Breaking down the 25 greatest Gotham villains of all-time
Over the course of Gotham’s five seasons, we’ve seen a lot of villains come and go on the show. Some will be back with the upcoming season, while others remain in the past. We could also see some new ones pop up, but for now, that remains to be seen.
While Bruce never fully donned his iconic Batman suit until the final episode of the series, Gotham did an incredible job of diving deep into Batman’s gallery of rogues. You have villains of all different types and some are infinitely more dangerous than others. We’ve seen some of the classic villains mixed in with some newer ones who have only appeared in the show.
Each villain in the rogues gallery for Gotham had something unique about them. Some worked together while others acted as lone wolves. But no matter which way they went about things, most of them were downright dangerous. Gotham is just the beginning of these villains, too. Many of them go on long reigns of terror if the show is following the same timeline as the comics. In the comics, Batman never truly gets rid of most of the villains we’ve seen in both mediums.
We’re going through all of the villains we had the chance to meet during the show’s run and ranked them. The top 25 have wreaked havoc in Gotham.
25. Dr. Francis Dulmacher (The Dollmaker)
Portrayed by: Colm Feore
First appearance: “Everyone Has a Cobblepot”
The Dollmaker didn’t have a ton of screen time, but he’s still a villain worth mentioning because of what he does. He had two of his goons kidnapping children and sending them to him overseas. Dr. Francis Dulmacher would then harvest their organs and either sell them or use them in his experiments.
Dr. Dulmacher also had an encounter with Fish Mooney as she tried to flee Gotham to avoid an angry Carmine Falcone. Fish was on a boat when the Dollmaker’s goons raided it and took her captive. However, there was no way that organ harvesting was going to end Fish. Instead, he ends up surgically replacing the eye that she was missing.
Colm Feore plays the role well. He’s just creepy enough to make an impact in the two episodes the character appears in. However, the character gets knocked out before being able to punish Fish Mooney for her planned escape. The other prisoners had a nicely timed takeover once their cells were unlocked.
Despite the facility being on a remote island, the Dollmaker had a pretty far reach. His business was known internationally in the criminal underworld. He even had a specific company that he used to ship the children around the world, Trident Intercontinental Shipping. Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock were able to take down his child trafficking portion of his business, though. The Dollmaker is just one of those guys who you really don’t want to come across.
24. Matches Malone
Portrayed by: Danny Schoch (masked) and Michael Bowen (unmasked)
First appearance: “Pilot” (masked) and “Wrath of the Villains: This Ball of Mud and Meanness” (unmasked)
It isn’t really a Batman story if you don’t talk about Bruce Wayne’s parents being killed, right? We all know it happened, but that doesn’t make it any less important to Bruce’s story. While he doesn’t go away in Gotham like he does in the comics, their death still impacts him in a way that leads him down the path to becoming Batman.
Matches Malone is the man who killed Thomas and Martha Wayne. Although, in the comics Joe Chill is the one responsible for their deaths. This also happened to be the first live-action version of Matches Malones. We don’t see a lot of him, but he’s crucial to Bruce’s story. Bruce needs to find him in order to be able to move forward.
Bruce is given the chance to confront him in the show’s second season and he could have easily killed Matches. He chooses not to, even though Matches doesn’t give him the name of the person who hired him. If Bruce had taken the shot, his trajectory would have been very different from what we’ve seen in the comics before.
Matches Malone makes the list here even though he doesn’t appear a ton because of what his actions mean to Bruce. Most of the other villains on this list won’t have as much of a personal impact as Matches.
23. Nathaniel Barnes (The Executioner)
Portrayed by: Michael Chiklis
First appearance: “Rise of the Villains: Strike Force”
Nathaniel Barnes was a good guy turned bad. He was a marine and worked his way up to being captain of the Gotham City Police Department. He had a decent streak while he was at the GCPD, but it started going downhill after his encounter with Azrael (Theo Galavan).
After the attack by Azrael, Barnes was relegated to walking around with a cane. This limited mobility meant that he’d spend more time in his office than he did before. His bad luck continued when Jervis Tetch brought the Terrible Tweeds with him to attack the GCPD in order to get to his sister Alice. In the chaos, Alice dies and a drop of her blood gets into Barnes’ eye.
That moment is when Barnes begins his turn into the Executioner. He’s powerful and no longer needs the cane. He also thinks that he should just get rid of the criminal scum by killing them without a fair trial. However, he eventually wants to kill Jim Gordon and says as much to Leslie Thompkins.
His journey doesn’t end there, though, because the Court of Owls gets their hands on him. He then goes to the GCPD and has his hand blown off by Gordon. He escapes custody on his way to Arkham and his storyline never quite reached a finality we were hoping for.
22. Basil Karlo (Clayface)
Portrayed by: Brian McManamon, Ben McKenzie (as Jim Gordon) and Paul Reubens (as Elijah Van Dahl)
First appearance: “Wrath of the Villains: A Legion of Horribles”
Due to Basil Karlo’s nature as Clayface, a few actors portrayed him in Gotham as he shape-shifted into other characters. He found himself impersonating Jim Gordon and Elijah Van Dahl. The latter is the biological father of Oswald Cobblepot.
We didn’t see too much of Basil Karlo, but Clayface has quite the history when it comes to Batman stories. He first appeared in the comics in June 1940. While other people have taken on the moniker, Basil was the first one to hold it. He’s also the only one to have it in Gotham as we don’t see any other version of the character in the show.
In Gotham, Clayface is a product of Indian Hill and Hugo Strange’s experimentation. Strange created many different “monsters,” but Clayface ends up being fairly harmless as he only gets to do two impersonations when we see him. He almost gets to Bruce Wayne while he’s impersonating Jim Gordon, but Barbara Keen helps expose his little plan. Overall, he’s not the biggest threat, but he’s one of the classic villains and his appearances are enough to get him on this list.
21. Jack Buchinsky (Electrocutioner)
Portrayed by: Christopher Heyerdahl
First appearance: “Rogues’ Gallery”
Jack Buchinsky was a patient at Arkham Asylum who broke out during a riot. During his time at Arkham Asylum, he was using the other patients for electro-therapy experiments. Early on in Gotham, Jim Gordon found himself on the outside of the GCPD as a security guard at Arkham, which is when Buchinsky was brought to his attention.
The Electrocutioner only appeared in two episodes in season one and in those two episodes, he manages to escape Arkham and tries to kill Sal Maroni while he’s at GCPD. His capture of Buchinsky came when he lured him and Aaron Danzig to the station. Gordon is able to disrupt the Electrocutioner’s plan by throwing coffee on the devices.
It seems like a somewhat boring way for the Electrocutioner to wind up in jail, but if you look at it from Gordon’s perspective, it was effective and efficient. It’s also what earned Gordon his job back at the GCPD, which is something he needed. Gordon without the GCPD is almost like having Batman without villains. That wouldn’t be very exciting, right?
Getting back to the Electrocutioner, he was vengeful and manipulative. He gets Aaron Danzig to kill for him, even though he’s more than capable of killing someone himself. He’s also manipulative enough to make it look like he had nothing to do with the experiments. He’s a clever villain, that’s for sure.
20. Bridgit Pike (Firefly)
Portrayed by: Michelle Veintimilla (Season 2 and 4) and Camila Perez (Season 3 and 4)
First appearance: “Rise of the Villains: Scarification”
Bridgit Pike is a member of the Pike family, but she’s only a half-sister to the three brothers. The family specialized in arson and they were from the Narrows. Her love of fire came from doing jobs with the family and it only increased once Hugo Strange got his hands on her.
It’s safe to say that we’ll be bringing up Hugo Strange quite a bit because of his involvement with Indian Hill and just how many of the villains he ended up having access to. Let me back up a bit though so we can see how she ended up going from Bridgit Pike to Firefly.
While Bridgit was in her suit, she was shot by Sal Martinez and she nearly dies after lighting a cop car on fire. From there, she’s transported to Indian Hill. Once she’s there, she isn’t into the idea of being experimented on, but by the time Selina pays her a visit, she’s calling herself Firefly.
Firefly ends up working for Penguin and becoming part of the Legion of Horribles, which was a group of some of the worst villains in Gotham. While Firefly likes to watch things burn, she’s pretty tame in comparison to some of the others in the group. (Although, her and Mr. Freeze would make quite the team with their opposite styles if you ask me.) However, she’s still fairly dangerous and dying a fiery death does not sound fun.
19. Fish Mooney
Portrayed by: Jada Pinkett-Smith
First appearance: “Pilot”
Gotham wasted no time with introducing Fish Mooney. Jada Pinkett Smith is a big name for the show. She went all-in on her performance as Fish Mooney and it was interesting to say the least.
I really struggled with where to put Fish on this list. She was a big part of the show, appearing (or being mentioned) in over 25 episodes. She played a prominent role in the first season, returning for several episodes in seasons two and three before meeting her demise. In season four, she was mentioned, but we never saw her after “Heroes Rise: Destiny Calling” in season three.
The main reason I struggled with where to put Fish is because of the fact that she was more interested in running her club and just having goons do the work for her. She did things here and there, but it was more about the territory for her. It always felt like she was trying to be a mob boss without really being considered one.
There’s also no history to go on with Fish Mooney since the character was created for the show. So all we have to go on is what we’ve seen of her here. She was resurrected, but her return wasn’t quite as fulfilling as I was hoping. However, she still did a lot of damage in Gotham when she was around.
18. Order of St. Dumas
Portrayed by: N/A
First appearance: “Rise of the Villains: Scarification”
The Order of St. Dumas was led by Father Creel (portrayed by Ron Rifkin). This is a group that has a deep history with some of the founding families. However, it is a religious group that is based on a 300-year old story documented in a book called The Will and Order of St. Dumas.
Religious groups throughout history have had a criminal element to them. You get cults forming that take things to an extreme, and that’s what the Order of St. Dumas does during Gotham’s second season. They wanted to get rid of Bruce Wayne and Theo Galavan manages to abduct him.
The Order of St. Dumas was tied to both the Dumas and Galavan families, which is why it became so prominent with both Theo and Tabitha Galavan in the picture. Silver St. Cloud was also part of the Order because she was a ward of Theo Galavan after her father died.
Silver St. Cloud meets Bruce Wayne and as the two grow closer, it gives Theo a chance to meet with Bruce and fulfill what the Order of St. Dumas wants. However, Bruce doesn’t end up dead and the Order of St. Dumas virtually disappears as Silver and Tabitha became former members and moved on.
17. Theo Galavan
Portrayed by: James Frain
First appearance: “Rise of the Villains: Damned If You Do…”
While we just went through the Order of St. Dumas, Theo Galavan played more of a role than that. He became Azrael in later episodes and his character died more than once, which is always worth mentioning (and seems to happen a lot in Gotham).
Theo and Tabitha were essentially hitmen for the Order of St. Dumas when they were sent to Gotham. Their goal was to kill Bruce Wayne, which failed because we all know he becomes Batman and you can’t kill him off before that ever happens. Theo even becomes the Mayor of Gotham at one point, too, although it only lasts briefly.
Oswald Cobblepot brings the demise of Theo Galavan, however, his story continues as Hugo Strange reanimates him. Indian Hill gave him a new life as Azrael and then Strange convinces him to go after Jim Gordon. When he goes after Jim, he sees some of his old campaign posters and it’s clear that Strange didn’t completely wipe his mind as the memories start coming back to him.
It took a rocket launcher to get Theo Galavan down for the second and final time. His memory of wanting to kill Bruce came back, which drove him to Wayne Manor. Bruce hit him with a car, he was shot and when he still didn’t go down, Butch Gilzean showed up with a rocket launcher. Theo had a pretty good run, but it had to come to an end.
16. Victor Zsasz
Portrayed by: Anthony Carrigan
First appearance: “Penguin’s Umbrella”
Victor Zsasz is another character who finds himself in quite a few episodes, but he’s never really the main villain in any of the episodes. As a hitman, he’s obviously dangerous, but he also will just go where the money is. Zsasz started out by working for Carmine Falcone, but when the mob boss retired, he went to work for Oswald Cobblepot.
He’s been a busy guy during this series’ run. He’s killed numerous people and he keeps track by making a mark on his arm every time he kills someone. We saw more of him in season four than any other season due to the storyline between Oswald Cobblepot and Sofia Falcone. Zsasz ends up betraying the former for the latter once Carmine Falcone is killed in a drive-by shooting.
While money helps, it doesn’t end up being the only thing that Zsasz follows. After Carmine’s death, we see his loyalty to the Falcone family in full effect. He only left because Carmine had retired and left the state. With Sofia back in town, though, things started to change.
He was a staple in the show and a fun villain all the way through his final appearance.
15. Court of Owls
Portrayed by: N/A
First appearance: “Wrath of the Villains: A Legion of Horribles”
After being mentioned in the first season of Gotham, it isn’t until the end of the second season that we even see any members of the Court of Owls. In “Wrath of the Villains: A Legion of Horribles,” a woman makes a call saying that the Court needs to meet because Hugo Strange is seemingly losing control at Indian Hill. The woman remains nameless in the episode and it’s only the beginning of what we see of the Court of Owls.
The mystery behind the Court of Owls is what made them more interesting to me. Things were happening in Gotham, but no one really knew who was behind any of it. It took time to unravel. However, I do like the Court of Owls story from Scott Snyder better than I liked this version of it.
Despite that, the group still made for a good villain for the show. It showed just how deep things ran in the criminal world of Gotham and gives more perspective on how long they’ve been around. The founding families are a staple in Gotham and that doesn’t change whether the people in those families are doing good or bad.
The Court of Owls stretched over most of season three and it’s been mentioned since then, as well.
14. Butch Gilzean (Solomon Grundy, Red Hood Gang No. 2)
Portrayed by: Drew Powell
First appearance: “Pilot”
Butch Gilzean had a long run on Gotham. He appeared in all four seasons of the show and he took more than one form during that time. He worked with Fish Mooney, Oswald Cobblepot, went out on his own and found himself working for Barbara Keen before being used by Edward Nygma. It’s a lot to keep track of, but let’s break it down a little more.
While working for Fish, Butch was her right-hand man. He had a big role as Mooney’s Nightclub came to fruition. After crossing Falcone, Butch and Fish seem like they’re about to be killed, but they’re able to escape. Victor Zsasz then brainwashes Butch and he begins working for Cobblepot.
Butch’s loyalty sways back to Fish as she and Cobblepot fight for control. Eventually, he heads out on his own and creates the second Red Hood Gang in an attempt to impress Cobblepot. With so much going on, Butch tends to just go where he thinks he’ll do his best work.
Barbara shoots Butch in the head and when he’s in a coma, we learn that his real name is Cyrus Gold. This set up the Solomon Grundy storyline as he comes back to life. Edward Nygma finds him and uses him to earn money by winning fights in the Narrows. Overall, Butch has been one busy guy. He was dangerous before, but as Solomon Grundy, he had even more strength.
Cobblepot cures Butch only so he can kill him in front of Tabitha. He does this to let her know that he didn’t forget about her killing his mother. Even though Butch was a villain, he was a staple in the show and that wasn’t how I was expecting him to go out.
13. Ivy Pepper (Poison Ivy)
Portrayed by: Clare Foley (seasons 1-3), Maggie Geha (seasons 3-4) and Peyton List (Season 4)
First appearance: “Pilot”
Poison Ivy is another character who has had quite the journey. Ivy Pepper was introduced to us as a young girl who Selina Kyle was always looking our for. Once she was swept away in the Gotham River, we didn’t know if we’d see her again. This was the first time the actress playing the character changed since Ivy then came back much older.
After drinking potions in season four, they made another actress change to give Ivy a new look as Peyton List took on the role. It took a little while to adjust to this change since the actress was already on The Flash as Lisa Snart previously. Despite these changes, the character is still one to keep an eye on because of how dangerous she is.
Poison Ivy has control over any kind of plant or tree that you can think of. This means that she hardly ever has to do any of the dirty work herself because nature will do it for her. She does create poisons and potions herself, though, which shows her deep knowledge of how to use the plants to her advantage.
She can even control people with one of her perfumes, which means she can take charge at any time. I think the latest iteration of the character has been the most interesting and probably the most ambitious, too, which isn’t good for everyone else. Selina can’t even seem to get through to her much at this point.
12. Tabitha Galavan (Tigress)
Portrayed by: Jessica Lucas
First appearance: “Rise of the Villains: Damned If You Do…”
Tabitha Galavan, the sister of Theo Galavan, has had a more lasting role in the show. She’s been in it regularly since the second season. Her signature weapon is a bullwhip, but she’s versatile in what else she can use. When her whip just won’t do, she has quite the collection of knives and knows her way around various guns.
Tabitha is someone who will just keep coming back. She knows what she’s worth and if she doesn’t feel she’s being rewarded properly for that, she’ll look out for herself first. When she’s unhappy with Barbara, she starts to plot against her with Butch. While things don’t end well for Butch when Oswald Cobblepot betrays them, she’s able to survive being shot and makes her way back to Barbara.
While most villains also look out for themselves, Tabitha seems to have enough sense to come up with a plan instead of acting impulsively like some others do. Even though plans don’t always work, it’s never bad to have one. She’s able to stay relatively in control during most situations, even when they turn bad.
I’m fully expecting to see more of Tabitha in season five. She’s been a staple for most of the show and it’s always interesting to see what she’s going to do next. I didn’t include Selina Kyle in this list because she never feels totally like a villain, but Tabitha was also a great teacher to her since Selina is just trying to survive out there. Tabitha gets some bonus points for her connection with Selina and her understanding of what people (including herself) need to do to survive. It’s just a shame her journey ended the way it did.
11. Lazlo Valentin (Professor Pyg)
Portrayed by: Michael Serveris
First appearance: “A Dark Knight: Hog Day Afternoon”
Professor Pyg might not be the most well-known villain on this list, but he’s one of the deadliest. He’s a hitman and he has a tendency to impersonate serial killers. He wears and actual pig’s head to conceal his identity and he’s certainly an unsettling villain on top of how dangerous he is.
Lazlo Valentin is hired by Sofia Falcone, but we don’t know that right away. Gotham does a nice job of building up to that reveal and it makes the stakes a little higher. As Professor Pyg, he does a lot of damage, even to the GCPD. He takes Harper hostage and stabs her. He also tricked Harvey Bullock into shooting a missing officer.
Professor Pyg is loyal to whoever pays him for a job. He’ll take things exactly as far as he’s asked to and that’s on full display when he shoots Sofia Falcone to cover up the fact that she ordered a hit on her father, Carmine Falcone. Pyg makes sure to shoot her in areas that won’t kill her. The hit on Carmine is successful and Sofia does survive her wounds.
Pyg met his demise, but in the five episodes he appeared in, he brought on a reign of terror. He was so hard to track because he would just impersonate other killers and that made him even more dangerous since you never knew who he’d impersonate next.
10. Barbara Kean
Portrayed by: Erin Richards
First appearance: “Pilot”
Barbara Kean is yet another character who has been resurrected. It happens a lot in Gotham apparently. Plus, we know that most of the villains can’t just be killed off before Bruce actually becomes Batman, right? While resurrection wasn’t exactly creative at this point, it was interesting to see the turn that Barbara took along the way.
In the comics, Barbara Gordon is known as Jim Gordon’s daughter. She becomes Batgirl and later Oracle. However, this version of Barbara was almost Barbara Gordon when she was engaged to Jim. The show opted to go a different direction, though, by breaking the two up and having her dive into the criminal underworld instead.
After being kidnapped by the Ogre, a serial killer who thinks she’s the one for him, it’s revealed that she killed her parents. This lands her a trip to Arkham and we see her spiral out of control a little before she makes her comeback. Theo Galavan gets her (and others) out of Arkham. From there, she starts making a name for herself in the criminal underworld, even being dubbed the Queen of Gotham at one point.
Barbara was also resurrected in a Lazarus Pit, courtesy of Ra’s al Ghul. She had a wild ride throughout the show’s run which was part of what made her character so memorable. She’s unpredictable at times and Gotham seems to thrive on that.
9. Jonathan Crane (Scarecrow)
Portrayed by: Charlie Tahan (Season 1 and 4) and David W. Thompson (Season 4)
First appearance: “The Fearsome Dr. Crane”
Scarecrow wins the award for the creepiest looking costume in Gotham. If you’re used to the version of the character from Batman: The Animated Series, that’s not what you’ll see here. We meet Jonathan Crane as a teenager (which is in line with Bruce also being a teenager, unlike most of the classic villains we see in the show).
Gerald Crane, Jonathan’s father, is the one at fault for his son becoming the way he did. Gerald was trying to get rid of fear when he used a serum on Jonathan that ended up enhancing his fear instead. This led him to create a boogeyman based on a scarecrow, which is how he took on the moniker. Being driven insane at that age landed him in Arkham. He was later released and was going to use his serum on Oswald Cobblepot.
The effects of the fear serum are on full display in Gotham and the show does a nice job of displaying the horror factor. The visuals that accompany the effects of the serum make it easy to see how it could drive someone crazy.
Crane ends up teaming up with Jervis Tetch and Jerome Valeska, and both of them are dangerous on their own. With them working together, they are able to break out of Arkham. He even becomes part of the Legion of Horribles for a bit, later teaming up with Jeremiah Valeska after Jerome’s death. In “No Man’s Land,” he does end up getting the iconic brown hat that he wears with his costume. His fear serum is powerful and the main reason he cracked the top 10.
8. Jervis Tetch (Mad Hatter)
Portrayed by: Benedict Samuel
First appearance: “Mad City: Look Into My Eyes”
Calling Jervis Tetch mad would be an understatement, but he is the Mad Hatter. He’s much more dangerous than the one in Alice in Wonderland considering he’s the reason his own sister (Alice) is dead. He had a prominent role in the third season and appeared a few times in the fourth. With things getting out of hand, there’s no telling what the Mad Hatter will do next.
While there are ways of getting around Tetch’s hypnotism, there aren’t many who succeed at it. He even puts on a show where he hypnotists Barbara, but then snaps her out of it when she holds a glass to his throat. However, things go downhill a bit for him as the focus turns to Alice.
Tetch hires Jim Gordon as a bounty hunter to find his sister shortly before his performance at The Sirens. When Jim finds Alice, she wants nothing to do with Jervis. He was mentally and sexually abusive to her, so it’s understandable. Jim ends up wanting to help her, but Jervis kills her before he gets the chance to.
Once Alice is dead, Jervis directs his anger towards Jim. He torments Jim by controlling so many people to the point where Jim can’t save them all himself. He even makes Jim the bad guy by infecting Leslie Thompkins’ fiancee, Mario Calvi. This leads to Jim killing him and even though Mario did have a knife, it floated away in the river, making it look like he flat-out murdered Mario.
Jervis Tetch was one of the most devious villains we met over the years which is why he safely secured a place in the top 10.
7. Victor Fries (Mr. Freeze)
Portrayed by: Nathan Darrow
First appearance: “Rise of the Villains: Worse Than A Crime”
Mr. Freeze was one of my favorite villains in Batman: The Animated Series and he was a nice addition to Gotham as well. His storyline is exactly what you’d expect when we first meet him. He’s just trying to cure his wife and something admiral turns into madness when he starts obsessing over it too much. He ended up using people to experiment on and that’s when he found himself diving deeper into the criminal underworld.
He was also yet another character who was resurrected. After trying to take his own life, he was declared dead, but at Indian Hill, he thrived in sub-zero temperatures. This is where the Mr. Freeze suit comes into play because it allows him to keep that temperature and go outside. What fun would it be if he just ended up locked up inside every day?
Mr. Freeze was also recruited to the Legion of Horribles. This led to him teaming up with Jerome Valeska and Scarecrow to raid Wayne Enterprises to make more laughing gas to poison the city with. He was dangerous enough on his own with his freeze gun, but with the other villains, there’s more damage to be done. During “No Man’s Land,” Freeze was able to claim a factory for himself and who knows what he’s working on in there.
Unfortunately, the character wasn’t fully fleshed out in the final season thus icing him out from a top 5 finish on our list.
6. Ra’s al Ghul (Demon’s Head/League of Shadows)
Portrayed by: Alexander Siddig
First appearance: “Heroes Rise: Destiny Calling”
Talk about someone who could keep coming back from the dead, or at least the brink of death. Despite the effects of the Lazarus Pits, Ra’s al Ghul is someone who can be killed and this show proved as much. There’s a knife that can kill him and Bruce uses it to do just that. However, he later helps resurrect Ra’s al Ghul, which allows him to get the Demon’s Head back from Barbara Kean.
Throughout the show, Ra’s al Ghul is adamant that Bruce is his heir. He’s skilled, but there’s no blood relation there, which probably doesn’t play well with his actual bloodline, who would be more entitled to the throne than Bruce. That aside, Ra’s al Ghul is a dangerous man who is hard to take down. After he’s brought back, Ra’s isn’t too happy with what Barbara has planned and takes the Demon’s Head back from her.
Just before everything descends into even more chaos than usual, Ra’s pays Bruce a visit to tell him that he saw Gotham in flames. However, Barbara puts an end to Ra’s with the help of Bruce as she drives the knife into his chest. He was never able to persuade Bruce to take his place, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t a thorn in Bruce and Gotham’s side during his rein of terror.
5. Edward Nygma (The Riddler)
Portrayed by: Cory Michael Smith
First appearance: “Pilot”
Edward Nygma had a long run as a villain on the show. He didn’t start out as one, but his journey to becoming The Riddler was obvious from the start. As soon as you hear his name, you know what’s going to happen, but not necessarily how. It wasn’t his immediate intention to become a criminal, but it happened while he was working at the GCPD.
While working at the GCPD, Nygma starts dating Kristen Kringle, who was the Record Keeper there. He winds up killing her (this one is actually by accident) and we begin to see his dual personality. There’s Edward Nygma and then there’s The Riddler. He tries to frame Jim Gordon for Kringle’s death, but finds himself being sent off to Arkham instead.
Edward wore many hats throughout the show. After getting out of Arkham, he worked for Oswald Cobblepot on his campaign. When Oswald killed his new girlfriend, though, he formed an alliance with Barbara Kean, Tabitha Galavan and Butch Gilzean to get back at him. Oswald manages to put him on ice, causing brain damage when he’s later thawed out.
Despite the brain damage, Nygma started to get his Riddler persona back and started to participate in an underground fight scene in the Narrows with Solomon Grundy (Butch) as his fighter. He was still quite the manipulator, but Lee Thompkins knew that he wasn’t the same man he was before.
In “No Man’s Land,” The Riddler was taking over a little more and he was able to abduct Jim. An attempt to try to get Lee to do something she didn’t want to do resulted in him being stabbed. Fortunately, Hugo Strange saved the day allowing The Riddler to re-emerge in the show’s final season and reach his fully realized potential by the show’s final curtain call.
4. Sofia Falcone
Portrayed by: Crystal Reed
First appearance: “A Dark Knight: They Who Hide Behind Masks”
Sofia Falcone is one of the more recent villains to appear in Gotham and she has strong ties to the city. Her father, Carmine Falcone, had retired from his mob boss days and moved down south to enjoy the sun and the great views (neither of which Gotham seems to have). However, she makes it this high on the list because she has the guts to take out her own father, who was still well-respected in the criminal underworld.
Not only did she put a hit on Carmine and have it be successful, but she hired Professor Pyg to terrorize Gotham before having him shoot her to cover up her tracks on the hit. She survives those wounds, but she later doesn’t expect Lee Thompkins to come after her. Lee shoots her in that head and she’s somehow still not dead. She is in a comatose state, though.
Before the shot to the head, Sofia shows just how ruthless she is. She’ll pretend to be nice. She even dated Jim Gordon briefly before he realized who she really was and what she wanted to do. She can manipulate people and has more resources than most of the other crime lords from the looks of it. It’s just a shame she went out how she did.
3. Hugo Strange
Portrayed by: BD Wong
First appearance: “Wrath of the Villains: Mr. Freeze”
Dr. Hugo Strange is the madman who was bold enough to experiment on people, especially dead people, and create his own group of monsters. He resurrected more characters than I can keep track of. Just to name a few, though, he brought back Fish Mooney, Theo Galavan and Basil Karlo.
He’s also known for his rehabilitation, which we see when Barbara Kean wakes up from her coma. If there’s an experiment to be run, you can bet Hugo Strange is going to do it no matter the consequences. He wasn’t always successful with his experiments either, so bodies have piled up even if they haven’t been notable characters really.
Not only was Hugo Strange a terrifying villain in his own rights, but the man was responsible for creating several of Gotham’s most formidable foes which is yet another reason he managed to rank among the best villains the show gifted us with.
2. Jerome Valeska (Leader of the Maniax) and Jeremiah Valeska
Portrayed by: Cameron Monaghan
First appearance: “The Blind Fortune Teller” (Jerome) and “A Dark Knight: Mandatory Brunch Meeting” (Jeremiah)
Since these two brothers are twins and therefore played by the same actor, it felt right to put them together on this list. Without Jerome, we would have never met Jeremiah. While they both have Joker-like tendencies, neither has been called the Joker outright. Jerome was the leader of the Maniax and part of the Legion of Horribles. Jeremiah is now a criminal and terrorist after being gassed thanks to a parting gift from Jerome.
Jerome was the more impulsive of the two, but he was still a guy who liked to have a plan. However, with Jeremiah being more intelligent than Jerome, he’s also more dangerous. Jeremiah once knew Thomas Wayne and he’s an excellent engineer. His skills convince Bruce to work with him, too, and that doesn’t turn out so well for Bruce since Jeremiah now wants to go after him.
We only got a small glimpse of Jeremiah after he was gassed and the writers did not disappoint in the show’s final season with pushing the character right over the ledge. He was the prefect overarching villain for the show’s final season and one of the show’s greatest assets.
1. Oswald Cobblepot (Penguin)
Portrayed by: Robin Lord Taylor
First appearance: “Pilot”
Oswald Cobblepot is one of the longest-lasting villains on the show and that gave him the upper hand in earning the top spot. He can be annoying at times, but he’s still dangerous. Eventually, he ends up being the Mayor of Gotham, which gives him more power than he should be able to have as a criminal.
I’ve also mentioned him in a lot of the previous entries here, which should tell you something about his survival skills. He’s escaped death and been able to thwart other villains who stand in his way. Sofia Falcone gave him a run for his money until Lee Thompkins put a bullet in her head.
Oswald has always been able to get people to work with him. Victor Zsasz has done a lot of work for him and he’s always able to convince others like Butch and Mr. Freeze to do his dirty work, too. The Penguin is just always there and because of that presence, he’s always scheming. It’s hard for him to be content, which is what allowed him to work his way up to becoming the Mayor of Gotham in the first place.
Despite his constant presence, he’s suffered a lot. He lost his mother, tried to reconnect with his father and even found himself on the brink of death a few times. Each time, he’s bounced back and made a bigger name for himself. Something he kept going right up until the end!