I was releasing my marginally concealed inner geek recently and working to come up with a list of the "greatest mad scientists" in comics. We basically agreed that the individual in question could not be super powered in any meaningful way.
Without trying to recreate my list, I just wanted to throw this out there and see what everyone can come up with.
So who is your favorite comic "mad scientist"?
Well, Lex Luthor got his start as a mad scientist before becoming a mad business tycoon and is probably my favourite, though the Ultra-humanite was another old school mad scientist at DC.
Dr. Sivana. Those old golden age Captain Marvel stories are a hoot...Sivana carries out his schemes with such evil glee. "Heh! Heh! Heh!"
Dr. Wily and Dr. Eggman.
<That's for you, Tomface.>
Nicola Tesla. Be it 5 Fists of Science or Atomic Robo or another interpretation I think he qualifies. :)
Not my favorites, but there's also Hugo Strange and Dr T. O. Morrow. I wanted to include Professor Ivo, but I think he has some kind of power like resistance skin or something, so I'm not sure he belongs on the list.
Quote from: Uncle Yuan on September 28, 2011, 02:14:43 AM
We basically agreed that the individual in question could not be super powered in any meaningful way.
Depending on what you mean by this statement, Dr. Doom and Dr. Octopus can be seen as mad scientists (I do, anyway). Egghead, the old enemy of the original Ant-Man is definitely in this mold. Dr. Death (Batman)
I know Mad Scientist is usually a villain term but there are some heroes that are really crazy too.
Hank Pym: Antman has created heroes and villains, and gets more and more out there as time pases. Recently he was in a fractal nanotech infinite mansion, in another dimension (where his dead Ex resides) hanging out with an Jocasta (an android created by an android he created) that was outfitted with nanoflesh resembling his ex. HANK PYM IS A MAD SCIENTIST.
Notables:
Reed Richards. He cant make a cup of coffee without transporting it back and forth from another dimension and using cosmic rays.
Arnim Zola. Trully a memorable mad scientist.
Nightshade: She turned Captain America into a werewolf!
Mad Thinker: Another fun and weird scientists and scheemer.
I would put Doctor Doom right up there. I mean, the guy has a creepy castle for his experiments, along with a postage stamp Eastern European country to go with it.
Wouldn't Doom be discounted though because of his heavy use of magic?
I will admit, the "no powers" bit can be a little hard to stick to. If an evil scientist creates a suit of powered armor, is he any different than Iron Man?Or how about someone like the Leader, who technically has powers but they don't play a significant role in the character. Or someone like Doom who *started* as a purely scientific type but changed over the years.
Yeah, for me Hank Pym makes it in because his powers are all "created" by him, pym particles and insect controlling helmets and such.
Reed Richards is a big cheat, but honestly I think of him more of a scientist than "a dude who can stretch"
Hank McCoy would be disqualified since he had powers even before he mutated himself further in a mad scientist experiment. It is a shame, since he is one of my alltime favorite comic characters.