The superhero-supervillain dynamic is very important in comics and that's just as true at Marvel as it is anywhere else. The Marvel Universe boasts some of the most respected heroes around and they battle some of the most dastardly foes, whether they be solo or on villainous teams. There are some villains who are even able to triumph at times, getting a win over their heroic foes.
However, there are some villains who, try as they might, never win. Sure, they make some headway, but as far as actual victories go, they just can't seem to ever win. Whether it be little-known Z-listers or some of the most iconic villains, they just can't seem to catch a break.
10 Red Skull Proves That Nazi Never Win
The Red Skull is Captain America's greatest foe, his murderous ideological opposite. Fighting against freedom since WWII, one would think that a villain of his stature would have racked up some kind of victories by now but his W column is surprisingly light. He's accomplished some terrible things but as far as ever meeting his actual goals? A big goose egg on the win side of the board.
This makes a lot of sense, of course- having Red Skull win would be disastrous since his whole thing is committing genocide against every non-Aryan. Even when he gets his hands on a Cosmic Cube, he still can't pull out a win.
9 Cyber Always Gets Built Up Big But Ends Up With A Big Fat L
Wolverine faces lots of terrible villains but not all of them are created equal. Take Cyber, for instance. He has a great look, cool mental powers, and can hold his own in a fight. He definitely looks the part of a bruiser villain that would challenge Wolverine and yet he's never really been able to back that up.
Cyber's schemes usually don't progress much beyond fighting Wolverine and that's always a losing proposition. Cyber has hurt Wolverine but as far as beating him? He's never gotten close, really. In that regard, he's pretty pathetic actually - he looks cool but can never back it up.
8 Toad Is A Joke
Toad has been fighting the X-Men almost since the team's beginning but he's done a terrible job of it. As a member of most incarnations of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Toad is the one who always gets stomped on so the rest of the team can do cool stuff. His powers are pretty lackluster and his whole character is built around being a loser.
In recent years, it's only gotten worse for him, as everyone just straight up treats him like a joke. Of course, with a win-loss ratio like his, it's easy to see why - no one takes his threat seriously because there's no threat really.
7 White Rabbit's Whole Schtick Is Being The Worst Villain Ever
Joke villains are a venerable part of comics - their whole existence is predicated on losing and they succeed at that, getting a laugh out of hero and reader alike. That's White Rabbit in a nutshell. Her gimmick is self-explanatory as she dresses up like the White Rabbit and commits crimes. Then, Spider-Man shows up and she ends up in jail.
That's pretty much White Rabbit's entire life in a nutshell. She never wins and pretty much just exists to lose.
6 Boomerang Is Entertaining But He Really Doesn't Stand A Chance Against Spider-Man
Boomerang was always known as one of the greatest Z-listers of all time, a villain whose entire MO was throwing boomerangs, both regular ones and trick ones, at superpowered heroes, including one whose entire thing is anticipating danger and getting out of its way. Boomerang was born to lose and he did a great job of it.
In recent years, he's made a name himself with the Superior Foes of Spider-Man, but even their whole thing is that they're the loser villains. Boomerang is better received than he used to be but that doesn't change his loser pedigree.
5 Mr. Hyde Can't Even Beat A Blind Guy With A Stick
Mr. Hyde is one of those Marvel villains who seems like he should be a big deal but never delivers. He's always in the background of villainous team-ups and has duked it out with the likes of Thor and Hercules but he constantly gets beat on by Daredevil, who literally shouldn't be able to hurt him.
Hyde has been in a lot of fights with the heroes but they pretty much always end the same way - he gets a bit of an upper hand and then is beat like a drum by whoever he comes up against. That said, pretty much everyone loses to Daredevil but it doesn't explain all of his other losses, of which there are just so many.
4 Namor's Track Record As A Villain Is Pretty Spotty
Namor is known for going back and forth on the hero and villain spectrum but honestly, he should probably just stick with being a hero. It seems like every couple of years, Namor gets the idea to try and destroy the surface world and just fails miserably. There are a lot of reasons for this but the main one is he should probably set his sights lower.
On top of that, everyone just expects it after a while when he doesn't show up to any Avengers or X-Men meetings - that usually means he's about to attack the world in some way that will seem like a big deal but never actually matters or accomplishes anything.
3 Mole Man Just Can't Escape His Loser Stigma
Mole Man was the first villain to ever fight the Fantastic Four, starting his supervillain career with an L and it just compounded from there. Mole Man isn't exactly the most impressive villain- his whole thing is that he's become a king of the Mole People and has control of some underground monsters. For a long time, he would try to invade the surface world, get beat, and then go away.
However, it seems like he's learned his lesson, as he hasn't been seen in a long time. It makes sense - he went underground because he was a loser on the surface and that kept up even as a supervillain. Maybe he just felt like he needed to stop losing.
2 If Dark Phoenix Wins, Everyone Dies And No One Wants That
The Dark Phoenix has had several hosts over the years and is a very dangerous foe but they never win. There's a really simple reason for that - if Dark Phoenix wins, everyone dies. Dark Phoenix doesn't go for small victories - it's a cosmic force and death and rebirth. It's not interested in just robbing a bank, it wants to consume creation.
Dark Phoenix may slap around whoever they're fighting but they don't win because if they did, that would be it, bye-bye Marvel Universe. It's still a force to be reckoned with but its win-loss record is pretty much all losses.
1 Hobgoblin Just Can't Win
When it comes to goblin villains who fight Spider-Man, everyone thinks of Green Goblin and with good reason - he killed Gwen Stacy and was able to take over the Avengers for a time. He looks cool and is all-around an awesome villain. However, he's not the only goblin villain - there's also Hobgoblin.
Hobgoblin has pretty much been a nonissue since his first appearance, where the big mystery was who he was. Since then, there have been a bunch of people in the costume but they all share one thing in common - they lose. A lot.
0 Comments