A supervillain or supercriminal is a variant of the villainous stock character. It is sometimes found in comic books, and may possess superhuman abilities. A supervillain is the antithesis of a superhero.
A villain is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. Random House Unabridged Dictionary defines such a character as "a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel; or a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot". The antonym of a villain is a hero.
The Chameleon is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #1. The Chameleon is the first ever antagonist of the superhero Peter Parker / Spider-Man. He is a master of disguises who is known for his ability to impersonate virtually anybody. The character is also the half-brother of Kraven the Hunter. This relationship helped evolve him as a major villain compared to his original depiction of being just a solo villain in the original issue of The Amazing Spider-Man. He has also been a member of the Sinister Six and the Sinister Twelve at various points in his history.
Mysterio is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #13. In his comic book appearances, Mysterio is the alias of Quentin Beck, a former special effects artist, illusionist and actor who turns to crime. He is one of the superhero Spider-Man's most enduring enemies and belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up his rogues gallery. He is also a founding member of the supervillain team the Sinister Six, and has fought other heroes, including Daredevil.
The Legion of Super-Villains is a team of supervillains who appear in comic books published by DC Comics, primarily as enemies of the Legion of Super-Heroes. They first appeared in Superman #147.
Klaw is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as a human physicist who has been transformed into solid sound, and who wears a sonic emitter on his right wrist as a prosthetic device. He is often in conflict with the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, and he is also an enemy of the Black Panther and Ka-Zar.
Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, or simply Birdman or The Galaxy Trio, is an American animated television series made by Hanna-Barbera Productions that debuted on NBC on September 9, 1967, and ran on Saturday mornings until January 20, 1968. The program consists of two segments: Birdman, depicting the adventures of a winged superhero powered by the sun, and The Galaxy Trio, centered around the adventures of a patrol of interstellar superheroes. Each segment was a complete independent story, and the characters of each segment did not interact with those of the other, except for a bumper that has all four heroes defeating a prehistoric monster.
Mastermind is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly as an adversary of the X-Men. The original Mastermind was a mutant with the psionic ability to generate complex telepathic illusions at will that cause his victims to see whatever he wishes them to see. He was a founding member of the first Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and later a probationary member of the Lords Cardinal of the Hellfire Club, where he played an important role in "The Dark Phoenix Saga".
Armadillo is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Swordsman is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Don Heck, the character first appeared in The Avengers #19. Although Swordsman was first introduced as an enemy of Hawkeye and the Avengers, the character has since appeared as both a supervillain and a superhero.
Deathbolt is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He was created by the Ultra-Humanite to fight the All-Star Squadron.
Characters native to the African continent have been depicted in comics since the beginnings of the modern comic strip. Initially, such early 20th-century newspaper comics as Winsor McCay's Little Nemo depicted the racist stereotype of a spear-carrying cannibal, a comedic convention of the time. African characters later began to appear as another stereotype, the "noble savage"—a similar progression to that of depictions of Native Americans—and eventually as standard human beings.
Heinrich Zemo is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and first made a cameo appearance in The Avengers #4, before officially being introduced in The Avengers #6. He was retroactively added into the history of Captain America upon the superhero's reintroduction in the Silver Age of Comics two issues prior. Baron Zemo is a Nazi scientist and the founder and original leader of the Masters of Evil, and is commonly depicted as one of the greatest enemies of Captain America and the Avengers. He is the twelfth Baron Zemo in his family lineage, and his legacy is continued by his son, Helmut Zemo.
Nathan Garrett, also known as the criminal Black Knight, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was a supervillain and descendant of the original Black Knight, and was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Dick Ayers.
League of Super Evil is a Canadian animated comedy television series co-created by Philippe Ivanusic-Vallee, Davila LeBlanc and Peter Ricq and developed by Asaph Fipke. Inspired by a comedy sketch entitled "Once Were Heroes" by Ryan Harper-Brown, the series was produced by Nerd Corps Entertainment in association with YTV.
The Awesomes is an American adult animated comedy television series created by Seth Meyers and Mike Shoemaker for Hulu. Meyers and Shoemaker serve as executive producers alongside Lorne Michaels. It debuted on August 1, 2013 and ended on November 3, 2015.
The Island of Dr. Destroyer is an adventure published by Hero Games in 1981 for the superhero role-playing game Champions.
Chris King and Vicki Grant are depicted as two featured duo characters from DC Comics within the series Dial H for Hero. They are portrayed as normal kids who can transform themselves as superheroes replacing Robby Reed during the 1980s.
