Tag Archives: comic book villains

Multiple Villains and Spider-Man Movies

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Thomas Mets

There used to be the argument that the best superhero films (excluding team series like X-Men) were those with one villain. Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Spider-Man 2 were pretty good. Spider-Man 3, Daredevil, the Burton produced Batman sequels, Superman … Continue reading →

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Sympathetic Villains in Serial Fiction

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Thomas Mets

Some of the best villains are quite sympathetic. Khan had legitimate grievances in Star Trek II. Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca mourned her former boss. Frankenstein’s monster wasn’t the one who initiated the violence. Gollum was driven insane by the ring. Hans … Continue reading →

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Venom and Carnage, A History Lesson

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Thomas Mets

It’s worth looking at the histories of Venom and Carnage, as it’s something that writers and editors can learn from. It  provides a model of how the company responded to two breakout villains, the mistakes they made and the things … Continue reading →

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Should Spider-Man borrow Doctor Who’s approach to rogues?

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Thomas Mets

Perhaps there should be a rule that a majority of Spider-Man stories feature new opponents. So with Amazing Spider-Man‘s 24 issues an year, there would be a cap of 11 issues that could feature recurring villains. This way, a persistent reader … Continue reading →

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Finding Villains

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Thomas Mets

Spider-Man has the best rogues galley in comics. But two of the most successful runs of Amazing Spider-Man were by writers who chose to eschew the familiar rogues in favor of a new approach. JMS focused mostly on new villains, while Roger … Continue reading →

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When Supervillains Keep Coming Back

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Thomas Mets

With the vast gulf between the number of people willing to see a movie about superheroes and the number of readers of superhero comics, there’s a lot of talk about how to make these comic books welcoming to new readers. … Continue reading →

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Writers and Villains

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Thomas Mets

It’s worth looking at the many different ways top Spider-Man writers have handled the villains. Stan Lee co-created most of the major Spider-Man bad guys, who generally had mundane motivations, such as making money and becoming New York City’s top … Continue reading →

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Marvel VS DC Part 3: Criminals and Terrorists VS Supervillains

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Thomas Mets

When “civilians” imagine how typical comic book villains act, they’ll generally think of DC bad guys. These are all the Batman enemies with built-in weaknesses (Riddler’s desire to leave clues, Two-Face’s reliance on his coins), the mad scientists who Superman … Continue reading →

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