Which villain had the best schemes and plots?

General goings on in the 1966 Batman World

Moderators: Scott Sebring, Ben Bentley

Post Reply
User avatar
BatDavidEvanSmith
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Aug 24, 2013 10:12 am

Which villain had the best schemes and plots?

Post by BatDavidEvanSmith »

I had a few favorite villains because they always kept me entertained. Some had better plots than others to either take over Gotham, or kill Batman. My favorites were:

King Tut - He was the most consistent, with his modus operandi wanting to claim Gotham as his new kingdom and all of his uses of torture. The encasing in large ceramic vases for pebble torture, the vat of royal boiling oil (and the long-and-winding tongue twister he spat about it), Batman's waterloo...

Riddler - driven by the need to outwit and confound Batman, he got really creative and his clues were alternatingly clever and ridiculous (a ballpoint banana?), but I was always glued. He usually consistently was going after some type of treasure (lost treasure of the Incas, a vault of money, a rare film reel of the Great Train Robbery), and he had a lot of themed episodes (centered on candles/wax, silent films, boxing).

Penguin - wealth and status drove him in most all of his crimes, whether that manifested by campaigning for Mayor or kidnapping Dawn Robbins, or marrying a wealthy socialite, or tricking Batman into planning his next crime for him. He irked me as alternating between identifying with birds and fish, but this wasn't so prominent in the focus of the episodes.

Joker - I ultimately liked his crimes for their randomness. His elaborate trick about kidnapping the Maharajah who was ultimately Joker in disguise. Passing himself off as a pop art prodigy. Infiltrating a college campus to corrupt the students. Pretending to reform so he could get into new trouble with Catwoman. His Zodiac crimes seemed more like a Riddler plot, but overall, I felt like he was consistent in his craziness.

Who do you feel had the best schemes and plots?
"When we get to the royal oil boiling room, be sure to prepare some real boiling royal boiling oil to boil the boy wonder in... royally."
robinboyblunderer
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2013 2:15 pm

Re: Which villain had the best schemes and plots?

Post by robinboyblunderer »

I'm going to separate my opinion of the episodes from the plots, so what follows aren't necessarily my favorite episodes, but just the villains that seemed to have the best schemes and in no particular order:

The Siren----only Batgirl's appearance saved the day. Bruce was totally mind controlled, and I think Siren's men would've easily captured Robin in the batfight if he were on his own. She nearly won the day.

The Penguin----Running for Mayor was a good one. Same with his restaurant scheme. Heck, he could've just been a successful restauranteur.

Good points about King Tut.

The Riddler----If his scheme was just to humiliate Batman there at the end, he succeeded in Ring Around The Riddler. Again without Batgirl to disable the magnet, he may have ko'd the Caped Crusader. Robin wasn't doing anything but helplessly watching his mentor get pummeled.

Catwoman---If she hadn't let Batman take a bat-pill she may have one with her Cataphrenic scheme. However, it's possible Batman's mental faculties would've had him overturn her drug anyway. I think that would've been a more interesting way to go. This was a pretty successful scheme.
User avatar
dell
Posts: 0
Joined: Sun Sep 30, 2012 6:12 am

Re: Which villain had the best schemes and plots?

Post by dell »

To be honest it has been so long since I have seen many of the episodes I don't really recall the specific plots many of the villains had. I remember more of the characters than what they did. Good topic though; I'm surprised more people haven't posted. C'mon guys!
dell
User avatar
Lord Death Man
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Dec 02, 2013 7:03 pm

Re: Which villain had the best schemes and plots?

Post by Lord Death Man »

Black Widow. Over 3000 successful crimes, very cool hideout, gadgets, pets, and she was the coolest Robin ever!

Ma Parker's scheme of using the state prison as a talent pool/hideout/base was very imaginative too.
He flies and fights-BATMAN!
Purity and virtue-BATMAN!
Cowards run away!
Batman saves the day!
Also, Boy Wonder Robin.
Batman and Robin-caped crusaders at night!
BIFF! POW! BAM! BATMAN!
elmrgraham
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:25 am

Re: Which villain had the best schemes and plots?

Post by elmrgraham »

I agree with all of the Bat Villain plots.
60sLover
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 9:03 am

Re: Which villain had the best schemes and plots?

Post by 60sLover »

My favorite villain´s plot is from Riddler in episodes "Death in slow motion" / "The Riddler's false Notion". Also was a very complicated episodes to produce, because they had to do double takes for the Riddler´s "camera". I always enjoy these episodes as the first time!
User avatar
Pengy
Posts: 0
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:08 pm

Re: Which villain had the best schemes and plots?

Post by Pengy »

The Penguin. Using Batman to plan his own crimes, having Alfred as a puppet to give him the location of the millionaires award dinner, nearly getting to be Mayor of Gotham, the clever forgery scheme with his restaurant caper.
User avatar
High C
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:01 am

Re: Which villain had the best schemes and plots?

Post by High C »

As much as I love Siren, I must admit, her plan wasn't as good as it could have been. What she should have done was simply have the Commissioner call Batman, hand the phone to her, and she could have put Batman under her spell right then and there, AND found out his identity. Of course, that would have made it a lot tougher to figure out a way for her to get captured and not know the identitites of Batman and Robin going forward.

Sometimes villains' plots and plans are structured the way they are so the writer can figure a way out, as in this case, even if logic would suggest a better plan.
'I thought Siren was perfect for Joan.'--Stanley Ralph Ross, writer of 'The Wail of the Siren'

My hobbies include gazing at the Siren and doing her bidding, evil or otherwise.

'She had a devastating, hypnotic effect on all the men.'--A schoolmate describing Joan Collins at age 17
Post Reply