Every superhero needs a good supervillain. A lot of times, unfortunately, that means that a villains will see the powers and antics of a hero and decide to do the same thing, just evil. It's incredibly original. This has led to countless comic books and, more recently, movies depicting a lot of villains who are mirrored versions of the hero and are usually gone before they can ever do anything to separate themselves from other villains. Most of the time, this is a blemish on the comic book genre. A lot of villains are held back because they're just "evil" versions of the hero. The creativity is kept at a minimum, the fights don't become unique in any way, and they're usually one and done. The MCU is finally getting away from this trope with villains like Thanos fighting the Avengers, Ghost fighting Ant-Man, and the Skrulls fighting Captain Marvel.
That said, this trope isn't all bad. As a matter of fact, there are some villains who are ripoffs of heroes, but they end up outshining their adversaries as characters. It's not necessarily their abilities that take center stage, but their psychologies. It has everything to do with why they're doing what they're doing and how they ended up so similar to the hero. These villains are an example of how to write good characters. Get ready to see some creative and non-creative copycats as we go through 10 villains that are better than the heroes they ripped off and 10 who are better.
20 BETTER - KILLMONGER
Killmonger was an interesting choice for Black Panther. When the trailers first dropped, all we saw was him say a few things like, "I've waited my entire life for this," and change into a golden version of the Black Panther suit. There wasn't much to write home about. However, Marvel knocked it out of the park.
Not only was Killmonger one of the most compelling parts of the film, but he ended up changing the protagonist's thinking when it was all said and done. We like Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa, but his performance definitely plays second fiddle to the real star of the show: Killmonger.
19 WORSE - YELLOWJACKET
When Darren Cross started putting pieces together regarding Hank Pym's Ant-Man suit, he quickly unlocked the technology needed to create his own version and decided to torture his mentor by using it for evil. This is how he created the Yellowjacket suit in Ant-Man.
Unfortunately, the only thing cool about Yellowjacket was his costume. Everything else was weak and underdeveloped. His motivations were clear, but he wasn't nearly as interesting to watch on-screen as Paul Rudd's Scott Lang. There might be a few upgrades that Yellowjacket has that Ant-Man doesn't, but the similarities between the two are still painfully evident.
18 BETTER - MALCOLM MERLYN
The Green Arrow is an interesting character, but he pales in comparison to the complexity of Malcolm Merlyn. This dark archer is always three steps ahead of Oliver Queen, using his superior intellect come up with brilliant strategies to take down his arch nemesis once and for all.
What makes Malcolm better than Oliver is the fact that he is always a threat. Whether he is parading through Star City as a businessman and jumping across the rooftops as Dark Archer, he is never up to any good. Couple that with the fact that he even fights better than Oliver, and he is a villain worth fearing.
17 WORSE - RED HULK
Thaddeus Ross is famously known for his unbridled hatred of the Hulk. However, his prejudice came to bite him in the butt when he too was turned into a Hulk. The big difference with his version was that he was red instead of green.
Taking the name Red Hulk, it's easy to see why he's not nearly as cool as Bruce Banner. There isn't a lot of depth to his character, and his hatred of himself isn't as compelling as Bruce Banner dealing with two personalities in his brain at all times. Furthermore, he doesn't present any sort of unique challenge to the Hulk.
16 BETTER - VENOM
Peter Parker is an interesting character, and we love everything about him as Spider-Man, but there is someone who just might be able to top him in Venom. Created as the result of alien symbiote bonding with a human host, Venom intentionally replicated Spider-Man's powers, but chose more ferocity to boot.
Venom is not inherently evil, but he's willing to go to extremes. Furthermore, seeing the symbiote interact with its host (as well as them speaking in "us" and "we" pronouns just like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings) provides a lot of thought-provoking themes and dialogue. Venom is also boosted by his typical host: the already-conflicted Eddie Brock.
15 WORSE - OWLMAN
On Earth-3, the Waynes gave birth to two sons: Thomas and Bruce. Thomas saw that his parents had no idea what to do with their wealth and that his brother, Bruce was too soft. Because of this, he ended all three of them and took the identity of Owlman to slowly gain control of Gotham and mold it to his will.
Eventually, he and the rest of the Crime Syndicate would come to Prime Earth to try and fight the Justice League. While the fight was certainly interesting, this version of Batman was nothing more than an excuse to have the Dark Knight fight someone equal in skill. Batman is constantly dealing with and mourning the loss of his parents, which makes him more compelling. Owlman is just evil.
14 BETTER - REVERSE-FLASH
There is no question that the Reverse-Flash is a ripoff of the Flash, but that's the whole point. His whole existence involves tormenting Barry Allen as a darker version of the hero. He took the name Reverse-Flash to taunt his adversary, going as far to put down his mother and change his life.
Reverse-Flash is sinister, but he's also logical. On top of being one of the fastest speedsters in the universe, he also knows how to think ahead, coming up with plans that will take the Flash down. Furthermore, the impact he left on Barry's life from childhood has resulted in one of the most well-written rivalries in comic history. He inadvertently created the Flash and knows it.
13 WORSE - ZOOM
When Eobard Thawne took an alternate color to Barry Allen, it was a symbolic gesture of their rivalry. However, when Hunter Zolomon took the colors of Reverse-Flash as a way to torment Wally West, it started to get a little ridiculous.
It was clear that DC was trying to have another villain as compelling as the Reverse-Flash with Zoom, but it didn't work as well. His entire motivation was to make Wally West a better hero by forcing him to experience tragedy after tragedy. Not exactly the best plan of any villain, and it pales in comparison to what Reverse-Flash was capable of.
12 BETTER - WINTER SOLDIER
The Winter Soldier is essentially a "what if Captain America was kidnapped and twisted by HYDRA?" type of character. Being brainwashed into becoming their assassin, he showed up in the present day, much to the surprise of Steve Rogers.
That said, Winter Soldier dealing with the brainwashing as well as trying to handle his memories of Steve has always been a fascinating exploration of character. Of course, he would eventually become a hero, but with a little bit of his own flair along the way. His existence also provided some great character moments for both him and Steve as they stretched their friendship.
11 WORSE - U.S. AGENT
John Walker was a man who claimed to stand for true American ideals where Captain America did not. Because of this, the two patriotic heroes were quickly placed at odds, with Walker even replacing the Captain after he willingly left the government.
John Walker was a character who became Captain America in the' 90s and was an "extreme" version of the hero for lack of a better term. There wasn't much compelling about his character other than the fact that he was someone that we knew Steve would fight at some point. Other than that, he had no defining character traits.
10 BETTER - BIZARRO
Superman is a classic character with a lot of iconic stories, but we have to tip our hats to Bizarro, who was created as a clone of the Man of Steel. Bizarro was born to destroy Superman, but was unfortunately created with a lot less intelligence.
However, none of these limitations prevented Bizarro from having some great character moments. Despite being ordered, programmed and bullied, he always managed to forge an identity for himself and end up doing the right thing, because, at the end of the day, he aspired to be like Superman. As a result, he has some of the best character moments of any villain.
9 WORSE - SABRETOOTH
Wolverine is one of Marvel's best characters, having the personality and superpowers to hold a lot of comic readers' attention for years. If only the same could be said about one of his greatest villains: Sabretooth.
Sabretooth is another mutant who has similar powers and instincts to Wolverine. The big difference between them is that Sabretooth isn't imbued with Adamantium. Because of this, the fights between them are usually one-sided, with Sabretooth acting on his more ferocious instincts and getting out-played by Wolverine. There was even a time where Wolverine tried to permanently put Sabretooth down without even thinking twice!
8 BETTER - ULTRON
Both Vision and Ultron were created under similar circumstances and they each grew their own wills to choose what lives they wanted to lead. Vision chose to work with the Avengers while Ultron chose to destroy them.
However, the exploration of Ultron as a synthetic entity always made for more exciting storytelling than Vision. Knowing that he was created as a puppet with an intended purpose, he tried to make the world understand what that was like. Being created by the morally-gray Hank Pym, Ultron understood better than anyone that humanity could bring more harm than good. This is why he sought to conquer it.
7 WORSE - GENERAL ZOD
General Zod was a Kryptonian fanatic who wanted to ensure the survival of the planet. However, he was insistent on genetic purity at the time as well, which led to him ending a lot of people and being sent into the Phantom Zone. Eventually, he escaped and came to Earth to fight Superman.
Between the two of them, Superman is much more compelling. Their conflict has led Superman to directly deal with the past he never knew as well as the possibility of restoring his race. It presents an ethical decision that he has to make that is exciting to watch. Zod is just there to have similar powers and try to destroy the planet.
6 BETTER - MAGNETO AND THE BROTHERHOOD
Being a survivor of one of the worst acts committed against humanity, Magneto knew from an early age about the horrors of mankind and what they were willing to do to harm people that were abnormal. Growing into an adult, he chose to wage war on humanity with a team of radical mutants on his side, known as the Brotherhood.
Often fighting the X-Men, it's usually Magneto who ends up being more relatable than Professor X and his students. Countless times, we see humanity take aim on the mutants, to which Magneto is appropriately responding under the idea of "survival of the fittest". Professor X is ready to co-exist with them, but humans don't seem to want that.
5 WORSE - RAGNAROK
After the death of Thor Odinson, all of the Marvel heroes were shocked to see the God of Thunder return and put down Goliath in "Civil War." However, it was revealed that wasn't the real Thor, but a clone created by Tony Stark, Hank Pym, and Reed Richards with all of his powers intact. The clone was dubbed "Ragnarok."
Ragnarok was just an evil clone of Thor, so he did everything one would expect him to. Eventually, once Thor returned, the two fought during the siege of Asgard. However, the real Thor quickly came out on top and Ragnarok was hastily destroyed in battle.
4 BETTER - BLACK ADAM
Billy Batson as Shazam is an exciting character to watch. However, he does often play second fiddle to his arch nemesis, Black Adam. Back in ancient times, Black Adam was a priest to the Pharoah of Egypt. He was supposed to be given the powers of the Greek gods by Shazam, but was tricked into getting the Egyptian god powers instead.
Later on, he took over Khandaq and was turned into a corpse and buried as a result. Thousands of years later, his descendant would discover those powers and keep the mantle alive. Living his ancestor's legacy, he was determined to honor Black Adam while re-defining it. Constantly dancing on the line between good and evil, he was extremely unpredictable yet understandable.
3 WORSE - CRIMSON DYNAMO
The arch nemesis of Iron Man is a robot suit known as the Crimson Dynamo. Originally created by Anton Vanko to harness and control electricity, he quickly took the fight to Iron Man. The two of them were at similar strengths and had similar abilities in their suits.
That said, Crimson Dynamo never became too interesting (at least not more so than Iron Man). The character itself is vastly forgettable, the color palette is just bland with a full coat of red in most iterations. Furthermore, the mantle has been passed around to so many different people that it's hard to remain attached to the character's conflict with Iron Man.
2 BETTER - PROMETHEUS (ARROW)
Prometheus in the comics is a decent character, but as a foil to Green Arrow in Arrow, he is vastly better. Known as Adrian Chase, his father was a rich man that Oliver stopped back during the first season. Dedicating his life to then take out the Green Arrow and break him down from the inside, Chase trained with Talia al Ghul and became Prometheus.
Prometheus was terrifying, well-portrayed and noticeably insane. However, that's what made him so great. Having years to plan his assault on Oliver, he was always five steps ahead of Team Arrow. He pushed Oliver to his limit and made the team so desperate that they allied themselves with other villains to try and defeat him.
1 WORSE - NUCLEAR MAN
The Superman movies quickly went downhill after the second one. The worst offender of them all would have to be Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. In this film, Lex Luthor grabs a piece of Superman's hair and uses it to clone him, creating a villain known as Nuclear Man.
Nuclear Man is a villain created just to have a fight sequence. He has no personality, no character arc, and doesn't offer anything to the story. He could be replaced with anyone else and the story wouldn't change. Making matters worse is his horribly ugly costume and ridiculously long fingernails. Seriously, who thought this character was a good idea?