While Magneto was originally one of the worst villains in the Marvel Universe as he was backed by a righteous mission in which he believed whole-heartedly, making his villainous deeds that much more dangerous, the Avengers actually battled a villain they believed was even worse than Magneto–a conclusion that was made by a former associate of the Master of Magnetism.
Erik Magnus Lehnsherr aka Magneto made his Marvel Comics debut in X-Men #1 as a solo mutant extremist who fought to cripple humanity and allow mutants the chance to rise to power. A few issues later, it was revealed that Magneto had his own super-villain team known as the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were among its members. However, after working under Magneto as a way to repay the villain for saving their lives years earlier, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver decided it was time to part ways with Erik and pursue their dream of being superheroes as opposed to the villainous role they were forced to play. So, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff joined the Avengers and defended the Earth from villains as evil as Magneto–and even some who they believed were much worse.
In Avengers #17 by Stan Lee and Don Heck, the Avengers are searching for the Hulk as they wanted him to rejoin their ranks following the departure of the other founding members. After Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man, and the Wasp left the team, the Avengers consisted of Captain America, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver. While the Avengers were still a force to be reckoned with, the new lineup lacked a heavy-hitter and they hoped the Hulk would fill that role perfectly. So, the Avengers followed the Hulk’s trail to the middle of the desert, where they were captured by none other than Mole Man.
Upon falling into Mole Man’s trap, the subterranean super-villain quickly separated the Avengers by taking Quicksilver into a separate chamber in an effort to steal his impressive speed while leaving the other heroes to be killed by his minotaur. While being restrained and forced to listen to Mole Man go on-and-on about his evil plan to harness his power and use it for all sorts of villainy, Quicksilver tells him, “There once was a man… named Magneto! I thought he spoke like an old-time movie villain! But, you out-do even him!”. Mole Man isn’t nearly as prominent within Marvel Comics as Magneto, especially when comparing the two as villains, so the fact that an Avenger regards him as more villainous than the Master of Magnetism is pretty telling, and gives one pause to wonder if his assessment isn’t completely accurate.
While it was meant to be insulting, the fact that Quicksilver believed Mole Man exhibited traits of an over-the-top villain even more so than Magneto proves just how villainous Mole Man really is. While Magneto may have been a more serious threat than Mole Man as his schemes were legitimate acts of terrorism, Mole Man still outdid Magneto in terms of playing the role of a stereotypical villain complete with all of the tropes associated with that role–including an underground layer, a frightening monster, and an overly elaborate plan to steal a hero’s power for himself. All-in-all, Mole Man is much more committed to his brand of comic book ‘evil’ than Magneto, who is less of a evil person as he is one who is willing to do whatever it takes to avoid persecution–making the Avengers‘ initially laughable conclusion that Mole Man is even more evil than Magneto much easier to swallow.
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Author: Spencer Connolly
