Comic books are all about pushing the boundaries of your imagination. But what happens when the writers take it a step too far? With such a long and illustrious history behind both the DC and Marvel comics, there are bound to be some missteps along the way.
In this article, the Comic Fan Club explores some of the weirdest and funniest villains to have ever existed.
Walrus
This snaggle-toothed villain sought to strike fear into everyone’s hearts by just being a massive inconvenience. The Walrus faces off against spiderman in The Defenders #131, and his primary goal was mindless property damage.
The Walrus started off as a taxicab driver named Hubert Carpenter. Hubert’s uncle was a mad scientist who infused Hubert with Walrus DNA. This gave Hubert the speed, strength, and agility of a walrus. It’s a weird comparison to make, when you consider that walruses are not aggressive creatures. Guess that didn’t make the cut.
One defining characteristic of the Walrus was that he was unintelligent. However, he was really good at crossword puzzles.
Eye Scream
Does this have something to do with our primal fear of having something horrible happen to our eyes? Absolutely not. Eye Scream was a mutant who first appeared on Obnoxio the Clown #1. He felt insecure about his ability to shapeshift into ice cream. His solution to that was to destroy the X-Men through the Danger Room.
Professor X detected Eye Scream using Cerebro, but the signal seemed to have overloaded the device and knocked the professor unconscious. As a result, Eye Scream successfully infiltrated the Mansion on Kitty Pryde’s birthday.
After a battle between the X-Men and Obnoxio in the Danger Room, Professor X regained consciousness and managed to defeat Eye Scream by lowering the temperature of the Danger room control booth. This turned Eye Scream into a solid block of ice cream. After Obnoxio decorated him as a sundae, Eye Scream is presumably sent to prison. He is never mentioned again.
Armless Tiger Man
Once upon a time, the Armless Tiger Man was an ordinary mechanical worker in Germany named Eric Hertz. His backstory veers towards villainy when a horrible machine accident left him armless, with a dark hatred for everything mechanical.
Somewhere along the way, the Armless Tiger Man sprouted super sharp toenails and teeth. He was recruited by the Nazis to attack America, and then the Red Skull to steal vibranium from Wakanda. During the latter mission, he meets his untimely end after being killed by one of Nick Fury’s men.
It’s easy to see why Marvel decided to end this villain’s career. His back story was not properly fleshed out, and the connection between disabled and evil did not appeal to audiences.
Polka Dot Man
What’s a logical and appropriately villainous response to a heroic vigilante dressed as a bat? According to a local crook named Abner Krill from Detective Comics #300, it’s to dress up as a baddie who launches a crime wave based on spots and dots around Gotham City. The mysterious Mister Polka-Dot wore a costume covered in spots, which could be removed and used as tools for villainy.
It’s worth noting that since his spots were in different sizes and colors, they weren’t actually polka dots.
The Polka Dot Man was killed in a brutal battle. His head was crushed by a manhole cover.
Codpiece
Here’s a guy who is clearly overcompensating for something. Our first outlandish villain takes us back to Doom Patrol #70, in 1993. The tragic backstory that launched Codpieces’s career as a villain started in high school. He tried asking a girl out on a date, only to be rejected because he was “too small.”
While the next panel clarifies that his dream girl was referring to his height, the poor man assumed he was referring to the size of his penis. This created a raging inferiority complex that he fostered all the way to adulthood.
After he failed to get an enlargement surgery, he decided to turn to a life of crime. Codpiece formally debuted as a villain with a giant gun strapped to his crotch. His villainy was short-lived because he was beaten by Kate Godwin’s Coagulator.
Fun fact: the codpiece actually used to be a thing! It’s a Middle English term for a flap or pouch that attaches to the front part of men’s trousers, enclosing the genital area.
Conclusion
One thing’s for sure: the people responsible for creating these villains were definitely gutsy. Sometimes, when you run out of ideas, you have to resort to the unconventional. And these villains were definitely out of left field.
