Conservatives Identifying With the Villain Once Again

When you think about the best superheroes in the history of comic books, you can't assist but think of their rogues galleries. The best comic volume heroes invariably have the best villains. This could be a chicken and egg affair, though, where we become interested in certain heroes because they have such a great selection of villains. In some cases, readers get about as interested in the top villains as they are in the top heroes.

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Still, what they're really well-nigh interested in is the rivalry between the hero and the villain, that interconnected animosity that makes the combination of the characters in a story more than simply the sum of their collective parts. It is in the contrast between hero and villain that both characters actually get a chance to polish, especially when characters fight each other a number of times, as each fight builds the history of their rivalry, making information technology richer and richer over the years. Hither, then, are the fifteen greatest superhero/supervillain rivalries in comic book history.

15 Batman vs. Ra's Al Ghul

While Batman travels all over the galaxy with the Justice League of America to fight super villains and otherworldly tyrants, in his ain title he tends to stick with defending Gotham City. 1 notable exception is when he fights confronting Ra'south Al Ghul. When introduced past Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams in the early 1970s, Ra's Al Ghul was a way to have Batman out of Gotham and place him into a sweeping run a risk reminiscent of James Bond movies. Al Ghul is an eco-terrorist who wants to better the world by killing most of the people on it. Batman is one of the few people in the world that he actually respects. He even calls him "Detective" as a sign of that respect.

Calculation to their complex relationship is the fact that Batman and Al Ghul's girl, Talia, have had a longstanding romance, including even marrying at i point! Their human relationship led to a child, too, with that kid existence Batman's electric current Robin, Damian Wayne. So when Ra's fights Batman, he fights against his own grandson!

fourteen Spider-Human being vs. Venom

The enmity between Spider-Man and Venom began before Venom was fifty-fifty a graphic symbol. During the "Secret Wars" outcome mini-serial, Spider-Man gained a new black costume. As information technology turned out, the costume was actually an conflicting symbiote that was trying to bail with Spider-Man! Spidey broke free from the costume, but the costume escaped from custody and ended upwardly bonding with a disgruntled reporter by the proper noun of Eddie Brock, who blamed Spider-Man for ruining his career, every bit Brock had gotten an interview with who he thought was a series killer known as the Sin-Eater that Spidey proved wasn't the actual killer.

So you now had a super-stiff conflicting who hated Spider-Man for spurning information technology combined with a human who hated Spider-Man for ruining his career. That combination became the villain known as Venom. Venom fought Spider-Man for a number of years, but Brock did not see himself as a bad guy - he just killed people he felt were bad, so he and Spider-Human being often ended up having a begrudging alliance. Brock subsequently lost the symbiote. It briefly bonded with the villain known as the Scorpion before the U.S. government acquired it and gave it to Flash Thompson, who used it to become a hero. Nevertheless, a change is coming soon and Venom is becoming a villain once once again.

xiii Thor vs. Loki

The rivalry between Thor and Loki goes dorsum well before the two ever appeared in a Curiosity Comic (interestingly plenty, past the way, alternate versions of Thor and Loki appeared in a couple of Marvel Comics dorsum in the early 1950s) as theirs is a rivalry that long existed in Norse mythology, where the God of Thunder and the God of Mischief were frequently at odds with each other.

In the comics, they have a fascinating rivalry considering while Loki has done a lot of evil things in the comics, he is however Thor'due south one-half-brother and that relationship is still an important one to Thor. This oftentimes keeps him from treating Loki like a true villain all the fourth dimension. In addition, Loki is and then unpredictable that occasionally his interests align with Thor's and they do end upward working together. That uncertainty is a overnice modify of step for such a rivalry.

12 Avengers vs. Ultron

The connections between the killer robot Ultron and the Avengers go extremely deep. Ultron was created by Hank Pym, a founding member of the Avengers. In one case sentient, Ultron upgraded himself and went off to built an android, the Vision, who concluded up breaking away from Ultron and joining the Avengers. Ultron also based Vision's brain patterns on the (at the time believed to be dead) Wonder Man, who was too an Avenger. So when information technology comes to Ultron, it really is a flake of a family unit affair for the Avengers.

Besides those connections, one of the things that makes Ultron such a popular recurring villain is that he is constantly upgrading himself, so each time the Avengers fight him, information technology's a unlike take on Ultron. This gives writers a broad lane to tell all sorts of different stories with Ultron, including a few rare examples where Ultron actually ended upwardly on the aforementioned side as the Avengers!

11 Spider-Human vs. Doctor Octopus

When Stan Lee and Steve Ditko introduced Medico Octopus in the 3rd issue of "Amazing Spider-Human", he was a shock to the system considering here was a villain who was more than a lucifer for Spider-Man in terms of raw power. Upwardly until this point, Spider-Man hadn't really been physically challenged, but early on fights with Doctor Octopus really forced the immature hero to ask if he really even should be doing this anymore. He e'er plant the courage to come dorsum against Doc Ock, still.

Over the years, Physician Octopus has been a reliable foe, but his stature among the Spider-Man Rogues Gallery was slipping until a recent storyline in which a dying Dr. Octopus managed to switch bodies with Spider-Man, trapping Spidey in the dying body while Doc Ock became the new, Superior Spider-Human. He was fifty-fifty pretty skilful at it, too, to the point that he was able to recognize his failings as a hero and erased himself from Spider-Human being's consciousness, allowing Peter Parker to render. An interesting stop to their rivalry to say the least.

10 Daredevil vs. Bullseye

When he was introduced, Bullseye was "just" a villain with a absurd gimmick (the ability to plow annihilation into a mortiferous weapon with unerring accuracy) and an crawly costume. However, when Frank Miller took over the writing duties on "Daredevil," he quickly established Bullseye as a large threat to Daredevil, having him become the Kingpin's peak assassinator. Things went to some other level when Bullseye killed Elektra, a challenger to his part as Kingpin's top amanuensis and also the love of Daredevil'southward life.

The decease of Elektra sealed Bullseye's spot as one of Daredevil'south greatest enemies, only things took an even worse turn when Bullseye then killed Karen Page, the other love of Daredevil'southward life! Naturally, this has amped up all future fights between the characters to a whole other level of hatred. Recently, during the "Shadowlands" crossover, Daredevil actually killed Bullseye, although (this being comics), the villain was later resurrected by the Manus.

ix Wolverine vs. Sabretooth

When the human being who went by the name Logan was a young man, he began being tortured by a homo named Victor Creed. Every year, Creed would visit Logan on his birthday to show him that, if he wanted to, he could end his life. One of those years, he even seemingly killed Logan's girlfriend. As time went by and their memories were altered by a mysterious government program, Logan and Creed ended up working together as secret agents.

Years passed (and more memories were contradistinct) and the 2 men met up again, but now Logan was Wolverine of the X-Men and Creed was the savage assassin known as Sabretooth, working for Mister Sinister'southward Marauders to aid slaughter innocent Morlocks in the "Mutant Massacre." The two characters had a pair of memorable fights during that crossover that solidified this pairing every bit one of the top rivalries in comics. Over the years, in that location had been hints that Sabretooth was really Wolverine'due south father. Also, at ane point, Wolverine actually beheaded Sabretooth (but, this being comics, he got amend). Nowadays, it is Wolverine who is expressionless while Sabretooth (who had his personality altered during the "Axis" crossover) is the one working alongside the 10-Men.

eight Dark-green Lantern vs. Sinestro

Hal Jordan is often referred to every bit the greatest Greenish Lantern of best. The problem with that designation is the fact that the Green Lantern who people idea was the best before Hal came along was Sinestro, who was besides Hal Jordan'southward training officer. Sinestro was the brightest low-cal in the Green Lantern Corps, just over time, he became so obsessed with protecting his habitation world that he slowly became a tyrant. He was ultimately exiled from the Green Lantern Corps, but was then rewarded with his own yellow power ring past the Qwardians, the Corps' sworn enemies. He fought against the Corps and his former trainee, Hal Jordan, for many years with his yellow power ring.

In recent years, though, Sinestro has drastically increased his power base of operations. No longer is he but a solo villain with a yellow power ring, but equally the leader of the aptly titled Sinestro Corps, he is now the head of an entire legion of the universe's worst villains, each with a yellowish power ring of his own.

7 Daredevil vs. Kingpin

While Bullseye had the most direct physical impact on his life, Daredevil's greatest foe is actually Wilson Fisk, the so-chosen "Kingpin of Criminal offense." For although Bullseye does the bodily killing, information technology is almost e'er at the directly behest of Fisk. Daredevil already was an enemy of Fisk just by virtue of the whole "Kingpin of Crime" thing, merely things took a much more personal twist when Fisk discovered Daredevil'southward secret identity during the classic "Born Again" storyline. Fisk systematically destroyed Matt Murdock's personal life and then tried to kill Daredevil. All the same, Murdock was able to escape, recover, and have downward Fisk.

Since then, the two have had an odd relationship. Fisk has the undercover identity of Daredevil in his hands, but he has not chosen to use it, as they instead played a strange game of cat and mouse over the years, with Murdock, at one point, really severely beating Kingpin and declaring himself the new Kingpin of Hell'south Kitchen. Recently, with Daredevil's secret identity hidden in one case once again, they take taken on more of a traditional hero/villain relationship.

vi Captain America vs. Red Skull

Yous don't get much more basic, in terms of rivalry, than a superhero representing the United States during World War II versus a super villain representing Nazi Germany. That's what initially drove the rivalry between Captain America and the Red Skull, and it's what connected to propel their rivalry in mod times, despite the state of war being over for over seventy years now. The Red Skull even so represents the ideals of the Nazis, which makes him the perfect counterpoint to the symbol of all that is correct with America, Helm America.

Over the years, one of the ways that the Skull has been able to concord his own with Captain Americas is through the use of the Cosmic Cube, a powerful reality-altering device. Most recently, a sentient version of the Cube has naively aligned itself with the Skull, who then convinced the Cube to use its power to alter Captain America's past, so that now the stalwart symbol of America, Steve Rogers, is secretly a fellow member of the Skull'southward Nazi spinoff group, Hydra. Hopefully Cap gets back to his one-time self soon!

v Spider-Human vs. Green Goblin

In "Amazing Spider-Human" #39 (by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr.), Spider-Human finally discovered the secret identity of the Dark-green Goblin, a villain who had been giving him a hard time for 2 years at that point. He was shocked to learn that the Green Goblin was actually Norman Osborn, the father of Peter'due south all-time friend and college roommate, Harry Osborn! Osborn, too, was shocked to learn that Spider-Man was Peter Parker. Luckily, Osborn'southward mental health deteriorated to the indicate where he blocked the truth from his mind and stopped being the Goblin. Eventually, yet, Osborn would become on to kidnap and then kill Spider-Man'due south girlfriend, Gwen Stacy.

Green Goblin seemingly died in the aftermath of Stacy's death, but returned years after equally it was revealed that he had bankrolled a number of operations over the years designed to screw with Spider-Man, including disarming Peter that he was a clone of the real Spider-Homo! Subsequently a stint where he stopped bothering Spider-Man to have on a position of ability in the U.s. government, a disgraced Osborn went back to bothering Spider-Man during the "Superior Spider-Man" era, where he revealed that he was at present constantly changing his advent so Spider-Man would never know just who was the real Green Goblin!

four Superman vs. Lex Luthor

In i mode of looking at it, Lex Luthor's opposition to Superman tin can almost seem similar a noble ane. Luthor is "just" a man who uses all of his knowhow and ingenuity to stand up against a powerful alien invader of Earth. Of course, the only person who looks at it that manner is Lex Luthor himself, equally everyone else sees him for the opportunistic xenophobe who convinces himself that he is doing the "right" affair while he is really just causing problem for one of the greatest things e'er to happen to Earth.

Over the years, Luthor has tried unlike approaches against Superman. He was in one case a well-respected pillar of the business community who would secretly strike at Superman. For a fourth dimension, he was even President of the Usa! Simply nigh typically, he is an egotistical jerk who is obsessed with proving that he is better than the Human being of Steel, and if people get hurt in the crossfire, well, who cares?

iii Fantastic Four vs. Doc Doom

Victor Von Doom and Reed Richards are sort of similar a case of "Goofus and Gallant," with both men existence geniuses who experience isolated from the residue of the world and prone to wanting to command everything around them for what they view every bit the "greater good." The departure is that "Gallant" Reed ended up finding a way to connect with people exterior of himself, like his college roommate, Ben Grimm, or his grad schoolhouse sweetheart, Sue Storm, while "Goofus" Doom never was willing to connect with anyone. As a event, Reed became the famous leader of the Fantastic Iv while Doom became the masked villain known as Doctor Doom.

Near of the fights between Doom and the Fantastic 4 over the years take revolved effectually Doom trying to evidence he's smarter than Reed, or moreover merely a meliorate person. This came to a head during the contempo "Hugger-mugger Wars" crossover effect when Doom ended upwards as, in result, God of the Multiverse. He then found a version of Sue Tempest and made her his married woman. In the end, though, Doom couldn't handle the power and ended up having to concede it to none other than Reed Richards, who is currently trying to fully gear up the harm done to the Multiverse, alongside his love wife and children, forever keeping him in touch with his humanity.

2 X-Men vs. Magneto

Similar some of the other examples on this list, at the heart of the rivalry between the X-Men and Magneto lies one of those "two sides of the same coin" grapheme connections. Here, that coin is reflected in Magneto and Professor Charles Xavier. Both believe in mutants not being treated poorly by humanity, even so, they take completely opposite views in terms of how to achieve that feat. Magneto feels that the only way of achieving their goal is to essentially go to war with humanity and evidence that mutants are superior, while Xavier wants to protect humanity from evil threats and bear witness that mutants are a friend to humankind.

One of the great joys of the "X-Men" comics in the 1980s was to slowly see Magneto come around to Xavier's style of doing things. While Xavier has been expressionless for a few years now, he would be pleased to see that Magneto is working with the X-Men nowadays, trying his best to be a better man instead of just a ascendant mutant.

ane Batman vs. Joker

Finally, the most famous rivalry in all of comics is also i of those "mirror image" situations, where Batman's obsession with law and lodge finds itself contrasted by the Joker'south evil embrace of chaos. The Joker, meanwhile, sees the being of Batman as something that drives him to be who he is. There is a classic storyline chosen "Going Sane", where the Joker thinks that he has killed Batman and finds that he is sort of lost without him. Without the Batman there to compare himself to, who is the Joker?

The most famous Batman/Joker storylines highlight their connections to each other, from Alan Moore and Brian Bolland'south "The Killing Joke" (which ends with the two sharing a express joy at the absurdity of their abiding clashes) to Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's "Expiry of the Family" (which showed the importance of Batman in the Joker'southward life, in his own twisted way).

Which superhero/supervillain rivalry is your favorite? Let us know in the comments section!

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