31 Days of Scans - Day 22

Favorite Villain. If I ever get around to those supplementary entries to my favorite characters list, there is one villain who would jump ahead of today’s selection on the list. But one of the things about Dr. Doom – spoiler alert! – I like is he doesn’t always have to be the antagonist. He usually is, but there are enough times where his interests coincide with the heroes they can be uneasy allies. This guy, though, is always a bad guy.

I know I said I was going to try and avoid doing too many that would just be a rehash of the Favorite Character posts, even if they were a viable option, but there’s no better choice. I was trying to think of a possible manga/anime option, but all the ones I can think of were effective villains because I found them really annoying and easily hateable. I really wanted to see someone kill Gendo Ikari for example, or Vegeta (even after he wasn't the villain), or Legato Bluesummers. I think a favorite villain ought to be one I'm excited to see, not one that produces a response of, "Oh Christ, this guy again. Well, maybe he'll die this time." So, Arcade it is, then.

Everything I said last summer still applies. He’s still great at hitting people’s buttons, and making them practically throw themselves into his traps. However cavalier his attitude might seem, he clearly takes his work seriously enough to do his research on his targets.

He still loves to win, but loves to enjoy himself even more. And he's savvy enough to recognize being Captain Britain's arch-foe really doesn't have much future to it, so better to angle for a rematch with Spider-Man.

And in spite of his general code of kinda-sorta fair play, where there are ways out of his traps, if you can find them, he's still a bad guy. He won't bat an eye at inflicting pain on someone, including a bunch of teen heroes, if he thinks it's worth the time.

I still think you can use him as an adversary against practically any character, and someone could get some mileage out of his excellent track record of capturing heroes.

Arcade puts Braddock through the wringer, and bounces back from an inevitable defeat by preparing for another inevitable defeat in Marvel Team-Up #66, by Chris Claremont (writer), John Byrne (artist), Dave Hunt (inker), Andy Yanchus (colorist), and Tom Orzechowski (letterer). Arcade gets the drop on Anya Corazon and Reptil with complete indifference in Avengers Academy Giant-Size, by Paul Tobin (writer), David Baldeon (penciler), Jordi Tarragona (inker), Chris Sotomayor (colorist), and Dave Lanphear (letterer).