Best comic book villain?

[Morrus]

Judge on criteria of your own choosing. Who’s the best comic book villain?

Poll has a handful of obvious candidates, but few free to post others.

You can vote for as many as you like.

 

[R_J_K75]

Kraven...12-gauge and all. Why let the superhero defeat you when you can just defeat yourself.

 

[Stalker0]

My write in vote: David Xanatos from Gargoyles

Defined the trope "Xanatos Gambit"

but most of all....frankly, he won. He pulled of a ton of crazy schemes, and after the dust had settled, he's:

• Filthy Rich and has incredible power in the world.
• Is now buddies with his original gargoyle enemies
• Got a smoking hot wife and a baby.
• Defeated all of his enemies, and got away Scott free with all of his crimes.

If your criteria is "accomplished what they set out to do, and suffered minimal repercussions", its hard to argue better than Xanatos.

 

[Ryujin]

For being a sympathetic villain, at least in some incarnations, Lex Luthor. The point he has about Superman is what was used in "Batman vs. Superman" as the catalyst for Batman's actions.

For being way the hell out there in the aether, with a considerably tenuous grasp on reality, I'd say ol' Doc Doom.

 

[Alzrius]

Carnage. I have his original three-issue appearance as well as the entire "Maximum Carnage" mini-series, along with several other Carnage-focused Marvel comics, and he's one of my favorite villains of all time. He's fascinating because he's presented as a character who's trying his hardest to be a two-dimensional villain; he kills simply because he loves it, and so puts himself up as beyond being explained or made sense of. In fact, he's someone who went through multiple traumas as a child (e.g. his mother tried to kill him, then he witnessed his father murder her for it, and he subsequently murdered his father), and is severely broken inside.

In trying to be a sort of archetypal evil, Carnage puts to the test to idealism of the superheroes who refuse to kill, making them question why they won't put down someone who sees a victory every time he takes a life and what it is they're fighting for. It presents some fairly deep moral and ethical questions, and helps to showcase the "heroes" in superheroes.

 

[Cadence]

Skurge the Executioner had the greatest death in comics.

Supreme Intelligence is a key Avengers villain who hasn't been as mangled over the years as Ultron and Kang. Kang should be on the choice list even if I wouldn't vote for him. I wish so many if them on the list hadn't been so over used! Often badly.

Does Brian Michael Bendis count as a "comic book" villain?

 

[Cadence]

Kraven...12-gauge and all. Why let the superhero defeat you when you can just defeat yourself.

He was great teamed up with Squirrel Girl in her series.

 

[CleverNickName]

Other: Scarecrow, aka Dr. Jonathan Crane.

 

[aco175]

Galactus, since we are all ants to him in the grant scheme of things.

 

[Morrus]

Galactus, since we are all ants to him in the grant scheme of things.

Pretty sure we‘re all ants to every supervillain. It’s part of the job description!