When I started to analyze how often supervillains show up in a particular series, I said I was going to focus on only Marvel series because the DC series are too complicated without too much research.
Fortunately, I already DID the research for the Legion in its retrospective, so it’s the exception!
Since I had the retrospective to work with, I’m including the entire original continuity up to the ending of Volume 3 (therefore excluding 5YL).
A couple of necessary clarifications for this:
1) “Legionnaires Three” is included since it’s a Legion story. The Cosmic Boy and Karate Kid series aren’t, as they are solo titles.
2) “Tales of the Legion” and crossovers are included. Not that it changes much.
3) I’m focusing on who is the main bad guy of the issue. If they are behind the scenes but it’s revealed MUCH later, they aren’t counted.
4) The above is why the Dark Circle and the Dominators are not in the count: they COULD qualify, but figuring out HOW would be too complicated to be fun.
With all of the above… I was kind of surprised by how few recurring villains there are.
#12: the 3 issue threesome
With 3 issues we have Lex Luthor, Tyr and the first Starfinger.
Not TOO shocked by Starfinger and Lex, who only has 2 stories in the Silver Age and Superboy #50, although I was surprised to see Tyr make the cut. He never even makes it to the cover!
#11: the Four Issue Five
With 4 appearances each we have the FIRST Legion supervillains: Saturn Queen and Cosmic King; their teammate will be much higher.
But we also have another supervillain that SHOULD be more prominent, with Mantis Morlo.
At the same spot we have Computo and Omen. The latter should PROBABLY not include all the four issue of the Omen storyline, but I’m sure that even if I re-read that I would still not understand anything about it.
#10: the iconic Legion villains and Starfinger
Considering their HUGE impact on the team, it’s amazing that both Darskeid and Nemesis Kid don’t get higher than 5 issues.
That’s the same number of Dr. Regulus stories. Weird how a Legionnaire like Sun Boy, who is very rarely a prominent member, has a personal nemesis THIS high.
I mean no disrespect to Sun Boy, but you would think a villain connected to Brainiac 5 like Pulsar Stargrave would be higher! Senseless retcons notwithstanding.
Despite the utter mess that is the Pulsar Stargrave history, he still deserves the spot way more than the second Starfinger.
#9: the writer’s not disguised at all fetish
Grimbor manages to break into the top ten with 6 S&M appearances.
#8: the lord of diminishing returns
Mordru gets 7 appearances (since I’m only giving him the finale of Earthwar, since he was behind the scenes in the others). Most of which sucked: I still can’t believe just how long the character survived just on the strength of how good the original storyline was.
#7: and for my next hypnotic trick…
Universo gets 8 stories, most of which in the Universo Project, and we STILL have no idea why he has pointy ears.
#6: today is a good day to die
The Khund are the villains for 9 stories, mostly thanks to Earthwar.
The Dominators would probably be somewhere around here if they were easier to count, but the Khund are FAR more direct.
#5: lightning round
The last of the original Legion of Super-Villains has a shocking 11 issues. Most of which sucked until he became interesting in Volume 3.
#4: the Fatal Two and/or Five
The original Fatal Five show up TWELVE times, which is how many times Mano and Persuader specifically are among the villains.
#3: my favorite Legion villain and Tharok
The Time Trapper shows up 14 times. Impressive considering he’s very sporadic for decades.
I’m lumping the Controller impostor with the original, since we didn’t know they were not the same being at the time.
Heck considering how insane the Time Trapper lore is, we might NEVER know if they’re the same.
Tharok shares the same spot, having the same number of issues of the Fatal Five but also showing up a couple more times accompanied by…
#2: my second favorite Legion villain
My boy Validus has one advantage over Tharok: they appear together without the rest of the Fatal Five a couple of times, but Validus is also in LSH v3 Annual #2.
#1: hail to the Empress
She gets on top of the list by continuing to be a recurring villain after the original Fatal Five are no longer a thing, reaching 19 apparances.
Please don’t take the exact number of appearances as hard data… I went by covers and memory, so a couple of villains could move up a couple of issues.
I don’t think it would significantly change the ranking.
I’m not surprised at all that the Fatal Five are so high on the list, as they are easily THE Legion supervillains.
The Time Trapper is really pushed by the post-Crisis era, and his overexposure added to the complexity of the character are likely why he’s used so rarely after 5YL.
Likewise I’m not shocked to see Mordru relatively low in the top ten, as him showing up used to be a big deal.
The most important discovery is just how many issues there are without a supervillain or a clear, single adversary! It’s partly because of the zaniness of the early years, sure, it I think it might say something about the Legion being more of a science-fiction series than a superhero series.