ITT: Silver Age creations that never caught on

The Marvel Universe is basically defined by the characters by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and the rest. Almost every character they created is a nostalgic iconic among fans and creators and still sees use to this day.
And then there's the ones that never caught on, especially villains. Miracle Man was the third villain the FF ever faced, but unlike other early FF villains he's faded deep into obscurity and his name was stolen by Marvelman, ironically because Marvel sued.

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Oh that happened a lot with the 61-64 titles. So many early Thor, Ant-Man, FF and Iron man villains that never amounted to anything

Oh yeah, Ant-Man villains in particular have had it rough. The only one anyone remembers is Egghead because he made further appearances in Avengers. The only other early Ant-Man villain I can think of is the Living Eraser.

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Porcupine, Living top/Whirlwind; magician, Hijacker, Comrade X...

Ditko's Spider-Man villains just struck a cord with people so much better I think. A lot of the other early Marvel Silver Age villains really come across as forgettable mooks that could easily have been in the type of books they were producing before superheroes really kicked off for them. Often with such a silly gimmick that didn't really strike a cord with people.

There was an Iron Man story in early Tales of Suspense about a dude called Dr. Strange, a mad scientist who wanted to take over the world and give it to his daughter. The name was obviously recycled later by Ditko, but the plot itself was later also reused as the introductory story for Nick Fury as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Strange and his minions were turned into Hydra.

That's really interesting, I've never heard this. Do you happen to know what issue?

Well Doom, Namor and the Skrulls all show up in the first 10 issues of the FF.

>Ditko's Spider-Man villains just struck a cord with people so much better I think.
There are exceptions of course.

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Nah, that's just a myth.

>The name was obviously recycled later by Ditko
Didn't Ditko create another sorcerer before Dr Strange who literally turned asian when he became magic. I forget the characters name.

That was Dr. Droom, who would later be changed to Dr. Druid without the racist aspect.

Sure, but in terms of "hits" and resused villains, most of Spidey's villains were created in those issues.
Indeed.
How so?

Think that is who I was thinking of.

>How so?

Because it's mixing cause and effect up due to hindsight.

Ditko's villains were nothing special, they have become special because they are attached to the most popular Marvel character of all time, Spider-Man. Just like Batman's rogues gallery, that means that they have appeared in many many more stories than other villains, which by simple law of averages means they have more good stories.

Ditko didn't really care much for the villains of his S-M stuff, he was much more focused on Peter and his personal struggles. That's what made Spider-Man popular.

I have some of those Marvel Essentials books and the villains really run the gamut from instantly iconic to bland cannon fodder.

Remember the Iron Man villain called Melter? Or the FF villain Paste-Pot-Pete? I feel like there's some lesson to be learned about a villain gimmick being too specific.

It's odd looking over early issues of Avengers how prominent the Teen Brigade was. And yet, Rick Jones was the only one who ever got a name, for some reason Stan never bothered giving any of the others a personality or distinct traits, meaning that unlike Rick they all vanished into the aether.

>Za Hando

They were almost certainly a Kirby idea since he was mister Teen Gang.

I think you've misunderstood the point I was making: I am simply pointing out that most of Spider-Man's popular villains were created in that run. Of course Spider-Man was popular for other reasons. Of course other writers helped make good stories for them. All I am saying is that most of the rogues gallery was established early and remains to this day. Which isn't incorrect.
>that means that they have appeared in many many more stories than other villains, which by simple law of averages means they have more good stories.
Why did those villains appear in more things and not just get forgotten? Because they struck a chord with people. And not every silver age hero had such a rogues gallery be created so successfully.

>I am simply pointing out that most of Spider-Man's popular villains were created in that run

The most popular villains of every existing Marvel character come from the first few years of the characters existence. I think the only exceptions I can even think of are Venom and Carnage for Spider-Man. other than that, the first run is always the definitive.

>Why did those villains appear in more things and not just get forgotten?

Because they were the first. There's no mysterious quality involved here other than nostalgia.

>The most popular villains of every existing Marvel character come from the first few years of the characters existence.
And a lot of characters have been completely forgotten..
>Because they were the first.
And we are in a thread literally with the OP talking about examples which were forgotten.

To be fair, Stan quickly realized that Paste-Pot-Pete is a stupid name and changed him to the Trapster.
And even though the original Melter died, there've been a surprising number of replacements, most recently one showed up in Morbius' solo.

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Okay? The reason they have stuck around is that they kept being used, and those who appeared in popular titles had a better chance of surviving. Ant-Man/Giant-Man villains never stood a chance because that feature was impopular enough to die out BEFORE the end of the sixties (he lost the spot to Namor). Hank didn't really get a solo series again. Not one that last beyond a mini that I can think of. So his villains were screwed unless they jumped to a different hero (like Whirlwind who migrated to become an Avengers villain because Wasp was there).

But to make an example, there's no measurable difference in quality between the first Miracle Man story and the first Dr Doom story. They are exactly as interesting in that first appearance, but the difference is that the Miracle Man has like 5 appearances total over 50 years whereas Stan and Jack brought back Dr Doom constantly until he was fleshed out and ingrained enough to become an iconic villain.

It's not a mystery. Villains are forgotten when they don't get new material.

>Early villians

The Vanisher
Vanished

The Vanisher still had more relevance than Unus the Untouchable.

Tales of Suspense #41 introduced Doctor [Carlo] Strange, Stange Tales #135 had Colonel Nick fury become Nick Fury Agenf of SHIELD against Imperial Hydra

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I find it funny that Merlin was an early Thor villain, where it was revealed that he didn't have any magic powers, he was an evil faker with mutant powers who tricker King Arthur. But because later stories actually used the mythical Merlin and treated him as the real deal, the Merlin that fought Thor was retconned to be an imposter.

The fake Merlin was from the fill-in issues that neither Lee nor Kirby really worked on, and those characters tended to get the real short end of the stick, so it's a wonder the "Merlin" aka Maha Yogi ended up getting half a dozen return appearances.

I think it is just that the run is so iconic that in the end people went back to the well again and again. Even The Living Brain got his day in the sun with Slott and I don't think anyone would call it a good villain who struck a cord with anyone. Even though his first app is a pretty good story.

This is pretty much true. The flash's rogues went from jokes to amazing because of love and attention,

This is exactly why if I ever get the chance to do big two comics, I would want my whole run to be bringing under-utilized villains to modern attention. There is literally no reason why any superhero shouldn't have as good a rogue's gallery as Batman or Spider-Man or the Flash.