Big Three Super-Villains

Flash did have a modern TV show, the John Wesley Shipp one (although 'modern' is a relative term, but... post-Burton Batman, at the very least), and it even had a Captain Cold, it's just it wasn't very popular.

As god/moster or as big super-villain?

Both.

As for well known DC villains after Luthor and Joker, leaving the other Batvillains (who are too street level) aside, Brainiac and Bizarro are quite well known all things considered. Hell, even Mxyzptlk, no small feat for someone whose name no one can ever spell right.

edited 4th Mar '14 1:34:14 PM by NapoleonDeCheese

Flash is possibly getting a new show; they are filming the Pilot now.

Yes but he has not had one for years. Also that other older Flash tv show's characters were nothing like the comic versions as far as I know. And I do not consider it modern as it came out and ended a year before I was born.

edited 4th Mar '14 6:59:40 PM by Saya1

If I were pick a Big Three line-up for both companies, I'd add Black Adam and Vandal Savage next to Sinestro for DC, and the Mandarin and Doom alongside Magneto for Marvel. To me, they're the ones that really hit that sweetspot in being challenging without looking overpowered, and menacing without being petty. They got style, is what they got.

edited 1st Dec '15 11:10:33 AM by indiana404

Mandarin has really fallen by the wayside, though. I think it safe to say that he's finished as a major character.

A DC big player no one has mentioned is Deathstroke.

Damn shame too. Then again, while the Fu Manchu act is no longer kosher, the current political climate is just ripe for a new and improved Crimson Dynamo.

I was going to mention Deathstroke, Deadpool and Lobo as the big three wild-cards - guys who can play heroes or villains, depending on the situation... and the paycheck involved.

I'd say the three biggest villains are Joker, Lex Luthor, and Magneto.

I'd argue that Doom could replace Luthor there.

Although Lex is more known outside of comics than Vic is.

If you mean the big three superheroes as in Superman, Batman and Spider-Man then I suggest The Joker, Catwoman and probably Lex Luthor. The Penguin and the Riddler are good alternatives.

If you mean the DC Big 3 then I'd plump for The Joker, Lex Luthor and Darkseid.

If you mean the Big 3 Avengers(because they aren't Marvel's big 3) then I suggest Ultron, Kang and maybe Loki.

That's why I'd go with Luthor over Doom. They're fairly similar - geniuses with vast wealth and power that makes them virtually untouchable by the law - but Luthor has much greater cultural impact.

I would also argue that Luthor is more relevant. Doom is the leader of a small country - who cares? While it reflects a certain degree of real-world concerns about foreign policy, it's a fairly minor thing. Luthor, on the other hand, is the leader of a major corporation. He reflects the major real-world concerns of corporate wrong-doing. That's something a lot of people think a whole lot about. He represents a lot more than Doom ever could.

Doom's an evil dictator trying to conquer the world. Luthor's a businessman - he's already got a lot more influence over the world than Doom does. People don't really care much about dictators. They care a lot about businessmen. A dictator can fund a terrorist attack that kills a handful of people. A businessman can buy a small company and put it out of business and put hundreds out of a job.

However, Doom doesn't have to worry about publicity, nor does he exist basically at the mercy of his respective capes' good will. Luthor is pretty much a non-powered Osborn, complete with a President Evil run, and I feel that, since the old carrot-top is simply not quite up to specs compared to the gypsy genius, the same can be inferred for the chrome-dome.

Both men are a product of their times of creation, though, but personally I'd rate an openly tyrannical Eastern European Evil Overlord somewhat above an American ultra-capitalist Smug Snake. Regional relevance of the archetype aside, I do have a national pride to feed.

edited 6th Mar '14 1:58:49 PM by indiana404

My problem with Lex I've gone into before but I don't rank him because he's, frankly, kinda generic. Post-Crisis, he's Kingpin writ large. His character is corrupt business man, a character you get in every genre, every medium.

Doom, on the other hand, is a comic super-villain. No excuses, no subtlety. He makes it clear from the start what you're getting with him.

Luther, to me, is famous because he's Superman's villain. He doesn't embody anything. Zod is probably as famous as him.

I don't read DC. I haven't read any DC since shortly after the Return of Superman in the '90s. So my placing of Luthor among the top 3 villains doesn't come from any particular interest in the character. It comes from how I believe a non-comic audience would view it. Doom is immensely popular . . . among comic fans. Among people with no particular grounding in comic books, Doom is a nobody. The Fantastic Four movies even made him a lot like Luthor.

The general population knows who Lex Luthor is. He's the evil CEO of an evil corporation doing evil things while pretending to be benign, making public declarations of helping people while being perfectly willing to kill millions if it'll increase profits.

I don't particularly care about Luthor. But if we're determining the biggest supervillains, Luthor is definitely on that list.

(Keeping this purely restricted to earth)

DC: Luthor, Joker, Black Adam.

Marvel: Doom, Magneto, Norman Osborn.

Once you get into space you have Thanos and Darkseid, so I'll just leave that alone for a while. Honorable mention to Ultron and Kang.

I forgot about Kang. But then, I have yet to actually read a story with him as the Big Bad.

I still say Loki's popularity needs to be taken advantage of. Women really, REALLY, like him.

He has his own series, and comic shop owners have reported women subscribing to it and pre-ordering it in noticeable numbers. So Marvel is on that.

Kang is...eh. I love him, but I can't in good conscience say he's a top tier villain in terms of recognition. Busiek made him one of the best villains around, IMO, but outside of those two arcs (Avengers Forever, and Kang Dynasty from Avengers Assemble 4 and 5), he's kind of underwhelming. It's easy to see why Ultron is generally considered a superior villain - Ultron has less appearances, but a huge proportion of them are strong stories.

edited 6th Mar '14 9:50:36 PM by TheEvilDrBolty

That, and when Ultron appears, he does stuff that really matters, like taunting Hank Pym with guilt for creating him, and then running off to murder an entire European country, or the whole Phalanx deal. Meanwhile, Kang does a lot of dumb stuff like trying to invade the Old West. He's had big moments, like Avengers Forever, or that one time Busiek had him wreck DC, but Ultron feels like a bigger deal.

To be honest, though, I hope they retire Ultron for a while. He was in Runaways, then Mighty Avengers, he was the Big Bad of the Phalanx, then another separate, non-Phalanx Ultron was finally pacified into leaving Pym alone, and then space!Ultron came back and got his own big event... I think they should put on the brakes is all I'm saying.

Undoubtedly they will, what with his big movie coming up and all

I agree though. If you want Ultron to remain someone to be afraid of, don't have him pop up all the sodding time.

I suspect that with the movie though, they'll roll-back his programming to an earlier version, a "Kid" Ultron, if you will, then give him his own title. . Course, with Ultron, that's probably mean he becomes an Atari 2600...

I have changed my mind. King Pin, Dr. Doom and Mephisto are the big three Marvel supervillains. Magneto has been too sanitized and through one too many alignment switches to count at this point. King Pin is the working man's super villain, with not one but two knockoffs running around the DC. Doom is the entitled mad scientist and evil sorcerer and Mephisto is the otherworldly menace.

Still keeping Luthor and Joker for DC with Dr. Light(male) as the third. He or Deathstroke are big deals to the titans and the terminator is too similar to the other two (by comparison).

The big three in comic books total? Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, Megatron and Bomb Queen I guess. Maybe I would substitute one of them for Bluto from Popeye.

Dr Light is a c lister. He is also considered a joke and he should never be considered one of the Big 3 Super villains. And how is Deathstroke at all like Luthor and Joker.

edited 11th Mar '14 1:59:31 PM by Saya1

He's another normal guy who outsmarts more powerful superheroes. How many of those does DC have? Dr. Sivana, Veronica Kale? Okay, Deathstroke has mild super strength that might be worthwhile on Marvel world but not DC where most super powered people fly and are class 100s (if not one millions).

Dr. Light beat and depowered The Ray without using any drawn out plans or advanced technology. Dr. Light shrugged off Superboy's heat vision. If has since become a joke forgive me but he used to be a pretty serious threat.

edited 11th Mar '14 9:57:41 PM by IndirectActiveTransport

Dr. Light just seems like a strenge choice, because we're talking about people who'd be recognized by most people, otherwise you might as well use Grodd, Mongul, or Despero.

edited 12th Mar '14 4:22:06 AM by supergod

Honestly, if all we're going for 'instantly recognizable', the big three are actually pretty obvious-

• The Joker- Like it or not, Batman has more media saturation than any costumed hero in the history of mankind (admittedly, I can't back this up offhand, but if it's not true, I'd be very surprised). And with Batman comes his opposite number; the Joker. If you're aware of the Bat, odds are that you're aware of the Clown Prince of Crime.
• Lex Luthor- Similar argument to the Joker; Superman is a household name around much of the world. And Lex Luthor is his most recognizable nemesis.
• Doctor Doom- The bad Doctor is probably the most arguable of the three, but I think that if you poked around a bit, he'd be on the list, although in his case, it's not because the Fantastic Four have the borderline unbelievable brand-name recognition that Batman and Superman do; oddly enough, I think that it's at least partially because of his name. Simply put, his name is easy to base a mild joke off of, so it crops up every so often in various media as a post-punchline zinger, nickname, whatever. Combine that with an exceptionally strong, iconic design, fifty some-odd years of being a 'name' villain, and there's going to be a certain amount of cultural awareness, by osmosis if nothing else.

In-universe, it can certainly be argued that there are other, more prominent villains, but for non-comic people? I think that these can be argued to be the best known.

I would still replace Doom with Magneto. I think he's got a lot more pop culture recognition.