Villian Spotlight: The Ten-Eyed Man

Batman has many enemies but most of them don’t have superpowers. They are simply men, often with some odd mental problem that makes them dangerous to the crime fighter. The ten-eyed man though, does have a superpower and that makes him far more dangerous to Batman.

His super power of course is that he has ten eyes, one on the end of each of his fingers.  This gives him 360 degree vision and helped him break the habit of chewing his fingernails almost overnight.

This near invulnerability doesn’t come without its costs though. Eyes on his hands means that they are extremely sensitive and in the past the only way that Batman has been able to defeat him is to give him something that was uncomfortable to hold.

Once the villain was finally defeated by Batman he was taken to Arkam where they discovered that his 360 degree vision would make escape like  child’s play. The explanation of what they expect him to see that would make it that easy but clearly they need to improve security. Perhaps there is a giant hole in the ceiling that they just assume no one would see.

The Ten-eyed man was killed during the crisis on infinite earths but not before making his mark and proving that just because you have a crippeling disability with only a minor advantage  dosn’t mean that you can’t become a super villain. 

Villain Spotlight: Molecule Man

There is a point at which villainy becomes pointless. I know that this may be hard for some of the aspiring supervillians to believe but as someone who wants to rule the world you have to consider the level of power you already have and simply committing crimes becomes even more absurd.

For example, if you will, Owen Reece, Molecule Man. With the ability to control all molecules and energy as well he has virtually unlimited power. He has been known to create solar systems as well as fighting the beyonder and has even died and come back.

So, what is in that this man wishes to gain from being a villain? It can’t be money, he already has the ability to create anything he wants by a simple thought and it can’t even really be power. Short of the infinity gauntlets there is nothing that would really effect his power.

Yet that is what he did. Attempting to take over New York he was confronted by The Fantastic Four and though the claim was that he was defeated because he couldn’t use his power on organic matter the truth is that he was defeated because he didn’t know when to simply accept that he had enough power.

And that has led him down a path of pain. Sometimes on the side of right and sometimes on the wrong he has died, come back, created life, and even loved but the simple unwillingness to understand that he has more power than he can use is still his greatest problem.(except possibly the way he looks, I mean seriously there is something disturbing about that costume)

Villain Spotlight: Ibac

Some of the greatest villains in history have been mirrors of the hero who they face. Two face and Batman, the Joker and Batman, the scarecrow and Batman. But Batman isn’t the only one who has villains who have similar qualities to him. Captain Marvel, who uses the power of Shazam has a villain who is in many ways his mirror as well, Ibac.

Stanly “Stinky” Printwhistle was so desperate for a new name that he sold his soul to Lucifer to become Ibac. Just like Captain Marvel, Ibac gains his power from others. By the combined force of Ivan the Terrible, Caesar Borgia, Attila the Hun, and Caligula he gains super strength, agility and endurance, as well as being tough. What he doesn’t seem to get is anything that has anything to do with any of the people who strengthen him.

As incentive to destroy captain Marvel, Ibac will lose his soul once he has done his job. This has not worked as well as Lucifer had expected though and Ibac has fulfilled the legacy of the four villains by acting as henchman.

Ibac has attempted to reform more than once but is drawn back into crime each time. Yet he still serves as an excellent example of a villian who has taken the strengths and powers of a hero upon himself and used them for his own nefarious purposes and for that reason he has earned his recognitian as a villian.

Villain Spotlight: The Signalman

As a supervillain the first thing you must do is choose a theme. If you have superpowers this is easy enough as you can build your new persona around that, but what happens to the intrepid young villian who has no powers?

If you are lucky your parents had the good sense to name you something that can easily be turned into a theme. Perhaps your name means something in latin or is an anagram.

Phil Cobb had neither of those(though the Cobb, using corn based weapons may have worked if he tried) and so he had to find inspiration somewhere else and he chose the bat signal becoming Signalman.

Expanding on his newly discovered theme Signal man created one of the most memorable costumes in comic book history and then began to commit crimes using this new motif by including symbols such as Morris Code or other symbols in every crime. Eventually he captured Batman in the Bat Signal but that was the high point of his career.

A lack of follow through ultimately led Phil Cobb down the wrong path and he gave up on Signalman becoming for a short time the Blue Bowman, but without follow through his following was lost and he became little more than another in the crowd joining the Secrets Society of Super Villains and even attempting once more to become Signaman, but his credibility had been lost.

There are those who still defend Signalman saying that he chose the persona of the Blue Bowman because superheros had become symbols themselves but Cobb has made no such argument himself refusing to comment when asked about the change of costue.

Patent for Greatest Invention of Year Rejected

The German Patent Office has recently turned down the greatest invention of the year just because it’s “evil”, but the good news is that there is no reason for this nearly perfect insterment of control can’t be used without a patent. In fact, if we use it on the people at the patent office we can probably get the second attempted pushed through in a few hours.

The device is a simple GPS transceiver that goes under your skin. This of course is already a useful device for control as it allow the government, or in my case a criminal overlord, to track your every movement, but he has taken it one step farther by putting a smal amount of cyanide that could be remotly triggered.

“the chip could be used to track terrorists, criminals, fugitives, illegal immigrants, political dissidents, domestic servants and foreigners overstaying their visas.” the inventor said.

What he didn’t point out was how useful the combonation of the two could be. Consider how simple it would be to simply connect the GPS tracking system to the cyanide inside. As a criminal overlord I could set it to trigger when too many people gathered togother, if someone wasn’t at a brainwashing session on time, or if they came to close to my secret lair, just to name a few.

Of course removal could be a small problem, though it would be less than you might think since setting it to go off if anyone went into a hospital is an option but the better solution is to simply implant three of the devices into a person and have each triggered by the removal of either of the other two. I’ll tell them about the second one, but the third will be our little secret.

The way I see this working is a sort of viral marketing campain. I implant a few dozen people without telling them of the cyanide then once I have the ability to kill them with a push of the button they begin to implant more people, slowly at first but with each additional implant it becomes a little faster.

Of course this ramp up could be dramatically decreased if I can simply make the government understand how useful GPS devices in its soldiers would be. Think about it, you can help locate prisoners of war, better monitor the troops on the field and make it easier for your automated drones to know who is on your side.

So, if anyone is interested in a free GPS tracking device leave a note. You’ll never get lost again. it can also be implanted in children to avoid kidnapping, or even your pets.

Story : Fox News

Villain Spotlight: The Big Wheel

Villains come in all shapes and sizes. The ability to fight the bad fight is not one limited to only those born with superpowers or those that are brilliant. This truth is best demonstrated by the villain who’s shape is round and size is big. “The Big Wheel.”

Jackson Weele was a businessman who grew tired of petty embezzlement and decided to take the next step. This was preceded by his attempt to hire Rocket Racer to steal the evidence of his embezzlement. The Rocket Racer made fun of the clearly unstable Weele, calling him The Big Weele.

Taking his new nickname as a clue to what his superpower should be he goes to the Tinkerer who creates for him the ultimate weapon. A large wheel with guns and waldo arms.

As with all villains upon getting a powerful new weapon he knew that he must attempt to destroy his archnemisis, Rocket Racer. He chased down the young skateboarder but the racer was already fighting Spiderman.

This is where things fell apart for “The Big Wheel”. A smart villain would have allowed Spiderman and The Rocket Racer to wear each other down. One of them may have even been beaten completely but Rocket Racer instead chose to attack.

Sadly, as the wheel was new and he had not well tested it he didn’t recognise its single flaw and as he was driving up a building it tipped over on its side and then fell into the river. Spiderman attempted to save the villain but was unable to save the businessman.

He survived the fall and was almost immediately captured by the police on charges of embezzlement. He spent the next twenty years in jail before being released. Among the belongings returned to him as he left prison was a giant wheel.

From this point on “the Big Wheel” attempted to go straight. He joined Vil-anon, an organization  designed to help villains reform.  As part of this program he teamed up with Spiderman for a day.  So far as it is known he has remained reformed.  Yet, even this reformed villain has lessons that can be useful in your life of crime. Know your equipment, have a plan, and don’t name yourself after a child’s toy.

Villian Spotlight: Dazzler(Burtram Worthington)

Burtram Worthington, the first to have the proud name of Dazzler proves that often having a plan, and a really cool base of operations is more important than anything when becoming a villain.

The story of Burtram is a common one in the beginning. Denied his rightful share of his father fortune Burtram went to his brother,  Warren Jr. to borrow money which he used to buy a secret base under the Statue of Liberty that would be the headquarters of his illegal diamond smuggling operation.

Before we can move on we must stop to examine the brilliance of this plan. Because it is a common tourist location no one will notice a few extra people.  As an island it is possible for ships to dock without going through typical channels so the chances of getting caught are far less and most importantly you can turn the statue of liberty into a giant remote control weapon of destruction. (So far as I know Dazzler did not do this but it can only be because of time management issues).

His ultimate plan was to create a giant laser using the diamonds. This laser called the Spatial Destructor(You have to give him style points for the name). Saddly before he could create this ultimate weapon his meddling brother(upon finding secret base under statue of liberty on the expense report) discovered what he was doing.

Dazzler, smart enough to stay out of these things himself, hired goons to kill his brother(Using the money he borrowed from his brother presumably).

Warren Worthington III, AKA. Angel learned of his fathers death and immediately assumed that it was Burtran Worthington and sought vengeance.

Using the teleporter he had in the base(No need to explain that every secret base has a teleporter) Dazzler imprisoned Angel in a room with his girlfriend Candy Southern. He then attempted to brainwash Angel to steal him a diamond big enough for his machine. This failed because Angel is a mutant and no mutant can ever be mentally controlled. (Never, none of them. It’s a known fact all other examples are simply misunderstandings or possibly the placebo effect.)

With the help of several other X-men Angel was able to defeat a middle aged man with a half completed laser and Dazzler was put in prison. As this did not appear to be enough punishment for Angel he later suggested the name Dazzler be given to Alison Blaire as a constant reminder to his uncle of his disdain for the man. This is still Alison Blaire’s primary reason for remaining with the X-men.

Burtram has not returned to crime mostly due to his inability to come up with a name cooler than Dazzler though he was recently overheard asking a friend what he thought of the name Lazeler so his criminal tenancies may be returning.

Villain Spotlight: The Spot

There is something noble about someone who gives up what is clearly a billion dollar idea in order to persue a life of petty crime. And that is the story of The Spot.

The Spot, Dr. Jonathan Ohnn, while working for The Kingpin created a small black spot that led him to an odd dimension where he was covered with similar spots. These spots, that he can make any size, allow instantaneous travel through this alternate dimension.

So why not simply take the million dollar Nobel prize and use the spots to replace the entire airline industry? The Spot has too much integrity for that.  He understood that the true use of any world shattering technological advancement is to rob banks.

The Spot defeated both Spiderman and Blackcat during his first attack on the pair, using the ability to travel instantly through dimensions to punch Spiderman in the back of the head while he was laughing at the name The Spot.

By the time the two met again Spiderman had gotten past the humor of the name The Spot and though he put up a valiant battle The Spot was defeated by the web crawler.

Rather than simply admitting defeat and moving on to plan b(Selling the plans for the spots to the US military for 500 billion dollars) he joined the Spiderman Revenge Squad. This group was nearly able to succeed where the sinister six had failed so many times but nearing their moment of triumph Grizzly and The Gibbon turned on the team.

Things began to go badly for The Spot after that. He was forced by The Gidion Trust to open a portal to The Negative Zone so they could exploit its natural resource and even had his neck broken by Tombstone though he seemed to have healed a few months later.

No matter the path that The Spot takes in the future you can rest assured that this honorable man will resist any urge to use his abilities to make an honest living. The Spot is one of a rare few who understands villainy is far more important than profit and we could all stand to learn from his example.

Villain Spotlight: The Red Skull

As a member of several self proclaimed evil societies I like to think of myself as a match for most men’s evil, but on occasion you come across a true savant. One who understands evil in a way that most of us can only hope and dream. Perhaps one of the best of this lot is the personal friend of Adolph Hitler the Red Skull. The Red Skull has raised being evil to an art form. From world war II genocide to the murder of Peter Parker’s parents this is a man who would boil puppies alive just because he was bored.

You don’t just fall into evil of this caliber though, it is something that must be earned. And The Red Skull has paid his dues. Johann Schmidt began his acts of evil early killing his mother in childbirth an act that also convinced his father to commit suicide.

Johann Schmidt was forced onto the streets as an orphan thanks to the evil, yet not fully thought out plan. Yet he did not allow a lack of power or money to limit his evil ambition and he soon murdered the first girl he ever loved. His relationships with women have been rocky ever since.

He eventually worked his way up to being a bellhop where we can only assume he soiled people’s luggage in unimaginal ways. While there he met Hitler who, in order to prove a point, trained him personally to become his right hand man.

As the young Nazi completed his training Adolph gave him the Red Skull mask and put in charge of Nazi terrorism. His acts across Europe at this time were so effective that America was forced to counter by creating Captain America.

At the end of World War II the Red Skull was buried and left in suspended animation for decades. Yet his evil could not be contained by simple suspended animation and he terrorized the world with sleeper robots that woke to seek revenge for the Nazi’s loss.

One might think then that the Red Skull would remain loyal to the Nazi ideals after he woke, but loyalty is not evil enough for this protogy and he betrayed even his own ideals first becomming a communist and eventually an evil capitalist.

Eventually he was killed, but even hell itself could not contain the evil of the Red Skull and he escaped. This escape from hell gave him limited reality altering powers which he used to become the USA secretary of defense and used a new experimental biological weapon on Mount Rushmore.

He has also been implicated in the assassination of Captain America. A true genius of evil and a role model we can only hope to live up to.

A few other Notable moments in the Red Skull’s exploits

This is how he treats people he likes

Villain Spotlight: Dr. Spectro

If you didn’t know Dr. Manhattan from The Watchmen is based off of the character Captain Atom. A being able to manipulate a quantum field with a theoretically infinite amount of energy. He can fly, is nearly invulnerable, has super strength, he can live in the vacuum of space, and even create matter.
So who would dare challenge this almost god like being. He would have to be someone with great courage, great intellect and great power. This is where one of his most important villains appears. Dr. Spectro.
A member of the legion of Doom Dr. Spectro is able to use light to effect emotions as well as hallucinations. Not bad powers but they seem unlikely to have much effect on Captain Atom.
His career as a villain, started out typically enough. His own technology was turned against him driving him into the life of crime, but from there it became less average, but later he was approached by the government.
Wanting to create a superhero who was answerable directly to the government they paid Dr. Spectro and a few others to lose to Captain Atom so he could become a major hero. I am not certain what the long term game plan of Dr. Spectro was but eventually captain Atom turned against the government.
The most important aspect of Dr. Spectro is of course his courage. From the courage to face the face of criminals who eventually turned his invention against him to the courage to fight captain Atom with no fighting ability and no plan. Even the costume he wears shows courage in abundance and though courage itself has not proven to be enough defeat Captain Atom it is worthy of our respect.