[ILComics] Bring on the bad guys!

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An excuse to trot out all of Batman's villains one after the other, just to stretch an incomprehensible plot
What are some good stories that have used the old EVERY VILLAIN shows up trope? Not necessarily Batman-specific, but he's certainly made a career out of being nearly overshadowed by his villains.
The one story I can think of that trotted out a rogues' roll call was from the Englehart/Rogers era of Detective Comics in the 70s, where Prof. Hugo Strange has discovered Batman's dual identity (and assumed it!) and tries to hold an auction to reveal the info. There's a neat sequence in a theatre where a bunch of baddies are mostly obscured, but still identifiable, waiting for Strange to show up. Of course (30 yr old SPOILER), Strange had be dumped in Gotham Harbor by that point. I think this was either immediately before or after the Laughing Fish story.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Sunday, 31 December 2006 08:39 (seventeen years ago) link

WAHT EVER HAPPENED 2 MAN OF TOMORROW

The only other examples of this sorta thing I can think of off the top of my head are all indeed Jeph Loeb classics and like shitty Flash events but that first one aint bad

― A B C (sparklecock), Sunday, 31 December 2006 08:52 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah, M.O.T was the only other one I could think of. There must be some juicy Silver Age Flash ones too, but we'll never know, because they'll never do a Showcase Presents the Flash, because nerds are still buying the expensive Flash Archives.
What about Spider-Man?

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Sunday, 31 December 2006 09:00 (seventeen years ago) link

Mark Millar's Spider-Man was basically Spidey Hush and about as good.

― A B C (sparklecock), Sunday, 31 December 2006 09:05 (seventeen years ago) link

The Red Sea Sharks!

― a bulldog fed a cookie shaped like a kitten (austin), Sunday, 31 December 2006 13:50 (seventeen years ago) link

Also, I'm pretty sure Daredevil has had some storylines in this mode, although I don't know old hornhead's material well enough to say.

― a bulldog fed a cookie shaped like a kitten (austin), Sunday, 31 December 2006 14:04 (seventeen years ago) link

There's an element of this in the Ultimate Universe..."let's reintroduce Dr. Octopus...okay, now let's reintroduce the Green Goblin...okay, now let's reintroduce the Kingpin..." It's not exactly the same, though, and overall I like it -- a chance to do things again without crap villains like the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime or the Shoveller or whatever. I'm not sure I like the idea of gilding the lily like they did in Ultimate Six -- I think it was a couple of steps too far.

― Joe Isuzu's Petals (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 31 December 2006 15:46 (seventeen years ago) link

Also, I'm pretty sure Daredevil has had some storylines in this mode, although I don't know old hornhead's material well enough to say.

There was this really bad crossover with Daredevil, the Punisher and some long haired dude with sunglasses who was supposed to be an american take on "Lone Wolf & Cub" which took place after the Kingpin died, with all the other organized crime duders splitting up New York. They did this in Las Vegas tho, iirc.

The one story I can think of that trotted out a rogues' roll call was from the Englehart/Rogers era of Detective Comics in the 70s, where Prof. Hugo Strange has discovered Batman's dual identity (and assumed it!) and tries to hold an auction to reveal the info. There's a neat sequence in a theatre where a bunch of baddies are mostly obscured, but still identifiable, waiting for Strange to show up. Of course (30 yr old SPOILER), Strange had be dumped in Gotham Harbor by that point. I think this was either immediately before or after the Laughing Fish story.

The animated series recycled both of those!

― Daniel Reifferscheid (Daniel_Rf), Sunday, 31 December 2006 16:16 (seventeen years ago) link

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