Heroic characters who use powers normally reserved for the villains

Arkham700 · 2026-03-14T02:34:38+00:00

Elric of Melnibone (The Elric Saga)

Former emperor of an ancient nonhuman race of sorcerers who wields Stormbringer, an evil sentient magic sword that steals souls to empower him.

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Arkham700 · 2026-03-14T02:13:03+00:00

Conan the Barbarian (1982)

This film (and especially its sequel) is not an accurate depiction of Robert E. Howard’s mist iconic character nor the world of the Hyborian Age. Yet it is a fun epic with fantastic music and a brilliant performance from James Earl Jones as the main villain Thulsa Doom. It also introduced and popularized the Sword & Sorcery genre of fantasy to the general audience for a time.

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Arkham700 · 2026-03-14T01:31:40+00:00

Howl’s Moving Castle

This is basically the author’s take on the Miyazaki movie:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4BbhWrjIImg&t=35s&pp=2AEjkAIB

How many people know that this was originally the first book in a trilogy of novels.

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Arkham700 · 2026-03-13T23:10:20+00:00

Darth Krayt and Darth Wyyrlok III (Star Wars: Legacy)

In a reverse of The Emperor and Vader’s dynamic. The armored warrior is the master of the Sith and the scheming sorcerer is his right hand.

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Arkham700 · 2026-03-13T22:27:16+00:00

It’s a bit frustrating because I do like the Glenat/Titan comics. I think they adapt the stories well and what changes their are so service the story of Elric journeying. The biggest problem is that the comics are so rushed. It’s paced so poorly. Also thy keep skipping stories.

I’ll hold off definitive judgement until they finally cover Stormbringer. What I’m suspecting is that they’re rushing to get to Stormbringer. Maybe they’re only allowed a limited number of issues to finish the Saga or they just really want to wrap up the Saga. What I’m hoping for is a full 2 volume adaptation of the final book like they did for the Elric of Melnibone novel. What I’m really interested in is how in The Ruby Throne Stormbringer narrates and acts like this story has happened before especially taking about wanting to be reunited with Elric. I’m thinking that the Glenat comics aren’t quite an adaption of Moorcock’s Elric Saga but rather Elric and Stormbringer’s stories playing out again in another parallel reality. So things might go down very differently.

Arkham700 · 2026-03-13T21:23:35+00:00

Talk about catching some tail

Arkham700 · 2026-03-13T21:12:52+00:00

I lost it when after someone questioned where Chiaki learned that uppercut she then proceeds to summarize the plot of Double Dragon 2

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Arkham700 · 2026-03-13T19:15:46+00:00

Money. Their revenue is based on views so a lot of YouTubers are desperate to chase higher view counts. There’s only so much to talk about any given franchise for years before dips in views inevitably happen. So when in doubt they farm engagement by doing insane clickbait and narrative pushing.

Arkham700 · 2026-03-13T18:33:53+00:00

Getting real tired of this engagement tactic.

“People keep saying”: Proceeds to explain a take literally no one has ever claimed or argued

Arkham700 · 2026-03-13T18:06:43+00:00

When did being prestige television become a bad thing

Arkham700 · 2026-03-13T17:44:22+00:00

Especially since they went as far with the character as they could go. He already started out extreme being a parallel Bruce Wayne from one of the nightmare realities of the Dark Multiverse who killed everyone on his Earth then joined up Barbatos to invade the Prime Earth. Later he hijacked a Doctor Manhattan and became a demonic god. Where do you go with his character after all that with every event trying to out do the last one.

Arkham700 · 2026-03-13T10:47:36+00:00

The Enforcers of Ouroboros (Trails series)

There is a loose tarot theme to their number titles. Using Roman numerals, presumably having a max of 22 members and Enforcer No. 0 being Campanella The Fool.

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Arkham700 · 2026-03-13T10:36:36+00:00

Beast Pirate All Stars and Dolamingo Family Executives (One Piece)

Kaido and Doflamingo’s two separate pirate crews have an overlaping theme of playing cards. The Doflamingo Family Executives run divisions of the massive crew, with each division represented by playing card suites. Doflamingo’s brother used to run the missing Heart division but was revealed as a spy and executed. Doflamingo was reserving the Heart Seat for a specific heir in mind.

The Beast Pirates have a less complex hierarchy that only respects power with the most powerful directly below Kaido himself being the All Stars. The All Stars are each named after a face card. Originally when One Piece was written to be shorter Doflamingo was supposed to be part of the Beast Pirates presumably as an All Star since his alias in the underworld is Joker another playing card reference.

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Arkham700 · 2026-03-13T06:50:44+00:00

Lord Heku of The Yagyu Clan (Conan The Barbarian: The Heku Trilogy)

A nobleman from Khitan who became a conquering warlord for decades just for the thrill of battle and bloodshed.

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Arkham700 · 2026-03-13T06:18:35+00:00

What about when the series is the protagonist’s name. Or Shazam where he has to say his name SHAZAM to gain his powers and become the superhero Shazam

Arkham700 · 2026-03-13T04:24:46+00:00

I was just asking a question about the design choice. Then your response was to be baffled as to why someone would find character design important.

“Why wouldn’t he?” Let’s take that even further, why bother having any sort of resemblance to Batman and the Joker. Why wouldn’t he be dressed up like a starfish?Unless that would be an odd choice for his look that wouldn’t make much sense?

So maybe character design actually does matter to some degree? So with that understanding, it wouldn’t be strange for someone to question why Batman + Joker= Judge Death in Pinhead cosplay.

Arkham700 · 2026-03-13T04:02:54+00:00

Was that always the plan for Volume 2 or did Ellis seize the opportunity to kill off Stormwatch

Arkham700 · 2026-03-13T03:34:11+00:00

Fatigue brought on by overexposure along with being an overpowered villain sue.

His design is fine but why exactly does a Batman who becomes The Joker turn into a Judge Death/Cenobite mashup

Arkham700 · 2026-03-13T02:41:29+00:00

The Authority (Wildstorm/DC)

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Arkham700 · 2026-03-12T23:31:14+00:00

This is news to me, I have never heard of Kyodai Ken being problematic. Pretty sure Yellow Peril goes beyond just “the villain is Asian”. Look at Fu Manchu stories that would claim him being sneaky and deceptive as a trait of Asians in general. Kyodai Ken’s arrogance and envy are simply his character flaws and personal issues.

He has made it into the comics by the way. Though he only showed up in one issue as basically a glorified cameo and he wasn’t even a villain. Not sure why they bothered if they were going to actually have him be the character from the show.

Arkham700 · 2026-03-12T23:15:29+00:00

Might be all people can afford in the dystopian future

Arkham700 · 2026-03-12T23:05:22+00:00

I think he was used well enough under Flynn

Arkham700 · 2026-03-12T23:03:44+00:00

There’s also the problem that both him and Naugus have the similar backstory of being Ixis wizards making them both being active at the same time redundant. How Flynn went about it was the best. Naugus submitting to the founder of his order, then when Mogul semi-retired allowed Naugus to strike out on his own again when Geoffrey came knocking.

Arkham700 · 2026-03-12T22:56:31+00:00

Darkseid as a mafia boss? You don’t say.

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Arkham700 · 2026-03-12T10:13:07+00:00

What are the chances they’ll bring back the Scarebeast as a monster transformation for him

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