My Favorite Villain

IGN has been doing a Top 100 Comic Book Villains feature for the past few weeks. In it, they countdown the bests and give details for each villain while explaining their choices. Of course I disagree with a few of them, Lex Luthor is lame and Dark Phoenix is not cooler than Apocalypse, but I wholeheartedly agree with their top pick. Magneto is interesting because he's easy to empathize with. He fights for the rights of his people; his people just happen to be not us. I've included IGN's detailed analysis for there pick below. But while I think Magneto is the greatest villain of all time, I think the title of "Greatest Villain Right Now" belongs to none other than Loki.

Loki is so awesome for the same reasons that thriller movies work. M. Night Shyamalan carefully planned out everything in the Sixth Sense to totally surprise us while also making complete sense within the context of the movie. The phenomenal Korean thriller, Oldboy, was carefully planned out by director, Chan-Wook Park, to put its lead character through a series of agonizing trials only to destroy his spirit just when he thought he had won. Loki is the same way as these directors. He plants seeds without any of us ever knowing. When he talks, the reader just assumes that he's planning something, but has no idea where those plans will ever lead. When we finally see what has happened and figure out how we got there, we can only say, "Wow."

Loki has three cases of his incredible scheming happening right now in the current Marvel Universe. In the best comic book on the market, Thor, Loki has spent 14 issues expelling Thor from Asgard. He takes a new form to help convince everyone he's changed, reveals to Baldur his heritage, and travels through time to murder his and Odin's fathers. All these actions lead to Loki resurrecting Bor just so Thor can kill him. Why would Thor do that? Loki placed a spell on both so they didn't know who they were fighting. After Bor's death, the spell is broken and Thor must pay for murdering a fellow Asgardian. Baldur, now a ruler of Asgard thanks to Loki, decides to expel Thor. While all this was happening, Loki's "honesty" with Baldur has won him over and Baldur now trusts him. Now Loki advises him on Asgardian matters, basically deciding its fate. Oh and to keep Thor busy, Loki decides to dispose of his new form, which just so happens to be the body of Thor's Lady Sif. Now, instead of fighting for Asgard's best interest, Thor must seek out Lady Sif's soul and return it to her rightful body before she dies.While all that kept him busy, Loki also assembled a new team of Avengers. He didn't indirectly do it this time though. Loki formed this team on purpose. He used the image of Scarlet Witch to bring together a band of heroes to stop a mystical threat. Why would he assemble a team of super heroes? To piss Norman Osborn off, of course. They belong to the Cabal and are supposed to be on the same side. Loki has different plans though and uses the Mighty Avengers to keep Osborn preoccupied so his attention is divided. A divided mind can't be aware of Loki's sly planning.

The God of Mischief doesn't stop there though. He is also secretly dealing with Doctor Doom, another one of the coolest villains. This plan hasn't come to fruition yet, but we can see seeds being planted. Loki convinces Doom to let the Asgardians hang out in Latveria by whispering something he can give Doom in return. What can he give Doom? Why does he want to be in Latveria? What does he have planned for Asgard? This plot is probably the most exciting because I have no idea what is going on and so I'm just along for the thrilling ride. Also, it's Loki and Doom. Two of the best villains of all time involved in one plot.

Loki is one busy man...errr woman.....ummm god. While it seems Norman Osborn is in charge of the Marvel Universe right now, the God of Mischief is secretly controlling everything. He's responsible for getting rid of Thor, driving Osborn crazy and making him seem inadequate simultaneously, and probably many other things we don't even realize yet. Before Dark Reign ends, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Norman Osborn was just the puppet for this Greatest Villain Right Now.