Does anybody else hate it when heroes treat their villains as jokes...

Does anybody else hate it when heroes treat their villains as jokes? Just because people in the real world think they're lame doesn't mean that in-universe they shouldn't still be considered dangerous threats. Like, Killer Moth has murdered a bunch of people before, Batgirl. And just because you've kicked his ass before doesn't mean he hasn't almost killed you a bunch of times.

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It's one of the primary attributes of post-post-modern comics. Much like the MCU, a threat is never a real threat, because it tends to get thoroughly peppered with quips and whimsy. Heroics aren't treated as heroics anymore. It's more like "that thing" you see in movies or on tv. The rest of the time, you're just sitting down and eating food or talking about various foods you like. That's what modern era comics have become.

Kinda depends on the hero. If Spider-Man wasn't constantly cracking lame jokes, he wouldn't really be Spider-Man anymore. And Batman usually treats all thugs with the same degree of seriousness.

Besides, Barbara being a faggot is nothing new.

Agreed, but it can be handwaved in cases like Spidey where he does it to draw aggro from bystanders or victims towards himself and also to distract them with a meaningless conversation about themselves while he gets in position to floor them.

In your image though there's no such intention by the character/writer and it's especially egregious since Barbara's thoughts are useless to her and the reader.

basically villains that aren't a threat for the universe gets treated like a joke even if they're killers.
Think at villains like Black Hand from GL, he was supposed to be a joke villain and he got "something something bullshit cosmic grim reaper" powers.
Basically every comic has the Geoff Johns syndrome in which you're either a cosmic level villain or you're too weak to give a shit about even if you murder

>If Spider-Man wasn't constantly cracking lame jokes, he wouldn't really be Spider-Man anymore.

I find that okay since a lot of his villains are pretty much elemental gods and he can't even make his own webbing most of the time. He's gotta get an edge somehow if only to psyche himself out.

Who would win in a fight, Paste Pot Pete or Condiment Man?

Welp, time to read that comic page where Barbara gives KM a cowl job again.

I did like how the one time Spider-Man started genuinely laughing at a villain, the Spot, he got his ass kicked and realized he shouldn't have underestimated him.

He laughed at Paste Pot Pete too.

It depends. If it's like you said, someone who was threatening before, they shouldn't be reduced to the same level as oh say..Condiment King.

The Carpenter on the other hand, yeah...

Familiarity breeds contempt.
Punch a fucker out five times and you won't find him scary anymore.
Also this is Batgirl. Lighter tone is the baseline, you troglodyte.
Comics are written from the perspective of someone who knows about these characters and so long as the author thinks Killer Moth is a lame non-threat, he is.

That's another thing, not only has Peter's dynamic been justified, it's also been played with.
There are times he cracks a joke about someone who makes a joke of him, there are times he starts out joking, something terrible happens and even he's angered or stunned into silence but vocally or mentally.

It can be illustrated as not just the writer using a lazy comedic relief crutch by basically talking to the reader about how silly this is, but instead a means of framing the seriousness or abnormality of a villain or situation without having the side characters tell the protag, and by extension the audience
>Watch out Goku, this guy is serious!

After issues of chattiness all you need is a page or two of silence or incoherent howls of anger and it clicks that something is going on.

>Also this is Batgirl. Lighter tone is the baseline
That's not an excuse when a majority of comics follow the same formula with regard to their villains.

Pete also has a way of both punching above and below his weight class, he punches up because of his borderline OP skillset, but he's also below his weight because if he serious'd the fuck up and had the focus of others he'd be fucking Outright OP.

He exists in a strange state of limbo, much like aunt may who is both dead and alive at all times.

pete since his weapon has actual use and isn't just shooting ketchup at people

When a villain loses relevance there's two things that can happen, they become a threat again or they become a joke. Not everyone comes out a winner.

>Also this is Batgirl. Lighter tone is the baseline, you troglodyte.

She also gets her ass kicked here. Badly. She drags herself home, on foot, in a tattered costume, and passes out dreaming about him and is sore all over when she wakes up.

they can even become a joke while being a threat!
poor poor dr rape

So OP posted an example of arrogance being well established and used later, even if heavy handed, and we've been bamboozled?

Yep.

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I really liked Moth's design for that issue, and even if Babs got cocky, the writers seemed to take him seriously. I hope we see him again, and bigger and badder. Or smarter and more receptive to Batgirl's charms.

He laughed so hard he changed his name.

Wait what?

One thing I've really enjoyed while reading through silver age marvel is how even the lamest villains are treated with some degree of seriousness. Even if a villain has been beaten a dozen times it feels like every hero goes into a fight knowing their villain is a little stronger, a little smarter, and one day they could beat them.

It's even worse when they actually use terms like C-List or D-List.

Name three flagship comics from Marvel or DC that do this.

>Does anybody else hate it when heroes treat their villains as jokes?

I only hate it when it's clear the writer is just doing it to piss on a B-list characters and it's completely unwarranted. Like what Bendis does fairly regularly where a villain is shouting and wants respect and then gets KO'd immediately in a super embarrassing fashion.

I don't see it being a problem, per se, if you make jokes about the lamer characters, or humiliate someone for their dumb gimmick if there's pathos to it beyond a pointless gag, but it's a very hard tightrope act to do. Far too often it's just shitting on characters for the sake of shitting on them.

Yeah, Bendis' villains are either losers or super masterminds that the heroes are powerless to stop like Leviathan.

And during the Fall of the Hulks storyline Spider-Man still mocked him over his former name, refusing to call him Trapster.

>the "nanobots" are centimeter-sized and instantly disabled by drops of water.