10 Underrated Supervillains Who Deserved Better

What do you do when you introduce a great villain? Ignore them for years, evidently.

Spider-Man Ezekiel
Marvel Comics/John Romita Jr.

With the sheer number of existing supervillains being almost unimaginably high, it's par for the course that some characters get comparatively smaller roles. To have a scene feel realistic, side characters have to exist, and for side characters to exist, they've got to stay safely in the background.

But sometimes these characters end up having some genuine potential - more potential than some big name villains.

Interesting appearances, powers and backstories can result in some accidentally fascinating characters, and sometimes embracing this and allowing a minor character a larger role can result in some unexpected but amazing work.

Although it's a strange scenario to be rooting for a villain to get the chance to do more awful things, it's also incredibly difficult to deny a tie-dyed shapeshifter or monkey-named Spider-person the possibility to really evolve into the complex figure they deserve to be.

Given superheroes can have more than one nemesis, it seems only fair to give some less appreciated characters the time to shine - even if 'shining' here really equals acts of uminagineable cruelty.

10. Ezekiel Sims

Spider-Man Ezekiel
Marvel Comics

Half spider-powers, half monkey-based name, and all engaging villainous monologues, Ezekiel Sims is easily the best forgotten villain to ever grace the Spider-Man universe.

Gaining his Spidey-powers through bizarre ancient rituals, Sims served as the mentor of Cindy Moon - known perhaps better as Silk. For the vast majority of his time featured in comics Sims seems like a fairly nice guy - right up until, in a classic nice guy twist, it turns out he's only been nice to Spider-Man so it's easier to sacrifice him to a spooky deity made of spiders.

However, proving that not all of Ezekiel's friendly dynamics were to lure Peter to his death, upon Spider-Man showing him all his heroic deeds (through, surprise-surprise, weird Spider powers), Ezekiel ultimately sacrifices himself so that the superhero can continue to do good.

While Sims' intentions are evil, he possesses just enough goodness to make him complex, making him exactly the kind of character you want to see have more of a major role in the future.

Contributor
Contributor

I like my comics like I like my coffee - in huge, unquestionably unhealthy doses.