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Rank & Phile #5: Flash Rogues
nweathington
Posts: 6,741
Shout out to @mwhitt80 for unintentionally providing the theme to this week’s edition of Rank & Phile. To recap, “Rank & Phile” is an idea that spawned out of a discussion in the 2017 Reading Thread. I'll post one list of five subjects each week, and to try to prevent topic confusion and having to sift through pages of posts, I'll start a new thread for each new list. Your job, if you choose to accept it, is to rank the five subjects on the list below however you see fit. Why rank my list of subjects rather than have everyone come up with their own list of subjects, you ask? Personally, I find that the more options I am given, the more difficult it is to rank them. This is meant to be a quick, hopefully fun, process that you won’t have to spend too much time on. Also, it might get us talking about characters, creators, or stories we might not talk about otherwise.
When you think “rouges’ gallery” in comics, there are really only three that immediately leap to mind: Batman’s, Spider-Man’s, and of course the Flash’s. It’s difficult to limit this list to five rogues, so I’m just going with the first five to appear in Flash (excluding Gorilla Grodd, because I don’t really see him as a member of the group). Unfortunately, that leaves out the favorite of many, Captain Boomerang, but something had to give. Have at it!
Captain Cold / Mirror Master / Pied Piper / Trickster / Weather Wizard
When you think “rouges’ gallery” in comics, there are really only three that immediately leap to mind: Batman’s, Spider-Man’s, and of course the Flash’s. It’s difficult to limit this list to five rogues, so I’m just going with the first five to appear in Flash (excluding Gorilla Grodd, because I don’t really see him as a member of the group). Unfortunately, that leaves out the favorite of many, Captain Boomerang, but something had to give. Have at it!
Captain Cold / Mirror Master / Pied Piper / Trickster / Weather Wizard
Comments
Captain Cold
Trickster
Pied Piper
Weather Wizard
I like them all :)
Mirror Master
Trickster
Weather Wizard
Pied Piper
The top two were easy, the bottom three could rotate positions in the future.
2) Mirror Master
3) Trickster
4) Weather Wizard
5) Pied Piper
2) Captain Cold — For whatever reason, maybe because he seemed to be the most serious or meanest of the original rogues, CC always struck me as the biggest threat of the rogues (though not as big a threat as Grodd or Abra Kadabra or Reverse Flash, none of whom I consider part of the rogues’ gallery).
3) The Trickster — I like the costume and that there is a bit of variety in the way he tries to defeat the Flash. And I like the way he was developed in the ’80s and early ’90s.
4) Pied Piper — He was always a bit of a dud until the Wally West Flash series. The way he was made into a more complex character there almost made me rank him higher. But then I hated the way he was handled post-Waid.
5) Weather Wizard — He’s more a big jerk than a credible villain. Really, he should be the most powerful of the bunch, but he’s never been written up to that potential.
Captain Cold - The Industry Standard. The Unofficial "Boss" or "Leader"
Mirror Master - The deadliest of the bunch, in my book.
Pied Piper - As someone else stated, more interesting when he came out during Wally West's turn as the speedster.
Weather Wizard - Fun character but not as cool as the previous three.
Trickster - Only because Mark Hamil played him in the live action show.
Captain Cold - there are only two rogues that can be at the top of the list. Captain Cold and Captain Boomerang, and Boomerang is not here. First Cold is the objectively the best on the list, you might "like" others better but you are wrong. I like Michelangelo's Moses better than David, but David is better. Second his sister became a rogue (Golden Glider), and third he is the rogue that the all but boomerang aspire to be.
Mirror Master - He is the scariest rogue on the list. I think he has come the closest to actually killing the flash than any of the other rogues. Plus his "power" is just creepy.
The Trickster - he's goofy and fun, and I have a soft spot for him.
Weather Wizard - he killed his brother and uses a wand... Not the worst rogue...
Pied Piper - snitches get stitches.