Sandbox / Magnificent Bastard Marvel Comics

"No, mischief is a small thing, a toy that I've well used and discarded. This isn't mischief. This is mayhem. Just watch."

"If I am ever defeated or dishonored— If I ever act in ways unworthy of myself... If I ever die... The word goes out: 'It must have been a Doombot'...Doom cannot fit in such small containers. I am not my body. Not my mind. I am... I am the old trunk, filled with ancient mysteries. I am the explosion in the college laboratory. I am the mask that burns with the fires of vengeance. I am the legend that unites this nation. I am the story of Doom."

— Doctor Doom, Loki: Agent of Asgard

Marvel Comics has been a long-standing creator with a repertoire of Magnificent Bastards in their brand.

• Examples from their animated works can be found here.
• Examples from the films here (for the Marvel Cinematic Universe) or here, here and here (for other Marvel films).
• Examples from video games can be found here.

All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

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Examples with their own pages

Examples

• Spider-Man

Marvel Universe (Earth-616)

Examples

• Baron Helmut Zemo, heir to the deplorable Heinrich Zemo, eventually rejects his father's fascist ideology. One of captain America's greatest enemies, Zemo led a near perfect defeat of The Avengers in the Siege arc, ending by engaging Captain America himself and coming close to victory. Constantly returning with daring new schemes, Zemo even kidnapped abused and neglected children to give them a loving home with himself and his wife, and later formed the Thunderbolts as heroes specifically to give them cover for more villainous activities. Eventually deciding to save the world by conquering it, Zemo returns time and time again, sometimes as a deadly enemy and other times ready to defeat more evil villains than he himself, proclaiming he could never harm a world he works so hard to save.
• Victor Von Doom has been Marvel's go-to Big Bad since the 1960s, and with good reason. Rising from humble origins as a Romanian orphan in Latveria, Doom usurped their leader through a mix of magic and technology and became their new leader. An Evil Sorcerer, Mad Scientist, and tyrannical despot, Doom is respected and feared throughout Marvel's supervillain community, with both a Norse God and the Devil seeing him as someone to step lightly around. While many villains want to Take Over the World, Doom is one of the few can pull it off, and at times he's reached well beyond even that goal, grasping for godhood with both hands. Over the decades, Doom has masterminded a takeover of the planet by harnessing Purple Man's mind control abilities, defeating Mephisto to save his mother's soul by tricking Dr. Strange into helping him, took over Wakanda and defeated Black Panther by allying with the isolationist group the Desturi and during the collapse of the multiverse, helps create a combined world "battleworld" using the remains of reality where he rules as a God-Emperor. Capable of punching well out of his weight class, Doctor Doom is one of the most dangerous men in the Marvel Universe and always bears watching.
• Wilson "the Kingpin" Fisk is Marvel's greatest gangster and a consummate survivor. Having outfought, outwitted, and outlasted everyone who has ever tried to take his place, Fisk has secured his position as both New York's reigning mobster and a fixture in the supervillain community. With the capital to dominate the city and a reach that frequently spans continents, Fisk has developed the psychological torment of heroes like Matt Murdock and Peter Parker into an art form, and has left Matt's life in particular in ruins several times over. Always too stubborn to call it quits, Fisk rolls with or shrugs off everything that Marvel's heroes and villains can throw at him, while repeatedly demonstrating that only the most capable of opponents can do the same when he brings all his resources to bear on them. Having risen, fallen, and risen again, Fisk is never out of the game for long, and is always ready to show off the criminal skill and personal gravitas that made him Kingpin of Crime in the first place.
• Loki himself, Thor's wicked younger brother, is the God of Mischief and frequently forms schemes to embarrass or damage Thor and Asgard itself, which he has repeatedly taken over in some gambit or another. It is later revealed Loki even used time travel to arrange his own adoption at the hands of Odin, murdering his own abusive biological father Laufey, in a clever gambit to get revenge against Asgard in the future. Even when killed, Loki arranges to bring back his younger self and takes him over to return, simultaneously one of Thor's deadliest enemies and beloved brother, rarely lost for his charming smile and a backup plan, who defends Asgard and its people as much as he threatens it.
• Magneto himself is a Holocaust survivor who is hellbent on seeing that no such evil ever befalls the mutants. Becoming a terrorist, Magneto manipulates his followers, allies and enemies alike, constantly waging war to better the lot of mutantkind, even against his best friend Charles Xavier. At one point Magneto even blackmails the world with nuclear weapons to set up a home for Mutants, and even foiled Doctor Doom's attempts at domination at another point. Deciding to protect the world and mutants in his own way, Magneto has returned countless times to commit acts he admits are unscrupulous, but necessary, constantly keeping himself from slipping too far into true evil while protecting his people from all threats.
• Richard Fisk, son of the mighty Kingpin, is distraught to learn his father is a brutal and ruthless crimelord. Faking his death, he takes on the identity of the "Schemer," dismantling his father's criminal empire before the shock of his identity drives Wilson Fisk into a coma. To save him, Richard infiltrates HYDRA and helps his father to cripple the group before joining Fisk's operations as an underboss known as the Rose while undermining him from within. Running his own schemes on the side, Richard repeatedly shows himself to be a challenge to his father, a man he both loves and hates.
• Thanos, the Mad Titan and devotee of death, is driven to gain the love of Mistress Death herself. Constantly forming intricate new plans to seize ultimate power, Thanos shows a curious sense of honor, especially to the dying Captain Mar-Vell as he helps guide him to the afterlife. Seizing the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos erases half the life in the universe before later assisting in undoing his mistakes. Surfacing to manipulate the heroes for the occasional greater good, Thanos later dies in the Annihilation event, but not before leaving a failsafe to help stop the villain Annihilus. Later called back to life in The Thanos Imperative, Thanos arranges the destruction of the monstrous Cancerverse by his clever scheming and later returns again to even defeat his complacent, submissive future self, proclaiming that no matter what happens, only Thanos will ever define his own destiny.
• The Avengers: Kang the Conqueror, born Nathaniel Richards, turned to conquest due to being bored by a utopia in the 30th century. Forging a galaxies-wide, centuries-spanning empire by his tactical genius, Kang routinely returns to the 20th century to engage the Avengers, repeatedly outsmarting them and always coming close to ultimate victory. Combining an insatiable drive to conquer with an odd sense of honor, Kang often fails solely due to future versions of himself interfering. At one point, Kang even manages to divest his destiny from his future self and forms a council consisting of alternate Kangs, only to completely outwit and destroy them. In The Kang Dynasty, Kang razes Washington DC and masterminds a near complete take over of earth, planning even in defeat to leave his empire to his son Marcus, before being forced to kill Marcus for his betrayal when Marcus rescues him. Kang repeatedly shows he is one of the Avengers' most resilient and dangerous enemies, stopping at nothing until all he can imagine falls under his dominion.
• Captain America: Georges Batroc, "the Leaper", is a cheesy, yet surprisingly competent mercenary with a strict code of ethics and a charming wit. Capable of facing off against many heroes, including Captain America, Iron Man and Spider-Man, Batroc makes up for his lack of superpowers with a combination of tactical acumen and mastery of the fighting style "savate" to keep his enemies on their toes. Willing to work with the likes of HYDRA and Baron Zemo, Batroc nonetheless disapproves of their cruel villainy and has more than once turned on his own allies to team up with heroes in stopping a plot that crosses lines Batroc refuses to tread upon. Batroc at one point worked with Mr. Hyde to hold all of New York City ransom, only to secretly betray Hyde and help Captain America defeat him to both save the city from Hyde's wanton sadism, and reap the rewards of their ransom all for himself. Batroc has further served as a beloved mentor to Gwenpool who taught her how to better use her powers while also maintaining her heroism, and he later worked with the Thunderbolts in fighting Knull's invasion of Earth where he proved an invaluable asset. Though sometimes written as a screwball punching bag, Batroc's most recurring, and original, characterization is that of an affable, dangerous rogue who considers Captain America a Worthy Opponent.
• Daredevil:
  • Carlos LaMuerto, "the Black Tarantula", is reimagined as a far less powerful, much more heroic character. Getting out of prison on good behavior, Carlos teams up with Daredevil to take down a variety of criminals before deciding to strike out on his own, his bloodthirsty, ruthless nature clashing with Daredevil's proclivity to spare criminals. Carlos kills dozens of crooks and hands their stolen fortunes over to local charities, survives being burned alive by his dangerous cousin and tortures the man to death, and teams up with Daredevil once more to take down the entirety of the Hand, Carlos faking brainwashing to subvert the Hand from the inside. Helping Daredevil take control of the Hand, Carlos played a major role in the Hand's crime-fighting operation in New York, and served as the sole member who refused to be corrupted or driven mad by the Hand's evil influence.
  • Erik Slaughter is one of the most intelligent crime lords Daredevil ever faced. A dangerous mobster for decades who uses hired guns to do his dirty work, Slaughter first faces Daredevil by luring him into a duel with Bullseye, only for Slaughter to then step back and let the two have a fair fight, rejecting Bullseye's treacherous attempts to cheat to win. Facing down Bullseye's wrath afterwards without breaking a sweat, Slaughter apparently goes legit for years, in truth having turned into a government ally who reports on terrorist activity in exchange for his small criminal outfit being left alone. Immensely honorable and successful for his entire run as a criminal genius, Slaughter ends his stories still completely scot-free of all consequences for his actions, continuing to run his profitable gang without issue.
• Hawkeye: Kazimierz "Kazi" Kazimierczak, aka "Clown", is a deadly mercenary who has covered his identity and tracks so well over the years that he operates with impunity in showing his face and leaving his trademarks at crime scenes. With dozens of successful assassinations to his name, Clown personally takes on Hawkeye and his brother, crippling the latter while leaving Hawkeye deaf from the thrashing Clown dispenses. So charming that Kate Bishop crushes on his public guise and so efficient that his employers trust him with total control of their assets, Clown takes on both Hawkeye and Kate at once even after having his arm wounded, nearly killing them both with his tactics and skill.
• Iron Man: The Mandarin, is Iron Man's mental and physical superior, and one of the few people who Tony Stark genuinely fears. With looted alien technology at his disposal, and a worldwide network of agents prepared to do his bidding, Mandarin has nearly brought down both the American and Chinese governments, requiring Iron Man to ally with the Chinese Communist leadership and its super teams in order to stop him. Infiltrating SHIELD during the "Extermis" storyline and Iron Man's own mind during "The Long Way Down" and "The Future" Mandarin has a proven ability to turn up in places he should not, and deal incalculable damage while there.
• Moon Knight:
  • "Stained Glass" Scarlet Fasinera is one of Moon Knight's earliest and most complex villains. The widow of a violent mob boss who was forced to kill her own son when he went down a similar path of crime, Scarlet took up her signature crossbow and began an immensely successful career as a vigilante slayer of all manner of evil-doers. Staging ambushes and laying traps for entire gangs and the crime lords in charge of them to wipe them all out, Scarlet always stays one step ahead of law enforcement and Moon Knight himself, earning the hero's everlasting respect and sympathy both as she routinely saves his life from villains far worse than herself.
  • Gordon Campbell, the second Arsenal, introduces himself besting Moon Knight in a one-on-one battle before revealing the entire debacle was arranged as a Secret Test of Character for Marc Spector. A suave, badass mercenary, Campbell's intention is to replace Raoul Bushman's despotic regime over Burunda with a puppet ruler for his employers in an international drug cartel. When Spector defeats him and leaves him for the cops, Campbell effortlessly breaks his way out of custody, leaves his inept partners for jail, then proceeds to work his way into leading Burunda's La Résistance and managing to successfully execute his coup. Campbell is last seen a rich and satisfied man, happily contacting his employers to inform Burunda is under new management.
  • The Zapata brothers, Rigo and Gus, are a pair of affable and wisecracking Luchador mercenaries who pride themselves on their camaraderie and skill. Hired by the crime lord Gilberto Alcantara to locate his daughter Carmen, the Zapatas tear a path of destruction through goons and Moon Knight alike to find their target, all while joking about their Facebook accounts and love lives. When Alcantara tries to eliminate them for taking too long to find Carmen, the Zapatas tear apart the man's thugs, pretend to make amends with him, then secretly work against him to save Carmen from her abusive father's intent to murder her. So charming and clever as to outdo their employers and make allies out of Moon Knight and even the psychotic Deadpool, the Zapata brothers are some of Marvel's most impressive assassins.
  • Toltec, the "South of the Border Punisher", is a silent and brutal vigilante operating in the dregs of Mexico City. Toltec works with brutal efficiency, wiping out entire gangs through brutal subterfuge and skill. At one point, Toltec dresses up as a maid, then proceeds to sneak into and singlehandedly dismantle one of the most brutal gangs in the entire city, and when Marc Spector meets him, Toltec and he share a silent understanding with one another before Spector leaves Toltec to finish off the gang's leader.
  • "The Sun King" is the charismatic avatar for the sun god Ra, using his powers of flame to escape the asylum he has been locked in for years and quickly establish an entire power base under his heel. Conscripting Moon Knight's Arch-Enemy Bushman and other foes to his cause, Sun King creates his own island civilization for other "freaks" like himself to live in peace, while giving Moon Knight one of the hardest fights of his life both physically and spiritually. Though beaten and locked away by Moon Knight, Sun King doesn't take the opportunity for revenge when presented it by the vile Nazi Ernst, instead manipulating then promptly betraying Ernst and his entire society to team up with Moon Knight and dismantle their mutual foes before parting ways peacefully and honorably.
• The Tomb of Dracula: Count Dracula himself, Vlad Tepes, was a brilliant warlord and strategist in life who battled the Ottoman Empire. Becoming a vampire and seizing the title of Lord of Vampires, Dracula devoted his unlife to conquest with as much ruthless intelligence as ever. Dracula manipulates a promise from warrior Solomon Kane to preserve his life at a crucial moment. Having survived the events of the novel Dracula by cleverly turning into mist at his moment of "death", Dracula later steals the bride of Satan while constantly eluding the vampire hunters of Quincy Harker while displaying a love for those close to him, even defending children from other vampires when they are kind to him once he has lost his strength. Dracula later masterminds the creation of a vampire state, nearly taking over Britain and later returns to even strip himself of his ancient weakness of sunlight by taking the blood of Wolverine.

Other continuities

Examples

• Batman & Captain America: This incarnation of the Joker lacks many unsavory traits of other versions. Receiving information from a mysterious figure, he decides to use a nuclear weapon to blackmail Gotham City into paying him $1,000,000. He first plans to build his own nuke, successfully obtaining radioactive material and cleverly escaping from Batman in the process. When this approach fails after Batman and Captain America foil an attempt to kidnap Robert Oppenheimer, he changes tack and decides to steal a prototype atomic bomb. After succeeding, he learns that his informer is Red Skull. Declaring his hatred of Nazism, Joker tries to kill the Skull, and helps foil his plan to nuke Washington, D.C. Years later, he helps plot and execute a scheme to permanently De-power Superman, only narrowly failing. Then he spends several years masquerading as his own non-existent successor as part of a long-term ploy to kill Dick Grayson, the second Batman, cheerfully turning himself in after he succeeds. Some time later, tormented by Dick's vengeful ghost, he refuses to break, and when he realizes his death is inevitable, he accepts it with quiet grace. Ruthless, witty, and able to roll with the punches, the Joker demonstrates that he's earned his title of "Clown Prince of Crime".
• Batman/Daredevil: In this universe, Two-Face is a supervillain and former lawyer who attended law school with Matt Murdock. Two-Face steals the formula for an organic computer from Wayne Tech and goes to NYC and teams up with Mr. Hyde. Hyde and Two-Face go on a crime spree and kill some civilians. Two-Face is giving Hyde pills to increase his intelligence. Those pills are in fact the formula for the organic computer and the more pills Hyde takes and the more adrenaline he uses, the faster the computer will grow in his brain until it kills him. Two-Face will go on to sell the computer to the highest bidder. Two-Face almost succeeds, only stopping after Daredevil appeals to his humanity and stops Hyde from killing a teenager.
• Dark Ages (Marvel Comics): Doctor Doom is once again depicted like he is in mainline canon, as a brilliant mastermind, albeit more antiheroic than normal. After being ousted as the ruthless dictator of Latveria, Doom relocates and uses his genius to help rebuild the rest of the world with the heroes of Marvel. Doom helps the heroes as they take on Apocalypse and his armies, well favoring ruthless and underhanded actions. Doom uses Nightcrawler to disable Apocalypse's control over his armies by sneaking up on him. Doom also manipulates Apocalypse's second in command Dracula to turn on his master Apocalypse and turn Apocalypse into a vampire, leaving an opening for Blade to destroy both vampires and allow the world a new and more bright age.
• Maestro (Earth-9200): Doctor Doom is a Latverian conqueror who managed to survive nuclear armageddon by travelling through time. Collaborating with the Maestro, he plots to Take Over the World and rule over the remains of humanity with an iron fist. To that end, he approaches the Pantheon and manipulates them into serving his goals with the pretense of deposing the Maestro's rule. Briefly ruling Dystopia in the Maestro's stead after he was imprisoned by the Pantheon, Doom announces his position of power as the gamma-powered tyrant wipes out both the Pantheon and A.I.M., eliminating all threats to their joint rule. Anticipating that the Maestro would try to kill him, he takes an antitoxin to avoid death by poisoned wine during a brief luncheon, which is followed by a fight between the two dictators. Although his armor is destroyed and he is brutally beaten by the Maestro, Doom exploits the distraction of his facial scars to retrieve his mask and teleport to safety. Just as cunning and manipulative as the Maestro, Doctor Doom was a formidable opponent to the former Hulk on both a physical and intellectual level as well as a competent dictator in his own right.
• Marvel 2099 (Earth-928): Sophia Striker, once the first lady to President Graeme Stryker, became known as "Seeress" after corporations ruined the entire planet. The Seeress became The Dragon to Dethstryk—the new Graeme—and, secretly loathing what her husband had become, plotted for decades to undermine him. After a number of failed uprisings she attempted by convincing would-be Mutroud rebels to attempt coups, the Seeress eventually turned to manipulating Ravage, trying to use him as a pawn in her attempts to thwart Dethstryk. In spite of numerous setbacks, the Seeress is the one to screw Dethstryk over once and for all, installing a posthumous "death program" to depower Dethstryk, leaving him to the mercy of Ravage, and using her last moments to try and ensure peace between the humans and the Mutroids.
• Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness: Doctor Doom, the ruler of Latveria, becomes humanity's last hope to survive the Zombie Apocalypse. After capturing young and healthy Latverians to ensure his people can repopulate - and thus leaving the elderly and sick to die - Doom secures his castle, even managing to kill a zombie Goliath with missiles. As the infection continues to spread, Doom holds back the zombie horde, all while building a portal to evacuate the survivors to another universe. Even when infected by his hated enemy Reed Richards, Doom holds off his infection long enough to save Ash and the survivors and get them through the portal, staying behind to ensure it closes and successfully saving his people.
• The Punisher:
  • A Man Named Frank, by Chuck Dixon and John Buscema: Frank Castle becomes a murderous, unflappable Bounty Hunter after witnessing his family's slaughter, swearing vengeance on all those responsible. Using his position to gain information on his targets and slowly but surely pick them all off, even taking them on in bars full of enemies and always coming away victorious with superior tactics and gunfighting, Frank eventually allies with the corrupt Angus MacCauley simply to weed out more info while working with his connections. Frank ultimately kills all those responsible for his family's deaths, but refuses to stop there, instead murdering MacCauley himself and promising to punish all those who would do harm to innocents.
  • MAX (Earth-200111): Frank Castle himself has waged a one-man war on crime for decades as a way to punish both the guilty and himself. At one point, Frank even gets himself arrested and sent to Riker's Island, just so he can put into play a scheme to murder the men who killed his family. Constantly demonstrating a wicked intelligence, Frank constantly manipulates criminals into traps and Out-Gambits others who try to get the best of him, before finishing his enemies off, not afraid to expose himself—or his foes—to injury, torture, or death in the process. Even when faced with the unexpected, Frank is constantly able to rebound and get the better of his enemies, often tolerated by the police for his inflexible moral standards even as he leaves a mountain of guilty corpses behind him. In the final arc, Frank goes against the Kingpin himself, who now owns the criminal underworld of New York, deprived of much of his own former assets, and ends up completely destroying his operation before finishing him off, remarking only "Your city, my world."
• What If?:
  • Vol. 1 issue #52: Doctor Doom is once again depicted as a brilliant and charismatic mastermind. He comes under the tutelage of the Ancient One to become this reality's version of the Sorcerer Supreme. Doom is so Crazy-Prepared that he predicts a murder attempt by Baron Mordo and instead turns him into his mind-controlled servant. Doom and the Ancient One outwit Mephisto to save the soul of Doom's beloved mother. When Dormmamu invades, Doom responds by sending him to New York, where he knows the resident heroes can hold him off while he has the Fantastic Four discreetly get a stone that can be used to banish him. Defeating Dormmamu at the cost of his life, Doom reveals he's even prepared for this and has his Doombots kidnap the innocent Dr Strange and overwrite his mind with that of Doom. A brilliant and analytical mastermind, Doom ultimately wins and gains the power of the Sorcerer Supreme for eternity.
  • Infinity — Thanos: Thanos, The Mad Titan himself, used the war between the heroes of his universe and the Builders to achieve his own goals. Offering his help to Avengers, Thanos easily manipulated all of them, earning the trust of every hero aside from Captain America. Leading the heroes and his forces to finish off the Builders for good, Thanos reveals that his true motivation was to take his revenge upon the Builders for corrupting his son. As Captain America discovers this, Thanos manages to kill him, before convincing Avengers to let him take Captain America's place, effortlessly convincing them that he was murdered by enemy forces. Gaining influence over Earth, Thanos tracks down Illuminati in Necropolis and offers them a deal that they can't refuse.
  • Peter Parker Became The Punisher: Peter Parker himself is the deadly Anti-Hero The Punisher. Tracking down and murdering the man who killed his Uncle Ben, Peter becomes a ruthless Vigilante Man dedicated to protecting his loved ones at all costs. With a combination of cunning tactics and custom ammunition designed to target his enemies specific weaknesses, he effortlessly dispatches the Sinister Six in brutal fashion adding the Kingpin along the way while being content to let rival gangs thin each other out in random gang violence. When Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin kidnaps his beloved Gwen Stacy, Peter shoots him on the spot and succeeds in saving Gwen. Regretting his actions, Peter abandons his vigilante lifestyle for a peaceful married life with Gwen but not before leaving his shredded costume trashed in a back alley for a young war veteran named Frank Castle who just lost his family in a mob hit to discover.

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