In all of comic book history, there haven’t been any villains as iconic, as flashy and as unforgettable as those who have been spawned by the creators of DC Comics’ Batman. From Bob Kane’s original graphic illustrations to the film adaptations by Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan, any fan of Gotham’s dark detective will be sure to recognize the villains I have selected as Batman’s top five greatest enemies.
Flipping in at number five is Harvey Dent, better known as Two-Face – a schizoid criminal mastermind obsessed with duality and chance. Harvey Dent was once Gotham’s heroic and kind hearted district attorney and one of Batman’s most trusted allies. He, Commissioner Gordon and Batman once formed a triumvirate to combat Gotham’s criminal underworld. It wasn’t until Sal “Boss” Maroni threw acid in his face during a court session that Harvey Dent’s suppressed mental illnesses broke free and fractured his psyche.
His former good luck charm, a “two-headed” silver dollar, was damaged on one side during the attack that ruined half his face, and Dent has seized on it as a reflection of his half-scarred visage. He flips it to decide the fates of his victims. Because of this, Two-Face isn’t consistently evil. Once the coin is tossed he never questions the result.
He has shown different levels of dependency on the coin. He has even used a coin toss to go out of his way to do whatever it mandates, such as a good deed or saving someone’s life. But despite this, Batman’s efforts to reform his former friend have met with failure. Two-Face is consumed by his fixation on chance and duality and his crimes are designed to demonstrate his diametric philosophy.
Dent doesn’t have any supernatural abilities, but he has received expert training from Batman in areas such as detective work and martial arts. He was trained to be an expert marksman by Slade Wilson and he’s an amazing dead eye with his dual semi-auto .22 pistols. He’s also proven to be a criminal mastermind capable of competing with the Penguin.
You can forget about Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face. His portrayal of the character didn’t capture the duality of Two-Face’s personality. He came across as more Joker-ish than anything else. The best representation of Two-face in my opinion, comes from Arkham City. When you listen to the in game interview tapes done by Hugo Strange, a person can really see what it’s like in his head. His use of plural pronouns would make Sméagol proud.
The number four Batman villain is Scarecrow. Jonathon Crane is an ex-psychiatrist who uses a variety of drugs, phobias and scare tactics against his adversaries. He doesn’t commit his crimes for wealth, but rather as a form of “research.” His scarecrow costume, lanky appearance and surname were all inspired by the protagonist of Washington Irving’s horror novel, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
Scarecrow doesn’t have any supernatural abilities. His chief weapon is his “fear gas” which causes people’s worst fears to come to life. He even made a fear gas powerful enough to affect a Kryptonian. The mask he wears serves to enhance the effects of his toxin while also functioning as a gas mask, though he eventually develops an immunity to fear altogether. Though he doesn’t do so often, he is a skilled martial artist. Scarecrow is well trained in Crane style kung-fu and drunken boxing. He uses both of these in a self-styled martial art he calls drunken dancing which takes advantage of his lanky arms and legs. He is also skilled with using farm implements as weapons such as scythes and pitchforks.
But even more than these, Scarecrow is a genius when it comes to the psychology of fear. He eventually becomes so skilled at manipulating people’s fears that he doesn’t need to rely on his fear gas. He knows how to use words to affect a person’s actions and he uses his knowledge to find people’s mental weaknesses and he exploits them. In this way, he even drove two men to suicide. It is this reason that I have selected him as number four.
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Number three on my list is Ra’s al Ghul. More antihero than villain, little is known about Ra’s’ past, but he is nearly immortal due to the youth restoring abilities of the Lazarus Pits. He is a brilliant master of strategy and organization. His goal is to save the Earth from ecological devastation by destroying most of humanity. He recognizes Batman as a worthy foe and potential ally and as the only one who has ever really provided him with any challenge. Evidence for this is found in the fact that he has a deep respect for Batman and chooses to refer to him as “the Detective.”
Ra’s’ skills and abilities are many and he has acquired the, due to the sheer amount of time he has spent on Earth. His longevity is granted to him by the Lazarus pits but more than this Ra’s al Ghul possesses a genius level intellect with aptitudes in a wide variety of sciences and medicine, especially in the field of Alchemy. He is the indisputable leader of the League of Assassin’s, the largest and most dangerous terror organization on the planet, whose members are eager to die for their cause. He is a brilliant tactician and a master strategist as he plans his exploits months, even years in advance. He is a master swordsman and weapons expert and an excellent fighter in at least 100 different martial arts. He speaks over 20 languages and has vast resources at his disposal that he’s cultivated over the centuries.
Liam Neeson is an amazing actor but I wish the Christopher Nolan adaptation held true to the comic version. Ra’s al Ghul is undoubtedly my favorite of all Batman villains. When I watched the animated series as a kid; he was the one villain that really left me disturbed after the show ended. But sadly I can only rank him as three if I’m being honest with myself. After his first appearance in the Comics, Ra’s usually just hangs out on the sidelines. In a few instances, Batman was even forced to go to him for advice. In my book, if you have to seek help from your enemy, then he has a lot more power over you than you can begin to imagine.
Second place is a semi-tie between Bane and Hugo Strange, with Dr. Strange coming out on top of Bane. If any of you’ve ever seen “Batman and Robin,” do yourself a favor and exorcise it from your memory. There probably hasn’t been any movie adaptation of any character that hasn’t been as diametrically opposite to its true self as Bane was in that movie.
Bane was one of the greatest threats Batman had ever faced. He was the man who “broke the Bat.” But he didn’t just physically break him, Bane broke the Dark Knight’s spirit, which almost resulted in him hanging up his cape and cowl for good, which is enough in and of itself to give him second place on my list.
Batman’s has always demonstrated a solid iron-like will that was compared to as an “immovable object” by the Heath Ledger Joker. And yet Bane tore through it like a titanic force of nature tears through the expectations of all mankind. His abilities include abnormal physical strength as a result of having undergone experiments with the super-steroid known as “Venom.” He has enhanced speed and reflexes as well as agility. He is an amazing hand to hand combatant. He has superhuman endurance, durability and healing. He is a master strategist and has a genius level intellect and has displayed an eidetic memory. He is knowledgeable in many scholarly subjects and speaks multiple languages. All in all, Bane is one of the most complex characters in all of Batman.
Dr. Strange is an insane psychologist and chemical genius who was the first of Batman’s adversaries to figure out his secret identity. Strange had first gained fame in the world of psychology when he claimed to have fully analyzed the Dark Knight from afar. Strange would lend credence to his own claims by learning of Batman’s true identity of Bruce Wayne. However, his hatred of Batman turned into more and more of a deranged obsession, using his medical expertise to hatch a series of bizarre plots based around genetics and mind control in order to defeat Batman and possibly take his place.
Hugo Strange was the Moriarty of D.C. comics. The only reason that he’s not number one is due to the fact that the blood on his hand is relatively light and that he eventually develops a deep respect for Batman. Bruce Wayne himself said of Strange that he is “the most dangerous man in the world. Scientist, philosopher and a criminal genius… this man is undoubtedly the greatest organizer of crime.”
The first on my list is, of course, the Joker. The Clown Prince of Crime, the Harlequin of Hate, and the Ace of Knaves. Could anyone in all honesty pick someone else? Probably, but not with the way I’m grading things. The reason the Clown Prince of Crime claims first is simple one, really: no other villain takes things to the level he does. Joker has killed more people, caused more destruction, and given the Dark Knight more trouble in his quest to rid Gotham of its impurities than any other.
Throughout the evolution of Batman and the DC Universe, primarily two different interpretations and incarnations of his character have arisen. The dominant one is that of an extremely intelligent psychopath with a warped, morbidly sadistic sense of humor and an “uncanny disregard for human life.” The other interpretation just borders on almost a harmless prankster. My favorite incarnation is in “Batman: The Animated Series”, which blends these two. He’s voiced by Mark Hamill and this Joker can make you chuckle at his use of puns and his sense of humor but in the very next sentence, he’ll take on a more sinister tone that cuts your laughing short when you realize that he’s about to do something really, really dark.
The Joker’s victims have included men, women, children, and even his own henchmen and other villains. Like Death itself, he does not discriminate. In the graphic novel “The Joker: Devil’s Advocate,” the Joker is reported to have killed well over 2,000 people.
Despite having murdered enough people to get the death penalty thousands of times over, he is always found not guilty by reason of insanity. In the Batman story line “War Crimes,” this continued ruling of insanity is in fact made possible by the Joker’s own dream team of lawyers. He is then placed in Arkham Asylum, from which he appears able to escape at will, going so far as to claim that it is just a resting ground in between his “performances.”
Joker has no superhuman powers. He is just a man, like Batman. But his ability to wreak havoc is rivaled by no one else. He lusts after death, destruction and chaos is the exact opposite of Batman who craves order and justice. The Joker has cheated death numerous times, even in seemingly inescapable and lethal situations. Though he has been seen caught in explosions, been shot repeatedly, dropped from heights and electrocuted the Joker always manages to return fully alive and unscathed to wreak havoc again. He is the Fourth Horseman and that’s he’s the greatest villain of them all.
