The search for top 100 best Marvel villains of all time can be compared to an epic journey. The initial idea was to come up with a top 10 list. A top 10 list was quickly thrown away because limiting this list to 10 would be an injustice. The top 10 transitioned to a top 25, then to a top 50, then it was clear a top 100 was needed due to the sheer number of villains to choose from. Marvel villains are epic and we needed to create a list equally epic.
The Marvel comic universe is quite expansive and it was extremely difficult to come up with a top 100. This list is not perfect – lists never are – but we hope the reception is warm because we love comics just as much as you. We’d like to discuss one of our favorite Marvel Villains on the list – Mad Thinker.
Mad Thinker is ranked #34 on our list. For many years the police did not know the Mad Thinker’s existence, despite the various criminal activities he had masterminded over that period. He only leapt into the public eye when he went head-to-head with the Fantastic Four. A brilliant strategist, he tempted each of them away from New York with various impossible-to-refuse jobs.
He subsequently used their absence to enter the Baxter Building and steal Reed Richards’ inventions. Manufacturing superhuman androids based on Richards’ designs he used them to battle the Fantastic Four. His motives remain unclear – perhaps no one is brilliant enough to understand them or could the Mad Thinker just be enjoying the game?
Mad Thinker is just one of many reasons why we decided to expand our list to a top 100. As we were saying before, there are so many great villains in the Marvel Comic universe that to leave a villain as great as the Mad Thinker off would be an incredible injustice. Another Marvel villain that unfortunately would have been left off our list if it was a top 10 list is Scorpion.
Let’s discuss a little bit of Scorpions background. Dr. Farley Stillwell had developed a method of giving animals the attributes of other creatures. When newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson found out, he asked Stillwell to test it out on a human guinea pig, a private investigator named Mac Gargan. Stillwell’s amazing procedure gave Gargan the strength and agility of a scorpion.
Stillwell also provided him with a specially designed mechanical tail. Nothing comes without a price and the cost to Gargan – now calling himself the Scorpion – was the loss of his sanity. Contracted to put an end to SPIDER-MAN, it was only by his wits that the wallcrawler defeated the hugely powerful, and vengeful Scorpion. Since then, Scorpion has become an assassin-for-hire, his intermittent attempts to defeat Spider-Man being repeated foiled.
You are invited to check out the bios for all 100 Marvel Villains.
Nate Rodnay
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