Batman has taken on all types of antagonists across his cinematic career, but which of his movie villains have the the best of them all?
Wherever Batman goes, his villains will follow. They are very reason for his existence. There would be no Dark Knight without them, and he will never stop fighting to prevent them from causing anyone any harm and protecting the citizens of Gotham City.
That being said, they will always put up a fight. Nobody has the extensive rogues gallery that Batman does, with the likes of The Joker, The Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Catwoman, The Riddler, Bane, Two-Face and more all being thorns in his side one way or another.
And when we say they will follow him anywhere, that includes the big screen. Few superheroes have enjoyed the extensive cinematic success of the Caped Crusader and we have loved watching him step up to stop these menaces on the silver screen.
And there have been a lot of these menaces! Not all of them have been memorable for the right reasons but they all made a memorable impact. With that in mind, as we continue to celebrate Batman Day, let’s take a look back at Batman’s movie villains and rank all of them from worst to best.
Note: Those villains that worked closely together will be ranked together, as will those who supported other villains and served as secondary antagonists.
17. Zod
Movie: The Flash (2023)
The Flash was a movie full of returns and cameos, but one audiences did not expect to see heading into it was General Zod. Michael Shannon reprised the role from his previous appearance in the DC Extended Universe in Man of Steel as the Scarlet Speedster went up against the very first DCEU threat after breaking the timeline.
But what has this got to do with Batman? Well, everything, actually, as the speedy hero needed assistance from this new world’s Caped Crusader, who also happened to be Michael Keaton’s veteran Caped Crusader. The retired vigilante donned the cape and cowl once more to help the two versions of Barry Allen break Supergirl out of captivity as the four of them went to war with General Zod and his army.
Unfortunately for Zod, this was not the nuanced version of the character we met in Man of Steel. Aside from a few one-liners like “this world must die”, he didn’t have much to say at all, and the one-dimensional approach hindered him and the movie from living up to its potential.
Still, though, we had Keaton back as Batman, and he was wonderful.
16. Lex Luthor (and Doomsday)
Movie: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Neither Lex Luthor nor Doosmday are Batman villains, but they are the primary villains of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which puts them directly in the crosshairs of our dear old Dark Knight.
Batman v Superman is a movie with so much potential but the finished product only has flashes of brilliance. While Batman’s battle with the Man of Steel is a wonderfully visual homage to Frank Miller’s legendary The Dark Knight Returns, the movie ultimately divided fans because its central conflict was the product of its two primary heroes being manipulated by Lex.
Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of Lex was also incredibly divisive, with audiences appreciating his performance but questioning the film’s unique interpretation of the legendary character (mostly because he was nothing like his comic book counterpart). That Lex was also responsible for the arrival of Doomsday, who showed up intent on killing Superman.
Doomsday served his purpose as being the Kryptonian-killing machine he was designed to be, but the movie did little with him outside of that. Yes, he was the threat that united Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, but he just felt like a bland CGI monster with an unoriginal design that didn’t exactly do his comic book counterpart justice.
15. Mr. Freeze
Movie: Batman and Robin (1997)
Mr. Freeze is my favorite Batman villain. Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of my favorite actors. This could have worked out so well and… well, Batman and Robin happened.
In all honesty, it works because Schwarzenegger made it work. The Joel Schumacher movie borrowed Batman: The Animated Series‘ Emmy-winning backstory for Victor Fries, a man who is attempting to cure his gravely ill wife and sentenced to a life of cold after an accident turned him into Mr. Freeze. But the movie also decided to make him a walking one-liner machine, reliant on ice puns and stealing diamonds to power his suit. Arnold, seeing the sheer ridiculousness of the script he had been given decided to give it everything he had, making Mr. Freeze a loud, campy, and kinda fun baddie to be around.
It wasn’t the Shakespearean tragic villain that fans wanted, because it’s a truly bad adaptation of Mr. Freeze. But if you can get past that, you have a damn good time watching Arnold have a good time. It might be a bad Mr. Freeze, but the Terminator star does everything he can to make him a fun villain in spite of that. And he kinda succeeds.
He’s… cool.
14. Poision Ivy (and Bane)
Movie: Batman and Robin (1997)
Everything about Batman and Robin is notorious. From its Bat nipples to its ice puns, there is nothing that the movie didn’t turn into pantomime. Aside from Arnold Schwarzenegger, the only person who realized that was Uma Thurman. And she made sure we were all aware of it, delivering a performance as Poison Ivy that was so deliciously camp, it was easily the best thing about the whole movie.
Her completely over-the-top entrance at the Gotham City gala (complete with giant pink gorilla suit) is the perfect example of that. Like much of the movie, it was so grandiose for no reason, and yet Thurman effortlessly camped it up, owning the stage and absolutely stealing the scene because she could.
She was seductive, powerful, and radiant on the screen, encapsulating all of the qualities that make Poison Ivy who she is, while also having the time of her life with the role. And as a result, we had the time of our lives watching her.
Bane, on the other hand, was such a poor portrayal of the character that it completely rendered one of Batman’s most intelligent villains to nothing more than a mindless henchman, depriving Robert “Jeep” Swenson from doing much with the role.
Nevertheless, they worked well as an unlikely villainous duo for the movie.
13. The Riddler, The Joker, The Penguin, and Catwoman
Movie: Batman: The Movie (1966)
The classic 1966 Batman TV series was already renowned for larger-than-life villains by the time that its first season concluded, so it really needed to go big when its companion movie arrived in theaters that summer. You can bet that’s exactly what it did, bringing in four of the Dynamic Duo’s most nefarious nemesis.
The Riddler teamed up with The Joker, The Penguin, and Catwoman for an appropriately over-the-top caper involving submarines, kidnappings, dust, and even the United Nations Security Council. It’s a lot, but just like the TV series, it’s a good kind of a lot – and the perfect entertainment for Bat-Fans!
Cesar Romero’s light-hearted Joker is always a joy to watch, while Frank Gorshin delivers his scene-stealing cackle-heavy performance as The Riddler. Burgess Meredith’s Penguin was one of the TV show’s best villains and that comes across in the movie, as he is essentially leading the operation. And Lee Meriwhether does a brilliantly over-the-top job with a far more sinister Catwoman, replacing the series’ Julie Newmar, who couldn’t reprise her role for the film.
Batman: The Movie is an adventure for the ages, and its ridiculously fun villains are the main reason for that.
11 and 12. Two-Face and The Riddler
Movie: Batman Forever (1995)
After Batman Returns saw success with multiple villains, subsequent Batman movies said “all the villains!”. Its immediate successor, Batman Forever, went for two more juggernaut DC foes in The Riddler and Two-Face. We’re ranking them together because their goals were essentially the same and they worked together for a significant portion of the movie to achieve them.
Of the two, The Riddler was the more nuanced character, (as Edward Nygma wanted payback on Bruce Wayne for destroying his maniacal dreams) but Batman Forever wasn’t really worried about nuance. It was there to have a good time, and for the most part it succeeded, with Jim Carrey’s campy, boisterous, and larger-than-life performance as the villain going a long way in a accomplishing that.
Two-Face could have had a little more depth. He was basically just The Joker wearing Two-Face’s look, but once you accepted that, he was kind of a good time. Tommy Lee Jones was so unbelievably over-the-top in the role that you just bought into everything he was doing and his plan to get vengeance on Batman really came to life when he and The Riddler crossed paths.
Harvey Dent and Edward Nygma made a surprisingly great double act and even though they didn’t see eye-to-eye, they were willing to work alongside each other to take down The Dark Knight. And they came oh, so close.
10. Scarecrow
Movie: Batman Begins (2005)
Doctor Jonathan Crane was the first villain from Batman’s rogues gallery to make his presence felt on The Dark Knight trilogy (well, at least that’s what we thought at the time). Portrayed by Cillian Murphy, he was a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum who used the inmates to conduct experiments under the guise of Scarecrow.
This was the first time that we got to see the Scarecrow in live-action and Batman Begins found some vivid means of bringing his fear toxins to life, employing some invasive camerawork, distorted visuals and terrifying sights to make us see the hallucinations he imposed on his victims. The burlap mask he wore over his face was both simple and effective and Murphy had a way of adding an extra layer of intimidation to the character whenever he put it on.
His standout moment would definitely be when he poisoned Batman with his toxin and got inside the Dark Knight’s head, and it goes to show that he actually would have made a great primary villain for Batman Begins. The only downside is that he was a pawn for a much bigger bad, Ra’s Al Guhl, and once he made his presence felt, Crane became a secondary character very quickly.
Nevertheless, when he was on our screens, we were paying attention (and trying to look away at the same time).
9. Two-Face
Movie: The Dark Knight (2008)
Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent was a major character in The Dark Knight. Whenever Harvey Dent is a major character in anything, audiences automatically begin to wonder if they will witness his infamous transformation into Two-Face. It’s a given thought process with any version of the character, and unfortunately for Nolan’s Dent, he was indeed destined to follow in his comic book counterpart’s footsteps.
Harvey was Gotham’s White Knight. The promising young District Attorney capable of taking down criminal kingpins and offering the cameras a reassuring toothy grin upon victory. That’s everything Harvey Dent should be and more. But for The Joker, he was simply an opportunity to show Gotham that we all had darkness inside of us.
Unfortunately for Harvey, he found that out the hard way. The death of Rachel (and the severe burns he suffered from his own near-death experience) transformed him into Two-Face; a scarred man hellbent on being Gotham’s judge, jury, and executioner, leaving everyone’s fate up to chance (a.k.a. tossing a coin and sticking by the outcome).
Two-Face wasn’t The Dark Knight‘s primary villain but simply the outcome of The Joker’s reign of terror. But the film’s poignant handling of his character arc and Aaron Eckhart’s compelling performance gifted us with the best live-action adaptation of the character yet.
8. Selina Kyle / Catwoman
Movie: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Selina Kyle wasn’t the primary villain in The Dark Knight Rises but Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed saga has a way of ensuring that every piece of its ensemble cast has a purpose, and that was certainly the case here. The moment that Anne Hathaway’s cat burgling menace made her way into Wayne Manor, we all knew we were in for a scene stealer of a performance.
A notorious criminal on the run, Selina was looking for a fresh start free from crime, her record, and away from Bane. That fresh start came in the form of the “clean slate” device, which was capable of wiping someone’s digital fingerprint (and digital existence) off every database in the world. The search for that put her directly into the crosshairs of Christian Bale’s Dark Knight, and directly in the middle of the conflict between him and Bane.
Selina was an active antagonist who was out to achieve her goals no matter the cost and we saw her struggle with the fallout of some of those decisions throughout the movie before she ultimately did the right thing in the end and helped Batman save Gotham. She was a figure who walked the line between good and evil, always leaning towards the latter even though she would rather the former. And that is exactly who Catwoman is in the comics, so it goes without saying The Dark Knight Rises nailed her characterization.
7. The Riddler
Movie: The Batman (2022)
The most recent baddie to appear in a Batman movie, The Batman‘s interpretation of The Riddler highlighted how scary the character could be. Portrayed by Paul Dano, this version wasn’t clad in skin-tight green spandex nor did he giggle in a joyous fashion; he was a relentless serial killer using puzzles and traps to achieve his means, finding what he believed to be an equal in The Batman.
The film explores The Riddler’s need to bring those who hide in the shadows out into the light. The character intended to use his puzzles to unearth the corruption within Gotham City in a bid to show its citizens that the GCPD and the system they worked for could not be trusted. And the life-or-death stakes that were involved in every last one of his plans created a chilling sense of urgency that Batman and Gordon felt throughout the whole movie.
In Edward Nashton’s mind, he was every bit the hero as Batman, and his meltdown upon realizing that The Dark Knight didn’t see things his way, was one of the most unnerving scenes in any DC Comics movie. And the fact that he didn’t let that deter him from his plan to “cleanse” the city just highlights how relentless he was.
Dano was incredibly compelling in the role, and this unique reinvention of The Riddler will stay with audiences for a very long time.
6. Bane (and Talia Al Ghul)
Movie: The Dark Knight Rises
The end of the Dark Knight trilogy brought something of a full-circle element to the story, as Bane showed up in Gotham City intent on continuing Ra’s Al Ghul’s work. He was even willing to play the long game, using fear to convince Gothamites to turn on those in power before cutting the city off from the rest of the world and attempting to wipe it off the map with a nuclear bomb. However, it turned out that he was working for Talia Al Ghul, who was also attempting to complete her father’s mission.
Tom Hardy’s Bane is easily one of the most physically imposing villains Batman has ever faced on the big screen. It was a different interpretation of the character from the source material, but what he lacked in venom, he made up for in brute strength and intellect. There is no doubt that Hardy redeemed the character after Batman and Robin‘s poor adaptation and it showcased to a much larger audience why Bane is a force to be reckoned with.
The moment in which he breaks Batman is particularly harrowing and it single-handedly captured the same sensation of awe as the infamous moment from the comics. The fact that he was carrying out Talia and Ra’s Al Ghul’s wishes made it that much more personal.
Separately, the duo left a little to be desired because Bane became obsolete when Talia revealed herself and even she spent most of the movie off-screen being the secret big bad, but as a unit, they were incredibly formidable and very nearly accomplished Ra’s Al Ghul’s mission to bring down Gotham. Once again, only Batman could stop them.
5. Ra’s Al Ghul
Movie: Batman Begins (2005)
Batman Begins pulled a phenomenal twist on audiences when it revealed that Henri Ducard, Bruce Wayne’s friend and confidante from his time at the League of Shadows, was actually Ra’s Al Ghul. We had already met a man named Ra’s Al Ghul earlier in the movie; one that cleverly bore quite the resemblance to Ra’s in the source material to throw us off the scent. And it worked, shocking us all when he was killed off early into the film and then again when Ducard revealed the truth.
But of course Ducard was Ra’s. It wouldn’t have made sense for a movie like Batman Begins to use an actor the caliber of Liam Neeson as anything but the primary villain. So when he revealed himself to be the mastermind behind everything going on in Gotham with the corrupt cops, Falcone, and the Scarecrow, it all fell into place.
Neeson was suave, calm and collective – everything we imagine Ra’s Al Ghul to be. But it was the kinship he had with Bruce early on in the movie that made their eventual conflict that much more compelling. Batman’s first real test in Christopher Nolan’s story was an old friend and ally who taught him everything he knew and held a corrupted version of the same vision.
They both wanted to save Gotham in their own ways, but Ra’s Al Ghul’s violent method of wiping the city from the face of the earth put him in direct conflict with his greatest student. And that student was intent on proving once and for all that he could be Gotham’s watchful protector.
Oh, what a conflict!
4. The Joker
Movie: Batman (1989)
The first modern day superhero movie required the first modern day supervillain as a threat. That’s where Jack Nicholson’s Joker came in. A mobster double-crossed by his boss Carl Grissom, Jack Napier fell into a vat of chemicals after a run-in with Batman. But after that, he rose from the chemicals as a changed man. As he told Grissom, Jack Napier was dead, but you could call him The Joker.
While the Clown Prince of Crime’s origins were still something of a secret in the comic books, Batman‘s adaptation of the Joker character himself was quite comic-accurate for the time. It did throw in some original aspects, such as the fact that he was the one who killed Bruce Wayne’s parents and that he had become a homicidal artist intent on making art, but it was still inherently The Joker.
Nicholson’s flamboyant performance immortalized him as one of the great villains of cinema. He squared off against Michael Keaton’s Dark Knight remarkably well, with the added history between the two characters making Batman’s first test as Gotham’s new hero a much more personal one.
This was the Joker Batman needed, and he has stood the test of time so, so well. And that laugh. Oh, that sinister laugh.
3. The Penguin
Movie: Batman Returns (1992)
What is there to no say about Danny DeVito’s performance as The Penguin in Batman Returns? Should we talk about how terrifying DeVito was in all that makeup and prosthetics? Maybe we should mention the film’s macabre reinvention of Oswald Cobblepot’s backstory? Then again, we could also discuss how the iconic Batman villain felt more larger-than-life than ever before.
The truth is that you could mention any of the above talking points, and still have places to go. The character was nothing like his comic book counterpart and yet became his finest adaptation. It all had to do with the brilliant mind of Tim Burton, who took a much greater control over the 1992 sequel than he did in the 1989 original – and it showed.
Oswald Cobblepot wasn’t an evil, infamous and renowned mobster in Gotham, he was the son of a rich family who was thrown into the sewer by his parents after exhibiting troubling behavior. Raised by Penguins and a crime family circus, he returned to the surface in the hopes of either being welcomed as a hero or to bring about Gotham’s reckoning. When a failed mayoral campaign backfired, he turned to the second option.
Danny DeVito was remarkably frightening in the role. He committed to it completely, too, growling and grunting his way through every line of dialogue to ensure that Batman Returns would leave us cowering behind our cushions (and yet unable to look away). Mission accomplished, Mr. Penguin.
2. Catwoman
Movie: Batman Returns (1992)
Batman Returns really was the gift that just kept on giving, especially in the villains department. Joining DeVito’s game-changing Penguin was Catwoman, who has become one of the biggest pop-culture female icons of all time, thanks in no small part to Michelle Pfeiffer’s incredibly powerful performance.
You can also see Burton’s influence on this character too, as the movie chose to explore the dark side of Selina Kyle’s story. Selina, an oppressed assistant constantly put down by the men in her life, decided to take back the power, leaning into her strength to become Catwoman. As she told that woman in the alley, she didn’t need a “Batman” to save her. She had died and been reborn as her own hero – one that was willing to take it to anyone who got in her way.
Selina’s growth was one of the many aspects of brilliance in Batman Returns. She was a force to be reckoned with on-screen (as was Pfeiffer), proving to Batman and The Penguin that she was an equal.
When all was said and done in Batman Returns, the zoo was destroyed and The Penguin and Max Shreck were dead, and it was Catwoman who rose to watch the Bat-Signal. She outlasted all of those who wronged her and stood tall in the process. An image – and a portrayal – we will never forget.
1. The Joker
Movie: The Dark Knight (2008)
Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight needs no introduction. It won the late, great actor an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, a category that has a reputation for overlooking comic book movies. And Ledger’s performance was so captivating, so enthralling that it broke down those barriers and made history.
The best way to describe his Joker would be an anarchist. He was a product of a broken city that took great pleasure in holding up a mirror and showing it the dark reflection looking back at it. He believed that anyone – no matter how good or bad – was capable of being corrupted, and he was going to make it his mission to prove that theory. He ultimately succeeded by corrupting the city’s “White Knight” Harvey Dent, but he also failed, finally accepting that an entity like Batman was truly incorruptible.
This Joker is easily one of the most unsettling movie villains of all time. From “you wanna know how I got these scars?” to the pleasure he took in getting pummelled by the Dark Knight, this was a man who truly got a kick out of the upset he was causing, and yet could remain unnervingly calm throughout all of it.
As Alfred put it, he just wanted to watch the world burn.