Who was the last great Batman villian?

[Spider-Kurt!]

Hush
Red Hood
Black Glove
Others (Namely who?)

 

[The Joker]

Probably Red Hood. Although he's more of an anti-hero than a straight up villain.

 

[Venom 1988]

Honestly, I like Hush a hell of a lot more once Paul Dini started writing him.

 

[Wesley Dodds]

Pffffffft... Hush.

A lot of people will disagree with me on this but it doesn't make it any less true.

 

[Spider-Kurt!]

Honestly, I like Hush a hell of a lot more once Paul Dini started writing him.

Absolutely! I didn't care for the Return of Hush at all but all of Dini's stuff has kept my interest.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

Killer Croc

 

[ronny]

Hush for sure. Heart of Hush was a fantastic read, his plan was so twisted and yet the flashbacks made you pity him. It's sad, but even after he killed his father it looked like he still valued Bruce as a friend. But he's someone so paranoid and damaged that he cannot trust another living soul.
It just makes him more and more like the Anti-Batman. Because whilst people accuse Batman himself of being paranoid, he still invests a lot of trust in those closest to him. Whereas Tommy has given in to his mistrust of others and lets it destroy every relationship he's ever formed.
Hush is a great villain and I think there's a lot of great stories yet to be told about him.

Professor Pyg shows some potential too. In a kind of Md Hatter role.

 

[Hound55]

Hush.

 

[Cain]

The Black Glove/El Penitente (Hurt) and all his cronies (Flamingo, Pyg etc.)

The first Hush storyline was garbage and I don't find the character very interesting though Dini salvaged him a bit in Heart of Hush. Only to go on and greatly underuse him in Streets of Gotham. Red Hood works better as the Batman inverse but his characterization has been very inconsistent since his introduction.

The Black Glove organization has been consistent these past 6 years and the fact that Hurt may be Bruce's effed up ancestor makes him an even more personal and effed up other side of the coin. He has proved to be one of the greatest challenges Batman has had in a long time. His goal is to destroy all the good Bruce & his sons stand for no matter what the cost but unlike other bat villains he actually has the resources to get it done.

 

[Drz]

Probably Red Hood. Although he's more of an anti-hero than a straight up villain.

The sad thing about Red Hood is that after Winnick people have had a hard time writing great stories, since he's more or less about angts. I do love Under the Hood and Morrison's arc, because it shows Jason's believes in superheroics and what is the right thing to do. I did also like Daniel's Batman design for him.

Cain hits the nail why El Penintente/Dr.Hurt/Black Glove is the last great Batman villain. Incredibly well planned history and motivation, what more could you ask?

 

[TruerToTheCore]

R'as Al'Ghul

There were some other good villains after him, but truly great? Don't know.

Rupert Thorne, Man-Bat (don't know if this was before R'as or after), Nocturna, Anarky, Harley Quinn (BtAS only), Black Mask, Killer-Croc, the Black Glove, the Ventriloquist, all had their moments, especially in their first story arc, but with time people just didn't know what to do with them and made them worse.

Never saw any merit in guys like Mr Zsasz (uh... gore, stab, stab), Cornelius Stirk, whatever.

 

[returntovoid]

Man-Bat (don't know if this was before R'as or after)

Man-Bat made his first appearance in Detective Comics #400 (1970).

Ra's Al Ghul made his first appearance in Batman #232 (1971).

 

[TruerToTheCore]

Man-Bat made his first appearance in Detective Comics #400 (1970).

Ra's Al Ghul made his first appearance in Batman #232 (1971).

thanks

 

[david icke]

Never saw any merit in guys like Mr Zsasz (uh... gore, stab, stab), Cornelius Stirk, whatever.

Zsasz had a bit more going for him than that, he got into Batman's psyche and under his skin, provoking him along the lines of a Lecter.

and Stirk? Stirk was hilarious, a kid spots him dumping a body into a taxi-cab's boot, and what does Stirk do to deter the kid's id'ing him, uses his psi-powers to make himself look like Jesus and give s him a beatific wave goodbye. To me, a villan with a sense of humour can be just as inetersting as one who who is bent on world domination.
actually, the world dominating ones like Ras Al Ghull can get a little dry now and again, the same old story.
So, i think it depends on how you look at the villan, do you rank him because he is powerful, or do you appreciate the crazy peculiar mind, or both, i like both, they both lend themselves to good writing and fun stories. I don't rank them on their power or ambition, just what they bring to the enjoyment of a good story.

 

[Original Spawn]

I only like the original red hood, the pre-joker kind, and i´m really pissed off that they didn´t make a more recent adaptation of the early conflicts between batman and the original red hood, i mean, he appears i flash back and the non-canon detective comics that featured his origin but we never ger a complete version, they don´t need to feature the joker´s background, i only want the complete story in batman´s perspective.

 

[Spider-Kurt!]

R'as Al'Ghul

There were some other good villains after him, but truly great? Don't know.

I was waiting for a response like this one.I can't say I totally agree or disagree but I definately know what you mean.

 

[Spider-Kurt!]

Killer Croc

Seriously,I loved the original take of Croc as the tough as nails would be kingpin crime lord of Gotham.I don't care for the reptilian thug version he's been interpreted as for a while now. Emphasis on the repitilian part.

 

[bullets]

I realy liked the Red Hood storyline , that was exciting.

 

[CConn]

None of them.

Black Glove is just stupid.

Hush was awesome in, well, Hush, but since then I've found him rather, well, pathetic, in his motivations and actions.

Red Hood had the potential to be a really awesome villain - and a major badass at that - but he has never been written well enough to be considered that in the comics. Even in Under the Hood, he came off as more whining they menacing.

I would actually say Professor Pyg and The Flamingo are the best for very simple reasons; they're original, they're horrifying, and they both leave an air of mystery that makes you want to know more about them, and see what they're capable of of characters.

Another character I'd mention is Great White. For entirely the opposite reason; we know his story. It's shocking and it's macabre, and it was wonderfully well written.

 

[TruerToTheCore]

I was waiting for a response like this one.I can't say I totally agree or disagree but I definately know what you mean.

This wasn't even supposed to be a "the earlier stuff is better!!!1" comment (but it was ), it's just that most concepts for villains who can really be used many times are already taken. And they are usually designed to carry a big story these days. Look at Hush (I know Dini did some interesting things with him), but after his big story arc... well... what's his use again? The same will be true for the Black Glove.

 

[TruerToTheCore]

Seriously,I loved the original take of Croc as the tough as nails would be kingpin crime lord of Gotham.I don't care for the reptilian thug version he's been interpreted as for a while now. Emphasis on the repitilian part.

Look at what I just wrote. It was a great storyline to me, but after that they didn't know what to do with him, so they made him a dumb thug. On the other hand they ripped this concept off with the creation of Bane who is the same in not green. And look what they did to him... I see a pattern.

 

[TruerToTheCore]

Zsasz had a bit more going for him than that, he got into Batman's psyche and under his skin, provoking him along the lines of a Lecter.

Just one story. And you cannot do that all the time. Nice as a one-shot villain, but to fill the gallery of great Batman villains? No.

and Stirk? Stirk was hilarious, a kid spots him dumping a body into a taxi-cab's boot, and what does Stirk do to deter the kid's id'ing him, uses his psi-powers to make himself look like Jesus and give s him a beatific wave goodbye. To me, a villan with a sense of humour can be just as inetersting as one who who is bent on world domination.

Stirk is just the 90s take on the Scarecrow.

actually, the world dominating ones like Ras Al Ghull can get a little dry now and again, the same old story.

Hmm... I think R'as Al'Ghul has more to him than "world domination". He is also unique because he is the first Batman villain to represent a global threat, not just to Gotham City.

So, i think it depends on how you look at the villan, do you rank him because he is powerful, or do you appreciate the crazy peculiar mind, or both, i like both, they both lend themselves to good writing and fun stories. I don't rank them on their power or ambition, just what they bring to the enjoyment of a good story.

I do, too. But a great villain has to be somewhat unique and re-usable without repeating too much.

 

[ronny]

Professor Pyg definenetly has potential. He seems genuinely disturbed and not like The Joker, who is still capable of speaking eloquently and communicating with people. Pyg is so screwed up that his speech pattern is dominated by squealing, oinking and not sticking to any one subject when he talks.
The guy's a complete freak. And whilst I'm not too keen on his doll army. It sure beats him having goons helping him out.

And I can't help but woner how someone so utterly insane would react to The Joker or Two-Face. He really does just seem like a ****ed-up mental patient who's found a pig mask. It's actually very disturbing.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

Pyg is cool, but he doesn't have the style or class of Flamingo.

 

[Spider-Kurt!]

This wasn't even supposed to be a "the earlier stuff is better!!!1" comment (but it was ), it's just that most concepts for villains who can really be used many times are already taken. And they are usually designed to carry a big story these days. Look at Hush (I know Dini did some interesting things with him), but after his big story arc... well... what's his use again? The same will be true for the Black Glove.

It does seem as though most writers like to use the pitch that if a villian knows Bruce Wayne is Batman,he's an automatic classic rogue,not that it's neccessarily a bad thing but I would like to see the next major villian that debuts as the main antagonist for Batman (Bruce) to have a different theme to him/her.