First Appearance: Justice League of America #29, 1964 Okay, first it should be stressed that the Crime Syndicate of America (or simply "the Crime Syndicate") have been presented relatively well since the pre-crisis era of DC comics came to an end (in fact, they've been pretty damn bad-ass at times), but in their pre-crisis days they were absolutely terrible and that has had an effect on the way they have been viewed ever since. It's a shame, because they're essentially an evil Justice League, with villainous counterparts for Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash and Green Lantern in the form of Ultraman, Owlman, Superwoman, Johnny Quick and Power Ring. Despite this apparently equal footing in terms of powers and abilities, they were trounced far too easily in their early appearances. They were tricked in incredibly embarrassing ways - being portrayed as complete fools in the process - and were, for example, held inside an "unbreakable" Green Lantern construct, despite the fact that they effectively had a Green Lantern of their own on their roster, as well as a lot more brain and brawn in the form of the other four members. Basically, for a team that were simply meant to be evil alternatives to five of the greatest heroes in DC history, they were nothing more than a joke for quite some time, and they have never been taken as seriously as they should have been since that was the case - even when writers have presented them as legitimate threats in post-crisis and New 52 continuity. So there you have it - ten widely mocked comic villains that get a bad press. Do you agree? Which other villains from the pages of comics get a lot less respect than they deserve? Let us know in the comments box below.
