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Sunday, April 10, 2011

Question

I was thinking about the Superman movie rumors. I think they've confirmed Zod as the villain, which makes me happier than yet another Lex Luthor story. Don't get me wrong, I do love Lex Luthor, but it seems like he's always the villain.

But then again, Zod's been done too. One of the things I really like about the Batman movies is that they don't tend to use the same villains over and over. I mean, granted, we've seen the Joker twice, and Two-Face, but we've also seen Ra's al Ghul, Catwoman, the Penguin, the Riddler, Scarecrow, Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy.

Granted, not all of these appearances were GOOD, but we did see them. It never seems like we get as much variety with Superman villains though. (Though I admit, I could be wrong about that. My memory of the Superman movies are older. And I don't think I saw the last one, pre Superman Returns.)

I'm shakier with Superman's rogue gallery though, for all that I prefer Superman to Batman as a character. So I'm not really sure what villains I'd like to see in place of Zod or Lex once in a while. Brainiac, I think. Maybe Doomsday. I dunno.

Who would you like to see? Do you have a favorite Superman villain that's been neglected?

10 Comments:

  • At April 11, 2011 4:31 AM, Blogger Ununnilium said…

    Well, there's Parasite, but he'd have to be a sidekick to a mastermind...

    Mr. Mxyzptlk, but I don't trust Hollywood not to turn him gritty...

    Bizarro maybe? Mongul? Dev-Em?

    There's always Darkseid, of course, but...

     
  • At April 11, 2011 4:47 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    it's gotta be brainiac

     
  • At April 11, 2011 8:44 AM, Blogger Matthew E said…

    Not a lot of must-haves in Superman's rogues' gallery. For me, it's Luthor (who we've seen), Brainiac, Mxyzptlk, Bizarro, and Toyman.

    By now we're all pretty familiar with what Brainiac, Mxyzptlk, and Bizarro bring to the table, but I think there's scope to do something fairly interesting with Toyman.

     
  • At April 11, 2011 9:00 AM, Anonymous D said…

    yeah, Supes doesn't have the greatest rogues gallery, but there are a few. I wouldn't mind seeing the Pranskter, or the Puzzler, or maybe the Silver Banshee

     
  • At April 11, 2011 11:45 AM, Blogger Ryan Brenizer said…

    Muhammad Ali

     
  • At April 11, 2011 2:13 PM, Anonymous Jeff R. said…

    Hm. Beyond the profound lack of Brainiac, I wouldn't mind seeing the Ultra-Humanite [who was a Superman villain before he became a general one for Earth-2 refugees], or Mongul (in the 'brings Warworld and an army to the fight' context).

    As far as lower-ranked Supervillains go, I've never really liked the Toyman or the Prankster. Give me the Master Jailer instead, or a version of Terra-Man that doesn't mess with the eco-terror thing and is just a space cowboy for space cowboying's sake.

     
  • At April 11, 2011 3:46 PM, Blogger SallyP said…

    Toyman. Now that would be an interesting movie. Short...but interesting.

     
  • At April 11, 2011 10:48 PM, Blogger Your Obedient Serpent said…

    Bringing in Darkseid, Mongul, or even old, familiar Braniac would be a game-changer: suddenly, Superman isn't just a colorful strongman; he's Earth's Last Line of Defense.

    The Superman movies need that kind of game-changer. They've relied too heavily on Earthbound menaces and Evil Superman, be it Zod or Bizarro or some other Dark Counterpart.

    I've never been that impressed by Mongul, alas, even when he's in an impressive story, and I'd hate to waste Darkseid on a Superman film when nobody's even considering a full-blown NEW GODS epic.

    Braniac, though? He is as iconic a member of Superman's limited rogues' gallery as Lex, and is a threat of global scale. Even the most down-powered version of the character steals entire cities -- can you imagine what that would look like with modern SFX technology? He makes Zod, who's merely Bad Superman, seem paltry by comparison.

    (On the other claw, I'd love to see a film adaptation of Maggin's Last Son of Krypton, with its Galactic vistas, cosmic threats, and an alliance between Clark and Lex. Towbee the Mad Minstrel? Now there's a Superman villain worthy of the role, chock full of unapologetic Bronze Age over-the-topness.)

     
  • At April 12, 2011 10:20 PM, Anonymous MatthewMG said…

    I think you could get a good movie out of the Cyborg Superman. His machine control makes him a serious physical threat while his tragic backstory (his best friends died in front of him, his body wasted away to nothing and his wife committed suicide) could give the film a good emotional hook.

    There's also
    -Eradicator, a Kryptonian AI that in its early appearances wanted to force Clark to be more Kryptonian and terraform the earth into a replica of its homeworld.

    -Metallo, if they went the S:TAS route and focused on the body horror of waking up inside an unfeeling android body.

    -Amalak, last survivor of a species wiped out by Zod's ancestors.

    -Solaris, evil robot red sun.

    -Livewire. Ramp her abilities up to the same level as Grant Morrison's take on Electric Supreman and make the story about her modern cynicism clashing with Supes' idealism and she could carry a film.

    -Manchester Black, a violent telepathic superhero who thinks Supes is too soft on super villains.

     
  • At April 15, 2011 11:46 AM, Blogger notintheface said…

    Terra-Man!

     

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