Comic books have a huge following. Once viewed as the preserve of nerds and geeks, they long ago entered the pop culture mainstream, so that the most popular of them now have fan bases to rival the biggest book, TV show and movie franchises.
Part of what makes them so appealing to audiences is their ability to tell a good story. The best comic books offer their readers both a compelling narrative and fantastically fleshed out characters. Villain or hero, those driving the action leap off the page fully formed, in glorious, vibrant 3D. We can envisage them so vividly that they feel as real as you or me.
To achieve this, these characters have to have qualities that are uniquely human: backstories, likes and dislikes, hobbies and passions. On that latter note, there are an awful lot of comic book figures who enjoy the occasional flutter. We’ve had a read through a few of our favorite franchises to refresh our brains and here are five notable creations to prove our point.
The Joker
The Joker was an obvious choice for this list, given that his entire character is based on a playing card, but he deserves to be mentioned nonetheless. One of the most notorious Batman villains ever created, he has been a part of the popular franchise since 1940, so we’ve had plenty of time to get to know him.
During that period, the allusions to gambling have come thick and fast where his character is concerned. Not only does the Joker physically resemble the image he takes his name from, but he also owns a number of thematic weapons, which he uses to commit his many heinous crimes. These include everything from a deck of razor-tipped playing cards to a toxic venom that he named after himself.
Two-Face
The Joker is heavily inspired by gambling imagery, but Batman supervillain Two-Face takes it one step further, in that his criminality is driven by the outcome of a coin flip. Like his popular alter-ego, District Attorney Harvey Dent, he most definitely has a passion for betting, with his victim’s fates being decided by nothing more calculated than the hand of fortune.
We see this in action over and over in the comics, and this peculiar way of making choices also made it to the big screen, featuring in Christopher Nolan’s 2008 Dark Knight. As eagle-eyed moviegoers might have spotted, there is one particular scene in which the fates of Batman, and Jim Gordon and his son are all decided with a simple toss of the famous coin.
The Penguin
Gotham must be overflowing with casinos, given how many of its denizens enjoy dicing with fate, and the Penguin is one villain/entrepreneur who knows how to take advantage. Mobster and thief extraordinaire, he owns and runs the Iceberg Casino, which is typically filled to the brim with characters from the city’s underworld. Although this floating gambler’s paradise is entirely legal, it’s a front for plenty of the less legitimate business that goes on inside.
Fully stocked with everything from slot machines to table games, it seems fairly likely that it has an internet arm to the endeavor too, to help bring the business into the 21st century. Should you wish to get a taste of the action for yourself, there are plenty of places where you can play slots online for real money. Choose your provider with as much care as the criminal elements of Gotham, and you might even find you can enjoy all of the action on the go via your mobile.
Chance
The interesting thing about Chance is that he’s not only an avid gambler when he’s in full-on supervillain mode – he’s actually a professional player by day too, when he’s known as the moneyed and successful Nicholas Powell. Deciding to go rogue and become a criminal for hire when he grew bored of the glamorous life he was leading, he constructed a payment system that is a roll of the dice in itself: if his mission is successful, he gets paid; if it isn’t, he sees it as having lost the bet and forfeits his fee, compensating his employer instead. While it seems like a rather extreme way to get your thrills, this classic Batman villain has no complaints.
Gambler
The clue is very much in the name with this one, and it would have been criminal to create a list like this without including him. First pitted against Green Lantern in 1944, Gambler comes from a long line of – you guessed it – gamblers. A master of disguises, this charismatic supervillain has plenty of skill with knives and pistols, but he doesn’t always play fair. A big fan of the Vegas’ casinos and the horse-racing scene, he once famously sent a whole herd of these magnificent beasts stampeding into the crowd mid-event. He’s one lean, mean gambling machine.
A frequent feature in the comic book-verse, gambling helps to humanize and flesh out characters, by making them more relatable and/or their motivations more easily understandable. Used to great effect throughout the DC world, it has helped to create some truly compelling villains, as this article goes to show!
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