Greatest Archenemy

It seems the most popular superheroes in comic books all have amazing rogues' galleries. However, which villain in your opinion is the greatest in concerns of opposing the hero?

PJ Maybe, because he's the anti-Dredd.

Maybe is rather weak and unintimidating, and rarely has real authority. However, by using his intelligence and creativity, he is able to not only pull off inventive and memorable murders, but get himself elected mayor of Mega-City One to popular acclaim.

If Dredd is a hammer, Maybe is a scalpel.

I am very partial toward Ultron. It's definitely an accomplishment that he is 1. powerful enough to take on the Avengers believably, 2. a villain who has actually affected the personal lives of the entire team, 3. quirky enough to stand out a little. (My issues with Bendis's and EMH's Ultron interpretations is that they are too post-Asimov AI villain - I love Ultron as a ridiculous pre-Asimov evil robot with very human obsessions and quirks.)

Magneto.

Nvm

edited 4th Jul '13 3:01:32 PM by SaintDeltora

I'd go with The Joker.

Ultron is great. I especially liked Busiek's Ultron story. I wish they'd used him as the archenemy for the films.

edited 4th Jul '13 4:49:40 PM by C0mraid

Im a Superman fan so naturally I'm going to say Lex Luthor, simple because he represents us when we are at our pettiest and greediest. That being said though, Superman has so many other villains who are just as deserving of the title simply due to the thematic nature of their existence.

Brainiac is how we view aliens. He's cold, ruthless, overly logical and has no clear sense of morality or at least one we can understand.

Bizarro is essentially Humanity with all the capabilities and potential of Superman, but lacking the mental abilities and mindset to do anything of any great accomplishment.

Superman is the ultimate immigrant, General Zod therefore is the ultimate reminder of the "Old Country". For a university assignment I actually interviewed refugees, survivors and the remaining families of victims of the Holocaust, the Spanish Civil War and the Rwandan Genocide. When I explained to them the character concept of Zod, nearly all of them agreed that it was a character like that, that forced them to leave or caused them so much trouble.

In terms of countering and playing off of the hero's personal strengths and weaknesses, I'd go with the Joker and Batman's Rogues Gallery in general - given that they're pretty much all written to be personal or ideological foils to him in some way (a great deal of them are some manner of Evil Counterpart, at least partially, and emphasize various things about their hero). Lex Luthor's really good at that too.

In terms of being just a straight up effective direct counter to the hero, I've always liked the Reverse Flash for that. I think Flash's powers are particularly interesting for a "what if someone more wicked or disturbed had that kind of ability" spin, and the kind of battles it creates are spectacular.

For me it's Lex Luthor, simply because he's the most "relatable" villain for me. He's a villain I feel easily exists in reality and in our current society represents the zenith for many people. I do commend his determination in his role.

I'd probably go with Doctor Doom, given how strongly he opposes the Fantastic Four thematically. The FF are all about moving forward to the future, family, and using technology to explore, build relationships, and broaden horizons. Doom tends to represent some of the most negative aspects of the past, isolation, and using technology and magic to conceal, control, and conquer.

Plus he has an amazing design, semi-sympathetic motivation, and some truly admirable traits like his brilliance, his unbreakable will, or his code of honour.

I'd joke that the best archenemy is King Ghidorah, except that the OP put "in comic books" at the top, thus ruining the potential for such a joke.

At the risk of sounding like a follower, therefore, I'll go with Lex Luthor. He's got one of the longest continuous publishing histories of any archnemesis, including many periods in which he was the only villain of note in the Superman comics. Throw in a great contrast with his hero, his dominant status within the DCU's villain community, and the fact that unlike many villains, he can carry his own stories, and you've got a great character.