Clayface

• Debut: Detective Comics #40 (June 1940)
• Created By: Bob Kane & Bill Finger

Clayface has become incredibly beloved by comic book fans, and this is likely due to how he has been used in animated television or streaming shows. However, it is clear that Clayface has been one of Batman’s most notable villains. Of course, many comic book fans will likely ask: which Clayface are we talking about here? It is true that there are quite a few versions of the character. We are going with the most notable version of Clayface, Basil Karlo. For those unaware, Basil was a B-list actor who might not be getting the big roles he believes he deserves. Yet he’s not a bad person, or so we assumed. However, when he finds out that a remake of his classic horror film, Dread Castle, is being remade without him… he loses it.

He played a character named Clayface in another film and put the costume for that character on as he went to the set. Basil then began ending the lives of the actors he killed in the same order they were ended in the movie. He then plans to end the actor’s life playing the “Clayface Killer.” However, he is stopped by Batman. In the Post-Crisis version of Clayface, he gains the power to shapeshift, duplicate, and melt. Often appearing like a huge mud glob with incredible durability. While there are times his mental health is in order, thus allowing him to be completely sane of his actions, he often remains a villain. Although, with at times less ending of lives compared to his psychopathic tendencies from before.

Two-Face

• Debut: Detective Comics #66 (August 1942)
• Created By: Bob Kane & Bill Finger

Life isn’t as easy as flipping a coin and going with the choice the coin lands on. Well, we thought that before Two-Face came along. Originally, Harvey Dent was a bright, young district attorney for Gotham City. However, Dent is scarred terribly on the left side of his face when a mob boss, Sal Maroni, throws acidic chemicals at him during a court trial. This causes a huge mental breakdown for Dent. Now insane, he becomes obsessed with the number two, duality overall, and the good and evil paradox. Of course, this origin is fleshed out a bit where a similar incident happens but Harvey actually has dissociative identity disorder (or D.I.D.).

He adopts the Two-Face name, as the other side of him is now the alter to his condition. It is connected to the abuse he dealt with from his father as a child. Thus, the mutated version of him seems to take on the personality of his father. Of course, Two-Face makes every important decision by flipping a coin. He gives himself two choices and goes with whatever the coin lands on. Yet this coin has a head on each side, except one of the heads is scarred to separate it from the other. Harvey might not have superpowers but he is a genius, skilled marksman, and fighter. The latter two even increase as he is trained by more experienced fighters.

Poison Ivy

• Debut: Batman #181 (April 1966)
• Created By: Robert Kanigher & Sheldon Moldoff

Poison Ivy technically does not have bad aspirations. She wants mankind to take better care of Mother Earth, which seems like a fair ask. However, mankind is not exactly proving today that they are willing to do this. Originally just an Earth-loving scientist named Dr. Pamela Isley, she is always upset at how mankind treats Earth but clearly cannot do much about it herself. The botanist is working at a local university when she is seduced by her professor, Dr. Jason Woodrue. The normally shy and reserved Isley is injected with poisons and toxins by Woodrue as an experiment. These toxins and poisons nearly kill her twice, but Isley manages to live. However, she is now transformed but insane from the experiments.

This is something that Woodrue found out the hard way. Her shy nature is gone in favor of an open, seductive woman who uses pheromones or kisses to get humans to do as she commands. Those kisses if held long enough can end lives too due to their toxicity. Pamela also finds she can control plants and other Earth-based materials, making her a massive meta-human threat. Taking on the Poison Ivy moniker, she becomes an eco-terrorist with the goal of forcing normal humans to take care of the Earth. Of course, this makes her a big problem for the Dark Knight. Her constant run-ins with him make her one of the biggest Batman Rogues Gallery villains he has!

The Riddler

• Debut: Detective Comics #140 (October 1948)
• Created By: Bill Finger & Dick Sprang

The Riddler might not have superpowers, but he has constantly been a difficult problem for Batman. The reason? He is just as smart as Batman, but a complete wildcard who is sometimes impossible to read. That makes Riddler a true threat every time. His name alone sort of foreshadows this. His real name is Edward Nigma, which is meant to be a play on the word “enigma.” This is defined as a person or thing that is difficult to understand. People assume Riddler is only about being obsessed with elaborate riddles and puzzles. It is true that he enjoys testing Batman and attempting to prove his intellectual superiority, yet it is so much more than that.

Riddler is also obsessed with everyone knowing how smart he is. This is why he makes a theatrical production of sorts out of his crimes. Everything is over the top for him. Thus, he is begging for Batman or anyone else to try and stop him. Ultimately, his obsession leads him to even utilize other villains to help him pull off his insane plans. The interesting part is that usually, Riddler is committing a crime while he is putting Batman or the cops through his riddles and death traps. Thus proving his criminal mastermind tactics hold up well. There is a reason he’s one of the most notable Batman Rogues Gallery villains.

Bane

• Debut: Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1 (January 1993)
• Created By: Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, Graham Nolan

Bane is not a big dumb moron-like the character has been presented at times. Bane’s story originally began badly. His father had been a revolutionary that escaped Santa Prisca before he could go to prison. Therefore, the court decided that his son would serve his father’s life sentence. This forced Bane to live out his entire childhood and part of his early life in prison. In spite of being imprisoned, Bane developed impressive skills as he learned from others. He also read as many books as he could, then spent any spare time bodybuilding in the prison gym. Of course, Bane ended up learning 6 languages due to the many prisoners that came through.

But he had to grow up early, ending the lives of prisoners due to the merciless nature of prison. Bane’s social standing in the prison made officials take notice, leading him to be a test subject for the “Venom” drug. One of the few to survive its use, Bane used the Venom to help him escape prison. Interestingly, Bane is terrified of bats so upon escaping he wanted to go to Gotham City. As they feared a bat too, the Batman, and now Bane wants to end Batman’s life. He seems to believe Batman is the personification of a demonic bat. Bane nearly does this as he iconically “broke the bat” when he broke Batman’s back, putting him out of action for a while.

Scarecrow

• Debut: World’s Finest Comics #3 (Fall 1941)
• Created By: Bob Kane & Bill Finger

Dr. Jonathan Crane was mentally abused in school by bullies, many of which claimed he looked like Ichabod Crane from the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. This actually gave Crane a lifelong obsession with fear, and somehow weaponizing it. After being humiliated by a bully and rejected by a cheerleader, he shows up to the Senior Prom wearing a stereotypical Scarecrow costume with a gun. In all of this chaos, the bully gets into a car accident and is paralyzed permanently while the crash ends the life of the cheerleader. Still obsessed with fear, he earns a psychology degree and ends up taking a position at Arkham Asylum.

There, he performs many fear-inducing experiments on the criminals. He ends up perfecting the infamous “fear toxin” there and often uses it on others, including Batman, to avoid being caught. Utilizing fear forces people to see things that are not really there, as they see the very thing they are afraid of. Also, unlike the other Batman Rogues Gallery villains, Scarecrow is not committing crimes for money. Rather, it is for the ultimate thrill and power of making people fear for their lives. Of course, while he is smart, Scarecrow is also very experienced with multiple weapons and has shown impressive hand-to-hand combat skills too.

Ra’s al Ghul

• Debut: Batman #232 (June 1971)
• Created By: Dennis O’Neil, Neal Adams, Julius Schwartz

Whether he is called “the demon” or “the demon’s head,” Ra’s al Ghul is certainly a massive threat. As the leader of the League of Assassins, he helped to train several notable villains Batman has fought over the years. In some versions of Batman’s history, Bruce Wayne actually trained with the League to become the superhero he is today. While other villains are experienced, Ra’s al Ghul goes well beyond that as he has been alive for a very long time. The length will depend on the story, but it usually tends to be several hundred years. Thus, he has learned from many major warriors throughout history. How does he stay alive so long?

He is about to achieve this through a series of Lazurus Pits, which can heal the body and even bring some back to life. Due to his long life, he’s one of the greatest tacticians Batman has ever faced. Ra’s is also a better hand-to-hand fighter than Batman, as he knows nearly every martial art to ever exist. He has gotten in Batman’s path several times over the years, with one incident involving al Ghul trying to level Gotham entirely. Ra’s is not without honor and usually refuses to lie as a result. In spite of being one of the best Batman Rogues Gallery villains, Bruce Wayne is his grandson’s father. Thus, he often refuses to end Batman’s life.

The Joker

• Debut: Batman #1 (April 1940)
• Created By: Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson

Joker has done some horrific things in his long history, but he has no true origin that helps us know why he is as he is. Yet often, he realized he could not really ever hurt Batman physically enough for it to matter. Thus, he went after others he loved. In the infamous “Death in the Family” storyline, Joker ends Jason Todd’s life. Of course, Todd was Batman’s newest Robin. This was a massive blow, but Joker didn’t care. During The Killing Joke storyline, The Joker finds out Barbara Gordon is Batgirl. This leads him to track her down and “sexually assault” her, while also beating her to an inch of her life.

She was also paralyzed in the incident, and DC Comics kept this canon for the mainline universe. It does not stop there, as Joker has also done things like blow up a school and hospital. Perhaps his most recent horrifying action was making Superman think Lois Lane was Doomsday, thus resulting in the Man of Steel flying into space with her. Lane was pregnant and contained a timer connected to her heart. If her heart stopped, the timer would too. Which had been connected to several bombs all over Metropolis. Which meant he lost his wife, unborn child, and Metropolis in minutes all due to a joke by The Joker. He is the greatest villain, so how could he not be the best of the Batman Rogues Gallery villains?

Where do we find this stuff? Here are our Sources:

DC Comics

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Cleveland Clinic

Den of Geek

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