Mugshots presents: Top DC supervillains By Philip Grippi

Original artwork by Krystal Kirby! All imagery that follows is property of DC Comics and Warner Brothers Studios.

Time to ride on the coattails or my previous writing endeavor…let’s talk about bad guys, you guys. Alfred Hitchcock once said that the more successful the villain, the more successful the picture. A good antagonist is the fulcrum of the heroes journey, for conflict is a fundamental force within a stories genetic make up. Alrighty, that’s enough graduate school thesis’ing, time to dive in. DC comics. Supervillainy. Let’s go.

#10

The Brain from the pages of Doom Patrol

He’s French. He’s a brain. He’s in love with a gorilla. Most importantly, he’s evil! So much so that he leads the not so subtly named Brotherhood of Evil. Creatively conceived by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani in the 1964 cult classic comic Doom Patrol, The Brain has been terrorizing the DC world for decades. With the aid of Monsieur Mallah, his genetically augmented, super intelligent Gorilla assistant (and eventual lover), The Brain leads a crusade of revenge against Niles Caulder and he’s willing to burn the world down to do it. Caulder, a petty and jealous scientist and colleague, sabotaged one of the brain’s experiments leading to a fire that destroys his body (hence why he’s naught but a brain). An impotent rage that could outshine the sun pulses within his pink, pulpy mass. He’s terrorized the teen titans on page and screen, and recently featured in the hit Hbomax adaptation of Doom Patrol. There he languished in retirement and sought world domination or revenge…but to live his best life. A beautifully strange and repulsive villain for a team of misfit heroes to wage never ending battle against.

#9

Granny Goodness from the pages of Mister Miracle and other New Gods related stories

I’ve spoken on my fondness for Mister Miracle, and Mister Miracle wouldn’t be the hero he is without the monstrous woman who forged him like iron on the hearth. Driven by a grotesquely wicked thirst for causing pain in others, Granny Goodness wields the thin veneer of an aged, doting motherly archetype. She speaks softly and with with a venom easily mistaken for love, but speaks of most twisted evils. One of Darkseid’s chief generals on the world of Apokolips, Goodness controls the Orphanage: underground facilities housing elaborate deathtraps and instruments of torture for prisoners of war and training Soldiers. It is here that she raised the true son of the king of New Genesis, traded away to Darkseid for a truce between the two warring worlds. She single-handedly crafted an environment of fear and abuse to raise the bargained son in, subjecting him to years torture and increasingly complex death traps from which to escape. She named him, with a sickening sense of humor on the tip of her tongue, Scott Free. Created by the king himself, Jack Kirby in 1971, the monumental damage inflicted upon Miracle’s soul by Goodness are beautifully explored in Tom King’s 2017 series. She’s had a few animated appearances in the Bruce Timm shows as well a being featured as the primary antagonist of season 3 of Young Justice and two live action appearances of Smallville, but has yet to have any cinematic portrayals worth noting (a rather underwhelming version shows up in the background for 2 seconds in Zack Snyder’s Justice League). Granny Goodness is. Comprehensively terrifying villain that truly deserves to be witness in theaters, and I am quite vexed about the axed Ava DuVernay-directed New Gods project. Quite vexed indeed.

#8

Clayface from the pages of Batman

Picture, if you will, a tragic monster out of a classic creature feature. Perhaps in black & white. It stars Boris Karloff or Vincent Price. Stark shadows, black as pitch, split the environment into dark and the marginally less dark. A pretty, pale blonde woman in a white dress screams as the full moon hangs high. Is your brain making movies yet? Stirring nostalgia for the old days of Hollywood horror? The works, perhaps, of directors like James Whale, Ishiro Honda and F. W Murnau. Howls are the moon, cackling madmen and bats flittering against the inky black of the night sky. This aesthetic, this whole vibe, is condensed into a single character, and that character is my favorite of Batman’s famously prolific rogues gallery. Not the joker, however scary as he is, nor Two-Face, Penguin or even the Riddler (hey! He just had an awesome appearance in the Robert Pattinson film). Scarecrow is pretty damn cool, but no dice. No I’m talking about Basil Karlo, otherwise known as Clayface. A former horror icon in the vein previously mentioned actors like Boris Karloff and Vincent Price, Karlo was famous for his role as the monster in a film entitled The Terror. Originally simply a killer in a mask seeking revenge against the people remaking his magnum opus, Karlo eventually becomes infected with toxic sludge that turns him into a horrific, shapeshifting mass of brown muck. The moniker has been worn other similarly afflicted criminals and psychopaths, but none more memorable or tragic as Basil Karlo. Pretentious and self important, he considers himself an artist and yearns not only for being human again, but for his glory days on the silver screen. Aside from some stellar approaches in the Bruce Timm universe of animated Shows and some live action weirdness in shows like Gotham and Birds of Prey, Clayface has sadly never been adapted to film. That said, with the future of bat related cinema brighter than its ever been with the Matt Reeves film and the upcoming Batgirl film, I’m confident he’ll be getting his close-up soon enough.

#7

Doctor Destiny from the pages of Justice League of America

An obscure villain, to be sure, but I think he’s neat. Doctor Destiny was created by Gardner Fox and designed by Mike Sekowski as a foe for the Justice League of America. However, My first exposure to Doctor Destiny was in the Bruce Timm Justice League cartoon. He was damn cool. Through a powered stone within a machine called the materioptikon, nobody John Dee becomes a master of dreams and terrorizes the justice league so as to ensure that he will never go unnoticed again. His design is a little derivative, it’s your standard Grim Reaper get up…but he’s a damn scary concept executed well within the context of the show. In the comics he doesn’t show up often, but when he does it’s usually pretty cool. His most iconic appearance, I’d say, is in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. Here it is revealed that the stone from which he draws his power is actually an ancient relic stolen from the embodiment of dream itself. What can I say, I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of dreams as a literal setting on film and in literature. One of my favorite films of all time is Satoshi Kon’s Paprika, after all. Doctor Destiny did have a live action portrayal in the CW Arrowverse crossover Elseworlds…they gave him a mullet and instead of controlling dreams he controlled reality. It was weird. Additionally He’s apparently showing up in the Netflix Sandman adaptation and I’m quite excited for that. Will he perhaps someday be the villain of a Justice League film? Yeah, in my dreams.

#6

Deathstroke from the Teen Titans

…this might be problematic. Deathstroke has a reputation among some due to some questionable and rather gross creative decisions with his back in the 70’s. Decisions that had him using his romantic wiles to manipulate a young girl superhero named Terra into betraying the teen titans in an otherwise iconic story entitled the Judas Contract. Yeah, it’s a bit gross elephant elephant in the room and I’m fully aware of the optics. Does it diminish how effective of a villain he is in later stories and iterations of the character? Nope. The cartoon teen titans developed by Glen Murakami and Sam Register is one of the earliest memories I have of beginning my lifelong obsession with superheroes. Well, that, Power Rangers and this paperback novelization of Batman: No Man’s Land I got for Christmas when I was in middle school. But ANYWAY…yeah. Slade. The big bad villain of that show for at least 2-3 seasons. Terrified lil me. He was one of my first exposures to the concept of a truly scary, well executed supervillain. He wasn’t an incorrigible goofball like Zedd and Rita Repulsa. Or some mustache twirling megalomaniac with a silly voice like Skeletor. He was SCARY. Always shrouded in shadow, always serious. Whenever he was around the stakes immediately shot way up. The characters themselves were scared of Slade to the point that there’s a whole episode devoted to Robin suffering violent PTSD-esqe hallucinations about him…after his apparent demise a season prior. And it doesn’t end here. I grew up and saw him show up in a similar capacity in the show Arrow (back when that show was considered something resembling good). Now I started to get an idea of what the character was beyond the evil mastermind of my childhood nightmares. Created by the inconic duo Marv Wolfman and George Perez, he was is a deadly assassin and mercenary named Slade Wilson. He can self generate thanks to some kind of super serum that also gives him enhanced physical abilities (with the exception of his right eye, which is hidden behind a badass eyepatch). When he’s not hamstrung by children geared cartoon censorship, he goes by the moniker Deathstroke: the terminator. He’s so iconic he was the original subject of parody that became Deadpool. In Arrow, Manu Bennet played him perfectly, much like Ron Pearlman before him. Even in the live action show Titans (which is NOT something resembling good, sorry but not so sorry), Esai Morales makes for one of the only characters that actually work in that show. I’ve read a few comics with him too but not many. I’ve read Judas Contract which, aside from select moments of grossness, was quite good. One thing I know for sure is this: when a DC story needs an unstoppable killing machine for hire, it’s usually going to be Deathstroke that shows up. While I have no love for the snyderverse, one regret I have in its inevitable demise was the loss of Joe Manganiello in the role after his brief stinger appearance at the end of Justice League. He’s a solid dude and loves the character, Snyder’s involvement notwithstanding, the guy deserves a shot.

#5

The Shade from the pages of Starman

Another obscure one but quite cool nonetheless, The Shade has been around a while. Both Canonically and historically. He first appeared as a villain for the original Golden Age Flash as penned by Gardner Fox and illustrated by Harold Wilson Sharp but perhaps perfected by James Robinson and Tony Harris. A gentleman thief Who controls shadows through his cane, Richard Swift is one dapper fellow. Always adorned with stylish shades and a top hat, dressed to the nines in black, elegant threads. Effectively immortal, the shadows over which he holds dominion hide a host of creepy critters that have done his bidding during centuries spanning crime spree. He’s not evil, nor even malicious most of the time. He never kills unless he absolutely has to, but would rather not. He does what he does because he considers it sport, and he’s quite good at it. While originally a flash villain, he’s since become connected with the mythology surrounding starman and the other wielders of the cosmic staff, particularly those residing in Opal City (for which the shade holds a great deal of affection). He’s had small appearances in Bruce Timm’s justice league, and recently had a brilliant role in the second season of the live action show Stargirl. The Shade is another case of me finding an obscure side character and just thinking they’re neat.

#4

Harley Quinn from the world of Batman and the larger DC universe

Harley is difficult character to portray…she can be very easily be cringeworthy and annoying. Artists can go hyper sexualized through the prism of Male Gaze, which given her nature as a victim of abuse and mental Illness is quite gross. But when they get her right…she works really well. She’s pure chaos wherever she goes, and truly grown into her own as a character. Formerly the psycho gal Friday to the Joker, Harleen Quinnzel first appeared on tv in Batman: the animated series (once again created by Bruce Timm, small world). In the beginning Harleen was a young Psychiatrist tasked with treating famously psychotic killer and clown prince of crime: Joker. After months of manipulation straight out of Silence of the Lambs, she fell obsessively in love with him and arranged for her escape, and her life was never the same. Pretty much the the poster child for Stockholm’s syndrome with a tragic background of manipulation and abuse, she has since emancipated herself and grown into career criminal in her right, as well an icon within LGBTQ+ and comic feminist circles. In the years since her inception, Harley Quinn has transcended the small screen to comics, then onto film and even her own brilliant animated series on HBOmax. Originally inspired and voiced by Arleen Sorkin in the Bruce Timm show and later appearances, Margot Robbie has since cemented herself as movie supervillain icon in James Gunn’s The Suicide and Cathy Yan’s underrated Birds of prey. Haley Cuoco does a tremendous job voicing her in the solo show. She’s a cosplay staple at comic conventions year round and the world over.

#3

Manchester Black from the pages of Superman

Conceived by Joe Kelly and Doug Mahnke as a foil to Superman, Manchester Black is the edgelord Snyderian mindset made manifest in brilliant satirical form. A cockney punk rocker on the vein of Sid Vicious, he wields massive psionic powers and sardonic wit to match, and a bleak, bitter worldview to juxtapose the Man of steel. He originally appeared in one of my favorite Superman stories: What’s so funny about truth, justice & the American way? The leader of the a young upstart super team called the elite, Black eventually comes to find himself dissatisfied with simply throwing criminals in jail to eventually break out or be released. Viewing the cops and robbers routine as a relic of a world that doesn’t exist anymore, Black starts taking it upon himself to execute the death penalty on criminals as he sees fit, which brings him in direct opposition to Superman’s belief that humans are inherently good and worth the benefit of the doubt. In the ensuing philosophical clash, they come to direct blows and become sworn enemies. He was villainous subject of antagonism in the fun animated film adapting his premier appearance: Superman vs the Elite, and had a rather lackluster appearance in Supergirl, but as far as adaptations go…that’s it. He is rampant, unmitigated nihilism and seeks to show the world that humanity is just like him: cynical, selfish and not worth a damn: the perfect parallel to a symbol of hope like Superman.

#2

Lex Luthor from the pages of Superman

The ultimate mastermind. Futurist and unparalleled genius. Corporate boardroom warlord. More money than god, and hubris to match. Lex Luthor considers himself the true man of tomorrow, and finds Superman’s very existence to be a challenge to his brilliance. Sometimes he’s a mad scientist, others a corrupt CEO, occasionally a philosophical crusader on Nietzschean quest to kill God, but always a randian erudite who views himself as the hero the world needs. Yet he finds himself consistently outplayed by a godlike alien. His hatred for Superman is mythic in scope and intensity. And he’s never been done justice on film. Sure, Gene Hackman was fun for a hokey silver age Luthor, Kevin Spacey got damn close in Superman Returns…and the less said about Jesse Eisenberg the better. However all the best adaptation of Luthor have been on television. Clancy Brown voicing him in Bruce Timm’s universe. Michael Rosenbaum’s shining star among the otherwise abysmal Smallville. Most recently the Arrowverse has given us a tremendously fun Luthor brought to life by Jon Cryer. He brilliantly blends both the sociopathic menace of the more modern Luthor with the over the top grandeur of the silver age, making for my personal favorite live action outing for the character, though we’ve yet to see him actually go toe to toe with his Superman (Tyler Hoeclin), being relegated to the role of antagonist to Supergirl in her show (which has never been better than when he arrived). I’m holding out hope that the sudden Snyder-averse shift in the DCEU will lead to a proper film outing for the Man of Steel’s one true nemesis.

Which finally brings us to…

#1

Amanda Waller from the pages of Suicide Squad

The ultimate embodiment of every deep state conspiracy theory and every libertarian’s nightmare, she Amanda Waller is a cold, calculating strategist within the US government and the mastermind behind by Task Force X (aka the Suicide Squad). The joint creation of comic geniuses John Ostrander, Len Wein and John Byrne, Waller uses her status as Warden of Belle Reve federal prison to assemble a revolving door roster of criminals to act as her black ops hit squad. When she identifies a threat to American interests, she deploys who platoon of bomb LoJacked supercriminals to assassinate the problem…for America! Nationalism makes for one potent villain motivation, for they rarely realize that they’re actually villains. While occasionally finding herself on the right side, her methods and values are rarely in line with the heroes of the DC universe. Often times she is unleashing the suicide squad to clean up problems America itself created, or directly against heroes like the Justice League because she doesn’t trust them to do what she feels is the right thing. Blackmail, extortion and manipulation are her tools of trade. She is brought to life on screen by the iconic Viola Davis in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad (her second appearance but…let’s not talk about that other movie) and it’s hilarious spin-off Peacemaker. I tend to find villains like Luthor and Waller the most compelling. They don’t think they’re villains, nor do they have powers. They are merely resourceful, cunning and ruthless in their crusades against whatever injustice they perceive.

And boom goes the dynamite. That is my top 10 DC villains, on and off the page. Tune in next time as I explore new characters and multiverses. Thank you for stopping by!