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The Top 20 Batman Movie Villains of All Time

With Matt Reeve's The Batman introducing us to his take on some familiar faces in the Batman Universe, we thought we'd see where they stack up against the Best Batman Movie Villains of All Time:


#20. Colin Farrell as The Penguin

(The Batman)

Colin Farrell's a phenomenal actor. But I couldn't help but think, "why not just cast a fat ugly guy in this role instead of caking a hunk in prosthetics?" This is America, surely there's no shortage of overweight ugly people out there, right? Regardless, Farrell does fine as a grounded iteration of the character but he's not tasked with doing much more in The Batman than just presenting a larger than life Mafioso presence. We'll see how he develops in the upcoming HBO Max series...

#19. Marion Cotillard as Talia al Ghul

(The Dark Knight Rises)

As a brilliant way to tie things back to The Caped Crusader's origin story in Batman Begins, Marion Cotillard is Trojan horsed into Christopher Nolan's epic conclusion of The Dark Knight trilogy as the daughter of Bruce Wayne's fallen trainer Ra's al Ghul and the true mastermind behind Bane's takeover of Gotham City. It's an incredible third act twist but unfortunately, it leaves little room for Cotillard to fully explore the character's villainous side as she spends the majority of the film as Bruce's latest fling.

#18. Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman

(The Batman)

Zoe Kravitz wasn't a bad Catwoman by any means, she just didn't get a whole lot to do in Matt Reeves' The Batman other than stare at sunsets with Robert Pattinson and follow the same basic archetype of Anne Hathaway's Catwoman from The Dark Knight Rises. Like Farrell, I think this is a character that could definitely rise up the rankings the more we see of here but so far - there's not a lot to go off of.

#17. The Phantasm

(Batman: Mask of the Phantasm)

There's a fine line between justice and revenge. The Phantasm is a perfect encapsulation of how closely one can walk that line while teetering on the criminal side of things. Which I guess makes the character a little similar to Catwoman but with this particular storyline she's got a little more of a direct motive involved. Great character design also, it was truly eerie whenever the Phantasm showed up to exact it's own brand of "justice". And even though Phantasm is the title character of this Animated Series spin-off, it's impossible not to be outshined by the Joker.

#16. Christopher Walken as Max Shreck

(Batman Returns)

Tim Burton's fantastical run as the creative force behind Batman gave us a ton of incredibly visceral villains. And while the larger than life portrayals of Catwoman and the Penguin get top billing for Batman Returns, when it all boils down to the final confrontation, it's just a regular greedy white businessman left standing as the most evil of them all.

#15. Jim Carrey as the Riddler

(Batman Forever)

There's not a whole lot of redeeming qualities to be found in either of Joel Schumacher's neon drenched Batman sequels but Jim Carrey's performance as The Riddler shows a promising dramatic turn for the comedic actor - at least until he gets into his Riddler costume and goes full heel trying to out ham Tommy Lee Jones. Still, somehow Tommy Lee Jones feels like an absolute cartoon while Carrey feels like he has a little more depth.

#14. Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn

(Suicide Squad, Birds Of Prey, The Suicide Squad)

Margot Robbie's quirky, nihilistic nymph might be the largest success story to date for the DCEU, but that's really not saying much. Robbie brings a lot of wit and charm to a character that never really successfully escapes the shadow of her former lover and hasn't been explored much beyond being loveably unhinged. Hopefully that changes but for now, she's really just an underutilized source of potential being hoisted up as a marketing tool.

#13. Paul Dano as the Riddler

(The Batman)

I love Paul Dano, but watching his performance here as The Riddler I was reminded of Jesse Eisenberg's forced ticks in Batman v Superman to try and add depth to a performance that didn't have a lot of room for it. He's so desperately trying to sell you on how unhinged he is under that costume that it just comes off a tad contrived. I absolutely adore the character re-design and his pseudo Zodiac killer / unabomber motives but Dano just oversold it a bit.

#12. Anne Hathaway as Catwoman

(The Dark Knight Rises)

Anne's Catwoman might be a little too preoccupied with snarky one liners but when the final showdown hits and Bruce needs more firepower from someone with a slightly more ambiguous moral compass, she comes through brilliantly. And there's nobody else Bruce Wayne should presumably spend the rest of his retired days with than Selina Kyle.

#11. Tom Hardy as Bane

(The Dark Knight Rises)

Following up The Dark Knight is a big ask. And following up an Oscar winning performance as a Batman villain is an even taller order. But for all that Tom Hardy does to make this character his own, Bane is still just a foot soldier. He's a threatening presence for sure, but he never really has that fundamental danger to him that Ledger's Joker or Neeson's Ghul had. At least he got a much better character design this time around than whatever the hell made him all green and veiny in Batman and Robin.

#10. Mark Hamill as The Joker

(Batman: Mask of the Phantasm)

The Phantasm may get top billing in this feature length foray for the team behind the revered 90's animated series but sneaking in as the unexpected antagonist is Mark Hamill's devilish performance as the Joker, absolutely stealing the show. The sleepy melodramatic romance between Bruce and Andrea really didn't do much for me (especially when presented in the format of an animated film supposedly targeted at younger audiences) but Mark Hamill's Joker does everything he can to salvage this movie on his own. Remarkably enough, he nearly does.

#9. Ewan McGregor as Black Mask

(Birds of Prey)

Batman has an incredibly rich library of villains that haven't made their way into the film series as regularly as Catwoman or The Joker. And while I wasn't exactly chomping at the bit for more Harley Quinn or her Birds of Prey spinoff, I was pleasantly surprised to find Ewan McGregor bringing one of my favorite Batman villains to life as Black Mask. And although Birds of Prey is technically just Batman adjacent, McGregor did such a great job with the character that I really hope he gets to portray the villain one on one sometime with Bruce Wayne in the near future.

#8. Cillian Murphy as Scarecrow

(Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises)

Christopher Nolan regular Cillian Murphy turns in a pretty underrated performance as Scarecrow in Batman Begins, largely because so much time is spent with Neeson's Ra's al Ghul. But the drug induced horror that Scarecrow spreads definitely adds a fun extra layer of suspense to a film that might otherwise feel lacking of a more traditional comic book movie villain. And while Crane pops back up in both Dark Knight sequels, it still would've been nice to have gotten a little more screen time with Scarecrow in full force.

#7. Liam Neeson as Ra's al Ghul

(Batman Begins)

Ra's al Ghul sets the stage for Chris Nolan's Batman universe perfectly. He's just as fleshed out as our hero is - to the point where the audience can even start to sympathize with his ideologies. Which makes him all the more dangerous. Truth be told, Neeson plays the role fairly straight forward but the character of Ghul is so well utilized in the foundation of Wayne's origin that you can't really tell the story of Batman without him.

#6. Joaquin Phoenix as The Joker

(Joker, Joker: Folie a Deux)

In Todd Phillips' 2019 origin story, The Joker is portrayed as a tortured outcast spiraling into the alter-ego of an infamous anti-hero. Phoenix's performance is top notch but I'm still not sure how or if the character really fits into the Batman universe. Not that it necessarily has to, but if this is a list of the Best Batman Villains of All Time, it's hard to really push this incarnation of the character towards the top of the list when his only encounter with Bruce Wayne is through the iron gates of Wayne Manor. Plus, you can't really give it points for originality either when it's basically re-contextualizing Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy for the comic book world.


View our full review of Joker HERE

#5. Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman

(Batman Returns)

Batman Returns doubles down on the overtly dark, Gothic themes Tim Burton introduced in his first trip to Gotham City and his villains personify that perfectly. Selina Kyle is billed as a villain here but she's much more complex than that, toeing the line between vigilante feminist anti-hero and vengeance bound cat burglar. Pfeiffer excels in the role making her at once sympathetic and threatening and the perfect counterpart to Michael Keaton's Batman.

#4. Jack Nicholson as The Joker

(Batman)

Tim Burton and his presentation of Jack Nicholson's homicidal Joker proved to the entertainment industry that comic book movies don't necessarily need to be kid friendly to find an audience. Nicholson's performance is equal parts hilarious and horrifying and sets the template for what was expected for all comic book villains to come. His dark sense of humor matches Burton's tone perfectly and Nicholson's nightmarish laugh is absolutely legendary.

#3. Aaron Eckhart as Two Face

(The Dark Knight)

Not to keep dumping on Tommy Lee Jones but good god, comparing his take on the character to Aaron Eckhart's is like comparing the X-Men: Origins version of Deadpool to the 2016 version. Chris Nolan takes us on another struggle with morality as Harvey Dent tries to fight for justice in all the right ways only to have his ethics shaken to the core when his life is flipped upside down by the chaos of the Joker. Seeing Dent's evolution from the heroic District Attorney hell bent on cleaning up Gotham to hunting down The Batman himself is a vastly overlooked reason as to why the Dark Knight is such a phenomenal film. Ledger may get all the praise but Eckhart deserves a ton of credit as well.

#2. Danny DeVito as The Penguin

(Batman Returns)

I know Burton's Penguin is nothing like the original character but honestly - he's so much better. Having Penguin as a sideshow circus freak trying to campaign as Gotham's comeback kid / mayoral elect in an attempt to corrupt the city from the inside is way more intriguing than a goofy looking mob boss with a long cigarette. The character design is absolutely horrifying and DeVito plays him as such a viciously conniving creature that he and his circus gang are one of the most memorable foes Batman's ever faced - in or outside of the comics. It's a welcomed expansion on the Batman universe.

#1. Heath Ledger as The Joker

(The Dark Knight)

I really don't know how you could put anyone else at #1? Ledger is absolutely unrecognizable in the character - his voice, his mannerisms, his maniacal laughter - it's absolute brilliance. If the Academy couldn't overlook this performance because it resides in a lowly comic book film, how can anyone? From the second we first meet Ledger with his infamous disappearing pencil trick, he leaves a lasting impression on the film world that will likely never be forgotten. It's truly the performance of a lifetime and one that will resonate for generations.


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