The Top 7 Worst Comic Book Characters of All Time

 

Comic books have given us some of the most interesting, well-designed superheroes and supervillains ever. From the Clown Prince of Crime to the Amazing Spiderman, heroes and villains are an important part of any story and can make or break it. Not all of these characters in comics live up to this standard though, some even fall flat on their face, leaving fans wondering what the creators were thinking. This article will go over the top 7 worst comic book characters based on how they were made.

Stilt-Man

He was created by Stan Lee and Wally Wood and first appeared in Daredevil #1 in 1964. Wilbur Day, a villain who uses a mechanical suit that makes him look like he’s riding stilts, is about as one-dimensional as it gets for motivation too: financial gain. His costume looks silly even if you try to spin it into being cool with stilts that shoot lasers out of them.

Arm-Fall-Off-Boy

Created by Gerard Jones and Curt Swan making his debut in Secret Origins #46 in 1989, Arm-Fall-Off-Boy is from the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th century. His ability is detachable limbs that can be used as a weapon. It feels more like a parody team with him than an actual addition to Legion Of Super-Heroes arm fall off boy has gone down into lore as such a bad character.

Codpiece

Codpiece is definitely not someone you want to see while fighting crime but unfortunately, he exists thanks to Gerard Jones and Jeff Johnson who made his first appearance in Doom Patrol #70 back in 1994 which wasn’t too long ago either so we know they had better options when making characters around that time. He wears armor that looks like male genitalia (the codpiece) and also shoots projectiles from it too. Something pretty cringe about him is when you read his story his motive is just the worst thing you can think of too, he does it because at some point in his life someone made him feel inadequate and emasculated.

The Walrus

Created by Bill Mantlo and Herb Trimpe first appeared in The Spectacular Spider-Man #25 in 1979, Spiderman has one of the best sets of villains but The Walrus is way too weak to be in that group. He’s a guy named Hubert Carpenter who failed an experiment turning him into a walrus human with clothes to match. The only other connection to Spiderman was when they fought once.

The Kangaroo

The Kangaroo, also known as Frank Oliver, is a Marvel supervillain who debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man #81 in 1970. With his amazing jumping ability, acquired through an experimental treatment, the character’s gimmick has always been his only defining feature. As far as villains go, The Kangaroo falls flat.

This character finds himself on the list for not having much depth. His motivation mainly consists of your stereotypical supervillain looking for wealth and power. What makes it worse is that his “incredible” jumping isn’t all that impressive when compared to other characters. While I’m sure he’ll give you a good kick to the face, he’s not really a villain that brings anything exciting to the table.

As far as Spidey’s rogue gallery goes, Kangaroo only manages to be one of the forgettable ones overshadowed by some of Marvel’s most iconic villains. Lacking any sort of meaningful background or powers that make him stand out in any way place him among some of the worst comic book villains ever created.

Maggott

X-men is well-known for its diverse range of mutants with a variety of interesting powers but not every mutant gets the cool abilities like summoning lightning or telepathy and flying around shooting lasers out their eyes. Created by Scott Lobdell and Joe Madureira, Maggott made his first appearance in X-Men #345 back in 1997. The mutant’s ability lets two slugs live inside his body giving him enhanced strength and agility… weird I know but it doesn’t stop there! They’re sentient slugs.

If your first thought was what mine was then we’re on the same page right now because this character doesn’t make any sense at all. There isn’t much else to say about Maggott besides what you just read though because there isn’t much else about him that sticks out making him one of the least memorable X-men villains.

Typeface

Lastly, rounding out our list is a name you probably won’t expect to see in a comic book supervillain article. Typeface created by Kurt Busiek and John Romita Jr. first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #311 in 1989. What’s his gimmick? He really loves fonts and typography… yeah, I’m just as confused and surprised too. Although creative ideas are usually seen as great things in comics this one not only feels out of place but also doesn’t allow for a character that people can take serious at all.

Of course, there’s always going to be characters like this but those characters will never have much more to them than their silly quirks which makes it nearly impossible to write a compelling backstory or motivation for them, landing them among the worst villains Spidey has ever had to fight against.

In a world filled with complex supervillains and superheroes that hold deep motivations along with captivating powers, Stilt-Man, Arm-Fall-Off-Boy, Codpiece, The Walrus, Bouncing Boy, Maggott and Typeface are not it. Characters that don’t resonate with audiences simply because of how boring they can be. While some may serve as cautionary tales for creators though it’s important to remember that these handfuls of unique individuals continue to show us what kind of direction comics can go into today and hopefully, we see even stranger things evolve from these few examples. — Brad Kern

Originally published at https://bradkern.medium.com on February 02, 2024.