Bad guys really make the story. Think about it. There would be little to no entertainment in any superhero movie if there was no conflict. A hero is only as great as his villain. They can't exist without their villains. Superman would be boring without Lex Luthor, Batman would be twiddling his thumbs without the Joker, and The Avengers would be pretty dull unless they had baddies like Thanos or Ultron to face. On the other side of the argument though, villains can exist without heroes. I would gladly watch an entire movie with the Joker running around Gotham causing mischief with no one to stop him.
With comic book movies dominating at the box office this year, and Thanos sitting on top of that massive money haul, the spotlight on villains is bigger than ever. While Thanos may have been the most menacing comic villain we've seen on screen, he isn't the top bad guy. When opening up the comics that these beloved films are based on, there are entire catalogs of villains that have yet to be portrayed on screen. Even the ones that did make it to movies, such as Gren Goblin or Galactus, are much more dangerous and evil than the films imply. Using only the comics as a reference we have compiled a list of the best villains of all time. Marvel villains populate the list more than DC bad guys do, but don't sleep on criminals such as Lex Luthor or Doomsday. And while you may not be surprised with who made the list, their ranking might shock you. So without further adieu, here is our list of the best comic book villains of all time.
Carnage
Carnage is the most homicidal villain in Spider-Man's enormous rogue gallery. Cletus Kasady takes pleasure in murder for no reason at all. There is no motive for his actions other than his own pleasure. Venom's spore that attaches itself to Cletus could not have found a better host. The inmate was a murderer long before getting superpowers, but the merge with Carnage turned him into an unstoppable beast. He breaks out of prison and becomes a plague upon the planet. Spider-Man and Venom even put their differences aside to stop this villain.
Galactus
Thanos is nothing compared to Galactus. Known as the planet eater, the massive villain must consume extensive amounts of life force to sustain his hunger. He is a constant threat, but has struck deals with Earth’s heroes in the past to avoid consuming the planet. He began as a mortal that existed before the big bang. After fusing with a mysterious galactic force which sent him into a billion year gestation period, the mortal emerged as a demi-god. Hungry beyond belief, Galactus began eating planets just to fill him up. He has been known to eat planets for various other reasons, but he is the main force in helping to reshape the universe and keep life in check.
Doomsday
The only villain to really kill Superman was Doomsday. He murdered the Man of Steel in 1992's Death of Superman storyline and has returned many times to smack the hero around after his resurrection. Doomsday is a destructive monstrosity genetically-engineered from ancient Krypton. A mad scientist created a baby in a lab and then thrust him into the harsh environments of early Krypton. When the baby died, he would collect the corpse, reanimate it even stronger than before, and repeat the process. After years of being killed and brought back to life stronger than before, Doomsday grew to hate all life. With the memories of all his deaths etched into his genes, Doomsday travels the galaxy murdering in a fit of rage.
Ultron
Ultron was somewhat of a bust in Avengers: Age of Ultron. James Spader just didn't bring the character to life in the best way possible, but it has more to do with the script than anything. In the comics, Ultron is a parasite upon the universe. Created by Ant-Man, Ultron can only be killed in the same way once. That's right. Every time a hero kills one of Ultron's robots in the comics, he becomes immune to dying that same way again. The ever-resilient and extremely intelligent robot has murdered many heroes, and hopefully, we'll get a better version of him in the MCU one day.
Lex Luthor
When a mortal man can defeat Superman, the strongest man in the galaxy, you know he's a problem. Lex Luthor's intellect, money, and cunning pretty much make him the evil Batman of DC. He even has a suit, although it's less sleek and more of a weapon of mass destruction. Luthor has used his cunning to become the President and disband the Justice League, while manipulating the governments of several countries and even orchestrating chaos with otherworldly beings such as Darkseid. The Billionaire Playboy has been defeated time and time again, only to return with more money, more gadgets, and more rage.
Norman Osborn
The most villainous of all the Green Goblins, Norman Osborn is a threat in every aspect. Not only is he rich and powerful in regular form, but he also has his Goblin persona on top of that. Using Oscorp in a similar fashion as Tony Stark uses Stark Enterprises, Norman has built himself a technological and industrial empire that makes him extremely hard to defeat (and endlessly wealthy). He has the world's politicians in his pocket, and will murder those that stand in his way. He is responsible for the death of Gwen Stacy, and is Spider-Man's number one nemesis. Norman played an integral part in the Sinister Six, and even constructed the Dark Avengers to fool the world into trusting villains. What a guy.
Magneto
Magneto may flirt with the good side, and even play the hero now and then, but he's a villain at his core. Scared from surviving the Holocaust, Magneto made it his mission to make sure mutants never experience the same kind of torture the Jews did in Germany. He's orchestrated terrorist attacks and has held the Earth hostage on several occasions from his home on an Asteroid above the planet. The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants was formed by Magneto, which means all the atrocities committed by Mystique, The Blob, Toad, Pyro, and others all trace back to the Master of Magnetism. Although he may refuse to kill another mutant unless absolutely necessary, Magneto has little issue with murdering homo sapiens at an alarming rate.
Thanos
Most of the world was introduced to Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, but the mad titan has been a staple in the comics for decades. The movies play with Thanos’ origin to give him a more rational reason to collect the Infinity Stones, but the comics tell the story very differently. Thanos falls in love with Death, who is shown as a woman. In order to prove his love and devotion to the Queen of the Dead, Thanos collects the stones to eradicated life in the galaxy to offer trillions of souls to her as a token of his love. Now that’s psychotic. Josh Brolin will return as the purple bad guy in Avengers: End Game, which is possibly the most heavily anticipated movie of all time.
Dr. Doom
The man with the ugly face let insecurity tarnish his soul. Dr. Doom has been written as a character with a heavily scarred face but in some reiterations, he has just one scratch across his head that he is ashamed of. Once a handsome man, Doom’s jealousy of Reed Richards, love for Sue, and his own insecurities drove him to become a supervillain. Doom is a constant plight to the heroes in the Marvel universe, and can be considered a bad guy on Thanos’ level of villainy. Doom has wielded the fabled Infinity Gauntlet, has made himself a God, and has killed off several heroes in his storied history.
The Joker
This Batman villain is the epitome of evil. There have been several backstories created for The Joker, ranging from the comics to the films and animated series. The most popular origin story for the Clown Prince of Crime though comes from The Killing Joke. Alan Moore parallels the story of Bruce Wayne with that of The Joker in the classic tale. He highlighted the fact that just one bad day turned both men into the people they are today. Heath Ledger brought the best on-screen Joker to life, but Mark Hamill will always be a personal favorite for voicing the character for decades starting with the animated series of the 90’s.