TrashDome: Infinity Gauntlet.

Some time back Supa & I got into a discussion about Batman vs. Punisher as an anti hero & how a good super villain can make or break the hero. I’ve been tumbling this about in the grey matter a bit and have decided that I would like to hear the F:AT opinions on who the best ‘Comic book’ inspired heroes(anti included) and villains are. Then once we’ve put together a list of 16 on each side I would like to have them face off, in submission popularity, till only one remains.

The Rules are simple;
1) Chosen Characters, in order to make things easy to validate/refute, need to be searchable in the IMDb.
2) They do not have to be the main character of the movie(Holly/Bowleywood, Anime and Animation all count, so this includes cartoons), they can be supporting cast.
3) The comic book can have come out AFTER the movie came out. Blade Runner.
4) Manga, golden, silver and stone ages all count. If it’s in print, spray painted, dung splattered on a wall, and you find inspiration from it, it counts. Maybe the Shit demon from Jay & Silent bob floats your boat, I’m not here to judge, mock, certainly not judge.
5) If any of this contradicts itself, and it could very well, I reserve the right not to give a shit & rule how I damn well please. Despot this!

Submit your top 10 Heroes & Villains, the more entries we have the more diverse the collection. Next Friday(noonish) I’ll close the submissions tally everything up and have the first round of the infinity gauntlet (Loosely based as I’m not sure how to tie six different aspects to the overall trashdome, so I’m just going to piggy back like a lazy 10 year old child) ready to go.
To start it off, here is my list (& I seriously tried to get a warren Ellis character on this list, but alas)
Heroes
1) Batman (Big fucking surprise)
2) Wonder Woman (Because I love me some scantily clad, svelt, Amazons, I'm not even going to get into the subject of her rope of truth.)
3) Punisher (Dude gets shit done.)
4) John Constantine (Owned by the devil, working for the greater good)
5) Rick Deckard (Well, more like a retirement specialist, but he did have to put down good ol Roy, and that’s good enough for me)
6) Conan (Old school in the shit type brawler)
7) Judge Dredd (Futuristic in the shit type brawler/punisher)
8) Spawn (Another owned by the devil, working for the greater good)
9) Sgt. Rock (Justice League 2001-2006, Who could argue with a hard ass Nazi arse kicker. Although it was a bitch to get him a spot)
10) The Rocketeer (I have a soft spot for Noir type “super heroes” but Dick Tracy doesn’t quite have the same flash)
11) The Crow ( Back from the death to avenge wrongs)
12) Deadpool (Black Humor and martial arts. What’s not to love.)
13) Jonah Hex (Good ol’ fashioned six shooter justice, hard to argue with a colt peacemaker)
14) Black Widow (ok, it’s official; I can’t make a list that doesn’t include some saucy lil minx filling out the ranks, not to mention spandex catsuits.)
15) Gambit (X-Men 1992-1997, the only X-man with a sense of humor)

Villians (I really wanted to get Omni-Man into this list because of his kick ass handlebar moustache, that alone kicks the shit out of the one I’ve been growing since November, boo me.)
1) Joker (A man that needs no introduction)
2) Ichi the Killer (Pure Awesome.)
3) Mystique (A woman that can look like any woman she wants is my kind of woman. Oh the options have my mind reeling, Total super villainess)
4) Lady Death Strike (Wolverines ex, and I wish she were mine. Grrrr)
5) Loki (Closest devil type character)
6) Tilda Swinton’s Gabriel (Even though she was taken down by the robot otherwise known as Keanu Reeves(Is Canada still paying reparations for this dudes acting career? She makes my heart skip a beat. I hope she’s 7 feet tall, because that’s a mountain I could die climbing. Grrrr.)
7) Ra’s Al Ghul (Master Assassin & leader of the league of Assassins)
8) Lex Luthor (This guy has brains, money & unstoppable ambition, there is very little he’ll stop at to achieve what he wants)
9) General Zod (We never really got to see this guy run riot, I’m positive he’s got some serious firepower to go with his serious rage in being imprisoned in a vanity mirror)
10) Red Skull (Germany’s version of Lex run riot within a political party…I wonder how Lex’s campaign is going?)
11) Kingpin (another lex type character, but from the underworld. He’s worked for everything he’s built)
12) Carnage (Spider-Man 1994-1998, venom is a joke next to this guy. Scary shit from space doesn’t hold a candle next to something we already know and the depths we can fall to)
13) Sabertooth (Bad assed animal aggression.)
14) Bane (Drugs and un-bridled aggression = a bat breaker)
15) Bullseye (Arguably one of the best comic book assassins, even though he keeps missing the Punisher)
16) SupaFlyTNT (Because it’s inevitable that this guy ends up in film one way or another, I’m sure there’s a classic ‘stag’ film out there someplace. Entry: Grammar Nazi.(Thanks, guess I should have spent more time editing)

So after talking to the Bride, I have come up with how the 16 Hero's will face the 16 Villains. I'm going to steal the Euro cup Groupings.
There will be four groups on each side. They will look like the following:

Hero group 1 vs. Villain Group 1
#1) Top picked Hero vs. #1) 16th Placed Villain
#2) Second place Hero vs. #2) 15th Placed Villain
#3) 15th placed Hero vs. #3) 2nd Placed Villain
#4) 16th Placed Hero vs. #4) 1st Place Villain

Groups 1 & 2 will be less interesting as the top choices are sure to make it to the next round, but I think we'll see some really cool match-ups in groups 3 & 4.

After round 2 wraps up, we'll be left with a our final 16. Matches will be selected by pitting the winners of group 1's vs. the winners of group 4. The winners from group 2 will face the winners from group 3, that way we'll end up seeing possible Hero vs. Hero & Villain vs. Villain matches.

Round three will have the final 8 selected in a free for all, and so on and so forth.

Heroes. Not Hero's. Something a hero owns would be that hero's. Like his glove.

I'll have to think about this some, but if Batman is not the #1 hero on this list then it is invalid. He's the best comic book character of all time, and that includes the many different interpretations and tones that he's been presented in.

Villain...I don't know, but Dr. Doom is probably my #1.

I'm a little dense...can you clarify the rules a bit?

So, these are movie versions _only_? Will we be voting heroes vs heroes, heroes vs villains, what's the pairings? Is it based on popularity or who would win in a fight? If it's simply who's more popular I'm not sure how interesting the discussions are going to be as that's all pretty cut and dry.

Which movie versions are we including? Is that the Adam West Batman?

Where's Captain America, Thor, Hulk, and Wolverine?

Jeff White wrote: I'm a little dense...can you clarify the rules a bit?

So, these are movie versions _only_? Will we be voting heroes vs heroes, heroes vs villains, what's the pairings? Is it based on popularity or who would win in a fight? If it's simply who's more popular I'm not sure how interesting the discussions are going to be as that's all pretty cut and dry.

Which movie versions are we including? Is that the Adam West Batman?

Where's Captain America, Thor, Hulk, and Wolverine?

Well, I guess it works better in my head that it does in my articulation.

The first thing I would like people to do is put together a list of their top Heroes & Villians(Comic based in film or T.V. format). After the week finishes up, I’ll take the top 16 choices from both sides and pit them against the other collection.
For example if
Captain A finishes first for the hero’s(most additions based on submission) and Dr. Doom is the #1 seed for the villains, they’ll go head to head.
Captain Amarica Vs. Dr. Doom etc.

The reason why I didn’t choose the obvious selections, Captain A; Thor & Wolvie, is because they’ll inevitable make it in the end anyway, I just wanted to provide a framework(The majority of which won’t make the top 16)

I'm _really_ f'n dumb today. Totally lost on this bit:

Fallen wrote: put together a list of their top Heroes & Villians(Comic based in film or T.V. format).

So, is Gambit included because he was in a film (meets the searchable by IMDB requirement), but you're not listing film gambit instead the 90's comic Gambit. I'm lost.

Can I put down Conan (played by Arnold) and Conan (drawn by john buscema)?

I'm liking the idea of a Secret Wars/Infinity Gauntlet type thrashdome (the ultimate in nerd-dome...character fights!), but not sure where to start.

EDIT: Ok, now I'm guessing your Gambit entry is from a cartoon, that right? So, no comic versions. Only one celluloid version though right? Ex: Arnie Conan and Mamoa Conan can't both be given in the same list. Sorry if I'm overly complicating this battle royale.

Gambit was a stretch, but he made it because he's in a cartoon from the early 2000's.

As long as the character is in the medium, it counts. Once the character makes the cut, it's his complete body of work that will face off against the other characters body of work. I just thought I would get more entries if I kept it movie/film/T.V. type medium in order to appeal to a broader audience. Maybe I only made it more difficult. Oh well.
Basically just choose 10(ish) of each category from any Movie, T.V. Show with a history in print and he/she'll be good to go.

Edit. I didn't know Gambit was in a movie to tell the truth, and from what I can make out in IMDb, his only entry is the cartoon from 2000's. Sgt. Rock isn't in a movie, but he is in a cartoon from way back, I made these rules around him as I spent a LOT of time reading him & Conan as I was growing up.
The characters are what matters. Who's version/vision overall isn't exactly relevant. Some people, not I, will think Jack's Joker was better than Heath's, which only matters to the person submitting the entry. Hopefully this makes a little more sense.

...double...

HEROES

1. Green Lantern - a hero who overcomes fear through sheer willpower and uses it to power the ring. Cool.

2. Hellboy - chooses to battle evil despite his demonic origin and has an average Joe working-man attitude.

3. Batman - what I would give to have his determination.

3. Spider-Man - intelligence to go with cool powers and plenty of complications to keep the stories fun, this guy rocks.

5. Hulk - after his turn in The Avengers this guy became even more awesome. The Jekyll and Hyde nature of his curse is compelling.

6. Iron Man - was never a fan until Robert Downey Jr. made Stark so entertaining.

7. Wolverine - as a fellow sawed-off runt I have to vote for this guy, even if the film version towers over 6 feet.

8. Clark Kent (Smallville) - I don't care for cosmic level Superman so to see him before he becomes an invincible (and boring) hero was refreshing.

9. Elastigirl - superspy turned mom that returns to form after having 3 kids? Can't argue with her ability to snap back. Sorry for the pun.

10. Flash - Wally was the heart of the DCAU Justice League and always cracked me up.

VILLAINS
1. Magneto - I'm not so sure I would behave differently if I had experienced his road to becoming an awesome supervillain.

2. Lex Luthor - a genius intellect and God complex fuel his desire to humble Superman. I can't blame him for not liking the blue boy scout.

3. Loki - the film brought to life the strife toward his family after learning his heritage, good stuff.

4. Sinestro - Mark Strong did a great job bringing presence to this role, too bad he was barely in the film. I love villains with an agenda I can understand and this guy fits the bill.

5. Prince Nuada - another strong performance and sympathetic villain. By the middle of the movie I was rooting for this guy.

6. The Joker - Mark Hamill + Heath Ledger = 'nuff said

7. Sabretooth - Liev Shrieber is one hella creepy guy and brought real menace to the role.

8. Brainiac - the DCAU incarnation was an awesome villain that escaped Kyrpton and went on to become a galaxy level threat. His cold nature and unstoppable menace always scared me.

9. Hulk - not sure if this is cheating but I like the Hulk as a villain too, forcing the heroes to band together to contain his rage.

10. Ozymandias - this guy was cold and calculating, and became more believable with the film and his plot no longer contained a fake octo-alien.

Thanks GL, this is exactly what I'm looking for.

No problem Fallen. Cool thread!

Top 10 might be tough. IMHO, most comic book movies still suck so I'm strictly going on the characters.

Heroes:
1) Conan
2) Judge Dredd
3) Spiderman
4) Lone Wolf (of & Cub)
5) Cyclops
6) The Tick
7) The Comedian
8) Batman
9) Hulk
10)Iron Man

Villians:
1) Doctor Doom
2) Magneto
3) The Angel Gang
4) Joker
5) Juggernaut will crush you!
6) Mystique
7) Galactus
8) Loki
9) Two-Face
10) Sebastian Shaw

Man, what a sausage-fest.

Thanks Evil. Lone Wolf is a great addition. I haven't thought about that character in a long time.
I hope to see more entries for this list as I really don't want to use the top 16 from IGN, characters like Lone Wolf don't even break the top 100.

I'm still not 100% sure on this, but going to take a stab.

First, if we're talking about influence then I'm sure the top five through which all the rest are derived would probably be:

Conan (fantasy)
Buck Rogers (sci-fi)
John Carter / Zorro (super heroes)
Dick Tracy (detective/noir)

That said, I only think one (maybe two) of those five has a body of work that can possibly match more modern characters.

Regarding body of work, this is going to be a shoe-in for Batman. I'd argue he's the most popular because he's actually one of the weakest character in comics. That is, he's more a device then a character. He can be goofy shark-repellent spraying Adam West, to hamming it up with Scooby and Shaggy, to Mr. Mom, to Dark Knight. Whatever you need him to be. Other characters are more defined. Sure, The Punisher crossed-over with the Riverdale gang, but he wasn't 'golly,shucks' with them, but maintained his sour-puss attitude. At the same time, you don't do gritty spider-man or comical Conan. So, yeah, Batman wins on market penetration due to being whatever he needs to be for a given tale.

Looking at a personal top 10 characters in film/tv that also have also appeared in comics, I'll list someone like Snake Plissken, though his body of work won't hold up to 95% of the characters on other lists. Anyway, here goes:

HEROES
1) Conan
2) Snake Plissken
3) Spider-man
4) Flash Gordon
5) Judge Dredd
6) Blade
7) Cyclops
8) The Phantom
9) The Thing
10) Sgt. Slaughter

VILLAINS
1) Ming the Merciless
2) Magneto
3) Thulsa Doom
4) Darth Vader
5) Cobra Commander
6) Skeletor
7) Green Goblin
8) Dr. Doom
9) Zartan
10) Serpentor

(You can tell from my list I was a Marvel kid...Make Mine Marvel!)

Ahh, Flash Gordon & Cobra Commander, that I would like to see.
Great List, thanks!