Has this chacter been used before?

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I want to write a comic book, and I'm having trouble thinking of a main villan. I have some ideas, but I think they may have been used before.

Does the name "Mercury Man" seem famillar to you? If so, then I need new villan ideas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Man

So the name's been used, if not the character premise necessarily.

So, what do you do if all the cool names are taken? Use it anyways. If Mercury Man is the name that works best, go with it. I don't know much about copyright law, but if your comic is popular enough that they feel like suing you over a name, then I'd say you hit the big time. Or, you can just call him Mercury, since planets and Roman gods are public domain, far as I know.

The best villains have the following characteristics:

1. A one-word name: "Kingpin," "Baal," or "Satan." (Spiderman, Stargate, and Christianity, respectively). It may or may not be his or her real name, but it is the one name that send chills up and down the spine of every agent that has ever read the dossier.

2. Patience. They rarely act without first planning their every move, and their plans may take years to implement.

3. Resources. They always seem to have the best gadgets, vehicles, mansions, pets, toys, and flunkies.

4. Confidence. They never feel one iota of self-doubt.

5. Connections. They have woven a web of personal associations that would keep the most ambitious conspiracy theorist busy for decades as he tries to follow every strand.

6. Charisma. When not engaged in villainy, they are some of the most engaging and diplomatic people you could ever meet. Which is why it is so difficult for naive people to believe that they could have ever done something wrong.

7. Plausible Deniability. There is never any evidence to directly connect the villain with his crimes, as he or she always works through intermediaries, and pays their wages in cash or untraceable goods. "It was one of my subordinates gone rogue ... poor chap ... if he hadn't turned his gun on me ..."

8. Wealth. The most common denominator in any criminal activity is the illegal acquisition of wealth, which may be express in cash, rare artwork, prime real estate, gems and precious metals, stocks, bonds, pharmeceuticals ... the wisest criminal overlords tend to diversify their holdings.

9. Communications. With the touch of a button, a villain can set off a bomb, shut down the Internet, re-aim an orbital death ray, disable NORAD, alert his flunkies, overload a reactor, or summon his buxom secretary for some face time ... maybe everything at once.

10. An escape plan. Just when you think you've got him, you don't. There is always one hidden passage, one untraceable getaway car, one stealth jet, one bank account, and one more hideaway that you've missed. And sooner or later, even the most sincerely dead villain will return...

You may have to Brainstorm on it. I wish you luck.

Mercury was one of the characters in "Metal Men" (I think) a USA comic from the 60's featuring robots built by a genius inventor. Each robot was made of a different metal, Gold, Lead, and so on. I've been trying to come up with a gang of villains and when I go look up Comic encyclopedias I despair of ever creating an original one ! !!