Batman has one of the most iconic rogues galleries in all comic books – but when Batman writers have dozens upon dozens of villains to choose from, some are bound to fall by the wayside. Others might pop up here or there, without ever getting their opportunity to steal the spotlight, and possibly elevate themselves to a higher tier of adversary for the Caped Crusader.
It is understandable that most writers want to do the next big Joker story, to give readers a new take on Two-Face, to put their stamp on Scarecrow, but consequently, this leads to some viable villains remaining underused. Below is a list of eight Batman villains who are due to return and make an impact, as well as two who have recently resurfaced.
10 Ratcatcher
Otis Flannegan was a former exterminator who worked in Gotham City, who eventually turned to crime. He was promptly arrested and sent to Blackgate Penitentiary. It was during his stay at prison that Otis somehow learned how to communicate with sewer rats, training them to do his bidding. This was the origin of the Ratcatcher; from then on, he became a surprisingly formidable foe to Batman. Using his rats, he could spy on everything in the city, and more distressingly, spread deadly diseases at will. Over time, Ratcatcher has been mostly forgotten as a Batman rogue, with his last appearance being a cameo as one of Joker’s minions in Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing.
9 Jane Doe
A lot of Batman’s enemies rely on brute strength to try and overtake the Dark Knight, but this was not the case for Jane Doe. Jane Doe was one of the few villains who managed to operate for quite a while in Gotham City without Batman noticing her. Jane Doe was depicted as a master of disguise, to the point her abilities seemingly rivaled actual shapeshifters. Her goals were not as grand in scope as some of Batman’s most dangerous foes, but was no less sinister; she wanted nothing more than to kill someone and steal their identity, to truly become them, so that she could finally have a happy life. This mades Jane Doe one of Batman’s creepiest enemies, which is why it’s so surprising that after the New 52, she has barely been used at all.
8 Flamingo
Eduardo Flamingo used to be a good man ,who fought against the mob and corruption in his city – but when the mob captured Eduardo, they tortured him, eventually brainwashing him into being their most brutal hitman. Since then, Flamingo has been an absolute terror to anyone he comes across; he very nearly killed Damian Wayne in their first encounter. Despite Flamingo’s tragic origin, outside his first appearance, he has mostly been relegated to the role of a basic henchman, with no plotlines focused solely on him. Because of this, the people who transformed Flamingo into the monster he is have managed to get away with it, and Flamingo continues to show up sporadically as generic, low-level fodder to this day.
7 Clayface 3
Preston Payne was a brilliant boy, but unfortunately suffered a horrific physical disfigurement at birth. This unfortunately made Preston the target of mockery throughout his entire life, and as a result, he desperately sought out a cure. Learning of the supercriminal known as Clayface, Preston visited Matt Hagen, the second Clayface, in prison, begged him to help if he could. From this encounter, Preston acquired a vial of Matt’s blood, which he experimented on, hoping to gain the same powers as Clayface. While this seemed to work at first, it was unfortunately only a temporary cure, one that would have tragic consequences.
While on a date Preston began to melt like a wax candle. When his horrified date tried to escape, Preston grabbed her, causing her to melt instead. From this point on Preston, would need to wear a protective suit, lest he melt anyone he touches. However, if he did not touch someone else, and melt them, he suffered horrible pain. Despite this compelling character dynamic, this version of Batman’s villain Clayface was almost never used once the New 52 took over.
6 Karma
Batman has made a lot of enemies over the years, but one of the most dangerous and least used was a man called Fleet Delmar, a Markovian terrorist. After launching another terror attack, he was stopped by Batman, who doused him in fear toxin and had him attacked by wild bats. Naturally, this left a pretty intense impact on Fleet. Swearing revenge against Batman, he went on to don a helmet which granted him psychic power, taking up the villain name Karma. Karma was a major antagonist for Batman and the Outsiders for a time, but after his defeat, he hasn not been seen again in any serious capacity.
5 Prometheus
One DC Comics’ most perennial tropes is the idea of the “Dark Batman,” a character who is the same as Batman, but evil. One of the original dark Batmen was Prometheus. Prometheus was a young boy who watched his loving criminal parents gunned down by police in front of him. With this traumatic event fueling him, Prometheus swore vengeance on justice itself. This led Prometheus to attack the Justice League. He was such an effective enemy that Batman would later be inspired to take down the Justice League similarly. Despite his major first appearance, and the effect he had on Batman, Prometheus has since mostly been relegated to operating as a lackey for other villains.
4 Mr. Zsasz
Gotham City is full of criminals, but few are as deranged, or as dangerous, as Victor Zsasz, one of Gotham’s best serial killers. Zsasz inherited his parent’s fortune, which he then immediately lost to the Penguin while gambling at the Iceberg Lounge. Having been on top of the world and lost everything, Zsasz began to believe that life was meaningless. He haunted the streets of Gotham, murdering anyone he came across, viewing it as freeing them from a pointless life. For each victim, he carved a tally mark on his skin. Zsasz is one of the most disturbing villains that Batman has ever faced, but despite this, he’s almost never had a story that revolved around him as its true central antagonist.
3 Hush
One of the most important, but somehow least used Batman villains is none other than Hush. Hush is Thomas Elliot, a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne. Unlike Bruce, Tommy desperately wanted his parents’ fortune, so badly that orchestrated a car crash to try and kill them. Unfortunately for Tommy, his mother’s life was saved by the brilliant doctor Thomas Wayne. This caused Tommy’s deep hatred of the Wayne family, a hatred that was only intensified when Bruce’s parents were killed and Bruce inherited their fortune. This gave Hush a personal rage at Bruce that not even Joker has. With this deeply personal link to Bruce Wayne, one might assume Hush would be a bigger villain, but the last time he appeared was in a non-speaking rule as an antagonist to Batman in a short one-shot comic.
2 Hugo Strange
The biggest weakness Batman has is his secret identity, and Hugo Strange was one of the first ever villains to discover it. Hugo is a demented psychiatrist who longs to become Batman himself; several times Hugo has donned his own Batsuit and done battle with Batman, but his physical ability isn’t the only thing that makes him terrifying. Not only is Hugo a skilled psychiatrist, who can brainwash and manipulate people, he’s also an incredibly skilled chemist. Once, he unleashed a hoard of monsters on Gotham City during the event Night of the Monster Men. While Hugo has appeared most recently in Harley Quinn’s solo book, it’s still been long overdue for Hugo Strange to once again fight Batman, his original obsession.
1 Mad Hatter
The Mad Hatter is one of Batman’s most iconic enemies, having regular appearances in all of Batman’s animated shows, and appearing in most Batman video games in some capacity. Jervis Tetch uses brilliant mind control technology to force people to play out his fantasies of Alice in Wonderland. His tech is so impressive even Darkseid repurposed it. While Jervis definitely isn’t a physical threat to Batman, his ability to control people, and the fact he lives in absolute pure delusion, make him one of the more dangerous enemies that Batman has ever faced. While Jervis has appeared on the Harley Quinn show, there’s no doubt that it’s time for the Mad Hatter to return to comics in aa role much larger than his recent small cameo in Gotham War, which saw him hiding from Batman.
