Reviews by Kyle Ellis

She could have just been a one-off character, having been introduced in an issue of Daredevil and seemingly forgotten afterward. Instead though, Yuriko Oyama would go on to become one of the most formidable threats the X-Men and Wolverine would face.

The daughter of the man who invented the process of bonding adamantium to human bones, Lady Deathstrike targeted Wolverine, perceiving him as someone who had stolen her father's work and must pay for his actions. After her first defeat, she willingly allowed her body to be horribly transformed, becoming a powerful cyborg in the process, and gaining her own adamantium-laced skeleton and claws to battle Wolverine with.

Lady Deathstrike's loyalties have shifted through the years, as she's worked with groups like the Reavers, the Sisterhood of Mutants and even a brief stint with the Thunderbolts during the superhuman Civil War - along with hooking up with Reverend William Stryker in a romantic pairing of the twisted. The kind of enemy who has the will and ability to slice your legs off in battle (as poor Sunfire learned), Deathstrike continues to plague the X-Men and their allies time and again.

This is one guy that you don't want to run into in that funhouse at the fair. Mirror Master, a recurring enemy of the Flash. There have actually been two incarnations of the villain: Sam Scudder and Evan McColluch -- because he is just that cool.

Scudder's Mirror Master has the power of (you guessed it!) controlling mirrors to create effects like hypnotism, invisibility, holograms, physical transformations, communications, and even travel to other dimensions. And, get this, he even used a mirror that allowed him to switch legs with the Flash. Mirror Master II, an Irish mercenary named Evan McCulloch, took on the identity after Scudder's death in the Crisis. He, too, used mirrors in fantastic ways to wreak havoc. He also possessed a mirror pack, which gave him the power of flight, and the ability to see 20 seconds into the future. His weapon of choice? A mirror-powered laser blaster. And an 8-ball...We forgot to mention that this villain is a cokehead. Yes, the irony of "Mirror" Master being a cokehead is lost on no one.

Random trivial notes: David Cassidy played Mirror Master in the '90s Flash TV series. And the incarnation of the character on The Batman animated series was voiced by and modeled after actor John Larroquette - something we should all aspire to.

Prometheus (real name unknown) was the son of a pair of hippie criminals - Bonnie and Clyde types - who went on a robbery and killing spree before being gunned down by the police. His hair turned white from the shock of the event. It was then and there that he vowed to destroy all forces of justice.

Leaving home at the age of 16, Prometheus honed his skills studying with the evil monks in the Himalayan city of Shamballa. It was there that he was transported to "The Ghost Zone" (AKA The Phantom Zone). There, he was free to build up a resistance to the Justice League, whom he would later take on and nearly single-handedly defeat.

Prometheus penetrated the Watchtower, shot Martian Manhunter, disabled Steel, hypnotized Huntress, neutralized Green Lantern, trapped Zauriel, tricked the Flash, laid the smackdown on Batman, and may have brought the Man of Steel to an end were it not for Catwoman unexpectedly cracking her whip at his bathing suit area.

Through his possession of the "Ghost Zone" key, he has the ability to teleport. And he's equipped with some sweet technology that greatly enhances his abilities. He carries a tonfa (a baton-like weapon) that allows him to deliver superhuman blows. The greatest weapon in Prometheus' arsenal, however, is a helmet he invented that allows him to download the knowledge of others directly into his brain. This has allowed him to access and combine the fighting skills of the best fighters in the world.

The Mandarin's father died when he was very young. In China, he was extremely wealthy, as well as a descendant of Genghis Khan. Raised by a resentful aunt, she taught him to hate the world. With his inheritance, he studied hard and became a high government official. But when the Communist revolution came about, he lost everything.

Due in part to his love for technology, The Mandarin had an axe to grind with Tony Stark. He tried to discredit him numerous times, almost discovered Iron Man's identity and tried to kill his girlfriend Janice Cord. Once Stark attempted to set up a Stark Enterprises branch in Hong Kong, and Mandarin pretended to be Zhang Tong, a financial leader. He pretty much thwarted those business efforts after that. In one ironic twist though, The Mandarin lost his memory and became a janitor at Stark Enterprises. Karma?

The Mandarin has also tried to control the Hulk, even allying himself with Sandman to do so. He's infiltrated the U.S. government and almost released a spray into the air stream that would have had a 97.5% fatality rate.

His powers include a highly advanced teleportation device, an elevated skill set of martial arts and a mastery of chi. He also callused his entire body to prevent weakness if attacked. His most important tools though are his ten rings. They all have one specific duty, such as emitting intense cold, amplifying mental energies, emitting electricity, emitting infrared radiation, rearranging molecules, projecting neutrons, causing the air to become a vortex and so on and so forth. No one can wear the rings but him, unless he lets them. And if he lets you, he is definitely watching you.

Doctor Thaddeus Bodog Sivana first appeared in the February 1940 Whiz Comics #2. He's been the bane of Captain Marvel's existence ever since, even affectionately calling him "Big Red Cheese". The quintessential mad scientist, his trademark phrase "Curses! Foiled again!" is legendary. He's short, he's bald, he has an evil laugh and he's pissed.

Becoming a doctor with the best intentions (as always), his ideas were panned by the medical community - So he took his family to Venus of all places. While there, he slowly turned bitter and created a radio silencer to disable all communications permanently. Captain Marvel didn't like this, seeing as he is radio broadcaster Billy Batson by trade, so he stopped Silvana. Thus began their years of struggle. Once Sivana was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics, due to Captain Marvel revealing these inventions. But Sivana considered it an insult and would only care if he were awarded the title of Ruler of the Universe.

Doctor Sivana's character transcended the comic pages once as being the excuse for Captain Marvel's 20-year absence and relaunch of the Shazam! character. In the comics, he trapped the Marvels in suspended animation through a sphere of Suspendium. Sivana reorganized the supervillain group the Fearsome Five, appointing himself leader. There were six, but he killed Gizmo when he challenged him about being a genius. He was also the Attorney General of the United States somehow. On a platform of stomping out terrorism, he secretly has more of an interest in getting technology from Mr. Mind to develop weapons. He is only stopped because he's caught on television throwing Mary Marvel off one of Mr. Mind's war machines.

Based on the Russian mystic of the same name, Rasputin is a principle villain in Mike Mignola's Hellboy series.

After being assassinated in 1916, Rasputin is revived by the Ogdru Jahad -- the biblical Dragon of Revelation -- who intend to use him to help bring about their release from captivity and the end of the world. He soon began working with the Nazis on Project Ragna Rok, and opened a doorway to the void from whence Hellboy entered our dimension.

When the Nazis were defeated, Rasputin made his way to the Arctic and took refuge in a temple dedicated to the Ogdru Jahad. There, he remained for fifty years until setting out on a mission to free the Dragon, which can only be released using Hellboy's stone right hand. Rasputin's scheme was foiled, however, by Liz Sherman and Abe Sapien of the BPRD. And the villain was killed (again).

Death didn't stop him the first time, so why should it a second? Rasputin reappears in spirit form and delivers Hellboy into the hands of the goddess Hecate, who later reveals to Rasputin that he has been manipulated and used as a pawn. Upon hearing this, Rasputin turns on Hecate and attacks her. The goddess virtually destroys him, placing what's left of his soul in a tiny acorn.

Dr. Light started out as a lark - a joke of a villain - but thanks to Identity Crisis, he earned his day of infamy and caused a ripple effect throughout the core of DC heroes. He forced their hand to do something they had never done before, to protect the greater good, and to protect their identities from being exposed, by wiping Dr. Light's memory - and thus leading the good doctor to have such a not-so-good career as a villain.

Dr. Light raping Elongated Man's wife is a very real threat, a very real crime, for DC's heroes to deal with. That event, and the polarizing punishment that followed, made Dr. Light a relevant evil, and reminded the Justice League that some evils need to be met with necessary ones.

The fan reaction to both the crime and the punishment is still the topic of much debate years later, so we'll give Light credit. But wiping Light's memory only to have him later regain it, while an interesting development on paper, was overshadowed by the incident that caused it to begin with. At number 84, Dr. Light is an insignificant player who delivered a very significant blow to DC.

Mysterio, who first came on the scene in Amazing Spider-Man #13, has made it his life goal to piss off Spider-Man, and he's done a good job of it. Also known as Quentin Beck-he faked Aunt May's death, scared her into thinking she was being attacked by aliens, convinced Spider-Man he was 6 inches tall using hypnosis and tricked Spidey into believing he killed a guy.

After believing Spider-Man was a clone, he turned his interests over to Daredevil. Like Spider-Man, Mysterio's goal was to turn him insane. He almost got him to kill a baby he falsely believed was the Antichrist, convinced Matt Murdock's secretary/love interest Karen Page that she had contracted HIV from her time as a porn star and manipulated Murdoch's law partner Foggy Nelson into having an affair, and then frames him for killing the girl. Like any good magician though, he doesn't like to be called a copycat. After Daredevil exposed Mysterio and told him Kingpin had already done all that stuff, he shot himself. There were two other Mysterios but they aren't all that interesting. A stunt man and guru of special effects, he was on the fast track to becoming a major player in Hollywood but saw it as a dead end career. Through his magic and hypnotism past and with the help of a general knowledge of chemistry and robotics, on top of the combat techniques he learned as a stuntman, these abilities together make the otherwise regular human Quentin Beck a qualified opponent of Spider-Man. He created a gas that could cancel out his spider-sense and his suit had that well-known helmet with a holographic projector and gloves armed with hallucinogenic gas. You can call him Fish Bowl Head Guy, though.

Max Dillon's father left when he was eight years old. His mother became overprotective, which led to an inferiority complex. But we'll get to that later. He took a job as a lineman for an electric company to someday become an electrical engineer. One day, while he was repairing a power line and holding a wire, lightning struck and mutated his nervous system making him a living electrical capacitor. Thus Electro was born.

Electro's powers include shooting up to one million volts of electricity from his fingertips. When his body is charged, he is superhumanly strong and fast, can glide over power lines and can even ride lightning bolts. Doctor Octopus once got him to ionize metals for a science experiment. He can also absorb electrical equipment and manipulate those devices with his mind. But do not get him close to water. Well, unless you want to stop him.

He almost killed Spider-Man in their first meeting, just by being touched. He has been in basically every incarnation of the Doctor Octopus clubs-the Sinister Six, Sinister Seven and Green Goblin's Sinister Twelve. He's been part of the Chameleon's Exterminators and the Hood. As part of the Frightful Four, he used Spider-Man as bait to trap the Fantastic Four. He attacked Sue Storm and Reed Richards at their wedding of all places. He blew up cars with children in them, tried to take over New York's power supply and was even hired by J. Jonah Jameson to beat up Spider-Man on TV.

There aren't very many people who can rock a top hat and not come off looking like a complete idiot. In fact, unless you're Fred Astaire, Slash, or Johnny Depp, we would absolutely advise against it. Just don't tell The Shade, one of DC Comics' oldest supervillains, that we bagged on his headwear of choice.

The Shade, created by E.E. Hibbard and first appearing in Flash Comics#33, was introduced as a thief with the power to manipulate shadows using a magical cane. He is notable for battling two generations of superheroes -- crossing paths with the original Flash, and later with the Barry Allen incarnation.

The character was significantly retooled after Zero Hour, into a morally ambiguous Victorian-era immortal by the name of Richard Swift who acquired his ability to manipulate shadows and his immortality from an unexplained mystical accident. The unexplained catastrophe killed over a 100 people, but left Swift with only a loss of all memory before the event. In the aftermath, Swift was caught up in a scheme by members of the criminal Ludlow family who tried to kill him. It was then that Swift's deadly shadows were first unleashed.

While his feud with surviving members of the Ludlow family continued, Swift settled in Opal City, where he worked as a paid assassin. He relocated for a time to Keystone City where he first encountered the Flash (Jay Garrick), toying with him under the guise of a gimmicky villain as a smokescreen for his truly important crimes.