Previous Post Note: Jason and HH were having an interesting discussion down the board a ways, and I was going to chime in there but then figured the board could stand to have a little more activity, so why hide it halfway down the board? Quote: There are three classic enemy types, the opposite, the almost-alike, and the manipulator. The opposite would be someone very different in power-set but still able to threaten Yuki physically; a biological monster stronger but slower, perhaps. The almost-alike would be another cyborg - maybe a male - who can do what Yuki can but who uses his abilities for evil. Their confrontations then become battles of wits and strategy. The manipulator is more like the puppet master you cite and would need to be tied to Yuki's past, her origins. Interesting. I hadn't really stopped to examine it that blatantly, but those categories do fit well... although "the opposite" can be applied rather broadly as a catch-all. Looking at Spider-man's rogues gallery for example, Venom is an obvious almost alike. Doc Ock comes in just around the line, being alike in scientific thinking and the 8-legged animal motiff, but not an obvious twin by any means. Norman Osborne is clearly the manipulator type (quite common for the one who gets the "arch enemy" designation). But much of the rest... Rhino, Electro, Vulture, Sandman, etc... that's just a grab bag of opposite. I suppose it's much harder for characters in this category to really jump to the top of a hero's rogues gallery because of this lack of obvious connection. In any event, I thought it would be fun to run down the Parodyverse's Heroes main enemies and see how people would define them. Hopefully others will chime in and add their own characters to the list (Hatty and CSFB have some clearly defined arch enemies, after all...) and I'll probably need to come back to it a few times as well as I think of others: Visionary: The Apostate is a manipulator first, although there's a healthy bit of opposite in him... But when your hero is Visionary, you can't really help that. I admit, though, that his position as Vizh's nemisis is largely manufactured. There's no compelling reason given why he and Vizh are linked in a way that only allows for one of them in the Parodyverse... Roni Y. Avis is probably as close to an "almost alike" villain as Vizh has, in that he's mostly a buffoon and no physical threat at all. Hallie: Rikka Ulz Hagan is definitely her arch enemy and a manipulator. She also has the familial history link to boost her to that "arch" position. Unlike many other villains, she genuinely has little interest in tormenting anyone other than Hallie as well. HAGGIE is a clear almost alike, although the damaged robot body does make her a bit different now. Still, I would expect her to be able to do most anything Hallie can do. Magweed: Camellia is likely her arch enemy, a manipulator type again. Then again, I could see Auntie as the arch enemy of the twins with Camellia a larger threat to the entire family...

But seriously, I think HH's villain breakdown can be a bit more specific. Having two of your three villain types be "the total opposite of the hero" or the "almost identical to the hero", well, that covers a lot of ground. Venom and Scorpion both could be clasified as "almost alikes" to Spider-Man, but they were both vastly different characters. Er, when they were different characters, of course. TV tropes has a nice list of all the villain tropes that is a bit more comprehensive, if overlapping in places.

As for the Parodyverse, I find it interesting that two of its bigger villains more often than not are on the side of the heroes. The Hooded Hood and Akiko Masamune are usually allies or at the very least some kind of support, so as interesting as they are I don't think they can be considered archenemies of the Lair Legion.

As for the rest of the Parodyverse rogues, well, who is there? The Baroness and Baron Otto are two of my favorites. I've used them quite a bit in my own stories. I'm a sucker for the criminal mastermind type who has no powers, which Beth Zemo pretty much is. She's done some truly villainous things yet still has that hunourous undercurrent to the character that makes her fun to write. Same with Otto. Camilia of the Fey is another great villain, powerful, interesting motivation, a personal connection to the heroes, and truly detestable. The Word? Sorry, hasn't done enough to warrant being considered a top tier guy in my opinion. Apostate? At this point the same thing holds true. Parody Master? To me he's just a jumped up Dark Thugos, but at least Thugos is a parody of one of the greatest villains ever created, so you can swipe ideas from that character's mythology and use it to make the PVB version more interesting. I really like what HH is doing with the character right now. Thugos is a up and comer in terms of Parodyverse bad guys. So's Doorman, if Jay ever gets around to continuing that story.

Speaking of never getting around to finishing stories, I've made a ton of villains in my time here at the PVB. Most are rip offs of characters that exist in the Marvel or DC universes, and beyond my own stuff haven't had a huge impact on the Parodyverse as a whole. I suppose my three major contributions are the Grey Eminence, who outside of his name I don't think is all that unique, Factor X, again, not an original concept, but probably my best villain in that he is extremely competent and can be considered major threat, and the Idiom, who might be the one bad guy I have that could actually relocate to an existing superhero universe be her own person, even if she is equal parts Catwoman, Riddler, and Pre-Crisis Lex Luthor.