How Green Was My Villain?
I was perusing my Silver Age comics collection recently and for the first time came to a rather disturbing realization. Probably because so many Marvel heroes of the era wore red and/or blue, a hugely disproportional number of villains ended up in green costumes (or skin). Green-clad Silver Age Marvel heroes, on the other hand, were few and far between.
Let’s go book by book and see just how many Mean Greenies there really were…
Iron Man: Dr. Strange1, Kala, Melter, Mr. Doll, Mandarin, Scarecrow, Unicorn, Phantom, Titanium Man, Demolisher, and Cerberus
Dr. Strange: Nightmare and Baron Mordo (two of his three main recurring villains)
Nick Fury: Every Hydra agent and Nazi soldier (so in other words 99.9% of everybody he ever fought)
Avengers: Kang, Immortus, Wonder Man2, Living Laser, Whirlwind
Hulk: Abomination, Leader, Ringmaster (Hulk probably didn’t have many green foes being green himself)
Daredevil: Electro, Jester, Leapfrog, Matador, Owl, Starr Saxon’s robot
Thor: Loki, Enchantress, Replicus, Cobra, Mr. Hyde, Hela, Radioactive Man, Tomorrow Man, Merlin3, Sandu the Great
X-Men: Quicksilver, Vanisher, Dominus’ ultra-robots, Locust, Banshee, Warlock aka Maha Yogi3, Mekano, Frankenstein Android, Polaris, Living Pharaoh, Sauron, Stranger
Captain America: Red Skull, Madame Hydra, Super-Adaptoid
Fantastic Four: Dr. Doom, Mole Man, Skrulls, Psycho Man, Red Ghost, Mad Thinker, Monster from the Lost Lagoon, Puppet Master, Rama Tut, Impossible Man, Molecule Man, Sub-Mariner, Plantman4, Infant Terrible, Invincible Man, Ronan the Accuser, Eel4, Beetle4
Spider-Man: The Burglar who killed Uncle Ben5, Vulture, Tinkerer, Tinkerer’s aliens, Sandman, Lizard, Living Brain, Mysterio, Green Goblin, Scorpion, Doctor Octopus, Guy Named Joe, Strom’s Pseudopod Construct, Kingpin, Prowler, Schemer, Princess Python
Silver Age Marvel Heroes in Green: Quicksilver6, Polaris6, Vision6, Banshee6,
Sub-Mariner 6,7, Hercules8, Captain Marvel9, Falcon10, Marvel Girl11, Hulk12
1-No, not the good Doctor Strange, the other, evil, less successful one
2-Listed here as a villain because he was Zemo’s pawn before he died
3-I believe these are all the same guy
4-Listed under FF but originally appeared as foes to Human Torch in his solo stories
5-Wore a green cap and green pants
6-Introduced as a villain but later reformed
7-Wore red in first few appearances before switching to green
8-Outfit is mostly orange and brown with green trim
9-Started out in green and white but later switched to red and blue
10-started out in green and orange but later switched to red and white
11-started out in blue and yellow before switching to green and yellow
12-grey-skinned in his first appearance
So, to sum up, there were literally billions of green-clad or green-skinned bad guys in the Silver Age, but not even one good guy who started out a good guy, wore green from the get go, and stuck with it!
I was perusing my Silver Age comics collection recently and for the first time came to a rather disturbing realization. Probably because so many Marvel heroes of the era wore red and/or blue, a hugely disproportional number of villains ended up in green costumes (or skin). Green-clad Silver Age Marvel heroes, on the other hand, were few and far between.
Let’s go book by book and see just how many Mean Greenies there really were…
Iron Man: Dr. Strange1, Kala, Melter, Mr. Doll, Mandarin, Scarecrow, Unicorn, Phantom, Titanium Man, Demolisher, and Cerberus
Dr. Strange: Nightmare and Baron Mordo (two of his three main recurring villains)
Nick Fury: Every Hydra agent and Nazi soldier (so in other words 99.9% of everybody he ever fought)
Avengers: Kang, Immortus, Wonder Man2, Living Laser, Whirlwind
Hulk: Abomination, Leader, Ringmaster (Hulk probably didn’t have many green foes being green himself)
Daredevil: Electro, Jester, Leapfrog, Matador, Owl, Starr Saxon’s robot
Thor: Loki, Enchantress, Replicus, Cobra, Mr. Hyde, Hela, Radioactive Man, Tomorrow Man, Merlin3, Sandu the Great
X-Men: Quicksilver, Vanisher, Dominus’ ultra-robots, Locust, Banshee, Warlock aka Maha Yogi3, Mekano, Frankenstein Android, Polaris, Living Pharaoh, Sauron, Stranger
Captain America: Red Skull, Madame Hydra, Super-Adaptoid
Fantastic Four: Dr. Doom, Mole Man, Skrulls, Psycho Man, Red Ghost, Mad Thinker, Monster from the Lost Lagoon, Puppet Master, Rama Tut, Impossible Man, Molecule Man, Sub-Mariner, Plantman4, Infant Terrible, Invincible Man, Ronan the Accuser, Eel4, Beetle4
Spider-Man: The Burglar who killed Uncle Ben5, Vulture, Tinkerer, Tinkerer’s aliens, Sandman, Lizard, Living Brain, Mysterio, Green Goblin, Scorpion, Doctor Octopus, Guy Named Joe, Strom’s Pseudopod Construct, Kingpin, Prowler, Schemer, Princess Python
Silver Age Marvel Heroes in Green: Quicksilver6, Polaris6, Vision6, Banshee6,
Sub-Mariner 6,7, Hercules8, Captain Marvel9, Falcon10, Marvel Girl11, Hulk12
1-No, not the good Doctor Strange, the other, evil, less successful one
2-Listed here as a villain because he was Zemo’s pawn before he died
3-I believe these are all the same guy
4-Listed under FF but originally appeared as foes to Human Torch in his solo stories
5-Wore a green cap and green pants
6-Introduced as a villain but later reformed
7-Wore red in first few appearances before switching to green
8-Outfit is mostly orange and brown with green trim
9-Started out in green and white but later switched to red and blue
10-started out in green and orange but later switched to red and white
11-started out in blue and yellow before switching to green and yellow
12-grey-skinned in his first appearance
So, to sum up, there were literally billions of green-clad or green-skinned bad guys in the Silver Age, but not even one good guy who started out a good guy, wore green from the get go, and stuck with it!
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