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  • Superheroes may rely on supervillains for action and drama, seeing their powers turned

  • against them or pushed to their limits, but you don’t need heat vision or super-strength

  • to be truly terrifying. Sometimes, all it takes is a criminal blessed with determination,

  • and an opponent pushing them to their true potential. Here are Screen Rant’s 10 Most

  • Dangerous Comic Book Criminals.

  • The Joker

  • No one knows his story, his motivations, or his endgame - but everyone knows his name:

  • Joker. Over the years, Batman's arch-nemesis has been portrayed as a serial killer, a crime

  • boss, a madman, and an agent of chaos, in nearly every form of entertainment. Every

  • fan may have their favourite, but The Joker is so fragmented and crazed, it's impossible

  • to even call one version more faithful than any other. Without any superpower, super weapon,

  • or even backup, Joker's calculated mayhem hasn't just made him a comic book icon, but

  • one of the most complicated and terrifying villains in history. Not bad for a guy with

  • nothing but a knife, a pistol, and a plan.

  • Kingpin

  • He may not be much to look at, but Wilson Fisk has proven to be not only one of the

  • most brilliant and ruthless crime bosses the comic book world has ever seen, but a physical

  • threat capable of fighting some of Marvel’s most impressive heroes. Bullied in his childhood

  • because of his weight, Fisk hit the gym, turning his former bullies into henchmen, and beginning

  • his rise to the top of Hell’s Kitchen’s underworld, letting his fists and wits do

  • the talking, eventually becoming the Kingpin of Crime. Don’t be fooled by the lack of

  • a gun or club, either: The Kingpin prefers to kill with his bare hands, and whatever

  • furniture is nearby. He may not be a supervillain, but a man with his talents for organized crime

  • who can beat Daredevil and Spider-Man in a fight deserves more credit than he’s usually

  • given.

  • Killer Croc

  • Born with a rare genetic condition that caused his skin to grow hard and scaly like a reptile,

  • Waylon Jones was an outcast, bullied by schoolmates and abused and abandoned by an alcoholic aunt.

  • As he grew bigger and badder, a job wrestling alligators for the circus seemed a waste of

  • his talents. Waylon knew how to be tough, and knew a life of crime was his destiny.

  • Taking the name Killer Croc, he set out to organize and rule the criminals of Gotham

  • City, proving a serious player even without his bulletproof skin and superstrength. He

  • would do battle with Batman too many times to count, but what he lacked in brains, he

  • made up for in brutality. Did we mention he's also a cannibal?

  • The Darkness

  • As one of the few comic criminals who is neither good or evil, Jackie Estacado began his life

  • as an orphan, adopted into the Franchetti crime family at the tender age of 6. Making

  • his first kill at the age of 16, Jackie would become the family’s most skilled and ruthless

  • hitman, doing more than just killing his targets to send a message. But on his 21st birthday,

  • he learned that his induction into the mafia was no coincidence: he was the latest in a

  • long line of men entrusted with The Darkness: an ancient force granting its host nearly

  • limitless power. In the hands of Jackie, the power to create any weapon or creature as

  • long as he stayed in the shadows was a perfect fit, seeking vengeance on all who had wronged

  • him in the past. With the power to take on Superman himself, Jackie took over the crime

  • family with ease, putting his skills learned on the streets to work taking over an entire

  • country.

  • The Riddler

  • Unlike most criminal masterminds, the Prince of Puzzlers can't resist telling the absolute

  • truth. But his need to prove he's the smartest person in the room means The Riddler can't

  • do anything simply. His green costume and obsession with riddles and brainteasers made

  • Edward Nigma a bit of a joke to mainstream audiences, but comic fans have seen him develop

  • into a twisted, terrifying and truly dangerous criminal over the years. The well-known "Hush"

  • storyline saw Riddler pulling the strings behind every single Batman villain as part

  • of his plan to bring down Bruce Wayne once and for all. More recently, "Batman: Zero

  • Year" saw Riddler take complete control over Gotham, turning the city to ruins until a

  • citizen could solve his riddles. Puzzles aren't too scary, but in the hands of The Riddler,

  • they can be fatal.

  • Carnage

  • Spider-Man knew that the Alien symbiotic behind his black suit was bad news, and when it merged

  • with Eddie Brock to become Venom, his most popular enemy was born. But not his most dangerous.

  • When Brock found himself sharing a cell with serial killer psychopath Cletus Kasady, he

  • wanted out - fast. His alien partner came to the rescue, but left its child behind,

  • soon entering Kasady's bloodstream - and just like that, Carnage was born. What was most

  • horrifying about the murderous rampages that followed wasn't the villain's powers, but

  • placing them in Kasady's hands. It was the madman's belief that murder was the mark of

  • true courage that made him a menace, meaning he's just as deadly without the suit. He was

  • created to show what DC's Joker could do if given superpowers, and Carnage has yet to

  • disappoint.

  • Bullseye

  • Putting his skills with throwing projectiles to use as a baseball player, the pitcher who

  • would become known asBullseyefound throwing a no-hitter too boring. Killing the

  • batter with a ball to the head sent him on his path of murders-for-hire, becoming one

  • of the deadliest assassins the Marvel Universe has ever seen. But becoming a soldier of fortune

  • for villains like The Kingpin wasn’t enoughBullseye wanted fame as well. Bragging

  • to New York’s Daily Bugle about his many kills and the fact that henever misses

  • put Daredevil on his tailand the two have been at war ever since. If his mastery

  • of martial arts, guns and blades wasn’t deadly enough. Bullseye can turn toothpicks,

  • paperclips, and even his own teeth into lethal weapons. For the right price, of course.

  • Arcade

  • Who says insanity and homicidal tendencies can’t be profitable? The Marvel villain

  • known asArcadelearned there’s good money in killing, and as is usually the case,

  • bigger is better. When the pampered young man was cut off by his wealthy father, he

  • killed him, and took the money for himself. Flush with cash and realizing his love of

  • murder, Arcade became a globetrotting assassin. But when the murder game became too boring,

  • he hatched a different plan: he’d build his own deathtrap known asMurderworld,”

  • and drop his targets into the fatal theme park to give them a fighting chance. The villain’s

  • similarities to DC’s Joker are obvious, but his one-of-a-kind humor and genuine thrill

  • at seeing his victims attempt to escape made him a hit, appearing alongside many of Marvel’s

  • most well-known heroes. Even if that meant he racked up more failures than kills.

  • Two-Face

  • What’s more tragic than seeing an embodiment of law and order flipped on its head, embracing

  • crime, chaos and violence instead? The answer is a man who can’t even decide between the

  • two. Every Batman fan knows the tragic story of Harvey Dent, once an upstanding District

  • Attorney who develops a split personality when half of his face is burned with acid.

  • Although the darker side of his character may be more than a little crazed, it still

  • has access to the brilliant intelligence and knowledge of Gotham’s underworld. The result

  • is Two-Face, a crime boss who sees every attack against Gotham as an opportunity. But what

  • makes the villain truly dangerous is his signature coin, used to make nearly every decision facing

  • his fractured mind. Sure, he may have become predictable over the years, but when the flip

  • of a coin means Harvey Dent may help Batman save the dayor commit an unspeakable

  • act of violence, he becomes a villain unlike any other the Dark Knight has had to face.

  • Prometheus

  • If there’s one criminal in the world of DC Comics who is truly underrated, it has

  • to be Prometheus. Raised by two criminals, the young boy travelled across America, learning

  • the outlaw life until his parents were shot down by police. Just as Bruce Wayne dedicated

  • his life to avenging his parents, Prometheus did the same. Spending time in South American

  • fighting pits, working as an African mercenary and as an international terrorist, Prometheus

  • became a true student of crime and violence, eventually killing the cops who killed his

  • parents, and turning his finely-tuned skills to bringing down the Justice League. He may

  • have required some gadgets to get the job done, but an everyday criminal who can take

  • down Batman, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter deserves some respect.

  • So what do you think of our list? Did we miss any of your favorite comic book crooks, killer

  • and thieves? Let us know in our comment section and don't forget to subscribe to our channel

  • for more videos like this one.

Superheroes may rely on supervillains for action and drama, seeing their powers turned

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