[williamssl]

Well folks, here they are - the brackets for our Supervillain Showdown!! The top 8 vote-getters on each of the Marvel and DC families are in and seeded 1 through 8.

All nominations and vote tallies will be posted in a separate thread.

We'll post our first set of challenges on SUNDAY.

Let the speculation and smacktalk begin here though! Will we get the Joker vs. Doom showdown in the end? Or will there be an upset along the way? Do any of the lower seeds stand a chance of any wins?

Let's get it on!

[Krydor]

Dr. Doom is Marvel's number one, based on submissions? I don't see him getting to the finals.

[williamssl]

OK here's my deal. I know everyone on the Marvel side. Waaaaaay back when I read comics - and I didn't read a ton then - I was 90% Marvel / 10% DC. On the DC side I'll admit to not knowing Deathstroke and Ra's Al Ghul.

So without referring me to wiki or some other web anthology biography, who the hell are these two? I'm not asking why I should vote for them because that's for another thread. Just give me a simple (key word) education on them so at least I come into this quasi-informed.

[Batman]

Deathstroke is primarily a Titans villain. He has a healing factor, and is a little stronger than human, but these powers are pretty incidental. His main deal is that he thinks faster and is a better strategist than any of the heroes, such that with very little by way of superpowers he can generally take on a whole room full of superheroes and generally come out on top. He's a soldier of fortune. If you're more familiar with Marvel, both Taskmaster and Deadpool are basically ripoffs of him.

Here's what I said about him in the Robin v Spiderman thread:

But Robin is like Batman writ small--almost as skillful, almost as prepared--but that little bit of difference makes all the difference in the world. Unlike Batman, when he goes into a situation, he doesn't know if he's going to come out on top, nor does the reader. There's no sense of being "bulletproof."

Despite this, he goes up against THIS guy:



Deathstroke is the most dangerous man in the DCU. He doesn't have much by way of powers but he is always a step ahead of the heroes, probably even more so than Batman. He regularly takes on groups of powered superheroes by himself, and usually humiliates them. He is faster, smarter, stronger, a better fighter, and a better tactician than Robin. And yet Robin goes toe-to-toe with him regularly.

[Lucky]

Ever seen Batman Begins? Ra's Al Ghul is the villain and the story is pretty well told there.

Ra's is a Batman villain. He's like 700 years old and Arabic. He has access to "Lazarus Pits", which can heal wounds and replenish life (hence why he's 700 years old) but which also cause a level of temporary insanity (which can be extended with repeated use). He's a criminal genius, calculated and intelligent who built a vast international organization known as The Demon (and he took on the name of "the Demon's Head"). And he's a master fighter who built the world's greatest assasins, The League of Assasins. He's basically Batman's equal. He's obsessed with environmental perfection and thinks the best way to reach that is by destroying the threat to Earth, man.

He's got two daughters who took over for him after his death. Nyssa, who took over control of the League of Assasins, and Talia, who took over the mantel of Demon's Head. Way back Talia fell in love with Batman and Ra's considered Batman a worthy man to marry her and be his heir. Batman of course refused Ra's vision and the two have constantly been at odds since. Either over Batman stopping Ra's or Ra's trying to show Batman the error of his ideals. Talia and Bats love each other and Talia's sort of a morally torn character who tries to rationalize her two sides.

[Deleted]

krydor said:

Dr. Doom is Marvel's number one, based on submissions? I don't see him getting to the finals.

Ya know, I'll admit to having not known much about the guy other than the general "He's the Fantastic Four's #1 villains and he's one of the most power-hungry villains".

Then I read his Wiki. The guy's a fuckin' badass. Super-genius. Ruler of a small country with loyal subjects. Has an army of robot clones of himself. And he's got such powerful skills in magic (no, he's not a Liger!) that he's next in line behind Dr. Strange to hold the title of Sorcerer Supreme.

And with the Deadpool argument, those were the reasons I almost didn't even vote for Venom, here. But when it comes down to it, Venom's been FAR more bad than good.

[National Champion Chris Cole]

I can honestly say I learned most of my Dr. Doom knowledge from the queue line for Doom Tower at Universal's Islands of Adventure. But what I learned kicked ass and he was still my number one villain just from that!!!

I see Magneto over Doom in the Finals though.

[Loki]

I can see your logic. But I can also see Venom beating them both. Really, you can make a case for all three.

Catwoman surprised me. I always thought she was more of a tweener.

[Deleted]

As did I, but I think a lot of us here weren't too familiar with DC villains and just wracked our brains through the Batman movies. And Penguin sucked.

[Krydor]

Lex Luthor rules you all.

[williamssl]

And Catwoman is hot so she's gonna be more top of mind than say a Penguin. Well at least for everyone who's not gay. Let's see...who DIDN'T vote for Catwoman........ ???

[National Champion Chris Cole]

I always counted her as a villain.

[Loki]

williamssl said:

And Catwoman is hot so she's gonna be more top of mind than say a Penguin. Well at least for everyone who's not gay. Let's see...who DIDN'T vote for Catwoman........ ???

Yeah, good hafling paladin logic there, hotshot.

"Tex, you don't have porn on your work computer? You MUST be gay!"

"Tex, you don't have pictures of SI swimsuit models in your bedroom at home? You MUST be gay!"

"Tex, you don't have a stack of Cheri's easily accessible in your garage? You MUST be gay!"

"Tex, you don't have Hardcore Honeys Vol 17 - Car Wash Lesbians on Permanent Play in your DVD player? You MUST be gay!"

[williamssl]

In all seriousness, here are my picks

Doom over Two Face Easily
Green Goblin over Catwoman
Ra's over Apocalypse
Lexie over Bullseye

Doom over Goblin
Lex over Ra's

Doom over Lex

Joker over Juggernaut
Galactus over Deathstroke (may be due to my lack of DS knowledge)
Venom over Darkseid
Magneto over Riddler

Joker over Galactus
Magneto over Venom (this will be the closest vote in the contest)

Joker over Magneto

Joker over Doom

[williamssl]

loki said:

williamssl said:

And Catwoman is hot so she's gonna be more top of mind than say a Penguin. Well at least for everyone who's not gay. Let's see...who DIDN'T vote for Catwoman........ ???

Yeah, good hafling paladin logic there, hotshot.

"Tex, you don't have porn on your work computer? You MUST be gay!"

"Tex, you don't have pictures of SI swimsuit models in your bedroom at home? You MUST be gay!"

"Tex, you don't have a stack of Cheri's easily accessible in your garage? You MUST be gay!"

"Tex, you don't have Hardcore Honeys Vol 17 - Car Wash Lesbians on Permanent Play in your DVD player? You MUST be gay!"

1) Is it a surprise to see the above response coming from someone who didn't vote for Catwoman? And from someone who voted for CatMAN? Getting overly defensive there?
2) At least I'm consistent - my argument for Wonder Woman over Hulk in the Superhero Showdown was based solely on Lynda Carter.
3) You're only batting .500 for accuracy in your examples there. it drops to .333 if I'm not lenient on the Hardcore Honey's one on account of me having volume 13 and not 17. I gave you credit on that one.

[williamssl]

Oh yeah - exalts to both Serg and Lucky for the quick background info on the two DC folks I didn't know. I had seen Batman Begins but the only baddie I remember from that was Scarecrow since I was familiar with him to begin with (and I was drinking when saw the movie).

[Batman]

Catwoman sucks. If I was going to vote in a villain based on hotness, I'd vote Talia:



I agree with most of Texas's picks, except that I think Deathstroke has a good chance against Galactus, (but neither has a chance against Joker.)

Also, I think Lex's fights are going to be close. He might take Bullseye and Ra's as Tex predicts, but I wouldn't be surprised if either of them upset him. On the one hand, he's one of the most iconic villains, but on the other he has often been kind of bland and corny. I have always loved Elliot S! Maggin's take on the character, though. The JLU version is pretty cool, too--particularly in the second to last season.

[Loki]

1) In all seriousness, read the Villians United GN. They turned Catman into an awesome badass.
2) I can't think of a pithy comment that is a good enough response.
3) Wow. Things must be differnet in Texas. The first would get me fired, the second would guarentee I'd never have sex with my wife again, the third.... well, is possible, but since my garage is unheated would be all but impossible come winter and the 20 degree temperatures and the fourth would reuslt in a lot of questions I don't want to answer once my boy discovers how to operate the DVD player.

[Batman]

Oh, and loki, I'm pretty sure the "U'Re TEh GaY IFU dIdn't vot ktwOmn" cheap shot was aimed more at me than you, (or sal or optard.)

Seeing as I'm Sir Gay and watch Gilmore Girls and drink Mike's and all.

[williamssl]

Assume all cheap shots that apply to Ryan, even if they apply to others, are directed at Ryan unless told otherwise. True I had serg in mind when the dumb thought came to me, but then I looked at the votes and whatdoyaknow!!! There's Ryan.

My jaw dropped when Loki was the one to respond to it.

[Batman]

loki said:

1) In all seriousness, read the Villians United GN. They turned Catman into an awesome badass.

What, she's heel evil again? Was she one of the one's that the Top turned brainwashed?

I hate that they retconned Trickster back to the bad guys with the dumb "Top brainwashed them" thing; I loved the "I better earn my way to the other place, 'cause I don't dare go to hell" justification for switching sides from the "Underworld Unleashed" storyline.

[The Canadian Content]

Read more carefully, Sir Gay. Loki said Catman had been turned into a badass.

When the time comes, I'll be entirely open to arguments for the Deathstroke/Galactus matchup. I'm not at all familiar with Deathstroke, and I don't think Galactus should've made the cut in the first place.

I really like Juggernaut, but there's no way in hell he gets past Joker (or Luthor if the bracket had gone the other way).

I see Luthor/Doom and Joker/Venom as the final four, Doom/Joker as the final (and possibly the greatest crossover of all time), and Joker as the eventual winner. I, however, will be voting Doom all the way.

[OpTard]

psychofish said:

I don't think Galactus should've made the cut in the first place.

what? the guy eats planets!

[Deleted]

Fuckin' A. I just read up on Apocalypse and he's a fuckin' badass, too. Damn this is going to be a hard tournament to vote on.

I'm sure I'll be one of the few voting AGAINST Joker at times, too.

[The Canadian Content]

operationretard said:

what? the guy eats planets!

Which, to me, isn't all that interesting. I don't even consider the guy a villain, per se, as he doesn't eat planets out of maliciousness. He needs to eat them to survive. On the multiple occasions he's wanted to eat Earth, he's been talked out of it, rather than forced out of it, to my knowledge.

So really, he's not evil, he's just hungry. Not a compelling villain in my mind.