More often than not, supervillains generally limit themselves to battling a single superhero. It’s this limitation which the concept of a “rogues gallery” originates from; a superhero has a set of villains who they will predictably encounter over and over again.
This isn’t always the case though. Certain villains belong to the rogues galleries of multiple heroes, either because they were too popular to be bound to just one corner of their setting, or because the hero who they debuted against wasn’t as natural a foil for them as another.
10 Doctor Destiny Menaces Both The Mainstream & Vertigo Sides Of DC
John Dee, aka Doctor Destiny, was one of the first foes of the Justice League, first appearing in Justice League Of America #5 by Gardner Fox & Mike Sekowsky and later made the jump to animation in Justice League. However, he also appeared in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series, where it made perfect sense to pit a dream-themed villain against the embodiment of dreams.
In Sandman‘s first volume, it’s revealed that Destiny’s “Materioptikon” device was powered by Morpheus’ Dreamstone; Destiny’s possession of it puts the two on a collision course. Destiny appearing so early in Gaiman’s run means he has remained an adversary of Morpheus even as Gaiman’s series drifted further from the DC Universe.
9 Mister Hyde Has Battled Thor, Daredevil, Captain America, & His Daughter Quake
19th-century sci-fi horror and those works’ film adaptations clearly influenced the Marvel universe; much of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, & Steve Ditko’s origin stories use tropes right out of Jules Verne, HG Wells, & Mary Shelley. One of the most blatant homages is Calvin Zabo, aka Mister Hyde. And although it’s not a literal adaptation of the character created by Robert Louis Stevenson, the influence is clear.
The character is one who’s never settled into a particular rogues gallery. He was introduced in Lee & Don Heck’s Journey Into Mystery #99 battling Thor, but Hyde wasn’t a natural fit to the God Of Thunder’s magical world. The only connection he has with a hero is his daughter, Daisy Johnson aka Quake. This connection led to Hyde’s first appearance outside the comics in Agents Of SHIELD, played by Kyle MacLachlan.
8 The Clock King Is A Foe Of Both Green Arrow & Batman
Created by France Herron and Lee Elias, William Tockman debuted in World’s Finest Comics #111 as a villain for Green Arrow. While the Clock King continues fighting the Emerald Archer to this day, both in comics and an episode of Arrow, he’s also become known as a Batman villain, thanks to appearances in both Batman (1966) and Batman: The Animated Series.
In an acknowledgment of this, the premiere of Batman: The Brave And The Bold has a cold open of Batman and Green Arrow teaming up to battle the Clock King together.
7 The Taskmaster Fights All Sorts Of Marvel Heroes
Taskmaster, created by David Michelinie & George Pérez, first appeared in Avengers #195. It’s fitting that the character first appeared in a book starring a team-up of many Marvel heroes since he’s never been bound to one rogues gallery. Aside from the Avengers, he’s also fought Captain America and is a frenemy of Deadpool.
Since Taskmaster is unbound to one hero’s rogues gallery, this means there’s flexibility in the media where he shows up. He appeared in both Ultimate Spider-Man and Insomniac’s Spider-Man game, while he’s set to make his MCU debut in Black Widow.
6 Deathstroke Is The Taskmaster Of DC
Months after Taskmaster’s debut, Pérez co-created Deathstroke, another sword-wielding villain, this time alongside Marv Wolfman. Debuting in Wolfman & Pérez’s The New Teen Titans, Deathstroke is still one of the team’s most dangerous enemies (and a personal rival of Dick Grayson), but Slade was simply too cool to constrain to fighting the DC Universe’s sidekicks.
Deathstroke has thus not only become an anti-hero with many solo books to his name, but has tangled with the Justice League, Batman, and Green Arrow (particularly in Arrow, where Slade had a history with Oliver which their comic counterparts lacked).
5 Kingpin Is Just As Much A Spider-Man Villain As A Daredevil One
The Kingpin was introduced in 1967’s Amazing Spider-Man #50 (Stan Lee & John Romita Sr.), and he’s still a notable member of the Wallcrawler’s rogues gallery. About 15 years after his debut, Wilson Fisk was brought out of retirement by Frank Miller to be the main villain of his run on Daredevil. Since the Man Without Fear had never had many memorable villains and a human (if powerful and ruthless) crime boss fit Miller’s noir sensibility, the transplant stuck: Kingpin is even more of a Daredevil villain than a Spider-Man one these days.
Fisk’s rivalry with both heroes has bled off the pages of comics. He appeared in both Spider-Man (1994) and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, while both live-action takes on Daredevil have him as the main antagonist.
4 Mephisto Is Trouble For The Whole Marvel Universe
Mephisto’s existence stems from Stan Lee’s famous proclivity for having it both ways – he wanted Marvel to have a Devil-like figure in its wheelhouse, but how could he do so without offending Christians? His solution was the thinly-veiled Satan, Mephisto. Though Mephisto is named for the demon “Mephistopheles” from the tale of Faust, and Marvel–sanctioned texts always stress he is not the literal Devil nor is his domain the Biblical Hell, it’s undeniable who he’s supposed to be.
The demon lord debuted in Silver Surfer #3 by Stan Lee & John Buscema, though outside of his earliest appearances, Mephisto doesn’t menace Norrin Radd all that much. He’s instead become a general purveyor of evil, much like his mythical inspirations. Heroes he does have a particular hatred for include Doctor Strange and Johnny Blaze (whose powers as Ghost Rider originate from a deal with Mephisto).
3 Thanos Battles Both Earthbound & Cosmic Marvel Heroes
Thanos was a natural choice as the MCU’s big bad because he simultaneously menaces the whole Marvel Universe while having no particular enmity with any A-List hero. Though he debuted in Iron Man #55, written and penciled by Jim Starlin, the Mad Titan came to prominence battling Marvel’s cosmic heroes, like Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock.
After perishing in 1977, Starlin revived Thanos in 1990 and soon wrote “The Infinity Gauntlet,” (pencils by George Pérez), where the entire Marvel universe gathered to oppose him. In recent years, Thanos has been primarily an Avengers antagonist; this is clearly brand synergy with the MCU, but it still reflects his great power that Marvel’s mightiest heroes must rise up against.
2 Darkseid Is DC’s Overarching Villain
Much like the Marvel character he inspired, Darkseid has gone from the villain of an author-driven cosmic mythology to the overarching villain of the setting he inhabits. The Lord of Apokolips first appeared in, of all places, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #134, where Jack Kirby established Darkseid for his Fourth World series. Of the heroic New Gods, Darkseid has the greatest enmity with Orion (his biological son) and Mister Miracle (his adopted one).
While Kirby’s Fourth World met a premature end, Darkseid endured. He never shook off his beginning connections to Superman, and therefore appeared as one of the primary villains of Superman: The Animated Series; that incarnation rivaled, if not eclipsed, Lex Luthor as the Man Of Steel’s arch-enemy. Since the late 2000s, it’s usually the Justice League as a whole who fights him. Fittingly, Darkseid was the first villain encountered by the New 52 version of the team.
1 Doctor Doom Has Fought Every Major Marvel Hero
Doctor Doom’s oldest and greatest rivalry is with the Fantastic Four, but it’s more accurate to describe him as the premier villain of the entire Marvel Universe. The first crossover happened in The Amazing Spider-Man #5, with Doom preceding iconic Spider-Man villains like the Green Goblin or the Lizard. Since then, famous battles have included “Doomquest” (Doom and Iron Man travel back to medieval Europe), “Triumph & Torment” (Doom allies with Doctor Strange for a journey into hell), “Fantastic Four vs The X-Men” (he manipulates both teams from the background), and Doomwar (Doom’s Latverian forces invade Wakanda).
Though seemingly just a mere mortal with only armor and sorcery at his back, no villain has cast a more consistent or wide-ranging effect on Marvel than Victor Von Doom.
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