Modern Villains that would translate well into Pulp Hero

**Pizza Man** · Dec 18th, '10, 05:24 PM

Black Manta. Pretty much a normal guy with a sub, an evil crew, and a bit of powered armor.

Doctor Octopus: Perfect mad scientist type. Runs with minions and written right can take the whole party on in a spectacular boss fight. great episodic villain.

The Red Skull: This guy screams pulp fiction. nazi minions. elaborate plots.

Mojo JoJo. OK, he will need to be renamed and go to a speech therapist. But a mad scientist ape is a great visual. and giant robots were a part of pulp sci-fi.
You could replace him with Gorilla Grodd, but I just like saying Moooojo JoJo!

Man-Bat. Batman's old foe. He would make a great tormented minion, performing criminal acts in exchange for a cure. Flight, monstrous appearance. claws, and inhuman strength.

The Lizard. Another great episodic villain. He would make for an interesting subplot during an ongoing campaign. He wouldn't be anyone's patsy or minion, but as a solo villain he would start elaborate plots to create dinosaurs or change everyone in a city into lizard people.

**lapsedgamer** · Dec 18th, '10, 05:53 PM

The Red Skull is actually a straight pulp villain since he was created in the Golden age of comics. The others are great choices. I would go with Gorilla Grodd myself. I know this sounds silly, but I find it easier to take him seriously.

Victor Von Doom. Take away the armor and keep the science/sorcery and the unlimited resources, and he is there. I would keep the mask and have him dress in nice suits.

Bullseye. Make him a knife thrower and trick shot with a circus background and lose the costume, and he makes a great henchman/enforcer. Not many folks had martial arts back then, but give some basic fisticuffs and he's there.

For that matter, The Kingpin is good for a straight translation. No changes needed, really. Say he was a pro wrestler and boxer instead of being trained in oriental martial arts.

Most Bat villains are prime for this kind of thing. You just take the Nolan interpretation and set it in the 1930's. This is also not a surprise because many of them were created around that time. Even most of the newer ones, keep that pulp flavor.

**Lord Liaden** · Dec 19th, '10, 12:20 AM

Mysterio. A villain using hallucinogens and gadgetry to create elaborate illusions fits well with the pseudo-occult con men who were rife in America in the 1920s. I would recommend changing his background from film special-effects artist and stuntman, to stage magician/escape artist a la Harry Houdini, and eliminate holographic projectors in favor of mechanical props.

Count Vertigo. Villains with one defining gimmick were common in the pulp era, and his nom du guerre has just the right flavor. You can make the source of his power Eastern mental disciplines instead of technology.

Captain Boomerang. Granted Australia didn't have the widespread pop-culture awareness then that it has now, but there's nothing out of genre about a villain who's a well-trained normal human with distinctive, gimmicked weaponry.

**moquif** · Dec 19th, '10, 03:52 PM

Dr.Destroyer was already translated into a Pulp version. Circle of the Scarlet Moon would work almost as-is since their power is more "NCI" style than "active points". I think the Devil's Advocates, or at least the idea of them, would work since the Pulp era is when SCIENCE!!! was seen as an answer to everything. Binder from the Ultimates would work if you scaled down his glue gun and became more of a theme villain.

Of course Foxbat goes with everything.

**IndianaJoe3** · Dec 20th, '10, 07:02 PM

Looking through CV3 (at least the A's)... Anubis and Arrowhead look like they wouldn't need many changes.

**The Main Man** · Dec 20th, '10, 09:53 PM

Lex Luthor could be a smarter but weaker evil counterpart to a Doc Savage-style hero.

Brainiac could be almost exactly the same if powered down. OTOH, he could be exactly the same for a Lensman-styled space opera.

**jms1973** · Jan 14th, '11, 07:48 PM

Ra's Al Ghul is probably the best Batman villain for the Pulp Era that was not created in it. His organization, his Lazarus Pit rebirths. his daughter Talia, are all elements that fit into the Pulp Era.

**Lord Liaden** · Jan 15th, '11, 08:09 AM

Originally Posted by The Main Man

Brainiac could be almost exactly the same if powered down. OTOH, he could be exactly the same for a Lensman-styled space opera.

Which incarnation of Brainiac did you have in mind? Between past and present comics and animated/live television, there are several to choose from.

**GoldenAge** · Jan 18th, '11, 11:53 AM

A powered down and slightly tweaked version of Mr. Freeze might work well... as would many of Batman's villain cast (Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, Anarky, Calendar Man, Riddler, KGBeast, Gorilla Boss, King Tut, Black Mask, etc.)

Many of The Flash's Rogues (with some power reduction and reformatting) would work well too - (Mirror Master as an illusionist, The Shade, Ragdoll, The Fiddler, The Thinker as a serious Professor Moriarty type, Gorilla Grodd, The Trickster, Captain Boomerang, Abra Kadabra, etc)

Green Arrow has a few villains that would be downright scary in a pulp adventure: Onomatopoeia, Merlyn, Shado (including some very cool Yakuza links), Red Dart, and nasty assassins like Cheshire and Deadshot.

Man, when I start thinking about it, almost all of the villains attached to non-powered heroes (Batman, Green Arrow, Daredevil, Iron Fist and many more) fit well into pulp.

My advice... Don't look for villains, research non-powered heroes (just google 'em). Instead of finding 1 villain at a time, you'll uncover entire rogues galleries (with attached links)!