50 Greatest Super Villains In Comic Book History

51 of 51

1. The Joker

(Write-up by Nick Tylwalk, Bam Smack Pow Editor)

If you could ask other super villains what scares them, what keeps them up at night, it’s probably not a run-in with any super hero. Chances are, it’s the Joker.

At the very least, most of his fellow costumed criminals would likely keep a respectable distance from the Joker unless absolutely necessary. Such is the unpredictable lunacy of the most enduring and popular villain ever created.

Though he’s undergone almost as many shifts in tone as his archenemy through the decades, there’s something primal at the heart of the Joker’s particular brand of evil. It forms a perfect opposition to Batman’s quest to clean up Gotham City. The Dark Knight operates outside the law, but he’s still all about his rules: no guns, no killing, and so on. The Joker would rather show us why it’s absurd to even have rules in the first place.

That’s probably why when you think about unthinkable acts in mainstream super hero comics, the Joker has committed most of them. From crippling Barbara Gordon in front of her father, to killing Robin (though he got better) and Gordon’s second wife, to cutting off his own face, there’s no line he won’t cross, because he simply doesn’t acknowledge there are any lines there.

As for his ultimate goal, it’s probably unknowable, because we can’t get inside his head. Many fans believe he’d “beat” Batman for good if he could get the Dark Knight to kill him. He certainly lives for the battle of wits between them. Maybe, as Christopher Nolan’s version of Alfred commented, he just wants to watch the world burn.

Speaking of The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger’s interpretation of the Joker was amazing. But so was Jack Nicholson’s performance 20-some years earlier; Mark Hamill’s voice work in the animated series; and, in its own campy way, Cesar Romero’s clowning around in the 60s. No super villain has ever had pop culture in his grip quite like the Joker.

Knowing that would probably elicit a laugh from him, but thankfully, he doesn’t exist in real life for us to find out. The Joker is Batman’s problem, from here until eternity, and he’s also the greatest super villain in comic book history.

Next: 50 Greatest Super Heroes in Comic Book History

More from Bam Smack Pow

Home/All-Time Lists