Top 10 Awkward Supervillain Names

If you’ve never gotten into theater production or cosplaying, you might not be familiar with this particular article of clothing. So for the uninitiated… allow us to explain. A codpiece is a cup or piece of material that covers, protects and accentuates a man’s genital area. Plenty of noteworthy figures including athletes, knights of old, stage actors, and superheroes wear them… but that still doesn’t justify taking it on as your official title. In the case of this Doom patrol villain however, it was more than his name, it was his whole gimmick. There’s nothing quite as distracting to a superhero as a codpiece multi-weapon appendage.

The name Bushmaster invites more than one sexually-explicit interpretations, so use your imagination and save us the trouble of spelling them all out. It’s tough to wrap your head around the fact that any single villain would choose this moniker, but wait for it… there’s actually two of them! The first Marvel Bushmaster was John McIver, a pretty standard master criminal. The second Bushmaster was his brother Quincy, a Serpent Society member with a mechanical snake body grafted onto his own. Oh, and just as an aside, there’s also a DC hero named Bushmaster.

In the early days of Batman comics, it seems as if the writers were challenging themselves to come up with a villain for every noun in the dictionary. But hey, good on them making it all the way to “P” and producing someone named “Polka-Dot Man.” Abner Krill and his ludicrously unfashionable costume made their debut in Detective Comics #300 in 1962. Though we feel he could’ve found a better way of incorporating his tech into his suit other than polka dots, we have to give credit where credit is deserved, he had some pretty impressive gadgets built into them. Unfortunately, his silly name has made him a joke in any appearance beyond the Silver Age.

Maybe Rainbow Raider and Polka-Dot man can start a children’s show together? They certainly chose names better suited for that line of work. Honestly, you would’ve expected Rainbow Raider to be a product of the Silver Age like Polka-Dot Man, but no… he was created in 1980. A jaded artist, Rainbow Raider has the ability to create solid beams of rainbow colored light, which he rides and uses to hit people. He can also somehow change people’s emotions by covering them in certain lights, kinda like a weaponized mood ring. Oh and we almost forgot his real name - Roy G. Bivolo… you know, like the acronym Roy G. Biv, which stands for all the hues of a rainbow? As if the awful villain name wasn’t cringe-y enough on its own.

Sure… the name fills you with dread, but not the “tremble in the face of evil” kind. More like... “damn it, why did we let that woman in our house? It’s going to cost us a small fortune to hire an asbestos removal team. This is the LAST time we invite her to our annual villain potluck.” Asbestos Lady was first introduced in 1947 as an enemy of the Human Torch. At that point in time, scientists argued that asbestos was a hazard, but in terms of its use in construction, it was still on the upswing - meaning that Asbestos Lady’s fire-retardant asbestos suit wasn’t so absurd. Science caught up with her though. She was retroactively killed by cancer.

Let’s be clear, the original Stilt-Man was worthy of a place on this list… but LADY Stilt-Man is just too damn absurd to handle. First of all, let’s talk about the fact that she decided to call herself Lady Stilt-Man of all things. It’s not like she’s the first female spin-off from a character, but Spider Woman, Batgirl, Batwoman, Supergirl, She-Hulk… they all managed to figure out how to pay homage to their respective namesakes without keeping the “man” part. Despite her horrendous name and generally disappointing performance against heroes, she’s gotten decent mileage out of those second-hand legs, joining Villains for Hire, Masters of Evil and making a number of other appearances since debuting in 2010.

Remember what we were saying about the Silver Age Batman writers and what we suspect may have been a dictionary-based approach to naming villains? Well, this one’s a real doozy. Calendar man plans his crimes around notable dates. That’s right. His threat level can literally be adjusted month by month. Kind of a jerk move though, as his whole shtick means Batman can rarely enjoy an occasion. In all fairness, he did have a pretty cool appearance in the “Arkham City” video game. But seriously…. that name is terrible any day of the year.

Moving on to the letter “K” in Batman’s dictionary of pitifully-named villains… let’s talk about this high-flying evil-doer, whose moniker already kinda says it all. He’s a guy named Charles Brown who employs various types of kites to achieve his criminal goals. He feels too silly to be real, but there he is, making his first appearance in Batman #133. Over the years, writers have brought him back from time to time to use as a minor villain, a joke, or as a mentally unstable wannabe. Of the three options, in this modern age, the last option feels like the only believable role for this sadly outdated character.

When it comes to unfortunate villain names - there’s the bad, the awkward, and the just plain dumb. This one manages to be all three. The name brings to mind a grandmother who’s off her rocker - possibly after having accidentally ingested Scarecrow fear toxin. Sadly, the real Crazy Quilt is a middle-aged man with very little going for him. Back in the day, rather than giving his henchmen instructions, he’d hide clues as to what they should do in paintings he made. Unsurprisingly, his henchmen shot him in the face. Long story short, he survived lost his vision, gained over the top colorful vision, went insane, and settled on a costume and name to match.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few dishonorable mentions

Granny Goodness

Typhoid Mary

Sugar Man

Would you like ketchup and mustard on that? Just kidding! The condiments aren’t optional when this villain is around, they’re applied by FORCE. Condiment King is so silly in name and concept that there honestly isn’t much enjoyment to be taken from mocking him. He was a product of the minds of Bruce Timm and Paul Dini who brought us the wonderful Batman: The Animated Series. Sadly, while fellow Timmverse original character Harley Quinn went on to become a major player in the larger DC world, Condiment King did not. He did make it into the comics, but on-page, he’s usually served up as a criminally insane joke.