Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here with another underrated/underused villains list. Today’s topic is Superman’s rogues. When will I learn? I set out for a list like this, research it quite a bit, and find that I have three or even four lists in one. So, this will be the first of a series of Superman Villains Lists. We’ll save the underused in the film and TV villains for a future list. Superman has way too many of these, and the big names (like Brainiac and Bizarro) would dominate the list. Instead, let’s discuss some underrated/underused, emphasis on the underused, Superman villains from the comics. That should generate some odd names. So, this is a list of five underrated/underused Superman Comic Book Villains.
5: The Prankster
The Prankster debuted in Action Comics #51 in 1942, making him one of Superman’s first villains. Fresh from the success of The Joker, DC Comics wanted another clownish villain for Superman. Jerry Siegel created The Prankster. Chasing this trend didn’t really work out for The Prankster. Sure. He had plenty of run in comic book’s golden age, saw a handful of appearances in the silver age, and has even had a few other iterations. But The Prankster never really took off, and DC Comics stopped trying to make this third-rate Joker work in 2011 (during the New 52). The Prankster needs to be something other than a Joker clone.
Oddly enough, The New 52 version of The Prankster might’ve been on to something. This version of The Prankster uses pranks or punks to disrupt the flow of government in the name of political activism. During one storyline, The Prankster disabled a vital subway line because the mayor of Chicago was corrupt. Technically, The Prankster qualified as an evil-doer, but Superman struggled with the moral ambiguity of this version of the character. It might be time for The Prankster’s glow up.
4: Faora
Faora may be the most recognizable face on this list. Typically, she’s General Zod’s right-hand woman. Be honest. Most of you didn’t know the name of the woman who usually accompanies General Zod. And that’s my point. Well, that’s one of my points. You see, Faora almost always shows up to aid General Zod in the movies or television shows Zod graces with his appearance. She doesn’t show up nearly as much in the comics, and she has her own complicated past and ideology.
Sure, Faora does tend to share a lot of Zod’s dogmatic beliefs, but she is her own person. Her martial arts ability and a knack for targeting someone’s pressure points make her particularly deadly to Superman. In some iterations, she’s been on Jor-El’s side (that’d be Superman’s father). Other iterations cast her as an artificial intelligence running the Phantom Zone. What? DC Comics doesn’t know what it wants to do with Faora. I’d love to see a comic explore a definitive version of this character.
3: Zha-Vam
As always, I place a difficult character to stratify at the three spot. Don’t know where to place someone? Three. But Zha-Vam is an interesting case. Zha-Vam was an early attempt by DC Comics to make their own version of Captain Marvel (Shazam) before the company acquired Shazam’s rights. Zha-Vam is primarily a Superman villain who doesn’t get nearly enough comic book issues. Instead, DC Comics likes to contrive reasons for Shazam and Superman to fight.
What are you doing, DC Comics? You have a second Shazam in Zha-Vam. Canonically, Zha-Vam has every reason to fight Superman, but you’re too scared to use him. Stop making up reasons for Shazam and Superman to fight. Build up Zha-Vam. Okay. Maybe the Zha-Vam name is a little silly, but Shazam isn’t much better. Make it happen, DC Comics.
2: Toyman
Here we go. Like The Prankster, Toyman is another early Superman villain (one of Supes’s first ten), and he gets a handful of stories here and there, but for the most part, DC Comics doesn’t know what to do with Toyman. There may be a reason for this. Ironically, Toyman suffers from a similar problem as The Prankster. While The Prankster is a third-rate Joker, Toyman is a villain better suited for Batman. But that makes Toyman invaluable to Superman’s rogues’ gallery. The better Toyman stories have involved a criminal pathology Superman is ill-equipped to comprehend. This makes Toyman interesting.
I’d much rather see Superman writers develop Toyman over bringing in one of Batman’s rogues–usually The Joker–to fill a similar role. This is an argument similar to the previous one with Zha-Vam. Quit contriving reasons for Superman and The Joker to spar when you have a perfectly sadistic villain in Toyman, waiting in the darker corners of Superman’s rogues.
1: Funnyface
Okay. All of these other Superman villains have shown up in multiple comic books and stories. Funnyface is our first truly obscure villain. Funnyface appeared in one comic (Superman #19) and perhaps had one or two other cameos, and was never heard from again. That’s a shame. Funnyface (real name never revealed) was a failed comic artist who wished he could have sold one strip to a syndicate. He was more gifted in science and developed a way to materialize figures out of two-dimensional images. In other words, the pictures Funnyface draws come to life.
While Funnyface’s origin makes little sense (Who fails at being an artist, but they’re awesome at science for some reason?), the idea of drawings coming to life is fertile ground for a comic book story. Superman could have his hands full. All Funnyface would have to do is draw himself an army, which is what he does in his one major comic book appearance. And that one comic book appearance occurred in the 1940s. Who knows what twisted direction a DC Comics creative team would do with this character in a modern comic book setting? Sign me up for that, please.
And that’s our list of five underrated/underused Superman Comic Book Villains. Who would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
