What are some comic book villains that are:
>interesting
>threatening
>have an arc and a conclusion to their story
Seems like every villain is just left hanging, his issue never addressed. The only way villains get a conclusion is if they get a redemption, often just being "ooops i was wrong let me martyr myself trying to undo my earlier work".
If we're allowed to count adaptations and cases where the conclusion is later undone so the villain could be used again.
Than the quintessential example is Mr. Freeze
by SubZero he had his entire arc concluded Nora is cured though he can't see her/let's her go so she can start a new life.
Welcome to cape comics, where the wheels keep spinning but the car never goes anywhere.
Ozzy, sure. The argument here is if he is even a villain. The structure of the story suggests it, but the content of the story doesn't.
Freeze, like says, can work if you take a specific cut of the story, without the obvious commercially minded continuation.
Magneto? He has no arc. He has his views, and things happen, and he wins some, lose some, and continues to have his views. He doesn't change, or adapt, or develop, or get a conclusion.
Joker has no arc and makes no sense, he is just prime evil, not a villain.
Everyone else is video games and not comics.
>I was bullied by a small group of people
>I'll exact revenge on a large group of people where many are unrelated to the ones that bullied me
>this is somehow society's fault instead of mine for irrationally lashing out my grief to unrelated person(s)
As expected of manchildren with no sense of personal responsibility.
What a dick, why should I feel bad for someone who causes pain just to because other people did shit to him?
I love the arrogant bastard, though he is a protagonist so it might not be what you're looking for, OP.
I like villain redemption stories because I don't forgive myself for the shit that I've done and for the person I am
I self-insert as the villain and I always root for them to be happy, loved, and forgiven
It doesn't help that the villains are usually more interesting than the heroes.
It doesn't help that many comicbook heroes are rich handsome uberchads, and their villains are bullied nerds with social issues.
Also the hero is born into his gift, or it just so happens to him, or gets it in some other way without having to work for it. Meanwhile, the villain works hard and dedicates their life to achieve their power.
Many such cases.
Oh I just remembered Sandman. he had a full arc that ended with his redemption and becoming an Avenger.
He was brainwashed back into being evil and that was never followed up on since
Vic was a rich handsome uberchad who just lost all the joy in his life until he killed a hobo and found something that made him feel something again.
I root for villains winning, but not being "redeemed". Redemption is nonsensical. Villains do what they think is right or what needs to be done. I don't want them to join hands and signs kumbaya. I root for them to get what they want.
Did you think Darth Vader turning on his master was nonsensical? Loads of layers here.
>father wants to save his son
>servant sees he will be replaced, turns on master before it happens
>#2 in charge kills #1 in charge to get his office
>he was always in conflict, Stockholm syndrome style, sunk cost fallacy tier delusion, and woke up finally
>he thought he is doing the good thing, and got bitter and jaded over time as he had to commit too many evil acts on the road there, like some real life commies when the USSR started
So redemption can be done more tastefully than just lol i change my mind, im good now :D
For once I want a villain who doesn't care about doing right. I don't care if it's one-dimensional, it'd be refreshing after waves of delusional idiots who kill innocent people and think they're the good guy in this scenario.
>Seems like every villain is just left hanging, his issue never addressed
That's because they only serve as a tool to circle jerk about how cool the hero is.
They're not even characters, just plot devices.
Freeze in the Arkham games.
Vader was in a unique position of having lost everything. I rooted for him overthrowing the Emperor and ruling with Luke. I didn't root for him to kill off the Emperor, and help establish
>muh Republic
while wearing an all-white armour and being a Jeidhai(!). I rooted for him in the books where he wanted to backstab Sheev and take over. That's my point. I root for characters achieving their goals, not backtracking back to some safe position of morality. But they need to have a legitimate purpose. I can't root for Carnage going
>lmao I keel
I can enjoy him as a character, as an antagonist, but I won't root for him because he has no scope.
I don't mind such villains either; I like variety. I don't want everyone to fit in the same molds.
Ozzy is wrong though
>The only way villains get a conclusion
Is if their story is finished. But cape stories never end.
>Meanwhile, the villain works hard and dedicates their life to achieve their power.
Luthor was born rich
I don't mean those two in particular.
I'm saying its easier to root for the underdog working hard to get somewhere in the world, over the guy born into power or gifted it. And sometimes its the villain who is seemingly set up that way. Except later authors forget it and act like everyone hates the villain.
I mean, it's a superhero world with deities, allpowerful god aliens, magical superartifacts, superscientists who all can rewrite dna whenever they want, or travel to another dimension, or make a pact with the devil to cure a dying aunt and whatever.
Yet, literally nobody there actually tries to cure cancer or aids or normal minor diseases.
But it's usually the exact opposite. Villains tend to work from a position of power because the exact reasons you said.
I'm sure they're out there but I'm having a hard time even thinking of an true underdog villain, event he closest I can think of is still more or less an equal of their hero. Usually through absurd means.
>Ozzy is wrong though
To be fair, almost nobody foresaw the implosion of the Soviet Union.
It's easier for Ozzy (and for Moore) to imagine the current system growing ever more extreme, leading to a violent upheavel, than it is to imagine a world where mostly peaceful revolution takes place.
Doctor Octopus is sometimes matched against heroes that much overpower him, for example. And Batman/Superman frequently fight people who are just regular dudes with mental issues and hired thugs.
But at the same time, Moore alludes to people's ability to be compassionate and above our violent and brutish qualities, and then those people are wiped away. Ontop of the Black Freighter and Adrian's nightmare in which he's the castaway.
The entire point is practically not to be definitive of if Adrian averted anything and if he did if it's just another delay.
Hired thugS. Batman routinely fights people able to muster up small armies, near single handedly.
Doc Ock is very much Spidey's equal, his tentacles are a good match and he's far smarter than Pete.
>To be fair, almost nobody foresaw the implosion of the Soviet Union.
Its like how in cyberpunk classics the Soviet Union is there in the future, still big, still rotting, still declining, but still alive. And Japan took over the world economically and subjugated all of the markets with its culture. Just how it looked like back then, nobody predicted Japan will stagnate for the next 40 years.
But Doc Ock doesn't just fight Spiderman, he fights Captain America, Punisher, Daredevil, even the Hulk.
He actually fits the bullied nerd villain mentioned in earlier posts. Hard work and personal sacrifice to gain his power, and sometimes fights people like Hulk who just got great power randomly.
This feels shallow to me. You can't just have a person stand up and say "Look at me, I'm not like those simple crazy villains! I just want things to be bad instead of good!" and have that be some sort of super deep reasoning. A character that prefers evil because they're crazy and a character that prefers evil for no reason at all are basically the same.
>Hulk
>Great power randomly
Really, Bruce was abused and bullied into an emotionally repressed mess, his powers are an accident of HIS experiment, and they're a burden.
You're reducing the struggles and risks they had to endure to get that power, and the struggles and risks they endure after gaining them.