From the Joker to the Riddler to Lex Luthor to General Zod, the DC Comics universe is home to some of the most iconic villains ever created. Directors like Tim Burton and Richard Donner have faithfully adapted the cartoonish bad guys from the pages of comic books, while filmmakers like Christopher Nolan and Matt Reeves have come up with more grounded takes on the characters.
Not every DC villain performance is as great as Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning turn as the Joker or Michelle Pfeiffer’s definitive portrayal of Catwoman, but that’s what makes the best work stand out.
Tom Hardy As Bane
When he was cast to terrorize Christian Bale’s Batman The Dark Knight Rises, Tom Hardy was faced with the insurmountable challenge of following up Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning turn as the Joker.
Hardy’s Bane might not be quite as chilling as the Joker – his supervillain acting is much more hammed-up than Ledger’s sinister performance – but he’s equally iconic.
John Cena As Peacemaker
James Gunn’s reboot/sequel The Suicide Squad introduced John Cena’s Peacemaker as a member of the titular team. However, halfway through the movie, he’s revealed to be a double agent. Peacemaker made his debut as a straightforward comedic character, but Cena showed a glimpse of his dramatic capabilities with a glimmer of remorse when he kills Rick Flag.
With his dying breath, Flag quips, “Peacemaker... what a joke.” That really gets to Peacemaker, as he realizes he’s become the thing he wanted to destroy. The wrestler-turned-actor would get the opportunity to demonstrate his full range when the character got his own spin-off series. In this spin-off, Cena rounded out Peacemaker as a surprisingly sympathetic figure.
Jack Nicholson As The Joker
When Adam West had defined Batman as a campy comedic character, Tim Burton came along to inject some much-needed dark Frank Miller edge into the Caped Crusader’s on-screen adventures.
The always-brilliant Jack Nicholson played the Joker with the same horror-movie menace as Jack Torrance. Nicholson redefined the character following Cesar Romero’s unforgettable yet cartoonish portrayal from the West series.
Colin Farrell As The Penguin
Colin Farrell is unrecognizable under all the makeup and prosthetics in Batman Returns.
He plays Oswald Cobblepot as a straightforward mafioso. His line deliveries have the same lyrical, darkly comic inflections that Robert De Niro brings to similar mobster roles in Scorsese movies.
Terence Stamp As General Zod
Still praised as one of the greatest superhero sequels ever made, the wildly entertaining Superman II introduced fans to General Zod, a Kryptonian criminal leader that Superman accidentally frees from the Phantom Zone, played spectacularly by Terence Stamp.
Stamp turned Supes’ one-note nemesis from the comics into a terrifying sadist. The actor is responsible for one of the most iconic moments in the history of comic book movies: “Kneel before Zod!”
Jim Carrey As The Riddler
It would be an understatement to say that Batman Forever is not everyone’s favorite Batman movie, but Jim Carrey gave an undeniably memorable performance as the Riddler. Like many Batman movie villains, Carrey’s Riddler stole the spotlight from the Bat himself (in this case, played by Val Kilmer). Some fans felt that Carrey’s performance was over-the-top, but there’s no such thing as “over-the-top” in a movie that’s as wild and out there as this one.
Carrey’s acting style was perfect for the goofy, hypercamp, Adam Westian tone that Joel Schumacher was going for. Tommy Lee Jones makes a futile effort to match Carrey’s manic energy; he should’ve played Two-Face as the “straight man” to Carrey’s Riddler antics.
Margot Robbie As Harley Quinn
The DCEU got off to a shaky start, but Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn was the clear breakout star early in this cinematic universe’s development. Robbie captured Harley’s signature sly wit and manic energy to a T.
Across a handful of movie appearances, Robbie has played Harley as both a straightforward villain who enjoys chaos as much as her evil ex and a more sympathetic antihero who’s fiercely loyal to her friends.
Michelle Pfeiffer As Catwoman
Michelle Pfeiffer played Catwoman as the quintessential femme fatale seen in the comics, but she also brought an unnerving edge that matched Tim Burton’s gloomy, expressionistic, horror-tinged vision of Gotham City.
Pfeiffer’s Catwoman is also a sympathetic feminist antihero, as her masked vigilante crusade is the result of violence and abuse at the hands of the powerful men in her life, particularly her unscrupulous boss Max Shreck.
Gene Hackman As Lex Luthor
Christopher Reeve’s Man of Steel took on his arch-nemesis Lex Luthor in his first big-screen outing (and his second and fourth big-screen outings). Luthor was played by the great Gene Hackman.
Hackman has a full head of hair for a lot of the movie, but he makes up for his lack of physical resemblance to Luthor by capturing the megalomaniac’s eccentricities and delusions of grandeur.
Heath Ledger As The Joker
Easily the most iconic performance as a DC Comics villain is Heath Ledger’s turn as the Joker, for which he won a posthumous Oscar. Ledger’s Alex DeLarge-inspired Clown Prince of Crime is a truly mesmerizing on-screen presence who steals every scene he’s in.
Ledger’s Joker isn’t just ranked among the greatest comic book movie villains of all time; he’s ranked alongside Darth Vader and the Wicked Witch of the West as one of the greatest movie villains, period.
