Marvel Comics has grown vastly since its inception in 1939. The brand has given rise to countless cartoons, television shows, and films. Fantastic heroes and heroines have graced the universe and inspired the minds of fans the world over. But every hero needs a villain.
Marvel has always seemed to provide formidable foes for our beloved superstars. However, not all villains are created equal. Some are super-geniuses, others are skilled martial artists, mutants, or just plain insane. While some villains pop-up to the front of our memories, others are quite forgettable. Here is a list of 10 Marvel villains you totally forgot exist (who probably won't make a comeback).
10 Asbestos Lady
Victoria Murdock first appears in the Marvel franchise in The Human Torch #27 as an evil scientist. Her claim to fame is that she was able to develop flame retardant clothing she uses in bank robberies. In her pursuits, the villainess becomes the arch-rival of the Human Torch. In addition to her asbestos-lined garbs, she wields a flame thrower and shoots asbestos bullets at her nemesis. Her love of a toxic chemical became her demise as it is revealed that she had developed cancer which is rumored to be what ultimately takes her life. With a combination of odd powers and an objectively unlucky demise, it's easy to have allowed this character to fall into the world of indefinite obscurity.
9 T-Ray
First appearing in Deadpool #1, T-Ray's story is a of case alleged identity theft. According to his story, T-Ray is the original Wade Wilson. His claim is that he and his wife were attacked by Deadpool who planned on killing him and taking his identity. During the attack T-Ray's wife, Mercedes was killed and Deadpool managed to escape.
T-Ray then vowed to become a skilled mercenary and take his revenge on Deadpool. Later, T-Ray became a powerful sorcerer and offers his victims souls to the Dark Masters in exchange for more power. Though he remains a consistent foe, T-Ray is really only known to the truest of Deadpool followers.
8 White Rabbit
A psychotic trophy wife with a penchant for Lewis Caroll, Lorina Dodson aka White Rabbit first appears in Marvel Team-Up #131. She is introduced as a girl from a wealthy family who loved reading Alice's Adventures In Wonderland to take her mind off of the boredom of her privilege. When she's 25, she is married off to an 82-year-old man whom she kills for the inheritance money. She uses the money to fortify herself with an arsenal of deadly weapons and gadgets, thus becoming White Rabbit. Aside from "punny" rabbit jokes and martial arts skills, she possesses little by way of super-powers. Her weapons range from gimmicky items like exploding carrots and giant mechanical rabbits, and her cohorts (which, yes include a walrus and a mad hatter) tend to be equally on brand.
7 Mad Jim Jaspers
Marvel Super-Heroes #377 begins The Mad Jim Jaspers story. On Earth 238 Sir James Jaspers runs for public office in the UK. He runs under an anti-mutant/anti-superhero agenda to rid Earth 238 of any mutant competition. His ability to warp reality makes him a powerful mutant himself. He creates The Fury to locate and destroy all mutant life on the planet. Once in power, he takes on the name Mad Jim Jaspers and tuns the world into his playground.
The only way he is stopped is by destroying the reality that contained Earth 238 in the first place. A complicated multiverse explanation allows Merlyn to prevent a stronger new Mad Jim Jaspers on Earth 616 from rising to power. In the end, it's Fury who succeeds in trapping Jaspers 616 in the void created by the destruction of the 238 reality, leaving him powerless.
6 Tiger Shark
Todd Arliss, aka Tiger Shark, first debuted in Sub Mariner #5. Originally a competitive swimmer, Arliss suffers a horrible back injury while trying to save a man who had fallen overboard. With his spine broken Arliss seeks the help of Dr. Dorcas who uses tiger shark DNA (as well as DNA from Atlantian royalty Namor, The Sub-Mariner) to heal his injuries.
The procedure turns Arliss into a shark-super-human-hybrid. Tiger Shark forcibly takes the Atlantian throne and rules until Namor returns and overthrows the tyrant. His attributes include shark-like teeth, super-strength, as well as super-speed in the water. His depictions tend to be inconsistent in the comics. Sometimes he appears to be more human, other times more shark-like. Tiger Shark's fandom tends to be restricted to maritime comic enthusiasts.
5 The Orb
The original Orb began back in 1973 in Marvel Team-Up #15. Drake Shannon was a stunt driver who loved to take risks. He and his buddy Craig Simpson worked together in their own company. One day a horrible accident leaves Shannon's face completely mangled and he leaves the stunt world for good. Two decades later Shannon is introduced to a special motorcycle helmet that looks like an eyeball which allows him to hypnotize anyone who stares at it.
Throw in a laser gun to the mix and The Orb is born. While hypnotism and excellent marksmanship are great features for a villain, the overall appearance of a bad guy with an eyeball for a head is almost too bizarre to take seriously. Don't expect to see any future versions of this villain appear in the MCU on-screen any time soon.
4 Sauron
As an answer to the age-old question, "What would happen if a doctor sustained a bite from a mutant pterodactyl?" Marvel created Sauron. Originally Dr. Karl Lykos, the doctor sustains a bite and is transformed into a vampiric mutant who sucks life energy from his victims. If the doctor happens to suck the energy of a mutant, he then transformed into Sauron, a pterodactyl-like mutant with razor-sharp teeth and wings.
Sauron also absorbs the special abilities of the mutant whom he has absorbed the energy of. Sauron further functions as a split personality to Dr. Lykos. Some characters simply become far too confusing to make sense of, and this is one of them. Part vampire-bat, part pre-historic creature, part split-personality, the entire character suffers from an identity crisis. It's hard to see this villain making a comeback any time soon.
3 Stryfe
Stryfe is the evil clone version of the lovechild between Jean Grey and Scott Summers (Cyclops). He is raised by Apocolypse to later become his adopted father's replacement vessel once his body becomes too weak to sustain himself. Stryfe's upbringing drives him mad and he becomes a remorseless killer. Later, after traveling back in time after his father's defeat, Stryfe vows to make anyone involved with his horrible life suffer (namely his parents).
Telekinesis and telepathy are his main superpowers. Though a powerful mutant, his narrative is hard to follow at best. Understanding his character requires accepting some of the most difficult to reconcile tropes of the genre, time-travel, cloning, and insane family trees.
2 Lady Stilt-Man
In classic, "copy-cat of a pre-existing male character" style, the female version of Stilt-Man is in fact, Callie Ryan, aka Lady Stilt-Man. Though her first appearance is in The Amazing Spider-Man #611. She is depicted as a mostly comical villain mimicking her male predecessor. Though her updated version of the suit not only features hydraulic extendable legs but also arms as well, she succumbs rather pitifully when her leg becomes trapped in an opened manhole and she falls over.
While she makes appearances in other comics as a villainess for hire, she ultimately is a ridiculous comical copy-cat of a ridiculous comical villain.
1 Spot
Making his debut in The Spectacular Spider-Man #94, Dr. Johnathan Ohnn became the spot while working for Kingpin. He was attempting to create a way for human beings to harness Cloak's ability to travel through dimensions. During a mishap in his experiment, the doctor passes through a portal he had created. Where he ended is Spotworld, a dimension comprised of several portals or "spots" that led to other dimensions. Upon return through a portal to his lab, Ohnn realizes he is covered in portal spots. His super-power relies solely on his ability to manipulate the spots on his body to his advantage. Beyond that, he possesses no other superior trait or fighting ability. Spot's life in the Marvel timeline spans just 126 issues.