Heroes/Villains Whose Designs Defy Convention...

[secondwhiteline]

Let's not forget about all the monstrous heroes out there - Swamp Thing, The Hulk, The Thing, Etrigan, Man-Thing, Nightcrawler, Beast, Blade, I Vampire, the Doom Patrol, The Spectre, and scores of others. Even Phantom Stranger has a few traditionally villainous features in his look, notably the pure white eyes.

Black Widow and Catwoman kept fairly villainous looks after their conversion to heroes. A woman in a sleek black catsuit always says "dangerous sexuality," which of course reads to most of the comic book audience as "EVIL IT BURNS."

One of the villainous facets of Drax's earlier look is the high collar - more elaborate capes tend to suggest regal supervillains. The Marvels are an exception here, as is Martian Manhunter.

Odd hairstyles were usually a villain convention back in the 70s and 80s, especially as the punk scene became notable. Every multicultural 80s comic book gang had one guy in a mohawk. Wolverine and OMAC defied the era's weird hair convention.

Speaking of hair, totally bald usually means villain, often a mad scientist type. Professor X semi-defies this, depending on how sociopathic you might feel Professor X is (the answer is "Entirely").

[beastovjudgement]

Dr. Strange's original, less colorful look, especially coupled with the "Master of Black Magic!" tag line, was rather villainous. Thunderball and Piledriver of the Wrecking Crew could easily pass for heroes. Even Spider-Man, with his then-unusual fully masked face and "creepy" arachnid gimmick, was not a very heroic design - which I think was the point.

[secondwhiteline]

That's not something I think about often, but it's true - they did promote Spider-Man back in the day as a new kind of hero. Even the dash between Spider and Man suggests more of a hybrid creature than a superhero identity.

Also, I seem to recall an Army of Darkness vs. Marvel Zombies crossover book where Ash accidentally walks in on a Daredevil/Thunderball fight and helps out Thunderball, because Daredevil's costume immediately registered to him as villainous. That was pretty clever.

[OneNineSix]

I love this thread. Jonah Hex doesn't look all that heroic... The Spectre could pass for a super villain. Same goes for Hawk of Hawk and Dove.