Hoo'd Win: Okay, sure, they're both losers

[thebitterguy]

Okay, in today's battle, it's two titans of the lower levels of supervillainy. Wait, that means they're not really titans, doesn't it?

Anyway, the contestants today are Batroc and the Stilt Man. Batroc is a savate master and occasional arch-foe of Captain America, a villain of Jean Claude Van Damme-esque proportions, and Stilt Man is an enemy of Daredevil who has a suit that extends to make him really, really tall. He's one of those evil scientists who can somehow design a hydraulic suit but still decides a life of crime is better than just sitting at home and letting patent fees roll in.

Now, really, they'd both be great at basketball, but for supervillainy, it's all a matter of who's less lame.

So, ladies and gentiles, take a moment out of your busy weekend, and help us decide which of these vile fiends is actually sort of semi-vile.

[Poll #865487]


p.s. Is Batroc's shtick just a big Frog joke?

p.p.s. At the request of james_nicoll

Comments

[creativedv8tion.livejournal.com]

p.s. Is Batroc's shtick just a big Frog joke?

No, that would be Frog Man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frog-Man).

[thebitterguy]

Yeah, but Frog Man's from New York, so it's not quite the same.

Batroc's a French guy who jumps around a lot, and speaks in an Outrageous Accent.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I had to favour Batroc, because he never got beat up by a troup of boyscouts or ripped off by one of the most minor minor punks in DAREDEVIL.

Also, I am about 60% sure Batroc is actually from New Jersey.

[creativedv8tion.livejournal.com]

France... New Jersey... who can tell the difference these days?

[thebitterguy]

Well, if he can pump his own gas, that rules out Jersey.

[creativedv8tion.livejournal.com]

Zing!

[thebitterguy]

Thanks, folks! I'll be here until Thursday! Don't forget to tip your waitress, and try the veal!

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Seriously or humorously, this one's Batroc in a walk.

By the way, if you haven't read it, find and read Gail Simone's "Agent X." Issue 6 alone is pure comics hilarity.

[thebitterguy]

Is Agent X coming out now? DC or Marvel?

Agents of Atlas is awesome, as is Nextwave.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Alas, "Agent X" died an early death at the hands of Marvel. It was the title that replaced "Deadpool" for a while, so it should be fairly easy and cheap to find. Evan Dorkin of "Milk and Cheese" wrote a few issues after Simone was unceremoniously booted from her own title. Issues 1-6 and the concluding arc when the series was cancelled (which somebody stole from me) are the best ones.

[ghostwes.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised the Scourge didn't take out Stilt Man...

[thebitterguy]

Why does he get to live, while Turner D. Century is dead?

[ghostwes.livejournal.com]

I think in Turner's case, justice was definitely served.

[pope-j-rod.livejournal.com]

Stilt man was last fought and defeated by Daredevil (if memory serves). Then Matt Murdock became his public defender at trial, to see that he got a fair sentence. Then while Stilt Man was in jail, Murdock filed for a patent on behalf of the criminal and sold the technology to the EMS and Fire rescue services in the major cities of the Marvel universe. This made Stilt man a millionaire and thus removed his major motivation for crime.
I actually like the goofy villain that is stilt man and thus went with batroc as the biggest loser of the two. I am disappointed that when discussing awesomely bad villains that the Hypno-Hustler (http://www.spiderfan.org/characters/hypnohustler.html) has not even been mentioned in passing...

[ghostwes.livejournal.com]

Huh. That's actually very cool what they did with Stilt Man.

[thebitterguy]

Well, it's hardly fair to compare them to Hypno Hustler.

I wonder why we never see MU firemen using the Stilts. That would be very neat.

[pope-j-rod.livejournal.com]

I wasn't implying that he sould ahve been a choice in the poll. That would ahve don a disservice to all the contestants. I mean no one wants to go up against the ringer. I was merely commenting on my surprise that he was not mentioned in passing when discussing bad/chessy villains, which both of the above do fall into.
I assume that the reason we don't see any mention of the the EMS using the stilts is another "Kandor." By "Kandor" I mean a little gem that is within normal story continuity, but is ignored by most writers. Check out the intro to the "Superman:Godfall" for a better idea/explanation as to what I mean.

[thebitterguy]

Yeah, comics are a lot better when we don't try to impose internal consistency. Then we run into the "why hasn't Reed patented this yet?" conundrum, and that ends in tears and burning Bendis in effigy.