A new Indiana Jones movies is coming out this weekend, so I’ve decided to do a List of Six about whips. Yep, that’s the connection. That’s the whole driving force of this article on my blog on this auspicious Wednesday. But not just any characters who use whips, but comic book characters specifically. Because that’s my driving force.

My first thought for this list was old actors who could also come back to revive a favorite franchise from my childhood, but I couldn’t really think of any that aren’t already being done. So then I just moved on to Indiana Jones using an iconic whip, and that some comic book characters use whips or whip-like weapons. And boom, there’s my thought process on putting this List of Six together.

Join me after the jump for the top six comic book characters who use whips as their primary weapon. Because why not? What have you got to lose?

6. Snake Whip

This is gonna be a weird list. There’s more than one snake-related woman on this list. And there are three characters who went by the moniker ‘Whiplash’ at one point or another. Snake Whip, real name Leeann Foreman, is both. She started out as a female version of Whiplash (more on that later), with whip gauntlets as her main weapon. She was a mutant, but her power was never actually revealed. She just used those whips. She bounced around a bunch of different villain groups before joining up with Viper and changing her name to Snake Whip, to better fit the theme.

5. Blacklash

The first Whiplash was a guy named Marco Scarlotti, a mafia goon who used whips and went undercover to take on Tony Stark. He eventually came out of cover to do various super villain things, before Justin Hammer hired him and he changed his look and gear to become Blacklash. He continued to go on super villain adventures, often against Iron Man. At one point he retired and started a family, but they got killed and he returned to a life of crime as Whiplash again…only for him to get killed by some sentient Iron Man armor. Poor bastard.

4. Coachwhip

Speaking of snake/whip ladies, here is Coachwhip, a member of the Serpent Society! She has no super powers, just a pair of whips. Sometimes they’re electrical whips. Coachwhip has been through all sorts of Serpent Society adventures, and has worked with Viper too. I couldn’t find any direct evidence that she and Snake Whip ever hung out, but I hope they did off-panel. I don’t know if she’s blind, based on her mask there. That would make her pretty cool if she was a blind whip master.

3. Lashina

Lashina is a longtime member of the Female Furies, the femme fatale warriors of Granny Goodness on Apokalips. So she’s all about that Darkseid business. She actually had an interestingly storyline once, where she pretended to have amnesia and joined the Suicide Squad before tricking everybody to coming to Apokalips. But since then, she’s just been the usual henchman-type character. Just a whip-wielding part of the Furies, fighting everybody from the Teen Titans to Superman. She’s made a couple of cartoon appearances, at least, so that’s pretty fun.

2. Whiplash

This third Whiplash is the one from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, translated into the comics. Anton Vanko’s father was killed and his village was destroyed by some bad guys trying to frame Iron Man. Vanko used a piece of the fake Iron Man’s armor to build himself a supersuit with energy whips, and he sought his revenge. He was pretty much just his movie version transformed into a comic version; not exactly 1-for-1, but pretty close in certain ways. After his initial storyline, he settled into being a generic villain signing up for generic villain adventures. But the dude was still the main villain in a Marvel movie, so that counts for a lot on a list like this one.

1. Catwoman

Speaking of movies, speaking of famous comic book characters, speaking of whip-users who aren’t snake-themed, let’s give it up for Catwoman! She’s the most famous, most awesome whip-user in comics. There are none who can compare. She uses a real whip, unlike all those energy whips and gauntlets on this list. She’s had her own movie, and multiple appearances in other movies. She’s a household name. She’s in love with Batman, and he with her. Catwoman has everything made, and is now on the top of this list. So that’s gotta be another feather in her cap, right?

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