So, superheroes, huh? There’s something about that name that just… well, it’s tough to live up to.

For some, the good old classics like Superman, it’s not much of an issue. The guy can fly, he’s got x-ray vision, great strength… he can even become an entirely different person (apparently) just but donning a pair of nerdy glasses. If all of this doesn’t qualify the guy as super, I really don’t know what would.

This is all well and good, but the issue comes afterward. Marvel and DC then have to keep pumping out more and more superheroes, who have to try and live up to that name in new and exciting ways. This is equally true of their counterparts, the supervillains.

When they’re all deemed supervillains, it’s like they’re all equals. All members of an exclusive club of sorts. Sadly, that’s just not the case. Superpeople, whether good, bad or morally ambiguous, are not all created equal. Not even dang close. We’re scraping the bottom of the super-barrel at times, friends. Scraping right through the bottom of it into the muddy, muddy ground beneath.

Some supervillains are just plain jokes. Intentional ones, that is, like Eraser Man (who could indeed ‘erase’ people and things from existence like so much graphite from an HB pencil). Others aren’t intended to be, but just do not work at all. Then there are those who are actually popular and strong superficially, just lacking that certain something when you look deeper. Or just got their cheeks beaten by someone feeble in some parallel universe crossover somewhere.

Here’s a gaggle of supervillains who just aren’t as cool as they should be.

22 Hypno-Hustler: Bad In All The Wrong Ways

Now, there was a lot of potential here. You just have to look at the guy to know that. A Disco Stu-inspired supervillain, after all, is something the whole dang planet should be able to get behind. Literally, in fact, because that’s his whole super-shtick: mind control via the freshest of funky beats.

Sadly, The Simpsons’ Disco Stu was more of an ironic thing, while Hypno-Hustler seemed to think he actually was still cool. Sorry, guy. Afros aside, knockout gas in your boots? I mean, what is that?

21 Asbestos Lady: Not Nearly As Frightening As She Should Be

Sometimes, a fantastic idea is just a fantastic idea, and you’ve got to wheel it out again. A superhero was awful the first time? Why not release a gender-flipped version of the very same hero?

In this case, the reverse is true. With hindsight, we know of the dangers of asbestos, but the sad fate of Asbestos Man (who developed an illness as a result of the suit he wore) made everything much more poignant than it deserved to be. These two villains were ill-equipped to deal with anyone but the Human Torch, but heck. Social commentary and all that.

20 Kristoff Vernard: Nerdly Scientist And Doctor Doom Cosplayer

I can totally understand the origin story here. After all, so many comic book villains start out as ambitious, morally-questionable scientists. That’s how they develop their superpowers, after all.

I’m down with all of that, but Kristoff Vernard seems to have forgotten the whole ‘superpowers’ part.

Vernard was Doctor Doom’s adopted son and heir. He liked to play at being Doom at times, but was just a scientist with no powers. What is Doctor Doom without his Doom-ishness? Nothing, that’s what.

19 Lady Stilt-Man: Because Why The Heckles Not?

Ah, yes. If anyone in the comic world has that so-hilariously-bad-they’re-good quality, it’s Lady Stilt-Man. If that’s the criteria, she’d be the greatest supervillain of all time.

It’s just… so many things have gone horribly wrong here. Firstly, we’re talking about someone whose superpower is wearing freaking stilts. Not regular ones, naturally, and she has enhanced strength and such, but still. The real issue here is that the name Stilt-Lady didn’t seem to occur to anyone. Lady Stilt-Man is just a brilliant mess of a name, which neatly fits with everything else that’s happening here.

18 Jester: Like The Joker, But Really, Really Not

Say what you will about DC, Marvel fans, but there’s no doubt that they have one of the most iconic villains in comic book history. The Joker has become something of a pop culture legend, thanks to Heath Ledger’s fantastic performance in The Dark Knight and Mark Hamill’s in the Arkham games.

Marvel’s equivalent, Jester, hasn’t quite made the same impact. He’s got that combo of Joker-style cartoon weapons (of the ACME school of weapon development) and Harley Quinn’s outfit, but cannot touch either in the popularity stakes. Very obscure.

17 Boomerang: Don’t Bother Coming Back

So, as we know, there are some superheroes and supervillains that surprise you. Not just because of their absurdity (although that’s how it is a lot of the time), but in how first impressions can be deceptive. A character can look super-lame, only to prove themselves awesome.

Then there’s Boomerang, who achieved the opposite. In the wacky world of comic book costumes, this guy’s is one of my favorites.

It’s just a shame that he’s an ex-baseball pitcher who fights with gimmicky lethal boomerangs.

Still, he tangled with Spider-Man, so he hit the major leagues in more ways than one.

16 Matador: Just A Lot Of Bull

The thing about superheroes is… they’ve got superpowers. That’s the first thing you learn about them in Superhero class. Lesson one, right there, just before the one about wearing their underpants on the outside. This means, of course, that they’ll usually need opponents who have special powers of their own. Just to keep things fair.

The trouble with this is, you’ve got to match the right villain to the right hero. In Matador’s case, his special ability was to blind foes with a flash of his ostentatious cape. Sadly for him, he was up against the blind Daredevil. Hmm.

15 Vulture: One Carcass Nobody Wanted

I’ll level with you here. On reflection, it might not be entirely warranted to single Vulture out like this. So many of Spider-Man’s villains have that odd animal vibe going on, after all. It’s just a theme, I guess. We’ve got the Spider himself, then a whole menagerie besides. My personal favorite is Rhino, which really marked the point where we jumped the shark in that regard.

Vulture in particular just doesn’t really do it for me. Michael Keaton was great in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but the character just doesn’t have the wow factor.

14 Malekith: A Real Eldritch Horror, Right Here

Now, nobody’s talking smack about Christopher Eccleston here. Absolutely not. The British actor always does a bang-up job, in my eyes, and is one of those famous-but-not-quite-that-famous sort of guys that brings an important sense of unfamiliarity to a role. Doctor Who, for instance.

At the same time, though, you’ve got to work with what you’re given. There was something about Malekith, leader of the Dark Elves in Thor: The Dark World, that felt a little flat. Besides, Dark Elves? They’re more suited to stealing from adventurers in shady Skyrim taverns, not taking on Thor.

13 Red Skull: He’s Just Embarrassed

Maybe I’m being a little judgmental here, but I like a super-person of any description to be original. To stand on their own two feet. There are certain Marvel stars, like Spider-Man, who are distinctive. Who have their own unique set of powers that are identified with them.

The dastardly Red Skull, meanwhile, doesn’t have any to speak of. Genius level intellect, close combat and marksmanship skills, but otherwise?

That’s not the way things are done around here.

12 Yellowjacket: The Tiny Terror

If you’re not quite down with the Marvel world, you might struggle to understand how Ant-Man can possibly be practical. His superpower is just shrinking down to ant size and talking with ants. On paper, that’s Aquaman levels of hilariously useless. Once you see Paul Rudd in action, though, you start to see how all of this makes sense.

Darren Cross’s Yellowjacket is a bit questionable, though. In terms of motivations, we’ve seen the attention-seeking, envious, I can do that too sort of rival before, and it’s not too endearing.

11 Thanos: Yep, We’re Going There

Now, of course, Marvel fans are going to be feeling all kinds of ways about Thanos at the moment. As the whole dang world knows, he’s the antagonist of the latest blockbuster MCU installment, Avengers: Infinity War.

The whole crux of the movie is that every dang Avengers superhero ever is banding together to try and stop him. That says a little something about Thanos’s chutzpah, sure, but it’s not always been that way. He wouldn’t want to be reminded of the time that Squirrel Girl’s squirrels beat him into submission, would he?

10 The Abomination: Not As Incredible As The Hulk

As I say, it’s always best to have your heroes and villains on an equal footing. Or, at least, to have them against armies of a relatively equal strength. It just makes for more dramatic fight scenes.

Where would Marvel movies be without their patented amazing fanservice fight scenes? It doesn’t bear thinking about.

The Abomination, for me, takes that concept far too far. Similar, sure, but not the same darn thing but even angrier. It just seems a bit of a copout, I guess.

9 Kingpin: Just Criminal

The Kingpin is one of those villains that couldn’t be contained by just one archenemy. He was initially introduced as a nemesis of Spider-Man, before becoming Daredevil’s primary enemy. He’s also tangled with the Punisher on various occasions. All in all, he’s got quite the resume around here.

The interesting thing is that he has no superpowers. The Kingpin of Crime has all kinds of lackeys at his command, and he’s an accomplished fighter himself, but that’s all he has. Even if it has served him well.

8 Ultron: Try Turning It Off And On Again

Again, nobody’s snarking on The Age of Ultron here. Of all the Marvel movies, it was one of my favorites. It has some of those unforgettable standout moments, and was just pure Marvel in the way it tempered the heavy action scenes with snarky humor.

Ultron itself, however, disappointed me a little.

I just wasn’t quite convinced. It wanted to go full SkyNet on us, but its ultimate masterplan was to lift a city into the sky and send it smashing back into Earth?

7 Ronan The Accuser: What Did We Do Wrong?

So, yes. We’ve already established that Marvel movies are not to be taken too seriously. This is my favorite thing about them, that they rarely get too heavy and love a visual gag/one-liner. The Guardians of the Galaxy movies are especially good at this, because you just cannot take Chris Pratt too seriously. He doesn’t work that way.

This was my issue with Ronan The Accuser. He just didn’t seem to fit in with that. He was all furious Shakespearean monologue-ing and generic villainy.

6 Paste-Pot Pete: Probably A New Low In Uncool

So. Paste-Pot Pete. This was a thing that happened.

As the name suggests, Paste-Pot Pete’s big USP is… paste. Good ol’ fashioned glue. An expect chemist, Peter Petruski developed a suit that allowed him to fire said paste, as well as climb walls and other glue-related feats.

He actually didn’t fare too badly in the comics, defeating Daredevil in single combat. The sad fact is, though… he’s named Paste-Pot Pete. This is one of those rare instances of something being deemed too lame for even Marvel’s standards, and he was later (not Pete, a different guy) renamed Trapster.

5 Stryfe: Edgy Spelling Won’t Redeem You

So… Stryfe. I’ve never been quite sure what to make of this guy. I guess he’s got the same issue as Boomerang, for me.

He looks the part, with his super sweet outfit, but there are all kinds of blandness going on beneath the surface.

Cloning is just too prevalent an issue in the superhero world. It’s the same old story, time and again. In this case, Stryfe took the genetic template of Cable, warrior-from-the-past-who-isn’t-actually-from-the-past. I’m not sure what it is, but it’s all just too cliché for me.

4 Doctor Octopus: A Shock For The Doc

I know some people prefer Doc Oc, but I’m just not about that life. I remember the good old days, when we called evil geniuses by their actual names. For me, ‘Eggman’ will always be Doctor Robotnik, and Oc will always be Doctor Octopus.

There’s no need to be persnickety about that, though, I guess. The important thing is that (depending on the incarnation of the Doctor you’re talking about) he shouldn’t really have any chance against Spider-Man. He’s been depicted as a regular man (of genius level intelligence), with some spangly robot arms attached.

3 Chemistro: How About Chemistr-NO?

You know, I was almost on board with Chemistro here. I was this close. You can’t see me, but I’m holding forefinger a nano-inch from my thumb, to indicate how much I wanted to like Chemistro.

I mean, the guy has an alchemy gun. Some supervillains can fly, turn invisible, shoot lasers, all of those things, but this guy? He can convert matter into other matter. With a gun. That’s a hook and a half. Sadly, he was none too handy with it, shooting himself in the foot and inadvertently transforming it into metal. Unstable metal, which soon melted away.