3. White Rabbit
Okay, so this one is kinda the wildcard of our list. Created in 1983, The White Rabbit is a female villain who, like DC’s Mad Hatter, was inspired by Lewis Carroll‘s Alice in Wonderland. While Hatter was re-imagined by the Arkham games a few years ago as an obsessive stalker and serial killer, The White Rabbit has kept her eccentric silliness, using a giant robotic rabbit and an lethal carrot shooting umbrella to assist in her life of crime.
I know how it sounds. By all accounts she’s a ridiculous character, yet there’s something refreshing about a villain so clearly absurdest, without any ‘dark’ or ‘gritty’ edges turning her from ridiculous to merely stupid and boring. She’s honest about what she is and doesn’t try to be taken seriously which, in our minds, makes her more worthwhile than a moody bloke dressed as a big scorpion.
2. Hydroman
¶Hydro, hydro maaaaaan (Hydro man yeaaaah), I gotta be, a hydro man!¶
*Cough* eh, yeah… sorry about that, don’t know what came over me. But anyway, this lovely entry is Hydroman, the Spider-Man villain made from, and able to control, water. At first glance he seems relatively cliché, a general revenge-fueled bad guy using elemental abilities to cause problems for the hero he perceives to have slighted him (Hydroman came about his powers after a Spidey caused accident). However, the character isn’t as wet as you might think (pun intended).
H2O Bloke is invincible due to his superpowers, with the best a hero can do being to evaporate him and even then his return is inevitable after a few rains. This provides a horror element to his hunting of Spider-Man, as it makes him not only vastly overpowered compared to our friendly neighborhood hero, but also pretty much unstoppable. He is, at his foundation, a pretty scary character, and what better to construct a villain from than fear? Sadly he’s constantly overlooked and doesn’t even enter most people’s heads when they think of the S-Man’s antagonists, making him one of the most deserving entries on our list.
1. Chameleon
Chameleon, the man so white he makes the cast of The Avengers look positively African. This Bond-esque villain has been re-imagined a bunch of times, but the constants are his whiter than white face (his skin or a mask depending on the incarnation) and his ability to disguise himself as anybody he wants. This makes him intimidating because he could be anyone, anywhere. This has been used to trick Spider-Man many times, such as when he pretended to be a kidnapped Aunt May in order to lure our hero into a trap laid by the Sinister Six.
The best part about this is it means he’s unpredictable, able to strike from anywhere at a moment’s notice. Often bad-guys telegraph their moves weeks in advance, making this a rare gift for the character to possess. Unfortunately a result of him constantly pretending to be other people is that it’s hard to humanise him, making it difficult for readers to connect. Plus he’s undermined somewhat by the Joker, everybody’s favourite lunatic, possessing similar disguise abilities, causing Chameleon to be overshadowed in comparison. But let’s not despair: after all, C-Boy doesn’t exactly want everybody looking at him anyway.
So that’s it, that’s our list. Hopefully Marvel will see it and remember these characters exist so there start using them more, yet for now we must weep tears of sorrow for our ignore brothers (and sister). What do you guys think, did we miss anybody you think deserves a spot? Sound off in the comments or send us your thoughts on Twitter!
