Poll: Are villians overpowered?

[Lullabye]

I dunno, I think most villains are overpowered

But look at Aizen from Bleach, massively overpowered but still has an army behind him

Aizen's just bored. He likes to watch others fail. I mean, why else would you gather that bunch of misfits?
OT: Villains can't really trust anyone, but they still need servants/subordinates.
Hero's...well, of course they need each other. They complete each other.

 

[Tharwen]

They aren't overpowered, they just aren't afraid to use any methods to achieve what they want.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

Villains are the loners of society in superhero worlds. Also i'd like to add that most villains are just inherently stupid especially when they have who they want to kill in their sights but instead take the time to go into a long monologue.

 

[Soxafloppin]

Well Doomsday is certainly over powered.

The Pheonix too, if she counts as a villian.

 

[SnipErlite]

Villains are underpowered. They always lose!

Goddamit when do the good guys die for once!

 

[mrpenguinismyhomeboy]

In all the tv-series, movies, games, books etc... There is usually 1 villian and a handfull of heroes or just one hero with one/several sidekicks.
The team of heroes have massive trouble with this one man/woman and the villian will often escape in the end to make room for a sequel. In addition, the villian usually takes his/her sweet, sweet time discribing his/her weakness, story and plan: leaving the heroes time to escape his/her grasp and defeat him/her.

Granted, the villian often has a sidekick and an army, but they are unneccecary, seeing as they seldom do anything but run away, or getting their "knickers in a twist" as Yahtzee would delicately put it.

So, why do you think it takes several good guys to defeat the bad guy?

The funny thing is, in the show "Heroes", this is completely true.

 

[Twad]

because villains in general must not drop in a single shot.. it would be "anticlimatic" they say. THey must be capable of blowing up planets to be "dangerous/cool".

It requires 500 shots to kill it most of the time, or some obscure puzzle-like method to kill him.. and it must end with a big, fiery explosion.

Thats why i like my villians when they are smart, they drop fast.. sure. But at least you feel like you managed something when you outsmart the villain.. wich i dont get when i grind away another BBEG with 8000000000 billions hp.

 

[voodont]

I dunno, I think most villains are overpowered

But look at Aizen from Bleach, massively overpowered but still has an army behind him

He has a point.

Though in all reality, I think that for the most part, villains are underpowered, but given supreme intelligence. For instance, Superman is probably the single most overpowered character ever created, but he constantly has trouble with a regualar human because Superman A)Won't kill him.
or
B)Luther is at least 10 times smarter, and uses that to find weaknesses and exploit them

Thats my opinion at least.

Yeah, that's another thing: Villians often leaves the hero(es) to die, and seldom sees their death. Like in superman, Lex Luthor allways leaves Superman alone to fend for himself, ignorant that someone can come to rescue him.

It doesn't make any sence... : S

Oh, and welcome to the escapist.
I am honored you chose my topic as your first :'-)

Of course

Anyway, back on topic. One villain that isn't over, or underpowered, and incredibly well fleshed out (no pun intended) would have to be Red Skull from the Captain America comics.

I'll admit, those comics were based solely on anti-Nazi propaganda, and not having lived through a single war (not counting Afghanistan and Iraq) I can't feel the emotion that he evoked in audiences across America during that time. I love him solely for the fact that he is one of the most believable, well fleshed out, balanced comic book villains. On top of that, he killed Captain America. Seriously. He figuratively killed America. Three times actually. Once temporarily, and the Cap was froze. Second he possessed him, which I generally don't count because it doesn't fit Red Skull. Third time, he shot him. And he died. For good.

Thats why he's the best. Joker's a close second, so don't hate.

 

[Speccr]

If they were overpowered then they'd probably win a fight once in a while, sheesh some people.

 

[meepop]

In my opinion (Forgive me for sounding like a Poke-tard), but I believe heroes are under-powered. In Pokemon Ash never owns Team Rocket, they just keep coming back! Not just that, but other shows like Superman or Spiderman. The heroes just don't get it; they act SURPRISED when the villains come back! It's about "great responsibility" and "honorable fighting". The heroes need to realize that villains are okay to be rough with! For God's sake, in Superman, some of the un-named criminals (ones who are like background and have no story except that they're part of pushing onto a name-brand enemy) are killed! They get the death sentence! It's alright to be rough with them; no matter how much honorable fighting they do. The villains aren't overpowered, they're just persistent; the heroes act all disappointed and emo when the bad guys get away. "They got away!" I mean really; they act like the villain is supposed to sit there and take it. So, yeah, the heroes are just under-powered (not weaklings)! They milk it all they can by making the villains crafty not over-powered so that they can create more episodes or sequels to the story.

 

[daconcon]

there are usually plenty of villains who join together to create "the league of evil" or something

 

[Seldon2639]

Villains need to be overpowered to be considered a serious threat, as to being alone the strong often crush the weak, plus a single enemy is easier to combat and allows for a sense of a united effort for the common good.

Pretty much this.

If a villain wasn't a credible threat from the beginning, there'd be no dramatic tension as the heroes work to overcome him/her.

 

[A.C.E]

I really suppose it depends on the hero and the villain like in the show heroes sylar is totaly overpowered. But in superman and in almost all of the comics the hero eventually wins out over the bad guys every time. This is why i like things where the cliche evil vs good scenero doesnt play out over and over like the graphic novel watchman for example which i highly recomend. But in video games it depends on who your playing as. Like have you noticed if you play the bad guy in any video game ever the bad guys always win but if your playing the good guy the good usually win.

 

[gigastrike]

For the sake of interesting plot.

 

[GhostPhantasm]

I dunno, I think most villains are overpowered

But look at Aizen from Bleach, massively overpowered but still has an army behind him

Edit: And an army that is definitely not cowardly

the latest chapters eh counters everything, but heroes are under powered, for a reason to make it interesting. if everybody was equal the fight would go on forever and the plot would get old really fast. heroes have to work hard and villains control everything until a weakness is discovered

 

[maninahat]

A villain has to appear individually powerful. That way the "underdog" team has difficulty taking him down, increasing the excitement factor whilst also pushing the importance of teamwork.

That is how it is supposed to be. But seeing as how being a villain garantees failure 100% of the time, who are the real under dogs here? Such is particularly the case in Superman: Lex Luthor is an ordinary human being with no super poweres - he is just that damned clever that he can set up these nefarious schemes. He is working against some big dumb jock who can move faster than bullets, shoot lazers from his eyes and lift skyscrapers. The odds are so much stacked against Luthor from the start, it is only a testiment to his genius that he got this far. Superman is about the most severe example of an underdog villain I have ever seen. Even more so than Wilde Cayote vs Road Runner.

 

[Thyunda]

It's sort of irritating now, that in modern cartoons, we'll have a few villains who'll show their face and get it punched. Then they'll show it a few episodes later, and get it punched again.
Then we have Transformers: Animated, for example. The Decepticons are ridiculously overpowered compared to the Autobots, who get by on pure chance or cunning, compared to the original 1980s series, which had Megatron and Optimus Prime somewhat equal, and somehow their victories felt more satisfying than the newer way of beating the villain away through luck.

 

[riskroWe]

I prefer stories where the bad guys are a coalition with mutual interests and the good guy works alone, succeeding purely on his own merits.

Because that's more akin to real life from my perspective.

 

[Fenreil]

Villians are underpowered, because they are idiots. If I had access to the powers these people had, the world would be mine before the heroes figured out what was going on.

Seriously guys don't tell anyone your plans or engage in other stereotypical villian activities. Except for you, Joker. You just keep up the good work.

 

[FaithorFire]

Because writers need to spend more time within the narrative with the heroes, because the hero is typically the character readers (or viewers) associate with. Having multiple heroes might provide more opportunities for fans to find a character they'll come to admire (and want to see more of). Villains won't get quite the amount of exposure, and fewer villains need to be present to flesh out an interesting character.
I don't read comics or anything, but I love my games and superhero moves, and even recent history shows how precise a storytelling touch a director or author needs to have to present multiple interesting villains. (think Spiderman 3 and X3 vs Dark Kinght)
plus, a lone badass villain who requires a team of heroes makes him more intimidating