So, who are your top 10 comic book villains?

1. Saker
2. Deathstroke: The Terminator
3. Mr. Sinister
4. Shapeshifter
5. Psimon
6. Lex Luthor
7. Dr. Light (the classic Dr. Light, not the rapist they turned him into). 
8. Brainiac
9. The Red Skull
10. Dr. Doom

I define a villain by their goals.   The Red Skull, Magneto and Dr Doom are great villains because they truly believe they can make the world better if it was under their ( iron) fist.   I am sure if Xavier could mind read them all, he would confirm that they really do want to make the world better.  That makes them the in the top ten.   
Other villains are great because they have great motivations.  Lex Luthor wants to be remembered as a great man.  I don't think he wants to make the world better, he just wants to be remembered.    If he makes it better it is as to show how great he is.   That makes him a great villain.  He is pure ego.
   Galactus is a great villain.  Why?  He just wants to survive.  Nothing wrong with that.  Everyone wants to survive, right?  The problem is, that for him to live,  whole worlds must die.  Galactus didn't ask to be like that, but he doesn't ask for any apologies either.     He must eat, he hungers.     Its nothing personal.
  Darkseid has it all, a cool look, a planet of worshipers, and sense of destiny.  I despite all his defeats, he has never been beaten.  I think he is goading the world according to his dark, obsure plan.   Each set back is carefully calculated to further his goals.  Like Benjamin from Lost, he understand you sometimes have to take a beating to accomplish something.
   Black Adam has gods whispering in his ear.  Gods!  He is as strong as Superman, as fast as the Flash and as smart as Reed Richards.    And as arrogant as Namor. He has no kryptonite.   He is only stopped when HE decides he is done. 
   The Terminator, at least he was.  He was a mercenary, and the best of the best.  He could out fight you, out think you, and out draw you.   He was the anti Captain America.  On his own, he gave super teams a hard time!
   When I was a kid, one villain scared the crap out of me.   When he smacked down the Avengers, the kid in me wondered how they were going to win.   How do you beat an industructable robot that wants to kill every fucking living thing because it is alive?  Ultron  was a bad ass and he keeps coming back.  And when he does, the Avengers wet their pants a little.
    And now the best villain in comics.   He is beyond evil.   He doesn't want to make the world better.  He doesn't want to be remembered,   He doesn't want to eradicate a flawed organic life form, hell he doesn't even want money.  He wants to make his neice's life miserable.  Anton Arcane is the ultimate villain because he is so petty.   Thats it, pestering his pretty niece is his motivation.   Make her suffer.   Die, come back as a demon just to screw around with Abby.   What a douche.

Bumping this up as well.

1) Thanos
2) Darkseid
3) Magneto
4) Green Goblin
5) The Joker
6) Graviton
7) Juggernaught
8) Doctor Doom
9) Loki
10) Kingpin

Most of my choices are the mastermind/leader types, with a few others thrown in that I like.

The list is mutable of course, depending on whims, quality of depiction, primacy and recency, but the ten I would choose:

1. Ultron; my hands down favourite.
2. The Joker; over-exposed no doubt, but a classic.
3. Taskmaster; loved him from his first appearance in Avengers.
4. Solomon Grundy; loved the mutablity of the character.
5. Edwin Alva; layered and complex.
6. Brother Blood; always liked the cult aspects, as well as the visual.
7. Darkseid; just all round brilliant.
8. Psycho Pirate; love the quartered costume and the Medusa Mask.
9. Doctor Doom; an enduring classic.
10. Red Skull; a true villain legend, so many good stories that he can transcend his roots and remain vital even in today's Marvel Universe.

Not really in order. 10 is a really short list, everybody's post are definitely spot on to at least honorable mention on each others lists...
1) Thanos
2) Darkseid
3) Galactus & heralds
4) Superskrull
5) Magneto
6) Joker
7) Apocalypse
8) Anti-Monitor
9) The Magus (vs. Adam Warlock)
10) Maggia/Brand Corp/Roxxon Oil

Some of these are characters that I've just always liked and some because they made for such a diabolically fun read.

• Maelstrom (Quasar)
• Dr. Doom
• Baron Zemo II*
• Granny Goodness
• Deadshot (he shot his own mother! In the BACK!)
• Desaad
• The Plutonian (Irredeemable)
• MODOK
• Annihilus
• Crossbones (as written by Mark Gruenwald. No one else can do him justice)

*I have yet to read a level of evil that compares to what Zemo pulled off in the Avengers Under Siege storyline.

Welcome to the site, Oculus Orbus!   

true, but Clifford Zmeck is troll-evil, not Khan-evil. that was casual killing, not insidious machination.

Majestic wrote on Apr 5^th, 2012 at 2:24pm:


Thanks, bro! 

Didn't Mr. Hyde dole out a savage beating to Jarvis while he was tied to chair? 

Looks like I'm a-gonna have to crack those out and give 'em another read. Is Roger Stern writing again? I seem to recall he sort of got blackballed or something a while back, which is hard to imagine considering his talent.

You guys remember the sadly short-lived Marvel Universe comic he did around 2000? Man, I miss that book.

For my top 10, I'd have to go with (this is not in order):

1 - Mephisto
2 - Magneto
3 - The Joker
4 - The Brood (circa late 80s) - I know, Aliens knock offs, but they were awesome
5 - Hellfire Club
6 - Galactus
7 - Starro
8 - Kraven
9 - Doc Ock
10 - Bullseye

Let's see, in no particular order with a heavy dose of nostalgia:

Ultron
The Lizard
Sandman
Deathstroke the Terminator
Gladiator (the guy with the swirling blades)
Thanos
DeathStalker
Sebastian Shaw
Kingpin
and last but not least...

Fabian Stankowicz!

In no particular order:

Dr. Doom
The Lizard
Gladiator (of the Imperial Guard)
Shapeshifter
The Joker
Dark Phoenix
The Brood
Sanction (from The Elementals)
Ultron
Killer Croc

I think John's argument above has got a lot of weight to it - selection of "top" villains isn't just a matter of what the individual's motivation is, but also how we happen to be reacting to that set of concepts at the time - and, of course, how well the creative team behind the story are handling it.

My own inclinations tend to lead toward either the villain-as-hero-denied type, or the outright, unapologetic sort who just want to Run The World be cause they're entitled to, dammit.  The blacklisted sociopaths also have a soft spot in me wittle heart - watching how they end up playing off the hero's morality or code of ethics can be a major character revelation, both for the reader and the characters themselves.

Thus, at least right now, I'd rank the top ten as follows:

1. Darkseid (Great Darkness Saga rocks forever, man)

The next two split the 2 and 3 spots;

2/3 The Joker (especially in someone like Grant Morrison's hands - Batman R.I.P. is a modern classic); Doctor Doom (I would love to see a story, "A Day In The Life Of"; whatever else we might state about his writing abilities, John Byrne's Fantastic Four years were a dead-on portrayal of the man, and he was damned good as well in Jim Lee/Brandon Choi's Heroes Reborn arc)

4. Lex Luthor (the graphic novel with him as an unrecognized hero of the human spirit was a mega-thumbs-up work)

5 and 6 are also a split vote;

5/6 Ultron/Brainiac - these guys capture all the human terrors surrounding the concept of artificial intelligence, fears of which have not changed, I would dare to say, since the '60s

7. Magneto - the epitome of the Hero Denied, especially during the peak of Chris Claremont's years.

8. Deathstroke - what fantastic human potential crippled by limited thinking; there's always the part that wonders, "But what if he happens to get an epiphany one day?"...and what disaster such an epiphany might require

9. Annihilus

10. Thanos - he ranks at this point only because I don't really know more about the character; I thought the way Jim Starlin handled him in The Death of Captain Marvel was fantastic; no apology for his worship of death, but no fool, either.