You can’t have heroes without villains and, like every good hero, every villain has their own origin story. It’s their history, their backstory, the explanation or the path that leads an ordinary person to become a problem big enough that the hero has to solve. This is just how stories—particularly comics—work. However, not every villain’s origin story comes the first time we meet them. You see, there’s the origin story that gives us the why, but there’s also the first appearance, the issue in which we are first introduced to the latest thorn in the hero’s side.
Videos by ComicBook.com
While sometimes those first appearances are also the same issue in which we get a villain’s backstory, more often than not their debut is just that and over the course of decades of comics history, there have been some pretty great villain first appearances. These are stories that give us our first glimpse at characters that would go on to not only leave a major impact on comics writ large but also contribute to some of our favorite stories—and, in some cases, give us villains almost more popular than the heroes fighting them. Here are five of the most iconic villain first appearances and while you can probably guess who tops our list, you might be surprised why.
5) Bane
Bane’s first appearance in DC comics is a rare case of a villain getting their first appearance and an origin story all at the same time. Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1 was a 1993 one-shot comic from Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan that introduces readers to Bane, a terrifying new threat for Batman. The story reveals Bane’s horrific and traumatic childhood in Santa Prisca as well as the story of how he became the powerhouse he is. We also find out about how Bane, who happens to be as brilliant a strategist as he is a beefy, muscled guy, has studied Batman from a distance.
Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1 makes for an iconic first appearance for the villain not only because it gives us a pretty complete picture of the character, but also because it serves as a direct lead-in to “Knightfall”, one of the most iconic Batman stories ever.
4) Lex Luthor
You might not actually recognize Lex Luthor in his first appearance in Action Comics #23 from 1940. The issue introduced Lex, at least in terms of personality, as someone we know very well: a manipulative and diabolical genius frankly up to no good and seeking to fight Superman. His first story sees him getting two European countries to start a war and using a mysterious green ray to fight Superman. There’s also a flying city suspended by a blimp. It’s very mad scientist and very cool. However, the thing that is so unique about the first appearance is that he doesn’t exactly look like the Lex we know and love to hate. The character was introduced with a full head of red hair. It wouldn’t be until an error in a later story portrayed him as bald that his iconic look took hold.
3) Magneto
Magneto is one of the most iconic characters in the X-Men’s corner of the Marvel Universe, a character who has been both a villain and a hero and who is easily a favorite character for many, many a comic book fan. He made his first appearance in X-Men #1 from 1963 and while it would be some time before we would get our full scope of Magneto as a character, this first appearance is honestly really cool. The issue sees Magneto take over a missile base called Cape Citadel and while it’s a pretty standard X-Men story—this issue is also the debut of the X-Men, after all—what makes this first appearance particularly great is that we see Magneto in his iconic outfit right from the start. It definitely sets the tone even as the issue sets Magneto up to be a primary antagonist going forward.
2) Doctor Doom
There are few Marvel villains as iconic and as beloved as Doctor Doom and he’s about to have a major surge in popularity thanks to the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday movie. But his first appearance in comics is also pretty cool, which lands him at number two on this list. His first appearance was in Fantastic Four #5 from 1962 and saw the villain kidnap Invisible Girl as a form of leverage to get the Fantastic Four to do a little time travel and theft.
What’s really iconic about this issue is that he was an immediate hit. Readers immediately took to Doctor Doom, which firmly cemented as a go-to villain. It would take two more years for readers to get his full origin story, but it didn’t matter. By then, we already knew and loved Doom.
1) The Joker
The Joker might be the best-known comic book villain of all time and his first appearance in Batman #1 from 1940 is possibly the most iconic villain debut ever. While we don’t get The Joker’s origin story (or rather, one of them—the character has seen some changes over the years) we do get a fully-formed version of the villain. He’s introduced as a disturbing, criminal mastermind carrying out murders with something called Joker venom that leaves the victims with a grotesque grin. He also appears pretty much as we will see him going forward, with his iconic purple suit, green hair, and pale white skin.
There’s a lot about this first appearance that is iconic, but it’s the little details that really elevate this one to the top of the list. First, The Joker isn’t the only villain to make their first appearance in Batman #1; Catwoman also has her first appearance in this book as well. On top of that, The Joker was never actually intended to go beyond Batman #1. The character was meant to be a one-off villain, something that wasn’t uncommon in comics of the day, but an editorial decision changed that outcome and comics have never been the same.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image courtesy of Sony -
Image Courtesy of Netflix -
Lucasfilm Animation
