Crash Course in Villainy X

This will mark my last Marvel themed villainy post so I hope you’ve enjoyed the posts and will come back for the DC ones beginning next month!

Enough of this, let us begin with Thanos!

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Thanos

While this Darkseid lookalike may appear to be a mad tyrant, all Thanos wants is Death’s love. This Titans’ son grew up in the shadow of handsome brother, Starfox, and as a result become melancholy. After multiple cybernetic enhancements in his bid for power, Thanos was banished from his home planet. In his travels, he came across Death, personified as a woman and fell in love. His attempts at wooing were fruitless and so he sought out the Cosmic Cube to give as a gift. When it was turned against him, he turned his sights to the Soul Gems, with which he created his Infinity Gauntlet, a tool that made him omnipotent and drove him to attempt killing half of all creatures in existence. Luckily, Adam Warlock is able to thwart this massacre and Thanos is confined to an alternate dimension from which he (of course) eventually escapes. Thanos again gets up to no good and starts making clones of himself but we find out it’s actually Thanos’ clone making clones and he helps take them all out. After the events of Annihilation, he decides to do the right thing for once and assists the Guardians of the Galaxy in slaying the undying creatures of the Cancerverse which unfortunately collapsed and left him trapped within. Poor guy.

Thanos’ powers include superhuman strength, stamina, durability, intelligence and longevity (why can’t they just say he’s basically immortal!?) AND can teleport as well as manipulate energy. Take that bitches.

For a good story arc revolving around Thanos, eeeeh, it’s a bit hard but I really enjoyed Annihilation or you can be like everyone else and read Infinity Gauntlet.

Best Thanos quote IMO: “Do I need to spell it out for you, flea? Give me what I crave. Give me death! Give me the release of oblivion!”

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Toad

Nope, I’m not talking about the hot Ray Park incarnation in the X-Men movies, I’m talking about hunchbacked, slimy, sniveling Mortimer Toynbee. Sure Ray Park traits were implemented in later comics but that’s not the point here! Orphaned and branded a freak, Morty became incredibly insecure, pledging loyalty to the first person to ever show him warmth: Magneto. He joined up with the Brotherhood of the Mutants and fell in love with Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, who unfortunately did not reciprocate. After Magneto abandoned him to die, Toad escaped with Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver with the help of Professor X. His momentary brush with the good in him forgotten, Toad ensconced himself in learning about alien technology, using it various schemes that had him teaming with villains like Doctor Doom. This technology also corrected his deformed person and he underwent a massive metamorphosis, emerging with several new powers. He was one of the 198 left with his powers and is currently the janitor at Wolverine’s School for Gifted Children in Westchester.

Toad’s superpowers include superhuman leg and tongue strength, endurance, agility, reflexes, coordination, balance, and leaping ability. He also has a slight healing factor, can stick to walls a la Spider-Man, can expel gusts of air from lungs, does weird things to you with his spit (like paralyze and be extra sticky), and is a trained mechanic, kickboxer, and is adept with machines. Not bad for a member of Brotherhood of the Mutants!

For a good Toad story arc, I recommend the first chunk of Ultimate X-Men. This vicious Toad is one I really enjoy, so try out Ultimate X-Men #1-25 (not to be confused with the restarted Ultimate X-Men that’s on issue 6).

Best Toad quote IMO: “This is how it is now…We control everything. Even if we have to kill you to do it.”

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Sabretooth

Victor Creed is one of my favorite villains in that he necessarily completely evil, he just fully embraces everything he is. A product of the Weapon X program in the Civil War era alongside Wolverine, Victor has a lengthy history in the X-Men universe. Not much is known about his early history (aside from murdering almost all of his entire family) but we learn he likes to fuck around with Wolverine on his birthday. Eventually coming out of the supervillain closet, Sabretooth joins up with the Constrictor and starts killing people just for the sheer fun of it. Of course, he’s eventually stopped and he joins up with Gambit’s band of misfits, The Marauders, before becoming a mercenary. Victor gets into numerous fights with both Wolvie AND Cable, and tells Wolverine, “I am your father. Search your feelings, you know this to be true.” Just kidding! Well, not about the father part….Anyway he briefly joins up with X-Factor and Professor X probes his brain, realizing Victor does care about human life after all. Wolverine subsequently stabs him in the brain while he is incarcerated. Sometime between this and joining up with Brotherhood of the Mutants, Sabretooth gains adamantium claws (oddly, when Wolverine loses his). Wolverine defeats Sabretooth to be one of Apocalypse’s Four Horsemen and the adamantium is ripped from Sabretooth and re-fused to Wolverine (don’t worry he gains his adamantium back). We last see Sabretooth goading Wolverine into murdering him and off to Hell he goes. Oh, but that’s not enough for Victor Creed. He’s the Devil’s dog who takes advantage of the Devil’s fight with Wolverine and wields Satan’s Sword if only briefly, and is subsequently beheaded by Wolverine. The En…oh wait, somehow he is miraculously revived and just showed back up in Wolverine’s current series. What the hell is Marvel doing?! *goes off to read*

Sabretooth’s powers are as follows: regenerative healing, superhuman senses, strength, stamina, agility, and reflexes, is resistance to telepathic assault and control, and happens to have handy dandy retractable claws and fangs.

Let me see….my favorite Sabretooth arc is Wolverine (2004 series)#40-60, right around Civil War. So good.

Best Sabretooth quote IMO: “You were never willing to get your hands dirty. We got these claws for a reason. I’d be more than glad to remind you why.”

Again, thank you all for reading these and I can’t wait to begin with DC! Any suggestions to kick it off?