What does it mean to be a famous comic book villain? Where comic books are concerned, fame can truly be fleeting. For a few months, the villain is appearing on covers of books starring multi-million-dollar properties, only to find that shortly thereafter they've been forgotten in the dollar bins of history.
Some villains, though, are perfect for a comeback. Their arcs were not completed in satisfying ways. Or maybe a new writer discovered a new way to use them and seeks to bring them back to usher in a new era of terror. Some villains are overused and fans have grown truly tired of them. But other villains had their plots cut short and deserve a second chance.
10 Typeface
Typeface experienced a little bit of fame after his debut in Peter Parker: Spider-Man from Paul Jenkins and Mark Buckingham. A disgruntled sign maker, Typeface becomes a vigilante. Though he seemed to die during Civil War, he makes a later appearance, proving one can’t keep a good font down.
A little unhinged, with a unique look that appeals to anyone who’s seen the documentary Helvetica, Typeface deserves a larger role in our text-obsessed world.
9 Morlun
Traveling the multiverse in search of spider-totems, Morlun appeared more like a vampire—complete with his own Renfield—than the leader of the Inheritors. Morlun reached his villainous peak during the Spider-Verse event which introduced the now-popular Spider-Gwen / Ghost Spider character.
Morlun’s got a great design, and a truly evil life-view. He should never be too far from the Spider-books' universe.
8 Menace
Goblin-themed bad guys (and good guys) are one of the Spider-Man books’ most-enduring legacies, yet Menace has disappeared from the public eye. The first woman to adopt a goblin persona, Menace was a very mutated Lily Hollister who made her debut during the Brand New Day saga.
Menace broke good during the AXIS storyline and became Queen Cat, but this too-good-to-remain-unused character has stayed under the radar since then.
7 Funny Face
Hailing from Earth-982, Funny Face looks an awful lot like another clown prince of crime from Marvel’s Distinguished Competition. A villain of MC2’s Spider-Girl, Funny Face balances adorable repartee with cold-blooded threats.
He’d need a redesign to make him palatable for a modern audience, but there’s room in the Marvel Universe Prime for Funny Face.
6 Wild Sentinels
With their ability to repair and modify themselves using whatever junk is available, the Wild Sentinels are an artist’s dream.
Wild Sentinels first appeared in New X-Men #114, in a jungle in Ecuador. The concept of Wild Sentinels, therefore, would fit in perfectly in the X-Men's new universe in Krakoa. Small versions of the Wild Sentinels have been seen as recently as a few years ago, but a decade has passed since large versions of these junkyard monsters appeared in comic pages.
5 Alex Wilder
Since his introduction in Runaways, Alex Wilder has never completely disappeared. But he’s never had a platform worthy of him, either. A classic schemer who realistically can take any powers or any angle thanks to his intellect and power hunger, Wilder has made small appearances in the Marvel Universe since his debut.
He could have a much larger role in a new spinoff series that gives him the chance to truly shine.
4 Zzxz
Hungry for brains and vowels alike, the mutant symbiote first known as Zzzxx, and then known as Zzxz, debuted in X-Men: Kingbreaker in 2009. This saga saw the X-Men go space-bound, and Zzxz faced-off against the mutants and the Starjammers before taking on Richard Ryder and members of the Nova Corps who sought to separate the symbiote from Starjammer Raza Longknife.
Zzxz’s current whereabouts are unknown. With a second Venom movie coming soon, it’s a good time for the comics to explore symbiotes of all kinds.
3 The Hood
He was powerful and then he wasn’t. He was possessed and then he wasn’t. He had his own comic, and then he didn’t. The Hood was one of the biggest villains introduced in the 2000s, and though he’s never completely disappeared, he’s never fully regained the spotlight, either.
Like Alex Wilder from earlier on the list, The Hood has so much potential that any storyline can be plausible.
2 The Beetle (Janice Lincoln)
Just making the list because of the way calendar pros label decades, Janice Lincoln, the daughter of super-heavy Tombstone, debuted as The Beetle in Captain America #607. She made an explosive entrance.
Since then, she’s woven her way through an assemblage of titles, often joining up with other characters to form Syndicates or Sixes. Her suit gives her strength, but the really remarkable aspect of her character is her personality. Aggressively flirtatious, smart, always ready to take her career a step further. Though she’s rarely officially the boss, she’s always in charge.
1 The Rot
When Marvel goes cosmic, things get trippy. The Rot is no exception. So strange that even Death can’t understand its natural, The Rot made its debut in Avengers: Celestial Quest. The Rot also was seemingly killed in the same mini-series, when Thanos and Death were forced to combine their powers.
But the way death works in the Marvel Universe, especially when cosmic forces are involved, means we could see The Rot again in the future. Deservedly so, because the character’s techno-space look is a unique contrast to its bio-inspired name.