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10 Great Rivalries

10 Great Rivalries

This top 10 list is from a Top Tenz reader name Darius. I love getting submissions and I think this one is particularly entertaining. And while these rivalries may not be your top 10 they certainly are 10 interesting to read about. Thanks for the submission, Darius. I look forward to the discussions this may create.

10. PC vs. Mac

In reality this is not even a rivalry being as virtually the whole world uses a PC. It’s like saying Oscar de la Hoya vs. Mike Tyson, yeah Oscar maybe prettier, more technically adept and have his fans but we all know Tyson would kill him. Plus the fact that Mac users are all geeks who think they are really cool and wear trainers/sneakers in bright colours to show how ‘original’ they are. At least PC geeks have the good grace to shut up and play ‘World of Warcraft’ while locked away in their bedrooms.

PC wins this, merely for the fact that they have a right mouse button. The Mac, being “original’, doesn’t have a right mouse button, meaning that you have to do some weird combination of Alt-Ctrl-two fingers pressed down on the cursor while holding your breath maneuver. (It may interest readers to know that not only am I using a Mac right now, but this is the third Mac that I have owned. I’m also wearing garish trainers and looking for an exciting ‘World of Warcraft’ group to join)

9. Morning People vs. Night People


originally uploaded by charlo82.

They walk among us. They live among us. They consort with our womenfolk. People who can wake up before 9am with a smile on their faces. They’re not tired, they’re not miserable, they’re actually happy to be awake! Weirdos. Anyone even semi-normal rises from bed with a crushing disappointment that he/she actually has to do stuff, like go to work. Ahh, Night People. My kind of people. They know that they should be asleep by 2am, but they refuse as there is too much pointless TV that needs watching.

8. Alien vs. Predator

Such a great feud, that there were two films about it. In addition to comics, video games and other stuff that sci-fi geeks love. The film’s tag line was “Whoever wins, we lose.” They were right, that film was beyond awful, so, so bad. I’m not sure how they managed to take two great characters and ruin them so bad, it’s like taking salt and vinegar and inexplicably coming up with prawn cocktail.

7) NES vs. Master System

I loved the Master System. The first time I played it, I knew that it was the best console upon which I’d ever laid my young hands. As such, when my friend informed me that his father was going to buy him a Nintendo (about which I then knew nothing), I strongly urged him to get a Master System. There was no doubt in my mind. Master System was King! My friend would live to regret ever listening to me.

Very shortly after I had given him my advice, I played the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). My fragile little mind was blown away. The NES made the Master System look like an antiquated piece of junk. When I came to school with wondrous tales about World 2, Level 1 on ‘Super Mario Bros.’ (where you could swim underwater!), my friend hated me like never before.
With 69.1 million sales of the NES compared to a pathetic 13 million for Master Systems, it’s clear that I was not the only one who realized Nintendo’s inherent superiority. Shame about my friend though.

6. Transformers vs. Gobots

primemegs

Hahaha! Gobots! Even the name sounds useless. I’ve been called many things in my life. Many, many hurtful things. However, I have never been more insulted than when I was once told to “shut your face…Leader-1!”. Anyone unfortunate enough to have watched “Gobots’ knows that Leader-1 was the highly original name of the leader of the ‘Guardians’ (the good guys and not a stack of the left of centre British newspapers).

I don’t even have to tell you how good ‘The Transformers’ were (I mean, you should already know). All I have to do is point out how truly rubbish the Gobots were. Receiving a Gobot instead of a Transformer toy for your birthday must have been almost as crushing as receiving a Master System instead of a NES. These idiots couldn’t even get the vehicles right – everyone knows that only evil robots can fly, so why in ‘Gobots’ were the goodies airborne. Useless show, useless name, ‘Transformers’ destroys everything! (Not the live-action movie though, Megatron is a gun.)

5. VHS vs. Betamax vs. Video 2000

betamax

A triple-threat match, Extreme Championship Wrestling-style! You’ve heard of VHS, you’ve probably also heard of Betamax, but trailing both of these was Video 2000 a.k.a. the VCC (Video Compact Cassette). The VCC was Phillips/Grundig’s attempt at getting involved in the video wars. To demonstrate how terribly they failed, consider the fact that until 10 seconds ago, you didn’t even know that VCC existed. That’s how people in small non-football playing countries like Bhutan feel. Betamax, which some say was the superior system, famously lost out to VHS. It a shame, cos I like words that have “Max” in their name.

4. Blonde vs. Brunette

brunette-blonde

Question, do you go with the hot blond with dazzling smile and possibly low I.Q or do you go with sensual, sun-kissed brunette? Answer: You go with the one with the biggest cachungas. Obviously. This debate has been going on as long as man has been able to debate and it is truly one time when the term ‘there is no right answer’ actually applies. Unless the choice is between an ugly blond and a hot brunette-then choose the brunette hands down, and vice versa.

3) Watch vs. Clock on Mobile Phone

done-iphone-app

(Warning: the following contains made-up facts)

Time was people used to wear watches to actually tell the time and not just to look good, and if you weren’t wearing a watch you went all ‘farmer’ and guessed the time from the position of the sun in the sky. Not any more, everyone carries a mobile phone, which now serves not only as your one-stop communication device but also your watch. And a torch for finding you’re way round in the dark when you come home late at night. Did you know that with every 10% uptake in mobile phone sales has resulted in a 10% downturn in sales for watch manufactures? Incredible!

2. Axl Rose vs. World (particularly Vince Neil)

axl-rose

In addition to alienating friends, band members, and fans, and waiting years to release a great album that he won’t even bother to promote (he’s too cool for that!), Axl Rose’s main pastime is feuding. He loves it! One of his most well known feuds was with Mötley Crüe vocalist Vince Neil. This is how things went down: GNR guitarist Izzy Stradlin tried it on with Vince’s wife backstage at the 1989 MTV music awards. Considering that one of the permanent fixtures of Vince Neil’s life has been messing around with other people’s women, I see nothing at all wrong with this. Vince, however, was somewhat displeased and punched Izzy. Though Axl wasn’t on the scene at the time, and though it didn’t involve him in anyway, he obviously had no choice but to challenge Vince to a fight outside a record store after the show. My own preference would have been to viciously batter Vince without warning while he slept.

Apparently sharing my laziness and poor time keeping habits, Axl couldn’t be bothered to turn up, but he and Vince did continued to call each other out on television (check the video in gallery on the right). Everyone said that Axl would break Vince into a million little pieces. The evidence? Well, has Vince Neil ever caused a Riot in St Louis? I rest my case.

1. Man vs. Laziness

lazy-man

The never-ending battle that is laziness. Sometimes I think laziness is more addictive than nicotine, when faced with opportunity of shoveling snow from a road in arctic conditions or lying on the sofa in a warm house watching TV…laziness always win. (See that, laziness made me miss the ‘S’.) Laziness is a curse; the inability to do any real work before you have read your email, checked Facebook and had a cup of coffee, has surely stifled man from the dawn of time. It’s a real shame being lazy is so fun, because that is why mediocrity is celebrated so much in our society – we could all be big time if we just could get of the sofa for two minutes and do stuff, unfortunately only uber geeks and morning people have found the way to battle laziness.

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Top 10 Movies with Wine

Top 10 Movies with Wine

When it comes to the movies, we very rarely think of wine. Our villains are usually into some kind of illegal substance, and our heroes either don’t drink because they’re heroes, or they’re anti-heroes and drink scotch, bourbon, whiskey, or some other liquor straight. However, I’ve managed to compile a list of movies that do bring wine into the equation.

10. The Silence of the Lambs

Coming in at number 10 is The Silence of the Lambs. While we never actually see Hannibal Lecter drinking (he’s only on screen for about 16 1/2 minutes of the film, and in prison for all but 3 minutes of those), there are few people that haven’t at one point or another thought of pairing fava beans with a nice Chianti. This quote is actually rated number 25 on the American Film Institute’s list of 400 greatest movie quotes.

9. The Godfather

It’s hard to have a movie about the Italian mafia without wine. Between the daughter getting married and the party that ensued, and the Don speaking of his increased love of wine towards the end of the movie, The Godfather makes wine enjoyable and fun, not pretentious. The only thing that’s more red than the wine in this movie is the blood shed.

8. The Princess Bride

Nearly everyone on the planet has seen The Princess Bride and half of the population can quote most memorable lines. One of the more humorous scenes involving The Man in Black and Vezinni uses a goblet of wine for the purpose of delivering a fictitious, but famous poison – Iocaine powder. Enjoy this movie clip of the Battle of Wits.

7. Arsenic and Old Lace

One of the many comedy classics that starred Cary Grant, Arsenic and Old Lace does a wonderful job of turning two elderly aunts into the sweetest murderers you will ever find. This dark comedy uses wine as the vehicle for delivering the poison to kill lonely old men and then burying them in the cellar. Of course they see it as charity work, but Mortimer their nephew (played by Cary Grant) sees otherwise. The quote below gives you a taste of this movie’s full and bold flavor.
Aunt Martha: For a gallon of elderberry wine, I take one teaspoon full of arsenic, then add half a teaspoon full of strychnine, and then just a pinch of cyanide.
Mortimer Brewster: Hmm. Should have quite a kick.

6. French Kiss

While I don’t usually watch a lot of romantic comedies, this movie does make it on the list because of Kevin Kline’s character’s desire to own his own vineyard. Having gambled away his share of the family plot to a vineyard, Kline spends his time with Meg Ryan talking about wine, introducing her to love, and even shows off his own homemade aroma sampling kit.

5. The Big Sleep

Certainly not the first Humphrey Bogart movie where he was drinking with great regularity, The Big Sleep features the characters indulging in Brandy often. Nearly from the beginning, Phil Marlowe is seen drinking Brandy, from when he takes the job from the General, to the bookstore as he awaits Geiger’s exit from across the street, to the restaurant with Mrs. Rutledge (played by Lauren Bacall). This movie was practically soaked in Brandy and then put on film, not a bad way to make a movie if you ask me. The attached clip has nothing to do with wine but it is worth watching nonetheless.

4. Casablanca

Casablanca is absolutely dripping with Champagne. We meet Rick as he’s finishing a glass of Champagne (in those giant-bowl glasses that we now know are so bad for the bubbles). He’s joined by Ugarte who quickly goes through two glasses of cognac. We then join Yvonne who is drowning her sorrows in Rick’s private stock of brandy. The list goes on and on, but one thing is certain, the entire cast of this movie loved to drink. Between Champagne, Brandy, and Cognac, it’s amazing this movie doesn’t drown itself or that the characters don’t have liver damage. Either way, it’s a classic and one to be enjoyed.

3. A Walk in the Clouds

After returning from the war, Paul, played by Keanu Reeves, and a young woman meet on a bus as she’s headed home to harvest the grapes in the grape field called Las Nubes, which stands for “the clouds.” The woman has not married but is pregnant and she thinks her father is going to kill her. Paul proposes to pose as her husband to help her face her father. The vineyard is a character and a beautiful background in this movie and wine drinking is prevalent throughout. There is even a grape stomping scene.

2. Notorious

This 1946 Hitchcock film starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman involves spying on Nazis in Brazil, and features a key scene in a very impressive wine cellar. Between champagne lunches, A Ler Cru Burgundy – Volnay Cailleret Bouchard wine, from a winery that has been around since 1731, this movie features the best wines. The key scene to the entire movie takes place with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in the wine cellar to see what secrets lie there. The sheer amount of wine in this cellar is mind boggling, and makes one kind of jealous. The movie ends with Ingrid Bergman being poisoned with coffee (seems kind of a shame given the amount of wine in this movie), but there’s no denying the love of wine present in this movie.

1. Sideways

Whereas most movies feature wine in them, this movie was ABOUT wine. When Miles and Jack go into the California wine country for one last romp before Jack gets married, all hell breaks loose. This movie can probably be attributed to the increase in popularity of Pinot Noir, thanks to Miles’ love of it and absolute distaste for Merlot (nothing personal Merlot drinkers). The sheer amount of wine consumed in this movie is something to behold, and if you’re a wine lover, this movie will make you want to head out to California and follow the path of Miles and Jack, if only to see if you can keep pace with how much they drank. A great movie for wine lovers and those that just enjoy a good movie about friends.

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Top 10 Political Bobbleheads

Top 10 Political Bobbleheads

Who doesn’t love a bobblehead doll? Of course adding the adjective “political” makes the bobblehead that more interesting. Here are the top 10 political bobblehead dolls.

10. Barack Obama/Joe Biden

Classic with the President and Vice President. Not many Vice Presidents get their
Bobblehead made.

barack-obama-joe-biden-bobbleheads

9. Hugo Chavez

Always the interesting character.

hugo-chavez-frias-bobblehead

8. Charles Darwin

The world would not be the same without his work.

charles-darwin-bobblehead

7. Vladimir Putin

Representing Russia in his Karate uniform. He is a 6th degree black belt.

vladimr-putin-bobblehead

6. Che Guevara

One of the most popular figures in pop and political culture. Recently had a movie starring Benicio Del Toro.

che-guevara-bobblehead

5. Osama bin Laden

Most sought after man in the World. Is sitting on a bed of rocks to make him the utmost uncomfortable.

osama-bin-laden-bobblehead

4. Joe the Plumber

One of the more interested characters of this past year’s election. Not even a
registered plumber.

joe-the-plumber-bobblehead

3. Sarah Palin

Holding a rifle for all the NRA people. Made the Republican party slightly hip.

sarah-palin-bobblehad

2. Kim Jong il

One of the most life like Bobbleheads ever. Ever the quirky character.

kim-jong-il-bobblehead

1. Barack Obama “Superman”

Here to save the world. Our President spreading his shirt and showing the Superman S.

super-barack-obama-bobblehad

10 Amazing YouTube Videos

10 Amazing YouTube Videos

10. Ride That Mega-Tsunami

Mike Parsons is one of the most amazing athletes on the planet. He is a big wave surfer and one of the best at his profession. He was made famous by this video which shows him riding a 65 ft. wave off the beaches of Jaws, Hawaii. The footage was filmed from a helicopter and is 100% real. At the time, it was the biggest wave ever surfed, but Parson’s broke his own record in 2008 at Cortes Bank. He has numerous extreme surfing videos, including Billabong Odyssey, which I recommend.

9. Mythbusters Play with Helium and Sulfur Hexafluoride

This is an amazing and simple scientific experiment featured on the show Mythbusters. Everyone knows what happens when someone inhales helium, their voice gets high and squeaky for a couple of seconds. Adam Savage decides to see what happens when he inhales sulfur hexafluoride, which is much denser then air and has the exact opposite effect as helium. Basically, it will make your voice sound deeper and like you are from the dark side. This video demonstration is hilarious as Adam inhales both helium and sulfur hexafluoride.

8. Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 Crashes

Ethiopian Flight 961 was hijacked on November 23, 1996 by three Ethiopians who were seeking political asylum. Flashing a fake bomb, the attackers demanded that the flight be re-routed to Australia. The pilot explained that there was not enough fuel on board to make that trip, but the hijackers ignored him. Secretly, the pilot headed towards the Comoro Islands, which are halfway between Madagascar and the African mainland. The plane was nearly out of fuel as it approached the Island group. The pilot was forced to ditch in the shallow waters of the Indian Ocean of the Coast of Grand Comoro Island. As the plane landed, a coral reef hit the engine causing the plane to spin to the left and break apart. Tragically, 125 of the 175 passengers and crew aboard were killed in the accident. A tourist recorded this video later proclaiming that she thought the 767 aircraft was part of a surprise air show. It might be the most clear and devastating plane crash video ever taken.

7. Route 168 Landslide in Japan

A landslide is a geological phenomenon that often plagues the country of Japan. Around 75% of land in Japan is forested, mountainous, and unsuitable for agriculture or residential use. Because of these steep elevations, levels of rainfall, earthquakes, and soft ground, Japan is extremely landslide prone. In Japan, many busy roads are built across mountain slopes. Route 168 is a national highway connecting Shingu, Wakayama to Hirakata, Osaka. Landslides like this often cause much heartache to the area. Highways routinely become blocked and many people don’t have an alternative way to get home. This has caused city officials to adopt many landslide prevention and safety programs. In the video you can see the slide abolish everything including the protective fence surrounding the highway.

6. The Ghost Car

One night the Garden City police were in pursuit of a car. The vehicle was driving sporadically and would not pull over to the side of the road. It seemed to be speeding up and slowing down at abnormally rapid levels. It was all captured by the police officers’ dash camera. As the pursuit ensues, the car enters a fenced-in parking lot and the chase seems to be coming to an end. Suddenly, the car turns directly toward the fence and seems to mysteriously drive right through it. All that you can see is a faint view of the car’s tail lights as it barrels into the fence. There are no signs of a crash on the fence or behind it. The cop cruiser comes to a stop and the car and its occupants are never located. Supernatural or not, you decide.

5. Christian the Lion

In 1969, John Rendall and Anthony Bourke purchased a baby lion from Harrods department store of London. They raised Christian for a year and then ultimately had him released back into the wild. After hearing that he had been successfully reintroduced to his natural habitat they took an expedition to Kenya to visit their lion. It was one year later and the men were accompanied by a documentary film crew. Many conservationists warned Rendall and Bourke that Christian would not remember them. The reunion that ensues is touching to the heart. Christian cautiously approaches, but then runs and jumps into the men’s arms. The documentary also shows two female lions and one foster cub that are friendly with the crew. With many tragedies on this list I figured a light-hearted story of friendship would fit nicely.

4. Challenger Explosion

It was the United States’ 25th official space shuttle launch and the Challenger’s tenth trip into space. It was a special mission and included American teacher Christa McAuliffe, who won a contest to participate in the NASA Teacher in Space Project. The Challenger mission was delayed many times and finally was set to launch on January 28, 1986. Sadly, 73 seconds into the launch the Challenger broke apart and exploded leading to the death of all seven crew members. It was later determined that the accident occurred when a faulty O-ring seal on its right rocket booster failed. The failure allowed a plume of flame to explode out of the rocket booster and damage the external fuel tank and attachment struts. By that time it was too late to save the shuttle. It was one of the most costly and tragic accidents in United States history and was all caught live on television.

3. Paul Potts sings Nessun Dorma

Paul is a British tenor who won the first series of Britain’s Got Talent. Before the competition he was a mobile phone salesman. This video shows his rendition of “Nessun Dorma,” which immediately made him the front-runner on the show. You can see Simon Cowell laughing at him before he begins and then enter into a state of shock as Potts performs. This is one of the most popular videos in YouTube history. Paul was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show whose topic was YouTube videos. After winning the competition Potts went on a massive world tour, consisting of 97 concerts in 85 cities spanning 23 countries. Paul Potts first album One Chance was a multi-platinum masterpiece. It reached the #1 spot in 13 different countries around the world, proof positive that everyone can enjoy some good opera music. A similar scenario took place with Susan Boyle.

2. 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami Hits

On December 26, 2004 a 9.3 earthquake struck off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. What followed was a devastating tsunami that traveled all along most coasts of the Indian Ocean. It was one of the most deadly natural disasters in recorded history and more than 225,000 people were killed in eleven different countries. The hardest hit areas were Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand. There were many sad and terrifying videos taken of the tsunami as it struck the mainland. Beach resorts and tourist attractions were hit first in many instances. This clip shows a couple of different videos of the tsunami as it reached land. It truly gives you a sense of the deadly power of this disaster. Watch as the ocean completely engulfs a large pool at a beach-front hotel.

1. The Battle at Kruger

You know that a YouTube video has become famous when it has its own Wikipedia page. That is the case for the Battle at Kruger. The video was shot in September of 2004 at a watering hole in Kruger National Park, located in South Africa. It shows an epic real life battle between a pride of lions, a herd of Cape buffalo, and one or two crocodiles. It all begins when the lions attack one of the baby buffalo and tackle it into the river. While the lions are trying to finish off their meal, a crocodile grabs onto the buffalo and tries to take it. The lions prevail and pull the buffalo from the water only to then be attacked by the herd. It is truly an amazing clip that shows an animal’s true struggle for survival.

Top 10 Comic Book Villains

Top 10 Comic Book Villains

Comic book characters have taken off recently, especially with the popularity of the movies and animation on television. Even more so it appears the comic villains get a bigger spotlight than the heroes themselves. In a way this makes sense as the villains are often more interesting. Here is the top ten list of comic book villains. Criteria takes into account how important the villains were in the life of “their” hero, how powerful they were (raw power and brain power), and are they interesting. In the end it came down to this: Would I want to read a story with this comic book villain if there were no heroes in the story.

10. Kingpin

First Appearance: Amazing Spider-man #50, Marvel Comics

Wilson Fisk is a criminal mastermind who is involved in extensive illegal activities such as drug running, smuggling, murder, and extortion. Despite this, he has no criminal record and an army of lawyers to keep it that way. He is a criminal financial strategist without parallel. Fisk has no superhuman powers, but the majority of his 400-plus pound bulk is solid muscle. He has battled heroes such as Captain America, Moon Knight and Daredevil, but his most despised antagonist has been Spider-Man.

Most heinous crime: Ordered a hit on Spider-Man’s Aunt May.


Galactus

9. Galactus

First Appearance: Fantastic Four #48, Marvel Comics

Sole survivor of the universe existing before the Big Bang, Galactus is perhaps the most feared being in the cosmos. Considering he devours planets, he has killed more beings than any the villain on this list or even all combined on this list. Although some may consider him a “force of nature” and a natural part of the universal order, the fear he elicits easily ranks him in the top ten of villains.

Most heinous crime: He has tried to devour Earth many times and his most famous feeding came at the expense of the Skrull home world, leaving the planet a lifeless rock.

Thanos8. Thanos

First Appearance: Iron Man #55, Marvel Comics

Considering he has courted death as his lover, that should give you an idea about how impressive he is as a villain. If only Death will do, you are setting your sights high (or low). What kind of gifts do you offer Death? A lifeless universe according to Thanos.

He has controlled some of the most power objects in the universe such as the Cosmic Cube and the Infinity Gems and became god-like himself. He has defeated Galactus to add to his legend.

Most heinous crime: His villainy was seen at an early age when he attacked his home world with nuclear weapons, killing thousands, including his own mother. Now that is cold.

Doomsday7. Doomsday

First Appearance: Superman: The Man of Steel #17, DC Comics

Doomsday was created and evolved through cloning an infant and having it killed over and over again in one of the harshest habitats in existence, prehistoric Krypton. In other words, he was bred to be nasty.

Many may complain that Doomsday was a marketing ploy but you gotta give him his due becasue he did kill Superman and killing the Man of Steel has to count for something. If you are a one-trick pony, killing the greatest superhero in comic book history is certainly a good place to start. He also defeated the entire Just League, with one arm literally tied behind his back, before killing Superman.

Most heinous crime: He killed Superman. Really, he killed Superman.

Dr. Doom6. Dr. Doom

First Appearance: Fantastic Four #5, Marvel Comics

Victor Von Doom suffered an accident that caused his face to be scarred. After this accident he made matters worse when he then attached a hot steel mask to his face, further scarring him, physically and mentally. That takes commitment.

He has controlled various forces of the universe, much like Thanos, such as the Power Cosmic which he stole from the Silver Surfer. He has also usurped the powers of Galactus and a all-powerful being, the Beyonder. In other words he is crafty and smart.

Most heinous crime: He actually sent Franklin Richards, the child of Reed and Sue Richards of the Fantastic Four, to Hell seeking to torment his parents

Green Goblin5. Green Goblin

First Appearance: Amazing Spider-man #14, Marvel Comics

While not one of my favorite villains, he did cause the 2nd most defining moment in the career of Spider-Man. He murdered Spider-Man’s girlfriend Gwen Stacey when he dropped her from Washington Bridge. He has caused Spider-Man more problems and heart-ache than any other villain and had knowledge of Spider-man’s secret identity as Peter Parker. Considered to be Spider-Man’s most dangerous villain the Green Goblin’s insanity and lust for revenge only makes him that much more deadly.

Most heinous crime: Killed Gwen Stacey in front of Spider-Man.

Venom4. Venom

First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man #300, Marvel Comics

Venom is actually a team-up between two beings, one an alien and one a human, who both hate Peter Parker/Spider-Man intensely. Venom is an alien symbiote that has bonded with a number of different hosts who all share its hatred, most notable Eddie Brock..

Venom has all the powers of Spider-Man but does not trigger Spider-Man’s early warning abilities, his spider sense, which gives him a crucial advantage over Spider-Man. Venom also has knowledge of Spidey’s secret identity and kidnapped Peter’s parents in an effort to lure him into trap. Although he has had a tendency to fight for good by protecting the innocent he started out as a villain and always comes back to his evil-doing roots. His extreme popularity guarantees him a place on this list.

Most heinous crime: Pushed Spider-Man in front of a train and turned Peter Parker into a ultra-violent vigilante while trying to bond with him.

Magneto3. Magneto

First Appearance: Uncanny X-men #1, Marvel Comics

One of the first mutants to appear on the planet and also one of the most dangerous, Magneto has deemed that mutants or homo-superiors are homo sapiens’ successors as rulers of the planet. He is more than willing to sacrifice every human to achieve his ultimate goal of mutant domination on Earth.

His control of all magnetic forces him a good shot at this, especially when he leads his team of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants or any army of misguided mutants. Not letting his past friendship with Charles Xavier get in the way, he has attacked the X-men throughout their history and knows their strengths and weaknesses.

Most heinous crime: He ripped Wolverine’s adamantium metal skeleton from his body and physically reduced the X-men to the level of a two-year old while leaving their minds in tact. Oh, and he killed Jean Grey.

Joker2. Joker

First Appearance: Batman #1, DC Comics

Update: Also read our list of the top 10 best Joker stories.
The maniacal Joker is Batman’s most dangerous foe. Unpredictable, murderous and surprisingly cunning, the Joker is a threat to all human life. Heath Ledger commented on his role, describing his character, the Joker as a “psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy.”

While Joker is a skilled inventor and chemist, the reason he is on this list is due to his purely evil actions spurred by his insanity. Nothing is beyond him and no life holds any value in his warped reality. With a maniacal intensity his focus is usually on destroying Batman while having a laugh doing it. Killing innocents isn’t only his plan, it is his desire.

His most heinous crime: He is a mass murderer killing hundreds of people. He killed the 2nd Robin, Jason Todd, Sarah Essen (Commissioner Gordon’s second wife), and crippled Batgirl.

1. Lex Luthor

First Appearance: Action Comics #23, DC Comics

Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor may be one of the most gifted persons alive in every facet of his life, but he is also a sociopath without regard for the suffering of others. His hatred for the Man of Steel drives him and makes him Superman’s greatest foe.

Becoming President of the United States and knowing that Kryptonite is the one weakness of Superman has given Lex advantages when trying to destroy Clark Kent’s alter ego. Lex’s disregard for everyone, believing himself superior to all others, has placed him at the top of the list. It has to be noted that he is more intelligent than Superman and has often out-smarted him. Add to the fact that nothing is too low or too vile for him he has an advantage over the moral limitations of Superman. Calculating, cool and a master manipulator puts Lex at the top of the comic book villain chart.

Most heinous crime: Lex activated a “Doomsday Plan” to destroy Metropolis and burned the city to the ground killing thousands. He also had an affair Perry White’s wife, fathering a child.

Top 10 Unexplained Disappearances

Top 10 Unexplained Disappearances

Every year thousands of people are reported missing. While most are found within hours, some disappear without a trace, never to be seen again. Here are some of the more famous and bizarre cases in history.

10. Louis Le Prince

louis-le-prince

Regarded by many as the true father of movies, Louis Le Prince was a French inventor who developed the first motion picture camera and projection system. In 1888, he used his invention to film Roundhay Garden Scene, a nearly 2-second long clip that is considered the world’s first motion picture. In September of 1890, Le Prince boarded a train bound for Paris, where he was to meet with his family for a trip to the United States to demonstrate his camera. But when the train arrived in Paris, Le Prince, along with his luggage and camera equipment, was nowhere to be found. The inventor was rumored to be nearly broke and deeply depressed, and theories abound that he engineered his own suicide. But it has also been proposed that Le Prince, known for his secrecy and paranoia regarding his work, was in fact murdered by parties seeking to steal the secrets to his invention. The most frequently cited suspect is none other than famed inventor Thomas Edison, now popularly regarded as the inventor of the movie camera, whose company would file a remarkably similar motion picture patent in the years following Le Prince’s disappearance.

9. Flight 19

One of the most bizarre disappearances in aviation history is that of Navy Flight 19, a group of five torpedo bombers that vanished during a training mission near Florida in late 1945. No debris or wreckage from the flight was ever found, and another plane carrying 13 airmen was lost when it exploded while searching for the missing squadron. The Navy conducted an inquiry into the incident, eventually publishing a 500-page report that suggested the pilots may have become disoriented and mistakenly headed out to sea, where they ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean. But a general lack of evidence led to the disappearance eventually being listed as “cause unknown,” with one member of the inquiry stating the planes must have “flown off to Mars.” A much stranger theory posited by a number of magazine articles suggested that supernatural elements were responsible for the disappearance, citing bizarre radio transmissions where the pilots report: “We are entering white water, nothing seems right. We don’t know where we are, the water is green, no white.” Although no concrete evidence was ever produced to back up these claims, Flight 19 and its disappearance became one of the key incidents that helped to form the legend of the now-famous Bermuda Triangle.

8. Ambrose Bierce

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A famed American writer and social critic, Ambrose Bierce is best known for The Devil’s Dictionary, as well as for numerous short stories about ghosts and the American Civil War. He gained fame as a writer for The San Francisco Examiner, where his cynical opinions and relentless sarcasm earned him the nickname “Bitter Bierce.” In 1913, the 71-year-old Bierce, a Civil War veteran, decided to go on a tour of battlefields in the South. He eventually crossed over into Mexico, and spent some time as an observer with Pancho Villa’s army during the Mexican Revolution, before vanishing somewhere near Chihuahua, Mexico in late 1913 or early 1914. Many have speculated that he was murdered, his body hidden by Pancho Villa’s men, who were afraid that Bierce would reveal secrets to the enemy. Still, others have maintained that Bierce’s disappearance was a calculated suicide. For his part, Bierce remained characteristically sardonic to the very end. An oft-quoted passage in one of his final letters reads: “Good-bye — if you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags please know that I think that a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico—ah, that is euthanasia!”

7. Percy Fawcett

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An adventurer and a supposed inspiration for the Indiana Jones character, Percy Fawcett was a British archeologist who gained fame in the early 1900s for a series of map-making expeditions to the jungles of South America. In 1925, Fawcett, along with his son Jack, returned to Brazil as part of an ambitious expedition to discover a supposed lost city located deep in the jungle. On May 25, 1925, Fawcett sent a wire message to his wife letting her know that he, Jack, and a young man named Raleigh Rimmell were venturing into uncharted territory in search of the mythical city, which he had dubbed “Z.” It was the last anyone would hear from the group. The most probable explanation for the disappearance is that local Indian tribes, who were known for their hostility, killed the men, but no proof of foul play was ever uncovered. Other theories claim that Fawcett had survived and was suffering from amnesia, and a legend even spread that he was living as the chief of a tribe of cannibalistic Indians. Despite instructions left by Fawcett prior to the expedition, a number of disastrous search parties have been launched over the years, resulting in the deaths of at least 100 people.

6. D.B. Cooper

One of the most brazen criminals in American history, Dan “D.B.” Cooper was the alias of an unknown man who hijacked a Boeing 727 commercial airliner in 1971. After the plane landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the man demanded and received four parachutes and 200,000 in unmarked bills, at which point he released the passengers and ordered the plane and its four crew members to take off again and head for Reno, Nevada. Shortly after takeoff, Cooper lowered the aft stairs and parachuted from the plane. Though he is suspected to have landed somewhere near Vancouver, Washington, he was never seen again, and no body or remains of a parachute was ever discovered. What followed was one of the largest manhunts in American history, and although there have been over 1000 suspects in the case, Cooper’s true identity and whereabouts remain a mystery.

5. The Mary Celeste

The prototypical “ghost ship,” the Mary Celeste was a merchant vessel that was discovered in 1872 abandoned and adrift in the Atlantic Ocean. All of the ship’s 7 crewmembers, along with Captain Benjamin Briggs and his wife and daughter, were nowhere to be found. The ship’s life raft was gone, but the Mary Celeste appeared to be perfectly seaworthy, and even stranger, a number of necessary survival items had been left behind. The ship’s cargo and a number of valuables were also untouched, seemingly ruling out the possibility of piracy. So what could have happened? A number of theories have been proposed, ranging from mutiny to alien abduction, but the most likely scenario is that a freak storm or earthquake caused the ship to take on a small amount of water, leading to a panic and an unnecessary evacuation. Adrift in a single life raft, the survivors are suspected to have perished at sea.

4. Joseph Force Crater

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Although he is relatively unknown today, Joseph Force Crater’s disappearance in 1930 became a national obsession, to the point that the phrase “pulling a Crater” became synonymous with vanishing. A well-known judge in New York City, Crater inexplicably disappeared on the night of August 6, 1930. A number of bizarre details surround the case, most notably Crater’s relationship with an Atlantic City showgirl named Sally Lou Ritz, who would herself disappear soon after the Judge. An investigation found that Crater’s safe deposit box had been emptied, along with thousands of dollars from his bank account, but no concrete proof that Crater engineered his own disappearance has ever been uncovered.

3. The Lost Colony

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Perhaps the most mysterious case of mass disappearance is the so-called “lost colony” of Roanoke Island. In 1587 a group of 114 people settled the island in an attempt to establish a permanent colony in the New World, but a bitterly harsh growing season and fear of the local Indian tribes led the group to send their leader, John White, back to England for assistance. Upon returning in 1590, he found that the settlement had been dismantled and all 114 colonists, along with Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the colonies, had vanished. The only sign they left behind was the word “Croatan,” the name of a nearby island, carved into a tree. Some claim the colonists were murdered and their settlement razed by Indians, while others blame starvation or raids by Spanish marauders. But the most popular theory continues to be that the colonists were assimilated into a local Indian tribe. Reports from later settlers that some tribes they encountered knew some English have helped to substantiate these claims, and a project is now underway to try to prove the theory using DNA evidence.

2. Amelia Earhart

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Perhaps the most famous missing person on this list, Amelia Earhart was a groundbreaking pilot who set numerous records in aviation in the 1920s. In 1937, along with navigator Fred Noonan, she set out for what was to be her crowning achievement: a flight around the world. Near the end of her 29,000-mile journey, Earhart encountered unfavorable weather conditions in the south Pacific, and was unable to find the small island where she was to refuel. Sometime around July 2, all contact with her plane was lost, and Earhart and Noonan would not be seen again. The search that followed was the largest in naval history to that point, covering over 250,000 miles of ocean, but no wreckage from Earhart’s Lockheed Electra was ever found. The most logical explanation is that the plane ran out of gas and ditched in the ocean, but another popular theory states that Earhart and Noonan crashed on an uninhabited island where they eventually died. Still another theory says that the duo crashed on a Japanese-controlled island, where they were captured and eventually executed.

1. Jimmy Hoffa

HOFFA INVESTIGATION

Despite years of speculation and countless investigations, Jimmy Hoffa’s vanishing remains the mother of all missing person stories. A powerful labor organizer, Hoffa was President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters for many years, and was known for his mob connections. He was due to meet two of his mafia contacts on July 30, 1975 at a restaurant in Michigan, but disappeared before the meeting could ever take place. Because of Hoffa’s business dealings and his proven associations with crime families, investigators have little doubt that he was murdered, but the big mystery concerns what became of his body. A number of grisly possibilities were considered, among them that Hoffa’s body was mixed into concrete that was used to build the New York Giants football stadium, that he was buried beneath a swimming pool in Michigan, and that he was crushed in a car compactor, but all of these theories have proven to be unsubstantiated. Hoffa was declared dead in 1982, but his case continues to be open, and every few years a new lead emerges about the possible location of his remains.