TOP FIVE PREFAB VILLAINS: NUMBER FOUR

Elektra

First Appearance: Daredevil #168

Seriously?

Yep, number four on my list is Ms. Elektra Natchios, the Greek ninja ex-lover and would be assassin of Daredevil, the Man Without Fear.

“What’s Elektra’s deal?”

Elektra’s creator, Frank Miller, described her as the deadliest woman in the Marvel Universe… yet we’d never heard of her until 1981, which is why she makes a pretty good prefab villain.  Daredevil had been fighting crime and sleeping with leading ladies since the early 60s, but somehow, he’d never even mentioned Elektra Natchios.

I won’t get into Elektra’s various convoluted and questionable origins, and instead, focus on her story as it played out in the pages of Daredevil. 

From Wikipedia:

She became the chief assassin in the employ of New York City’s premier crimelord, the Kingpin. She attempted to kill Daredevil after he tried to stop her from terrorizing Ben Urich. The Kingpin then assigned her to kill Matt Murdock’s partner, Franklin “Foggy” Nelson. When Nelson recognized Elektra as Matt’s college girlfriend, she was unable to kill him.

Elektra was fatally stabbed by Bullseye with one of her own sai in a battle over which of them would be the Kingpin’s assassin. Elektra managed to crawl over to Daredevil’s house before dying in his arms as Bullseye watched the two, hidden among a crowd that had gathered to see what was going on. Later, members of the Hand stole her body and attempted to resurrect her. Daredevil, with the assistance of Stone, a member of Stick’s order, intervened, defeating the Hand ninja. Daredevil then tried to revive Elektra himself. Although his attempt failed, it did have the effect of purifying Elektra’s soul. Elektra’s body subsequently disappeared with Stone.

“Why’s Elektra a prefab villain?”

Mostly because, like the Fury, she comes out of the gate fully formed, and “dies” at the end of her first story.  Her introduction immediately changes things up for DD, and opens doors to his past we didn’t even know about.

TOP FIVE PREFAB VILLAINS: NUMBER FIVE

Before we start the list, I shoud probably take a minute to define exactly what a prefabricated villain is, huh? Well, it’s pretty simple, really. A prefab villian is an adversary that you’ve never seen before, and who is designed and introduced for a very specific reason, usually to be the “ultimate enemy” of a hero or team of heroes.

So, we’ll start the countdown with my personal favorite, and one that really sort of pioneers the formula and sets the stage for those to come…

The Fury

First Appearance: Marvel Superheroes # 387 

Originally, I’d thought about putting the Fury on my list of supervillains that just scare the bejeezus out of me, but I think he fits here okay.

Introduced by Alan Moore and Alan Davis (“The Alans”) in the pages of Captain Britan, the Fury is an emotionless and unstoppable engine of destruction designed to kill Earth-238’s super-powered population… and later on, the superheroes of all other Earths.

“What’s the Fury’s deal?”

It kills super-heroes.

Literally.

And never has a single descriptive line for a villain been more appropriate … well, except for maybe DC’s Kobra, but that’s another list.

The Fury was created by ”Mad” Jim Jaspers, a reality warping mutant from parrallel Earth-238.  Jaspers had used his power to garner a Parlimentary position, and initiated a number of superhero regulatory programs.  He engineered the “cybiote” Fury to police his policies, and later on, after outlawing all superhumans, programed it to kill them — all of them – with the only exception being himself, of course.  When its mission was complete, Jaspers shut down the Fury and began ruling the world as he saw fit.

But then, while on a mission for Merlyn, Captain Britain materialises on Earth-238.  With new heroes alive and well on its planet, the Fury is reactivated… and KILLS Captain Britain.    

Seriously… breaks his arm and then barbeques his ass.

When Merlyn realizes what’s happend to his champion, he retrieves Cap’s remains and is able to bring him back to life, better than ever.  But even in Merlyn’s mystical Otherworld, the Fury is such a badass that he’s able to pick up the Captain’s life signs and adapt itself for interdimensional travel, leaving Earth-238 behind in hot pursuit… seconds before that reality is destroyed by cosmic overseers in an effort to keep Jaspers’ madness from spilling into other realities.

The Fury arrives on Earth-616 and finds Captain Britain battling that realities version of Mad Jim Jaspers… and believe it or not, this is where things go crazy in the story, as the Fury totally schools Captain Britain AGAIN, but doesn’t kill him.  It redirects its focus on Jaspers, and realizes 616’s Jaspers isn’t its creator and is just another super-human.  The Fury attacks without remorse, and the two of them tustle through a myriad of realities and worlds, in what is undoubtably one of the most amazingly bizarre battles you’ll ever read (I promise), before the Fury drops Jaspers off in what’s left of Earth-238… a place that’s esentially been wiped from existence, and making Jaspers reality warping powers utterly useless.  There, the Fury kills him.

Even though it’s damaged in the battle with Jaspers, the Fury returns to 616 to finish off the Captain, but it doesn’t stand a chance against an army of Captain Britains — a band of displaced Caps from different realities — who beat it to death and dismantle it before it can regenerate and kill again.

“Why’s the Fury a Prefab Villain?”

While maybe not as prefab as some of the higher numbered creeps to come, the Fury works well on this list because its only purpose is to be an obstacle against which Captain Britain, with all his powers and abilities, doesn’t stand a chance.  A menace so distant and mysterious, that even the jaded and experienced comics fan can’t quite predict the ending. 

None of the Captain’s usual gang of nuanced psychos, like Hurricane or the Corruptor, would have worked.  The story needed new blood to work; something that raised the ante enough to convince readers the Captain might actually not make it out of this one alive… and the Fury delivered.

Read more about the Fury:

Captain Britain

Uncanny X-men: The New Age Vol. 1: The End of History

House of M: Uncanny X-men

LIST EXTRAVAGANZA COMING…

Starting this week, in another effort to generate daily content, I’ll be resorting to the lamest content generator of all… lists.

That’s right. Lists. Everybody kind of hates ‘em, as they don’t really do a lot and usually rely on a set of arbitrary rules that only the list maker adheres, but I’m gonna do it anyway, and hopefully, you’ll forgive me.

So,come back tomorrow for #5 on my list of “The Top 5 Prefabricated Villains In Comics.”

TCB POLL

WHO’S THE NEW WHO…?

10th Doctor David Tennant has announced he’ll be exiting the Tardis at the end of 2009.

Read all about it right here.

“LIKE A VAMPIRE BUT WITH DOGS!”

Laughter.  Tears.  Perfect.

Check it out.

HEROES IS HORSESQUAT…

Sorry, guys, but HEROES is just plain terrible.

Before you ask, no, I couldn’t finish Season 1, and barely knew 2 was on before it was off again.  But since it was nigh impossible to dodge the Heroes Villains campaign, I decided to tune in (via PIP off ESPN Monday night football) for the season premiere last night, and my god… that was damn near unwatchable.

I’ve got several major issues with the show, but it can all pretty much be summed up in one word:
Plagiarism.  Undeniable after all that stuff with Mohinder and his freaky new powers.

Exhibit A:

Totally cropped from Cronenberg’s remake of The Fly. If you don’t believe me, put it on your list and come back to discuss. I mean, c’mon, Mohinder even looks just like Goldblum.

That’s my main issue as of last night, but another big one is the casting of other former cult TV show actors in throw away roles. Look, I’m sure they don’t mind the work, and I don’t begrudge them a living, but do the producers really think there’s that much carry over appeal? I mean, look at this list…

Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who)
Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars)
George Takai (Star Trek)
Bruce Boxleitner (Babylon 5)
William Katt (Greatest American Hero)

And I’m sure if you worked hard enough you could probably wedge in Malcolm McDowell in there, too.

Couple more points:

-After Nathan Petrelli dies on the operating table, the “doctor” comes out into the hallway, where Peter Petrelli has been waiting to hear if his brother’s going to make it. The doctor, who is maybe angry that he couldn’t save Nathan’s life (?), tosses aside his surgical gloves (on the floor, I guess), and tells Peter “I’m sorry.”, before walking away, LEAVING NATHAN’S DEAD BODY COMPLETELY UNATTENDED, chest cavity seemingly wide open, blood everywhere… because, I guess, the writer just needed Peter to grieve over Nathan’s body before he comes back to life. Jesus, guys… what kind of hospital is this?

-Maybe I missed it in all my flipping back and forth (Go Chargers!), but Claire has regeneration powers, right? After Sylar took her “nervous system” or whatever, why doesn’t she just grow it back?

-Again, and this is stretching a little bit, but plagiarism comes into play when Hiro’s new nemesis, the super-speed girl, refers to herself as a “speedster”.

Anyway, all that to say, get your poo slinging hands loosened up, Heroes fans, and get ready to attack, because after last night, I’ve decided to turn TCB into the anti-Heroes blog for the remainder of Season 3. So check back in next Tuesday…

CNN, uh, I mean, JAMES CARVILLE FIGHTS BACK, PART 4…

It’s a little long, but give this one the full six minutes, and no matter what you think of Carville, I feel like it’s difficult to argue against the points he makes at the end here.

Oh, I’m sure you can, of course, but look… it IS impossible to argue that the American public cast more primary ballots for Barack Obama, choosing him over a number of equally qualified and arguably more experienced choices, while the Republican Party spontaneously generated Sarah Palin last Friday out of some magic politician making machine.

Enjoy.

CNN FIGHTS BACK, PART 3…

CNN FIGHTS BACK, PART 2…