The Decade According to Multiversity: Best Villains

Today’s edition of The Decade According to Multiversity, we’ll take a look at the best villains comics brought to fans. Given that this was a decade that gave us three Crises from DC, an Invasion, a Dark Reign, a Civil War, and House of M from Marvel, not to mention two types of Annihilation and one War of Kings, there were a lot of big events featuring true evil in the world of the Big Two. Throw in all kinds of villains in titles from other publishers and you have yourself a pretty intense collection of antagonists.

But who reigned supreme in this decade? Look after the jump to find out. Also, make sure to leave a comment and vote in our poll to share your opinion.

7 (tie). Scarlet Witch

7 (tie). Norman Osborn

7 (tie). Red Skull

7 (tie). Darkseid

6. The Governor

5. Magneto

4. Brainiac

3. The Adversary

David: The interesting thing about The Adversary isn’t so much what kind of villain that he is, but what he represents as a villain. This is a character who in Fables managed to eradicate all autonomy in all of the Fables worlds, a character who chased all of our favorite storybook characters out of their existing lands, and a character who ruled with an iron fist…from a rocking chair. While I have no beef sharing who he/she actually is, because Matt and Gil did not, I will abstain. The revelation as to who he is ends up being one of the most interesting ones of decade in itself, and is part of possibly the single best arc of the decade in “Homelands.”

The unique thing about this character is the ability to do so much without even really doing any dirty work. While all of the other characters on this are overtly terrible in violent fashion, The Adversary manages to move everyone in the infinity Fables worlds around like they were chess pieces and he was Bobby Fischer. Except better…because The Adversary is a fable. Even with the reveal and the eventual relinquishment of the kingdom, you know we haven’t heard the last of the once impossibly formidable Adversary. I can hardly wait.

Matt: Fables is quite simply the most intense title ever put out on the Vertigo imprint, and this is due to several factors. The main one is that it takes all the popular stories we’ve known all our lives and reinvents them in ways beyond just “modern” updates that many characters have undertaken in the past decade. Fables goes so far as to completely reinvent many characters entirely, and the Adversary is quite simply the most intense reinvention of a character in the history of every Fable update. With respect to those that don’t know who the Adversary truly is, it was the single biggest shock of the entire series. Throughout the whole book we had been wondering who the Adversary was — was he simple a new monster so powerful he ruined all our childhoods? Or was he someone we had known all our lives who finally stepped up to the big leagues of villainy? Even worse, was he someone who we knew and loved? The questions surrounding his identity and his eventual revelation would continue to shock and haunt our heroes throughout the entirety of the first half of Fables (what I’m assuming is the first half, anyway), until he was eventually defeated in the one of the single most triumphant issues I’ve ever had the pleasure of buying.

Now, in understanding the Adversary, one needs to of course read every issue of the Fables title. Out of the villains we have picked, this is pretty much the only true case where you really need to start at issue 1 and work your way up. With other villains, it is as easy as going to Wikipedia and doing a quick background read. While this is of course possible with the Adversary, it would take away from the entire story to ruin his identity, and out of our picks there is no one who we can say that about as much as we can for him. Again — with all due respect to those who have for whatever reason NOT started reading Fables — this was easily one of the biggest shocks the book has brought us, and is not one that is easily topped.

Beyond that though, the Adversary is truly one of the most devilish characters of the decade. When you first meet him, you wonder to yourself, “Is he somewhat redeemable for his crimes?” Heck, he’s actually somewhat of an affable character in the beginning. However, you will quickly see as he appears more and more that there is no redeeming the Adversary. He is too far gone for saving. His bloodlust is uncanny, and his intense hatred for the Fables is unparalleled. There are other “evil” characters in the book, so far as to have Kevin Thorn try and write everyone out of reality, but comparatively Thorn has no standing against the Adversary in villains. As much as he has been “defeated” for now, the book does put in little hints that his story is not over, and he will definitely be one of those “We haven’t seen the last of him” villains, waiting in the shadows for the appropriate moment to return and destroy everything from the inside out. Not going to lie — I actually really anticipate them.

Gil: What is there to say about The Adversary? The identity of the ultimate evil in the Fables books was a mystery for quite some time, and when it was revealed, it was one of the biggest (strangely appropriate) surprises in recent history. When you saw The Adversary’s face, you were utterly shocked, but realized that no one else could ever have been the villain better than–well, you’re going to have to find out for yourself, now don’t you?

2. Superboy Prime

David: This is the strangest character to have in our top 3 because of his nature as a terribly one note character. Prime is basically rage personified, having punched his way onto the scene (literally) in Infinite Crisis and basically been a total bastard ever since. Whether he’s screaming about wanting his Earth back while destroying the combined Outsiders and Teen Titans in Infinite Crisis #4 (maintains its place as possibly one of the best event comic issues from the decade), bringing the pain as perhaps the most straight up badass member of the Sinestro Corps in Sinestro Corps War (that includes heavy hitters like Sinestro and the Anti-Monitor), or murdering Legionnaires by the boatload in Legion of Three Worlds, this guy is just bad news.

So basically, this character is so damn crazy, so damn powerful, and so damn filled with rage that he’s impossible to deny from this list. I kind of fear him actually, as he’s been shown in Adventure Comics to be regularly reading the internet. He’ll probably wonder why exactly he isn’t number one. Well…umm…I gotta go.

Matt: Superboy-Prime is very much the single most ridiculous villain of the decade, but also one of the most maniacal characters ever in the history of comics. Let’s look at this a bit — he first appeared in Crisis on Infinite Earths, which came out 1985. In this comic, he was not that important a character. Rather, he was a result of the catastrophic events that took place. He appeared at the behest of Superman, who brought him in to help save the multiverse. His character, in fact, was quite simply a joke. His universe was OUR universe, and he read comic books just as we did. This was very much a tribute to fans more than anything else, and after the events of the Crisis, he and several other homeless characters went into seclusion, never to be seen again. Then, 20 years later (and this is honestly a phrase that I believe a lot of statements should begin with), along came Geoff Johns. Johns penned the fantastic Infinite Crisis, in which continuity was once again tackled, and with it came the return of Superboy-Prime. Of course, 20 years in isolation from the universe, forced to sit and watch the world around you, will do a psychological number on anyone, and this was reflected on as Superboy-Prime came back and absolutely decimated his immediate surroundings. He was one of the single most powerful villains anyone had come to fight, and the fact that he had lost his marbles absolutely only made him THAT MUCH MORE dangerous. Did you see what it took to contain him? AN ENTIRE RED SON, A GREEN LANTERN CONSTRUCT, AND AN ARMY OF LANTERNS AROUND HIM AT ALL TIMES. Yeah. Prime is a villain’s villain.

Prime is also quote possibly one of the most powerful villains. Did you read Sinestro Corps War? Yeah. Did you see how many people it took to bring him down? Yeah. That didn’t even bring him down. That just got him exiled temporarily from our universe. Oh, and then he became a completely different villain (the Time Trapper, who is equally as maniacal and powerful), and he rescued himself to wreak more havoc. Prime is so insane and powerful that he has at the center of three fantastical events (all penned by Johns) — Infinite Crisis, in which he ran amok causing supreme havoc and, with the help of Alexander Luthor, almost destroyed our universe; Sinestro Corps War, in which it took everyone under the sun to take him down; and Legion of 3 Worlds, in which THE ONLY WAY TO DEFEAT HIM was to dues ex machine him and force him to fight himself, causing a singularity that defied logic and sent him back to our universe. Prime is very much the Sentry of DCU with his powerful level (and to be honest, I’m surprised David allowed him to be on our top decade list!). Oh, and how about that whole event where Prime punched the walls of reality¸ significantly changing some of the biggest tropes of the DCU and bringing back Jason Todd, creating the Legion of 3 worlds, and reinventing Superman, the Doom Patrol, Hawkman, and Donna Troy?

Prime now resides in our universe, about to make his return (maybe? We’ll see…) in Adventure Comics. However, the final great thing about Prime is that, as much as he was initially created as a tribute to the fanboy in us all, he now still remains as a tribute, this time to the internet flamer so prevalent in our modern day society of comic book criticism. This is of course insanely evident in his current position as a DCU message board stalker, which was probably the single most hilarious ending to a mini-series ever. In many ways we could consider Prime the Deadpool of the DCU, in that he is very aware he is in a comic book and this is constantly an element of good humor in his recent stories. In fact, Prime is a villain we don’t even have to take too seriously, despite his absolutely insane power level and intense villainy. And, in essence, this is what makes him all the more deadly.

Gil: Before the first Crisis, Superboy-Prime was a clean cut superhero. But thanks to Geoff Johns, we can forget that that twerp ever existed. Now he’s among some of the most dangerous villains in the DCU. He has all the powers of Superman and an unbalanced personality to boot, which is just plain scary (think Sentry, but not nearly as stupid). He’s even a former member of the Sinestro Corps itself, the most fear inducing group in the DCU, other than the wonder Twins of course.

Brandon: Superboy quickly after his introduction became a highly polarizing character. He became perhaps one of THE most fandom splitting characters of the last decade. A character that clearly represented the modern age internet using comic fan that cried and whined that things weren’t like they used to be in his day.

I believe a lot of his appeal as a villain is that he is a truly hated character. To use pro wrestling terms he is a heel that draws major heat. It doesn’t matter if he is a whiner. He is effective in drawing your hate and ire. This makes him a great villain.

1. Sinestro

David: Given that the very first Green Lantern comics I read featured the death of Sinestro, ten year old me would scoff at the likelihood of Sinestro appearing anywhere near such a list in 2009. Of course, ten year old me also thought pogs were going to be greatest thing that ever existed and that there were two food groups: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Pepsi. Sinestro can really give thanks to Geoff Johns, who used his reboot of Green Lantern to establish Sinestro as not just a guy with a weird head and an even odder mustache. When he made Sinestro Corps War, Johns entrenched him not just as Hal Jordan’s greatest nemesis, but the greatest villain of the decade.

So much of Sinestro’s power stems from a few simple facts: that he thinks he is implicitly right, that it is his job to help save the universe whatever means necessary, and that no matter what, his will must be enforced. Sinestro is the type that can wrangle personalities as demented and intense as the Anti-Monitor, Cyborg Superman, and Superboy Prime, and he’s powerful enough that he can kill Mongul in one-on-one battle (this is the character that it took a fleet of Green Lantern’s and an entire planet filled with murderous plants to even slow down). While many villains are on this list because of unspeakable evil, it’s Sinestro’s resolve in knowing he is right and the power to corral other villains that make him the best. He’s like the Keyser Soze of the DCU, except with a power ring.

Matt: Along with the highly successful return and relaunch of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern, so came the relaunch and return of his most important villain — the ex-Green Lantern Sinestro. Sinestro had always been a “major baddie” in the Green Lantern mythos, but never as much as he has been in the past five years alone. With his return came two big revelations: that he had been the one truly behind Hal Jordan’s downfall, and that he had formed his own Corps, the first of several to come. Sinestro, who had always been able to somehow harness the power of the yellow light in opposition to the Green Lantern’s, revealed in Green Lantern: Rebirth that he had unleashed what the yellow impurity truly was: a horrific monster named Parallax, which he had gotten to infect Hal Jordan and drag him through the mud simply because Jordan had ruined his life many many years ago. Then, after he is banished to Qward, he harness the yellow light even further to create a corps out of hatred and vanity, which he calls the Sinestro Corps War, which would go on to spread fear like a plague throughout the galaxy. Not only that, but he gets the freakin’ ANTI-MONITOR to help him out! THE Anti-Monitor, the one responsible for the first great Crisis in DCU continuity, whose husk has repeatedly return to cause problems throughout the universe. THE Anti-Monitor, who nearly wiped out all of existence in one fell swoop. THE Anti-Monitor, who answered to no one but himself, was enlisted by someone else to help reign terror! It takes a major villain to get one of the biggest baddies of all time under your wing.

Not only that, but what makes Sinestro such a great and compelling villain is that his “human” side more since he has returned (human in occasions because he isn’t actually human, of course). We’ve seen Sinestro’s family, met Sinestro’s daughter, and even seen Sinestro act in a selfless way during Rage of the Red Lanterns and the current Blackest Night event. It’s clear to see that Sinestro, as evil as he became, is not the supreme baddie we’ve been led to associate with, because he’s the type of villain who truly believed that his insanity was for the betterment of his people. While I obviously do not support the means to which he attempted and has continued to attempt to reach his ends, it paints a multi-dimensional side to him that actually allows us to, on some level, relate with his madness. And as the character continues to evolve, we see that despite his anger and fury (especially when he kicks the living crap out of Mongul for trying to usurp his corps), he still has a patriotic nobility to him and is not so evil and insane as to not recognize the need to help in time of crisis. So despite his villainy, Sinestro is ultimately an incredibly well-fleshed out character.

It is then simply impossible to deny that, with so many villains being reinvented this past year to update with more modern associations, Sinestro has undergone one of the biggest and the greatest overhaul any other villain has in the entirety of comic books. From a main Quardian antagonist of a single hero to the leader of entire intense group of villainy, Sinestro’s transformation beyond the “big leagues” of popular antagonists is insane to ignore.

Gil: That attitude, that sneer, that…mustache! At the beginning of this decade, Sinestro was one of the lamer villains in the DCU. All he had was a shadow of the ring that was wielded by his enemy Hal Jordan, and he was dead to boot But then here comes Geoff Johns, who jump started the threat this former Green Lantern posed, from that of relatively minor villain, to that of manipulative tactician who engineered the downfall of one of the Justice League’s greatest members. He’s never been scarier since he took over the yellow portion of the emotional spectrum (appropriate too, because yellow = fear), and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Brandon: Sinestro was once a joke of a villain who many considered more of a D-List villain than anything else. Then came a writer named Geoff Johns who revitalized the character Green Lantern and anything involved. That included Sinestro. Johns provided Sinestro with a clear motivation that made him more of a gray area style villain than a mustache twirling cliché. Not only did he give him Motivation he gave him his own army and in the Sinestro Corps. This army of his brought the Green Lanterns to their knees in the epic Sinestro Corps war, one of the best events to come out of the last decade. Sinestro only continues to get better and will surely remain a top tier villain.

Individual Lists

David

1. Sinestro
2. The Adversary
3. The Four
4. God
5. The Governor
6. Annihilus
7. Superboy Prime
8. Darkseid
9 (tie). Cassandra Nova
9 *tie). Brainiac

Matt

1. Magneto
2. Sinestro
3. Red Skull
4. Doctor Doom
5. Brainiac
6. Prometheus
7. Loki
8. Superboy Prime
9. The Hood
10. Black Hand

Gil

1. Sinestro
2. Norman Osborn
3. The Adversary
4. Brainiac
5. Darkseid
6. Lex Luthor
7. Superboy Prime
8. Skrulls
9. Cassandra Nova
10. Magneto

Brandon

1. Sinestro
2. Scarlet Witch
3. Tony Stark
4. Superboy Prime
5. Jean Loring
6. The Governor
7. The Hood
8. Loki
9. Magneto
10. Red Skull

Who do you think is the best Villain of the Decade? Let us know in this poll! If you select other, leave a comment as to which villain it is!