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There are two distinct kinds of villains in comics: those who want to do their own dirty work and those who don’t. Those who don’t get henchmen. Henchmen are an integral part of the supervillain food chain. They do the heavy lifting and take the lumps while the mastermind waits in the wings, working feverishly to make their evil plans a reality before the heroes can bust in and destroy the whole thing.
Marvel has some great mastermind villains and they also have some great henchmen. However, over the years, some previously powerful henchmen and henchmen organizations have fallen way down the pecking order, becoming much weaker than they once were.
10 Bullseye Hasn’t Done Anything Noteworthy In Ages
Bullseye has a fearsome reputation in the Marvel Universe but he hasn’t really done anything to earn it in years. It’s the inherent problem with the henchmen. Bullseye made a name for himself by killing Elektra and targeting Daredevil and the people he loved. The last time he did any lasting Daredevil was when he killed Karen Page, but that was two decades ago.
Since then, Bullseye’s done some interesting things in the Marvel Universe but he’s not as tough as he once was. He’s been beaten like a drum too many times by too many people for anyone to believe his threat is credible anymore.
9 Electro Never Really Gets To Live Up To His Potential Anymore
Electro’s power level hasn’t dropped over the years; in fact, it’s grown but he’s rarely done anything great with it in a long time. Electro is one of Spider-Man’s best journeymen villains. He’s not going to mastermind many schemes but he’s pretty great muscle. The problem comes in that he’s not really used very much anymore and when he is, he’s used like he was in the Silver Age.
Electro can do so much more but he’s constantly written as a dumb villain who throws lightning bolts and that’s it. He’s become so much more than that, yet no one really lets him cut loose and show just how dangerous he can be.
8 Mister Sinister’s Marauders Did One Great Thing And Then Were Punching Bags
Mister Sinister is plenty powerful, but he doesn’t always want to get his hands dirty. That was what the Marauders were for. This group of mutant villains- Greycrow, Sabretooth, Vertigo, Riptide, Harpoon, Arclight, Blockbuster, Prism, and Malice- pulled off the Morlock massacre, showing just how dangerous they could be. After that, they went downhill fast.
Other than Greycrow and Sabretooth, none of the other members any had any impact and were killed off more than once. They became Sinister’s cloned cannon fodder and never really did anything as a team that was worthwhile again.
7 Toad Went From Magneto’s Right-Hand Man To A Joke
Toad was once the second in command of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, but that was a long time ago. His jumping ability was a cool visual and gave him some good attacks but he was pretty one-note as a villain and that messed everything up for him. While he’s definitely one of the bravest villains around, he’s just not exactly threatening anymore.
They still tried to sell him as dangerous, even giving him the long prehensile tongue from the movies, but it just didn’t work. He’s been a joke more often than not in recent years and that’s kind of where he belongs in modern comics.
6 The New Reavers Don’t Even Deserve The Name
The Reavers were Hellfire Club Inner Circle member Donald Pierce’s cyborg muscle. They were created during the Claremont Uncanny X-Men run, the longest run by a writer in Marvel history, and they were perfect cannon fodder. They could get beat on and rebuilt constantly, making them a rather dangerous threat to the X-Men.
The current Krakoa era of X-Men books likes to repurpose old names for new groups, so writer Gerry Duggan introduced a new group of Reavers in Marauders. Their designs are bad and they are nowhere near as dangerous as the originals, lacking everything that made them great.
5 Lady Deathstrike Almost Killed Wolverine, But Hasn’t Been That Tough In A Long Time
Wolverine has faced a lot of powerful villains, and Lady Deathstrike was always one of the most formidable. Lady Deathstrike had a personal grudge against him and she would take any job that allowed her to fight him. Cybernetically enhanced, she used her potent martial arts skills to fight Wolverine to a standstill multiple times. For a long time, Wolverine’s two most dangerous foes were her and Sabretooth.
Things have changed a lot for her over the years. She’s nowhere near as dangerous as she used to be, and Marvel tried to make her into more of an anti-hero. She’s a great character but she’s just not as deadly as she once was.
4 The Hand Haven’t Been A Serious Threat In Years
The Hand was one of the most dangerous groups of henchmen, challenging heroes like Daredevil, Wolverine, and Spider-Man. They’ve done a lot of damage over the years but they’ve been a non-factor for a long time. The last time they seemed dangerous was during Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Yu’s pre-Secret Invasion New Avengers stories but that was over a decade ago.
Even before that, the Hand was pretty much just a bunch of ninjas for heroes to wade through. They were always a cool visual but other than that, they stopped being a grave threat a long time ago.
3 A.I.M. Used To Be A Contender
Advanced Idea Mechanics was Marvel’s way of doing mad scientists. The organization was a group of scientists who banded together to do whatever they wanted and their inventions often put the entire world in jeopardy. They became one of the most dangerous secret organizations in the Marvel Universe but then their portrayals changed.
It kind of never fit to have them fight the heroes, as they were basically a group of science nerds in visually striking costumes. They’ve mostly stopped fighting the heroes and instead started working with other organizations, bringing their scientific know-how to things. When they do show up as antagonists, they’re pretty easily dealt with.
2 People Got Tired Of Hydra Because Of Secret Empire
Hydra is one of Marvel’s most famous secret organizations. Long time foes of Nick Fury and Captain America, they were the premiere evil group in the Marvel Universe. They’ve fought everyone and were the main villains of Secret Empire, which is the problem. No one liked Secret Empire, and being associated with it was the kiss of death for Hydra.
Even before then, Hydra was hitting the joke territory anyway, as they were usually Red Skull’s favored cannon fodder. They lost so many times that they were basically relegated to the dustbin of history until Secret Empire came along, which wasn’t a good thing for the organization.
1 The Sentinels Are Kind Of Pathetic
The Sentinels have long been sold as one of the most dangerous forces in the Marvel Universe. These powerful mutant-hunting robots have been shown to be in charge of many alternate futures, having killed all the heroes and villains. Time has not been kind to the Sentinels though, as they’ve been beaten so many times by the X-Men.
Other than Nimrod, the Sentinels just aren’t extremely dangerous. Besides the Mega-Sentinels that destroyed Genosha, the Sentinels have never done anything that really made them feel as dangerous as the alternate universe stories they starred in. They’re a great-looking threat, but they get taken down by the dozen whenever they show up.
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