Many of Marvel’s A-list and even some B-list heroes have been provided their main villain, regardless of quality. Captain America has his Red Skull, Thor has his Loki, Iron Man has his Mandarin… okay, the truth is all of those figures require a redo, but at least there is representation, as crappy as it may be. The X-men even have a Magneto, even if he also needs a redo. But there are some heroes who have no villain representation at all.
And that’s just wrong.
So I present five heroes that desperately need their villain:
We’ve got Black Panther — we need Man-Ape!
One could argue that we already got Klaw, so he qualifies as villainous enough for Black Panther, but this is the internet to somebody’s always arguing about something. To me it’s animal versus animal, Panther versus Ape, Black Panther versus Man-Ape. With the all-new Black Panther coming up, it’s time to deliver the guy whose face is in the ape’s mouth.
Because that’s awesome.
We’ve got Power Man and Iron Fist — we need Chemistro!
As a pair of heroes that have no villains at all to fight, the field is wide open for these two Heroes for Hire. I choose Chemistro because he’s a snappy dresser with a cool schtick and he made multiple appearances in their comic. Chemistro has been three different people over his career as a masked villain, and all of them have their beginnings in a Power Man comic. So that’s about all the logic I need.
We’ve got Dr. Strange — we need Dormammu!
And you can keep your video game Dormammu. I’m talking about the original in the funky purple longjohns. No, he may not be as “cool” to the kids or whatever in his original, traditional clothes, but Dr. Strange has nobody that he can really trade sorcery with, and Dormammu would make the perfect opposing force to Strange and his Hoary Host of Hoggoth-swingin’ ways.
We’ve got Ghost Rider — we need The Orb!
While the Dan Ketch version of Ghost Rider has at least Blackheart to battle, the original Johnny Blaze version (who desperately needs an updated figure) sits on his cycle all alone with nobody to pit his flaming skull against. What better opposing force than a fellow bike enthusiast and weirdly-noggined villain like the Orb? While others, like Steel Wind of Centurious, would be welcome, I think the Orb would make a striking and cool counterpoint to an updated Blaze-styled Ghost Rider.
And finally,
We’ve got Howard the Duck — we need Dr. Bong!
While it’s beyond awesome that Howard got a figure, even a minimally (yet quite functional) articulated one as he is, there’s something that would make his presence on the shelf approximately 86 percent more awesome, and that would be his main nemesis, the top ding dong himself, Dr. Bong. Beyond being a foil for Howard, this would be one of the coolest action figures ever, possibly shattering the universe with concentrated white dwarf star awesometasticness. I mean, I don’t want to oversell it, but come on, Hasbro, witness the potential in a Dr. Bong figure. You have the perfect ingredients; all you have to do is use them, for the good of the world.