Editing Greatest Avenger Villains 1888 (section)

=GREATEST AVENGER COMICS VILLAINS=
::#  '''ULTRON'''--but only Perez ever really got him right. Not silver--battleship gray! 
::::[[Image:Ultron.gif]]
::#  '''KANG'''--gotta love the guy; he's had more incarnations than the Wasp's had costumes...well, almost as many, anyway!
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::#  '''MASTERS OF EVIL'''--always a thorn in the Avengers' side, these guys (and girls) have now become the Thunderbolts... but there's a NEW group of Masters, and they look just as evil as ever... The Masters of Evil are a loosely organized team of costumed criminals, most of them superhuman, who have banded together for mutual gain. The original Masters were one of the first major super-criminal alliances since World War II, and several groups have banded together under the Masters of Evil name over the years since the original group's disbanding. The various Masters teams have fought many heroes, but their most frequent enemies by far are the Avengers, the heroic equivalent of the Masters of Evil. Just as the Avengers are the most formidable super-heroic team in the world, the Masters of Evil represent the most formidable super-criminal force in the world.<br>  There have been six distinct incarnations of the Masters of Evil to date:
::::# The original Masters of Evil:  Baron Zemo (leader), Black Knight II, Melter, Radioactive Man, Enchantress and Executioner. 
::::# II: Ultron (leader), Klaw, Melter, Radioactive Man and Whirlwind.
::::# III: Egghead (leader), Moonstone II, Scorpion, Tiger Shark, Whirlwind, Beetle, Shocker and Radioactive Man.
::::# IV: Baron Zemo II (leader), Absorbing Man, Titania II, Moonstone II, Grey Gargoyle, Screaming Mimi, Yellowjacket II, Blackout, Bulldozer, Fixer II, Goliath III, Mister Hyde, Piledriver, Thunderball, Tiger Shark, Wrecker and Whirlwind.
::::# Masters of Evil V: Doctor Octopus (leader), Absorbing Man, Gargantua, Jackhammer, Oddball, Powderkeg, Puff Adder, Shocker, Titania II and Yellowjacket II.
::::# VI: Crimson Cowl III (leader), Cyclone II, Flying Tiger, Klaw, Man-Killer and Tiger Shark.
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::#  '''KORVAC'''--talk about a villain that CRIES to be brought back--! What? He's dead? Hey, this is Marvel! Let's have a Korvac clone! Besides, the way he got his power (stolen from Galactus) could be duplicated. 
::::[[Image:Kovac.gif]]
::#  '''COLLECTOR'''--An Elder of the universe, brother to the Grandmaster, and once able to capture the entire Avengers team, only to be defeated by.... Hawkeye! 
::::[[Image:Collector.gif]]
::#  '''GRIM REAPER'''--this guy never lived up to his potential, but his ties to Simon and Vizh make him critical to Avengers history. 
::::[[Image:Reaper.gif]]
::#  '''THANOS'''--never a primary Avengers villain, but Annual #7 alone makes him one of the best. 
::::[[Image:Thanos.gif]]
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::#  '''LOKI'''--Thor's arch-foe, the evil god who caused the Avengers to form in the first place, and instigator of much trouble since...
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::#  '''DR. DOOM'''--The classic FF-Villain gave the Avengers a few tough battles over the years...
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::#  '''TASKMASTER'''-- Not super-strong or able to fly, Tasky presented an incredible matchup problem for the group, because he can duplicate anyone's moves instantly! And you had to love his "school for super villain flunkies..." 
::::[[Image:Av196 3 taskmaster.jpg]]
::#  '''MAGNETO'''-- The classic X-Villain gave the Avengers fits back in the 1960s, especially when Wanda and Pietro were members... 
::::[[Image:Magneto.gif]]
::#  '''SQUADRON SINISTER'''-- Pseudo-JLA from another world, they have plagued the Avengers on numerous occasions... 
::::[[Image:Squadron.gif]]
::#  '''PROCTOR'''-- Though his name makes him sound like he'd be better suited to administering exams than to battling the Avengers, the Black Knight of an alternate reality and his long-running storyline in the issues from the mid to late 300s were probably the best thing to happen in AVENGERS in a long time...
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::#  '''COUNT NEFARIA'''--Mafia-lord-turned-Superman just BEGGED to go a few rounds with Thor. Later squashed like a bug by Tony Stark's Jupiter Probe. Um...huh??  <br> In AVENGERS 164, Count Nefaria moved from crime lord to super-villain when he had a scientist siphon off some of the powers of Whirlwind, Power Man (Erik Josten), and the Living Laser. Those powers were amplified (ionically, I suppose), and given to Nefaria. Thus he gained laser-vision, incredible strength, and quickness/speed. He did *not*, by the way, gain the power of flight. It was clearly stated in that storyline that he "flew" the same way the Hulk does-- by jumping really far. So you can hit him in midair and he'll fall.<br> At the end of that story, in #166, he was told by his scientist (Prof. Sturdy) that the side effect of his empowerment was rapid aging. Horrified, he went berserk before being stopped by the Avengers. Then, at the end, Sturdy admitted that he lied-- the aging was temporary and would have reversed itself eventually.  (Thus providing the perfect set-up for my own "What If...?" story that can be found on MV1.)<br> In AVENGERS ANNUAL #9, Nefaria was seen to be held in some sort of suspended animation in a chamber in Avengers Mansion. The reasons for this were unclear; had his aging simply not yet reversed, such that he needed the life support? Or were the Avengers actively holding him in a suspended state precisely so that his aging would not reverse and his powers and youth return in full force? A very interesting ethical question... (A third option is that Sturdy lied to the Avengers when he told them that Nefaria would recover. But this seems highly unlikely. Sturdy had no logical reason to lie to the Avengers and tell Nefaria the truth-- quite the opposite, in fact.)<br> In IRON MAN #116, we saw a now very aged Nefaria in a wheelchair. I forget if Whitney Frost (his daughter) broke him out of the Mansion, or obtained custody of him legally. He still hadn't, as far as we could tell by looking at him, regained his youth or his powers at this point. During a battle, Iron Man inadvertently shoved the Jupiter landing vehicle onto the machinery supposedly keeping Nefaria alive, and Whitney announced that he was dead.<br> It's important to note here that the machinery was crushed, not Nefaria himself. If, as Sturdy said, Nefaria had the potential to regain his youth and his powers, it is entirely conceivable that he could survive the destruction of his life support machinery-- he could have easily been further along in his recovery than even Whitney guessed.<br> Because of this, I've argued for twenty years that Nefaria was not dead; that he could easily return. Thus my happiness at seeing AVENGERS #32-34. Thanks, Kurt.
::::[[Image:Naferia.gif]]