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James Johnson
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| Posted: 18 August 2025 at 8:50pm | IP Logged | 1
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The Rogues Gallery Thread had me thinking:
We know that there are heroes who have villains that are mainly associated with them. Others that may share villains. Like Spider-Man, who has part of his Rogues Gallery shared with others (Sandman - FF, Kingpin - Daredevil, Rhino - Hulk)
Which had me thinking of heroes that do not have an arch-villain associated with them?
I love myself some Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau), but I cannot think of any bad-guy/gal that I can link directly to her.
Same can be said (off the top of my head) of the following:
She-Hulk Cyborg Falcon Dazzler Hawkeye
Those above are on teams (Avengers, X-Men, Teen Titans) that do face arch villains that are associated with the groups they are in.
What makes them special that they do not need an arch-villain?
Question posed to JB (then others can jump in) :
Should every hero have an arch-villain?
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Brian Miller
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| Posted: 18 August 2025 at 10:58pm | IP Logged | 2
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Didn’t Hawkeye have a brother that was his nemesis? And then the villain of
his Gruenwald miniseries back in the day.
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Ted Downum
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| Posted: 18 August 2025 at 11:45pm | IP Logged | 3
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This is harder than the Rogues' Gallery question!
I can think of a few JLA members who don't have an obvious individual archnemesis (at least not that I know of): Hawkman/Hawkgirl, the Atom, and the Martian Manhunter. On the Marvel side...Wonder Man, Hank Pym, and the Wasp, though you could probably argue that Ultron would consider himself Hank's archnemesis.
I'm probably forgetting about somebody, but I seem to recall Nova fighting a lot of borrowed villains.
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James Johnson
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| Posted: 19 August 2025 at 12:01am | IP Logged | 4
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I thought Egghead was the archnemesis of Henry Pym?
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Ted Downum
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| Posted: 19 August 2025 at 1:41am | IP Logged | 5
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Egghead! You're right, James--I forgot about him.
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Charles Valderrama
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| Posted: 19 August 2025 at 2:00pm | IP Logged | 6
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What makes them special that they do not need an arch-villain? ******* I believe rogues galleries are more important to heroes that have their own ongoing titles... like Spider-Man, Captain America, Thor, etc.
Should every hero have an arch-villain? *******
Not if unless the storyline is strong enough and makes the hero more interesting.
Like some say, "a hero is only as good as the villain."
-C!
Edited by Charles Valderrama on 19 August 2025 at 2:00pm
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Greg McPhee
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| Posted: 19 August 2025 at 2:40pm | IP Logged | 7
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And then the villain of his Gruenwald miniseries back in the day.
=======================================================
Crossfire. Unfortunately, when Hawkeye got his first solo in Solo Avengers, Tom DeFalco never really picked up on this and put Clint up against a series of forgettable villains.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
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| Posted: 19 August 2025 at 3:00pm | IP Logged | 8
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Egghead!Roger Stern was not a fan. He considered him a goofy villain, and one day he declared he was going to kill Egghead PERMANENTLY. Yes! In a comic book, a villain was going to die the real death. To this end Rog set up a fight scene where Egghead was shot and killed. The body was then cremated, and the ashes scattered at sea. Dead and gone! But… As I pointed out at the time, Roger had had Egghead shot with a RAY GUN. So keeping in mind that this was comics, I said it was all a set-up by Egghead. The blast from the ray gun altered his atomic structure, so when the body was cremated it was turned into Instant Egghead. When the ashes were thrown into the sea they reconstituted! Nobody dies forever!
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Jason Ladwig
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| Posted: 19 August 2025 at 3:48pm | IP Logged | 9
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Nobody dies forever!========= I have often wondered if the reason was editorial, fan push pack, or just ease of writers falling back into something established rather that creating anew. JB, from your experience, what do you think keeps a character from being dead dead?
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John Byrne
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| Posted: 19 August 2025 at 4:44pm | IP Logged | 10
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Often it just turns out that even the LAMEST character is somebody’s “favorite”.
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Greg McPhee
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| Posted: 19 August 2025 at 5:04pm | IP Logged | 11
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I don't think characters are "special" not to have an arch villain, it's just what it takes to get to the point that the situation develops.
I suppose it's more difficult to give an individual character an arch villain in a team book but not impossible, i.e. the villain hates that particular hero as they were the one that foiled their scheme without the aid of the other team members or they have a connection to the hero.
And if a hero is given a solo series be it mini or ongoing, is there enough time given to develop the situation. Not just hero / villain, but supporting cast as well.
I think some characters work better in a team or a team up situation. I read the 1991 - 1994 Wonder Man series, and it contained a mixture of new and old villains for Wonder Man and a whole new supporting cast, yet it never came together. The supporting cast felt forced, there were a couple of good new villains (and it seemed to be building Lady Lotus and Splice to becoming his arch villains), but the series only seemed to have any life when The Beast or the West Coast Avengers guest starred. That may have just been down to the writing, though.
Edited by Greg McPhee on 19 August 2025 at 5:05pm
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Peter Martin
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| Posted: 19 August 2025 at 6:49pm | IP Logged | 12
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Not sure I'd class it as an arch-villain situation, but Titania seemed to have a personal hatred going on with She-Hulk.
I think every hero should have an arch-villain, but OP is right in that some may not have them.
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