Census Who has the better rogues gallery? Batman or Spider-Man?

I think the Phoenix Joker is more funny than Ledgers Joker in a comedic or jokes way. Ledger’s Joker is great at creating humor from giving other villains their comeuppance. Phoenix Joker has a serious cringe humor.

 

this is an interesting take

I voted Batman villains, though I prefer Spidey as a character

but my vote for Batman villains is mostly based on the cartoon from the 90s, and comics I’ve read over the years, and some of the older Batman films, so yeah a lot of that doesn’t apply to the last 20 years or so now

and really both characters, if you really look into the comic runs, have some lesser known villains that could easily be brought back to feature today in a film or tv series, I mean there’s plenty of dumb ones but also a few pretty interesting ones

 

Batman by far.

 

No doubt that Spider-Man's enemies are very interesting, though.

 

Too many animal themed villains in Spider-Man's rogues for my tastes.

 

Animalistic, eh? Well, Batman's villains' humanity is emphasized more. I agree. That's why I voted for them.

 

Batman has a better group of villains. Spidey has better wisecracks against his villains though.

 

As a counterpoint to Ramza, there's all Batman's semi-generic mobsters: Roman, Black Mask, Rupert Thorne, etc.

More seriously, he is correct that there is an over-reliance on Joker. But it's a more than worthy trade. Batman villains have shelf lives because several of them actually have a coherent motivation. Mr. Freeze is trying to save his wife. The Riddler wants to make a statement about his intellectual superiority (this is the worst one). Two Face is dealing with trauma after first abusing the justice system and then having it fail him. Each of these stories has a point when they should end. When any logical person would say enough and go home.

By contrast, a guy with robot arms? A hang-glider and an orc Halloween costume? A giant rhinoceros? Why exactly is any of this happening? What is the point? It's just weird stuff with people being evil for really no reason except they need to fight a spider-themed guy. That's much less interesting from a narrative point of view.

 

Spider-Man's villains are great (especially Dr. Octopus, Goblins, Mysterio, Lizard, Venom, though particularly Venom and Kraven get lesser if used too much) but Batman's haVe an at least narrow advantage, so many great in different ways (my favorites Joker, Poison Ivy and Scarecrow but also Two-Face, Catwoman, Riddler, Freeze, Ra's, the only major one I'm not a big fan of, other than in the '60s TV series, is the Penguin).

 

Batman also has...Condiment King

 

You would think he'd be one of Batman's more seasoned adversaries, but no, he only first appeared in the nineties animated series.

 

It's a tough one

Batman has some amazing villains, but he also has some of the worst (condiment king, kite man etc)

Though Spider-Man also has dumb enemies, like Hammerhead.

I think the downside of Batman is that so far not enough if his villains have been portrayed well in live action.
Poison Ivy & Mr Freeze are the obvious ones, so much potential and yet not utilised. Partly because of this weird desire to make Batman "grounded" all the time.
Screw that, I want a rampaging plant goddess & a shape shifting mud man.
Arkham games are the benchmark for depictions of Batman villains IMO, just do that in movies.


Spider-Man has nailed the portrayal of many of his iconic baddies - especially Green Goblin, Mysterio & Doc Ock.

 

Anti-hero.

Written like the Joker.

See above.

You've misunderstood my (somewhat jokingly phrased) complaint because you think I was talking about Batman villains when they still were a compelling and diverse cast of criminals. Not so. I was saying Batman nowadays has two villains: the Joker, and his writers who insist on making every villain basically a palette swap of the Joker. Although ironically this has begun to ease up now that those books had major turnover and meanwhile Spider-Man continues to have exactly one villain and it's editorial mandates.

 

Yeah they're peppered throughout the comics and the various television series, but the lack of good live-action b-listers who pass mustard can tend to make one a bit salty.

 

I don't think we actually disagree. There's a reason I referred to their "shelf life." When an interesting motivation has run its course, there are only two options: A) Being evil for no reason (Joker) or B) Not being evil any longer, although past crimes limit the ability to reintegrate into society (Anti-hero). I think that what you dislike is a direct consequence of the series having rogues that were well though out. Comics have to be endless but well-written stories have endings. When those two imperatives clash, what you get is something less than ideal.

Also, I do like how the B-listers help spice things up.

 

No, we don't, I'm just kvetching. Kvetching about the funny books.

And we all know that without b-listers those funny book writers would be in a real pickle.

 

I believe he was just a brainwashed victim of the Joker, used to distract Batman from something.


But yeah, I really hope they use Poison Ivy, I think she would have fit in well with Nolan’s League of Shadows wanting to “reset” civilization. Mr. Freeze would be a great film villain too. Both of these could be done in a way that’s not too campy.

And while less grounded, I think Clayface and Man-Bat would be great in some more horror/detective themed Batman movies.