MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 679: THE EXPLOSION OF KRYPTON

(Action Comics 001, 1938)

Does this first version of the explosion of Krypton really fit the category of minor super-villain? Absolutely not. "The planet got too old and blew up" is a natural disaster, albeit an extreme one.

The second appearance of the Explosion of Krypton, in Superman v1 001, 1939, doesn't even blame the explosion on old age. It just happens. So why categorize it such? Because basically every time it shows up going forward (and it's going to be a while - we're currently reading comics from 1940-41 and the next appearance of Krypton is in 1948) the blame rests squarely on someone's shoulders, whether it be the Kryptonian Science Council's bureaucratic stultification and/or short-sighted self interest dooming their own citizens or the latest villain-of-the-week getting an unearned boost to their C.V., someone takes the heat for this disaster. And when they do, I'll be there to take note of it.

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 662: THE GUY BEHIND WORLD WAR II

(N/A)

This is perhaps the ultimate narrative football, or at least is in contention. Will there be more villains claiming credit for, say, the Fall of Rome or the French Revolution? Only time will tell.

CLAIMANTS:

the Dictator (Blue Ribbon Comics 013, 1941)

the Devil (Blue Ribbon Comics 019, 1941)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 661: THE GUY WHO SHOT BATMAN'S PARENTS

(Detective Comics 033, 1939)

Can't believe that I didn't think of this before but The Guy Who Shot Batman's Parents a) should already be here and b) is representative of a class of plot devices I'll be calling Narrative Footballs. Narrative Footballs are big pivotal events, usually related to a character's origin in some way, that get more and more significant over time and eventually become something that can be pinned to a villain in order to lend them a bit of gravitas. Sometimes they don't even start out as the actions of a person: while the the Explosion of Krypton eventually becomes a very popular item on various villains' C.V.s, it isn't even blamed on Kryptonian society for the first decade or so. 

The Guy Who Shot Batman's Parents is just a guy until 1948, when he is identified as Joe Chill. I think he's mostly Joe Chill still, but sometimes he's the Joker (Batman (1989)) or Joe Chill was working for a big bad guy etc etc. I have no evidence here but I'll bet a dollar that there's a comic somewhere where it turns out that Ra's al Ghul was behind it.