses to take any of it personally and offers Boo a quick death when ordered to execute him.
  • Zolo fearlessly faces down the posse sent to kill him knowing he'll only get one shot off. He spends it on his brother, sparing the latter from the consequences of the justice system.
• Cossacks: The protagonist's main nemesis and former superior in the armies of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the ruthless Blood Knight Polish hussar Sigismond, is Not Afraid to Die in battle against the Sipahi at the end of the album, and he fights with all the rage and bravery of a berserker. Karlis (the protagonist) recognizes both this and the fact that it allowed some of the hussars to survive the battle.
• Crisis on Infinite Earths: It's an Evil Versus Evil scenario, but you've got to give Superman's pre-Crisis Evil Counterpart, Ultraman credit, flying into the Anti-Monitor's antimatter wave in a last attempt to save Earth-3 from destruction. When Power Ring demands to know what he's doing he gives a classic Superman smile and replies "What I have done all my life. I fight to the very end."
• In Daredevil, Wilson "The Kingpin" Fisk is many things, but a coward is not one of them. For instance, when he is confronting a criminal committee who is trying to run his criminal organization, their hired killer, Bullseye, steps up behind Fisk and is ready to shoot him in the head. Without breaking a sweat or his cool, Fisk is able to persuade Bullseye to work for him to the point where the maniac happily lights his cigarette and offers to kill his former employers.
• Doctor Doom may be a ruthless would-be conqueror with a senseless vendetta against Reed Richards, but he also is a ferocious force to be reckoned with when the people of Latveria are oppressed by others, as the insane Prince Zorba found out. Also see the video example on the main Villainous Valour page.
• In Godzilla: Rulers of Earth, you might just, to your own surprise, find yourself rooting for Zilla when he goes up against the original Godzilla in Issue #2, pitting his tunneling skills and strategic thinking against the King of the Monsters' Nigh-Invulnerability, atomic Breath Weapon, and superior size. Despite these odds Zilla — both the antagonist and The Scrappy in the eyes of most — acquits himself well, out-strategizing Godzilla for most of the fight and eventually escaping.
  • Cryog commander Rhizon has this as well, when King Ghidorah ravaged the Cryog homeworld their emperor Karkaro fled the planet while Rhizon stayed to gather survivors and later when the aforementioned emperor hyjacks his earth invasion and executes his crew Rhizon remains Defiant to the End and has the upgraded Gigan destroy Karkaro's fleet with him in it.
• Skurge the Executioner in "The Death and Life of Skurge the Executioner", a Thor graphic novel. Single-handed, he held off an army of the dead. "He had a grin and a gun and the grit to do it."
  And when a new arrival asks about the one to whom even Hela bows her head, the answer is always the same: he stood alone at Gjallerbru, and that answer is enough.
• Paperinik New Adventures examples:
  • The reason the Time Police had so much trouble catching the Raider was that he knows when to run or surrender, but whenever he has reason to fight on anyway he will provide ample evidence of just why he was the one enemy Paperinik could never defeat in combat. His most valorous moment is when he was staring right in the face of a forming space-time anomaly that would erase all of history and he simply jumped in to try and prevent it from forming.
  • Evronian generals may have a leg up due their species' trouble feeling emotions, but they're invariably good fighters, willing to take on ridiculous odds to complete their mission. Their crowning moment is when the rogue general Trauma, who is openly stated to not be emotionally crippled, had to face Moldrock knowing that his psychic powers to make people relive their worst fears were the only thing that could possibly stop him but that for it to work he had to come close to the Physical God... And, with some cunning, he brought a god to kneel before him.
  • Moldrock, the Galactic Conqueror, proved his mettle when he was subjected to Trauma's powers while being especially vulnerable to them, and, after being brought to his knees for a second, he rose up and punched out Trauma.
• The Punisher MAX: General Zakharov, "the Man of Stone" got his nickname during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan where he solved the problem of the mujaheedin hearing attack helicopters coming and escaping before the choppers could get there by forcing the civilian population of mountain villages out to the cliffside (knowing the menfolk were across) and push the civilians off the cliff (when a woman gave him her baby out of desperation, he threw the baby off the cliff himself). When the mujaheedin responded with More Dakka, he didn't move an inch, allowing the helicopters to come in undisturbed and kill them.
• Although his role as a villain is questionable, Secret Six's Catman has gone toe-to-toe with the big black Bat every so often, and the fights usually end in a draw. Which may make Catman the poster boy for this, considering this is Batman we're talking about.
• Pictured is Darth Vader in Star Wars: Vader Down, where his ship is downed in the proximity of a Rebel base, and everyone on the planet jumps at the chance of finally taking him out. Obviously, things don't go as they expected.
  • Later on his series, he ends up being hunted by a sizable amount of imperials, and he takes them all on. He even turns off his respirator to be stealthier. Mind you, Vader requested this hunt to begin with. Hell, Tarkin is this in the comic! He hunts the Dark Lord of The Sith, second only to the Emperor, and defeats him head-on. But Vader being Vader, chokes him just before fainting.
• Given that Superman is practically the poster boy for the Invincible Hero (at least according to some) and his arch-nemesis is an unpowered human, it would be a shock if this never happened in his stories. Grant Morrison has commented on this and considers it a vital part of Lex's character; you have to, on some tiny level, root for Lex to at least come out of the story ok for the simple fact that he's a normal man trying to battle a demigod, typically armed only with his wits and whatever finances/tools he can get his hands on.
• James Roberts and John Barber's Transformers run has several examples:
  • Overlord's Dragon Stalker is a brutal sadist who horrifically tortures one of the Wreckers... but when he's wounded and outnumbered by the heroes, he goes down defiantly fighting through a mixture of courage, anger, and sheer insanity. He dies, but manages to kill Wreckers' mole who sold him out before he does. Considering how the rest of Overlord's henchmen flee or beg for mercy the second things go south, it's pretty impressive.
  • When the Lost Light crew corners Pharma and First Aid aims a huge freaking gun at him, Pharma shows remarkable courage, mocking First Aid and practically daring him to go through with it. His jabs hit their mark and First Aid shoots him dead.
  • An Evil Versus Evil example is Blip. He's just normal guy who's deluded himself into thinking he's a monster, but when the Decepticon Justice Division finds and horribly tortures him, he stands up to them and calls out Tarn as the hypocrite he is. Especially impressive as the previous victim of the DJD, Black Shadow, died pathetically begging for his life despite being far more powerful than Blip.
  • When Galvatron is cornered by Optimus and his team, he immediately takes them on despite being badly outgunned. Subverted/deconstructed, as he only did so because he thought he could make a bargain with them. The second he realizes that Optimus is just going to kill him then and there, he breaks down into terrified begging for mercy.
• Ultimate Marvel:
  • Ultimate Spider-Man: We have to give it to the thief that killed Ben: he got over the initial shock to see a man with superhuman strength who sticks to walls, and tried to counter attack. He was dispatched easily, but still...
  • Scourge, who does not seem to have any noteworthy power, is attacked by the All-New Ultimates: Black Widow, Kitty Pryde, Cloak and Dagger. He manages to elude all of them and escape.
• The X-Men graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills:
  • Anne is one of the chief "Purifiers" (elite paramilitary soldiers) for the story's Big Bad, Reverend William Stryker. She's shown to be cool and ruthless in her attacks on mutants, who (as per Stryker's preaching), she genuinely believes to be evil. There's a scene in which she and other Purifiers are in an elevator, taking captives to a basement level of their base, when Magneto yanks the elevator out of the building and through the air (they don't call him the Master of Magnetism for nothing, baby!) and his erstwhile allies, the X-Men, enter the little chamber, recover the captives, and take the Purifiers prisoner. All, that is, except Anne, who escapes by prying the door open, leaping out of the elevator, and (barely) catching herself on the edge of the base's roof. Wow. The lady may be whack, but she is brave, determined, and impressive. It's hard not to feel at least a little sympathy for her later, when she discovers she's a mutant herself, and Stryker, her revered mentor, casts her away because of it.
  • Stryker himself is a brave and competent man, though elderly and so less of a fighter, but as a highly decorated combat veteran with God on his side, he is not afraid to stare down a mutant Übermensch himself, though he is an ordinary man without any sort of superpowers.

---