There are dozens of villains running rampant throughout Gotham City, but many of them would not exist without the direct involvement of Batman. Gotham City was overrun with crime even before Bruce Wayne donned the cowl of the Dark Knight, but his arrival on the scene kicked it up a notch. The city’s criminals used to consist of gangs, corrupt officials and common thugs. After Batman began his war on crime, Gotham was suddenly overflowing with larger-than-life villains who matched his level of theatricality.
There are a select few members of Batman’s rogues’ gallery who only came into existence because of the Caped Crusader. These villains arrived either as a direct response to his existence, or by Batman’s actions literally resulting in their creation. Here are the top 11 Batman villains that exist only because of some kind of interaction with the Dark Knight himself.
11 Jason Todd
Batman’s Own Sidekick Becomes a Bloodthirsty Vigilante
While Jason Todd isn’t a villain today, he definitely was when he first reappeared in Batman #635 by Judd Winick, Doug Mahnke, Tom Nguyen, Alex Sinclair, and Pat Brosseau. While Red Hood is much more firmly a light anti-hero nowadays, when Jason first reappeared Red Hood was undeniably a villain for the Bat-Family. He was the perfect antithesis of the Bat-Family, having gone through all the same training as they had and knowing all of them intimately. This made him an absolutely perfect foil for every single member that he went up against, and it was all because of Batman’s training.
10 Flashpoint Batman
Bruce Wayne’s Alternate Universe Father is a Very Different Dark Knight
In most Batman stories, Bruce Wayne’s parents died in Crime Alley, which is what inspired Bruce to become Batman. In other timelines, things didn’t exactly play out this way. The Flashpoint timeline sees Thomas Wayne becoming Batman after the death of young Bruce in Crime Alley. Thomas was a much more brutal Batman, as seen in Flashpoint #1 by Geoff Johns, Andy Kubert, Sandra Hope, Alex Sinclair, and Nick. J. Napolitano. Originally, Thomas was just a more brutal version of Batman, but still a hero. However, during the events of City of Bane, Thomas Wayne’s Batman acts as a major antagonist, with his motivation to force Bruce to give up being Batman. This means Thomas was only Batman because of losing Bruce, and he was only a villain because of Bruce being Batman.
9 Azrael
Batman’s Replacement is Possibly Worse Than His Enemies
After the events of Knightfall showed Bane breaking Batman, Bruce needed a successor and chose Azrael aka Jean-Paul Valley for the position. Unfortunately for everyone, Jean-Paul wasn’t the most mentally stable individual and slowly started to lose his mind. This culminated with Jean-Paul allowing a criminal to die, which also condemned their hostage to death. Jean-Paul would become increasingly more violent towards criminals until Batman was able to return home and defeat him, retaking the mantle. While Jean-Paul is an ally to the Bat-Family now, he only started losing his mind and turning into a full villain due to the responsibilities Batman put on him. It all started way back in Batman #492 by Doug Moench, Norm Breyfogle, Adrienne Roy, and Richard Starkings.
8 Batzarro
This Bizarro Batman Wouldn’t Exist Without the Real Dark Knight
The Bizarro characters usually come from an alternate dimension where everything is the opposite. The most famous example of this is Bizarro Superman, but other variants exist. Since Batman exists in this world, so too does Batzarro in the Bizarro world as seen in Superman/Batman #20 by Jeph Loeb, Ed McGuinness, Dexter Vines, Lee Loughridge, and Richard Starkings. Without Batman, Batzarro wouldn’t exist, therefore, Batzarro is a villain created by Batman. While Batzarro isn’t nearly as dangerous as some others on this list, characters like Red Hood or Jean-Paul Valley have been redeemed. Due to the nature of Batzarro, he’ll never be redeemed. He’ll always be the exact opposite of Batman.
7 Master Wayne
This Villain is Inspired by Bruce Wayne, Not Batman
First appearing in Batman #38 by Tom King, Travis Moore, Giulia Brusco, and Clayton Cowles, Matthew Warner aka Master Wayne was one of the stranger Batman villains. Matthew was a young rich child who became absolutely obsessed with the legacy of Batman’s parents. Because of this, he recreated the Wayne murders by killing his own parents, and then, to cover his tracks, he went on a killing spree across Gotham City. He did all of this simply because he wanted to become like Bruce Wayne.
6 Brother Eye
Batman’s Artificial Intelligence Turns On Him
One of Batman’s many contingency plans was Brother Eye. After Batman’s trust in the Justice League was broken, he created the artificial intelligence known as Brother Eye to spy on all superheroes on Earth. Eventually, as these things often go, Brother Eye went rogue and became a massive threat in its own right. Brother Eye first appeared in Countdown to Infinite Crisis #1 by Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, Judd Winick, Ed Benes, Phil Jimenez, Rags Morales, Ivan Reis, Jesus Saiz, Michael Bair, Moose Baumann, and Nick J. Napolitano. Brother Eye would later go rogue during the events of Infinite Crisis, which was only possible because Batman created him.
5 Karma
Batman Tortures a Terrorist Into Becoming a Supervillain
Karma was just another one of the many criminals that Batman took down. Karma was originally a Markovian terrorist whom Batman defeated in a rather brutal way. Instead of simply capturing him and turning him over to the authorities, Batman doused Karma in fear toxin and unleashed a swarm of bats on him. This left a mental scar on Karma, and he turned his attention from Markovia to getting revenge on Batman, as seen in Detective Comics #983 by Bryan Edward Hill, Miguel Mendonca, Diana Egea, Adriano Lucas, and Sal Cipriano.
4 The Victim Syndicate
The Collateral Damage of Batman’s War on Crime Comes Back to Haunt Him
The Victim Syndicate first appeared in Detective Comics #943 by James Tynion IV, Alvaro Martinez Bueno, Raul Fernandez, Brad Anderson, and Marilyn Patrizio. This was a group made up of people who felt Batman had hurt them during his battles with various villains. Considered collateral damage in Batman’s war on crime, they blamed Batman for their fates. Led by the First Victim, the group intended to destroy Batman and “save” Gotham City from him. Ultimately, this didn’t work out, but this was a team of several members who all turned to villainy because of their interactions with Batman.
3 The Dark Knights
Batman’s Nightmares from Across the Multiverse Band Together
The Dark Knights were evil versions of Batman from the Dark Multiverse. The Dark Multiverse is an alternate reality that’s born of a hero’s nightmares and greatest fears. Because of this, the Dark Knights, whose members are literally endless, wouldn’t exist without Batman. These Dark Knights are all versions of Bruce Wayne from different worlds in the Dark Multiverse who turned to evil. These horrifying nightmare versions of Batman first appeared in Dark Days: The Casting #1 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Jim Lee, Andy Kubert, John Romita Jr, Scott Williams, Klaus Janson, Danny Miki, Alex Sinclair, Jeremiah Skipper, and Steve Wands.
2 The Batman Who Laughs
A Chilling Combination of Batman and the Joker Unleashes Hell
The leader of the Dark Knights, the Batman Who Laughs was a perfect fusion of Batman and the Joker. All of Batman’s abilities and his brilliant mind combined with Joker’s complete sadism and pure evil heart. This character almost ended the multiverse several times. He is literally Bruce Wayne’s worst fear made manifest. He made hs first appearance in Dark Days: The Casting #1 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Jim Lee, Andy Kubert, John Romita Jr, Scott Williams, Klaus Janson, Danny Miki, Alex Sinclair, Jeremiah Skipper, and Steve Wands. The Batman Who Laughs would be a major antagonist for several years before he was finally killed by Wonder Woman at the conclusion of Dark Nights: Death Metal.
1 The Joker
The Joker and Batman are Two Sides of the Same Coin
Without a doubt, the Joker is the most iconic Batman villain ever created. Batman and Joker have been fighting one another for almost one hundred years at this point, and it doesn’t seem like they’ll be stopping anytime soon. First appearing in Batman #1 by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Sheldon Moldoff, DC has intentionally kept the backstory of the Joker vague, but over time some details have slipped out. A consistent detail of the Joker’s backstory is that Batman always had a hand in his creation. Be it through the Joker being a direct response to Batman’s existence or Batman knocking a criminal into a vat of acid, no matter what, one thing is clear: without Batman there is no Joker.
