Best Super Thug

[ZootSoot]

If a great villain has to be a master villain (which I don't agree with) I thought maybe we needed this thread. When it comes to meat and potato beat-down villains, the guys who maybe are working for someone else,aren't that smart or are just too lazy to use there powers for more than knocking over a bank branch or a few stores, who is the best?

Rhino is my first choice.

[winterhawk]

I've always been partial to the batch of guys sponsored by Justin Hammer, Rhino being one of them. Guys like Blacklash, Constrictor, Jack O' Lantern, etc. I always thought Marvel did a better job of handling Ham-and-Egger Villains than DC.

[Hermit]

A lot of Spider-Man's old time villains were great for this sort of thing.
Vulture, I hesitate to call him a thug, but he was pretty straight forward at times, and IMHO tougher than a lot of young whippersnappers.
Scorpion, definitely a thug.
Electro, who I actually like in both his classic and Ultimate manifisetions.

[Doug McCrae]

Do all those guys have Brooklyn accents or is it just most of em?

[allen]

6 pages of responses for master villains... 3 or 4 responses for super-thugs... the poor lugs just can't catch a break... anyway, some of the ones i'm fond of...

The Abomination. Big and ugly. Sometimes the writer even remembered he was supposed to be a Russian agent or some such.

Killer Shrike. Just thought the name and costume were cool when I was a kid.

Dr. Doom... just kidding...

The Blob. Look at that name. It doesn't get much better than that. There's a guy who's come to terms with both his appearance and his mutant power.

Batroc. Just for the sheer absurdity. He thought he could go up against Captain America. Worth a laugh everytime. Plus he was a fashion disaster. (To mention that he was French would be a low blow.) To make it even better: Batroc the Leaper.

The Wrecker. He had a magical crowbar. He went up against Thor. So tell me, you've got a magical crowbar... do you fight Thor?

Boomerang. 'Cause everyone from Australia walks around with boomerangs attached to their clothes. Heck, I would.

[Hermit]

Originally posted by Doug McCrae
Do all those guys have Brooklyn accents or is it just most of em?

Some of them, I'm sure were from the Bronx. Maybe even Jersey ;)

Then again, nearly half the marvel universe should have a New York accent of some kind it seems.


.........

Hmmm, other thugs:
How about the Juggernaught? I mean, yes, his powerscale is out the wazoo, but it's not like he's into things for world domination.

Crossbones, who appeared for a time in Captain America would also qualify. An intelligent thug, but still one.
\

[Gary]

The Absorbing Man. One of the most obnoxiously powerful brick types around, and can't really do anything with all that power.

[Lord Liaden]

While I could think of a few good ones, my first choice would be the Absorbing Man. The potential uses for his power are nearly limitless; he's been able to take on gods and whole teams of superheroes. While no genius, he's actually proven to be quite clever at times in the use of his abilities. At heart, though, he's still the same cheap legbreaking hoodlum he was when Loki gave him his power. While he's attempted to reform from time to time, he seems to have no greater ambition than proving he's tough enough to beat anyone who hassles him.

Under the direction of a true mastermind villain, though, he could be a terror.

[Enforcer84]

The Wrecking Crew.
Rhino
Batroc's Brigade
Sabertooth
The Marauders
The Blob
Juggernaut
Sandman
Hydroman

[Wyrm Ouroboros]

Just as a thug? For my money (or lack thereof), you can't beat the Juggernaut. Really, he was always just in it for a couple quick bucks and to stick around with his friends -- oh yeah, and to piss on stepbrother Charlie's parade. He has ... well, I don't want to say 'evolved' over the years, but he's gained considerable depth of character while remaining the 'big, irresistable force + immovable object'. Same great powers, more in-depth emotions. And now that he's actually joined Chuck's people, he has an outlet for all the problems he's finally admitting (at least to himself) to having.

My two favorite Juggie moments?

Excalibur: Juggernaut is involved in a breakout from a high security prison. Juggernaut's ignoring SMG and MG fire, shoving over tanks, the usual Juggernaut thing, and Captain Britain zooms in and hammers him. Juggernaut rubs his jaw and says, "You the local good guy?"
CB: "I'm Captain Britain!!"
JG: "Nice punch. Cute suit."
A few more words traded, then ...
*hit*
*hit*
*hit*
*hit*
*hit*
*hit*
*hit*
POW!!
...and CB comes flying across about 3/4 of a mile worth of knockback...

Recent X-Mens: Wolverine's reaction to Juggernaut being a guest in the X-Mansion (paraphrased): "I've taken you down before, Marko. You even blink wrong, and I'll tear you a new one." And, in sharing an experience with the fish-boy kid: "You've got soda. Cool."

[Brandi]

I think the reason this thread's short is that most of the best super-thugs were mentioned in the first couple of posts.

I suppose Toad's a kind of thug, isn't he? I'd be tempted to call him more of a mook, especially the version in Evolution...

I also realized that one of the better DC thugs hasn't been mentioned yet: Killer Croc!

"And then I threw a rock at him!"

"..."

"... So what happened to the giant penny, Harvey?"
"They actually let him keep it!"

"It was a big rock."

[Hermit]

*L* I remember that episode.

If we're talking the animated series stuff... things just opened up :)

Rhino (No powers, but one of the thugs who worked for Scarface)
Solomon Grundy and to some degre Copperhead ("Injustice for all")
Parasite (All he wanted was some freaking Cable TV)
And of course, the aforementioned Killer Croc.

Mad Stan, well, he's not a thug... he's a Visionary with very DIRECT Solutions "Blow it all up!" :D

[death tribble]

I'd go with Juggernaut and Rhino as Thugs.
Sabretooth is a Psycho so that puts him in a diffeent class to a thug.

[assault]

Marvel: Bullseye!!!!

DC: Solomon Grundy
Bolt
Plastique

and the other one...

the one whose name is only whispered...

(cowers in terror)

LOBO!!!!!

:)

Alan

[Siberian Tiger]

Whilst I've always preferred the DC Universe over its Marvel counterpart, Marvel do seem to have a better range of low-level super-thugs that can be pitted against a range of heroes or recruited for the latest incarnation of the Masters of Evil. DC's villains seem to be either
1) Limited to one particular hero - Killer Croc is a Batman villain and only seems to encounter the Batman family. Cpt Cold and the Rogues Gallery only really appear in the Flash.
2) Overused and over-powered - how many times do we see the Joker, Neron, Darkseid. There was even a time when Dr Polaris was appearing in about half a dozen un-related titles within a couple of months

Anyway as to my choices:

Marvel - Rhino, Electro, Scorpion, Titania, Speed Demon
DC - Sledge, Deadshot, Bolt, Deadline, Killer Frost, Catman

[Klytus]

Doomsday would have to go here as well. He's an utterly mindless engine of death and destruction who does nothing BUT destroy. Only problem is, he is almost impossible to controll. Braniac tried once, and lost in the end.

[Kevin Scrivner]

The Gargoyle, from the 1980s animated "Incredible Hulk." A mad genius in his own right, he was forced to serve the Leader in hopes of gaining a cure for his gamma-induced deformities. Since the Leader had intellect but not necessarily wisdom, Gargoyle was continually making cynical and accurate observations in the background, slathering on the servility if the boss overheard him.

From the "Adventures of Superman" radio show: Keno Carter, a gambler, strong-arm henchman and saboteur forced to flee Chicago for the Southwest. Despite his subservience to master villains such as The Wolf and the Yellow Mask, Carter was the first bad guy in the series to realize that his real adversary was Superman rather than a certain mild-mannered reporter. Of course, the big brains wouldn't listen to him until it was too late. He continued his career while his masters perished or went to prison.

[Brandi]

Oo! Oo! How about The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight?

"You'll never prove a thing copper, I'm just a part time electrician. I... I... I... BAD IS GOOD, BABY! DOWN WITH GOVERNMENT!"

[TheEmerged]

Originally posted by Brandi
I think the reason this thread's short is that most of the best super-thugs were mentioned in the first couple of posts.

I suppose Toad's a kind of thug, isn't he? I'd be tempted to call him more of a mook, especially the version in Evolution...

I also realized that one of the better DC thugs hasn't been mentioned yet: Killer Croc!

"And then I threw a rock at him!"

"..."

"... So what happened to the giant penny, Harvey?"
"They actually let him keep it!"

"It was a big rock."

Wait a sec -- if I remember that ep, doesn't "Croc" turn out to be Batman in disguise?

[Kevin Scrivner]

True, but the comments were so in character that none of the bad guys caught on. I believe the episode title was "Almost Got Him." My favorite line was the Penguin having to refer to his "Aviary of Doom" as "the Big Bird Cage" so the faux Croc would understand.

Another favorite from the Superman radio show: Sniggers, the knife-wielding Cockney sidekick of the sinister Scarlet Widow. Timid in the villainess' presence, he was a competent safecracker and burglar when left on his own. It was he who first stole Kryptonite from the Metropolis Museum despite police interference and later almost kidnapped an unconscious Superman (he would have, too, if a pesky beat cop hadn't showed up to berate Supes for apparent public drunkeness).

[Brandi]

Yes to all the above comments on the BTAS episode, but as Kevin noted, it really is a surprise when it turns out to be Bats-- in fact, I think it was for the audience the first time, too.

That episode, besides doing nice adaptations of old Golden and Silver age deathtraps (I don't remember the exact era of the original Giant Penny story) also had some absolutely *precious* dialogue by Paul Dini. Let me indulge in some more quoting!

[Poison Ivy has just shown up...]

Two-Face: [low snarl] Poison Ivy...
Ivy: Hello, Harvey. I see you're looking halfway decent.
TF: Half of me wants to strangle you--
Ivy: And the other half?
TF: Wants to run you over with a cement truck!

[Ivy turns to the Penguin and the Joker.]

Ivy: We used to date.
Penguin and Joker, in unison: OhhhHHHHhhhh...

[Dr. MID-Nite]

For comics books, I'll say The Absorbing Man from Marvel and at least half the roster from the Challenge of the Superfriends show would qualify for best thug. In the Champions universe, my personal pick would be Anklosaur. All that power...and not an ounce of higher intellect to go with it.

Rob

[lemming]

Originally posted by Gary
The Absorbing Man. One of the most obnoxiously powerful brick types around, and can't really do anything with all that power.
My favorite AM moment from Avengers.
Captain America throws his shield at Absorbing Man.
Beast then asks "Say Cap, what's your shield made from?"
Hilarity ensues.