The most powerful villains in DC Comics range from mystical threats to cosmic ones and sometimes both. That includes Black Adam, whose power makes him a formidable foe for Shazam and others. With the powerful villain now getting his own movie in the DCEU, he puts a spotlight on other potential villains who could emerge in live-action.
Major superheroes from dark alternate timelines populate the powerful villains fans could soon see as the multiverse expands in the DCEU. The varied and formidable villains in Batman’s rogues’ gallery also await their moment to shine, including many that casual fans may not be aware of or necessarily think consider villains.
Updated October 24th, 2022 by Darby Harn: With Black Adam arriving in theaters, a classic DC supervillain gets his own showcase. Black Adam wields massive power, enough to challenge the mightiest superheroes, but there are far more powerful villains than him in the comics. Some DC villains possess equal or superior power to Black Adam, with cosmic potential that truly endangers all existence. Threats like Darkseid already exist in the DCEU and other media, but comic fans await the chance to see others like Nekron who can really open up the universe. As the DCEU expands in movies and streaming shows in the coming years, the comics’ most powerful villains will certainly get their opportunity.
Harley Quinn
Comic book fans know Harley Quinn teeters back and forth between hero and villain. She lacks any real superhuman powers, though she does have immunity from toxins thanks to Poison Ivy. Her unwavering spirit and refusal to give in separate her from most characters and her ability to talk down other, more powerful characters like Ivy makes her incredibly effective.
Harley at times does display incredible power herself. In Harley Quinn #45, she wound up on Apokalips and became a Female Fury. This gave her power and her equipment, particularly advanced armor, that leveled her up considerably.
Ra’s al Ghul
Ra’s al Ghul’s skill in martial arts makes him a formidable opponent for anyone, including Batman. His knowledge, wealth, and resources also make him a threat with international influence. His true power lies in the Lazarus Pit, which allows him to elongate his life and effectively become immortal.
His mystical powers also allow him to transfer his soul into other bodies. He sometimes wields even greater sorcerery, though this varies depending on the continuity in the comics at the time.
Doomsday
Doomsday counts among the evilest Superman villains in DC Comics and perhaps the mightiest overall. His superhuman strength proved so destructive that he killed Superman in hand-to-hand combat in the Death of Superman storyline from the early 1990s, which some fans include in the best Superman comic book arcs ever.
Doomsday possesses an incredible healing factor that makes him essentially invulnerable to any attack, including Superman’s extraordinary force and other superheroes as well. Like Superman, death fails to stop him, and he returns again and again to torment the Man of Steel.
Poison Ivy
Poison Ivy’s powers evolved substantially in the comics, to the point she is the living embodiment of nature. An avatar for The Green, the same elemental power that created Swamp Thing, she wields control over all plant life on Earth, with the ability to grow any plant she wants and use it as she wills.
Ivy also appears to have gained immortality through her evolving powers. She died and came back, resurrected from the earth itself, and her consciousness now interfaces with The Green’s collective consciousness across the world.
Black Adam
Black Adam wields superhuman strength, speed, and agility, all similar to his principal rival, Shazam. He also flies faster than the speed of light when in space. His powers derive from ancient Egyptian gods just like Shazam, and he can summon them at will by uttering the magical word.
He also gains ancient knowledge and wisdom from the gods, making him a genius whose discipline increasingly guides his actions. Black Adam evolves into a powerful DC Comics antihero in both the comics and now in the movies.
Circe
Circe’s mystical potential makes her a powerful magical being in the DC Universe, able to manipulate reality to a great extent. In one version of DC continuity, she turned Wonder Woman back to the clay she was originally formed from.
Conventional attacks do nothing against Circe, as she’s immortal. She also wields the power to bring back the dead like the Greek god Ares, making her easily his equal. Her powers also extend to turning people into animals called Beastimorphs who she then can control.
Ares
Ares serves as the God of War in the DC universe, an immortal with vast powers including the ability to travel between dimensions. This powerful Wonder Woman villain also sows dissent and strife on an epic scale, generating conflict between humanity and drawing power from it in turn.
His superhuman strength and endurance alone make him formidable, but his powers extend far beyond his Olympian physiology. He also manipulates the elements to his advantage and as if that weren’t enough, as a necromancer, he can resurrect people from the dead.
Parallax
The living embodiment of fear, Parallax generates incomprehensible fright in beings, so much so that he’s able to control them. He mentally controlled Superman, Wonder Woman, and other powerful heroes with little effort. His powers also include generating constructs from light that are so realistic most people can’t tell them from the real thing.
Existing as pure energy, Parallax also manipulates matter and energy on a cosmic scale. Like several other intimidating rogues in DC Comics, he is immortal and cannot be killed, at least conventionally.
Joker
The Joker possesses no superhuman powers, but he stands above the most powerful Batman villains for a reason. His ability to gaslight, corrupt, and deform others leave scars beyond imagination. The unspeakable trauma he inflicted on others like Harley, Jason Todd, and others arguably makes him as dangerous as superpowered villains.
The Joker did briefly have cosmic powers when he was the Emperor Joker in the best Superman comics from the 2000s. The Joker acquired Mister Mxyzptlk’s powers and abilities and for a time numbered with the most powerful beings in the universe.
Reverse-Flash
Reverse-Flash brings considerable power to all his battles with The Flash. He also harnesses power from the Speed Force, allowing him to run beyond the speed of light. He also runs through time, demonstrating the ability to alter time or simply erase it, a terrifying power few in DC Comics can muster.
Numerous Reverse-Flash variants exist in DC Comics and other media. They all share highly advanced intelligence stemming from knowledge of the future and past, making them very dangerous.
Eclipso
Eclipso wields the Heart of Darkness. This gem allows him to control other people’s minds and their powers, essentially giving him a metahuman army whenever he wants. But that’s far from his scariest attribute. An immortal being who came into life as the living manifestation of God’s wrath, he manipulates reality on a cosmic scale that is effectively god-like.
Eclipso possesses unimaginable power but his foes are often not on his level power-wise. Back in the 1990s, he fought Peacemaker and his teammates in Checkmate in a great storyline the DCEU could adapt.
Superboy-Prime
Superboy-Prime shares all the powers and abilities with the regular Superman, making him a powerful villain in DC Comics. His indomitable superhuman strength, speed, and reflexes prove challenging for any foe. But his strengths go even beyond that, beginning with his unimaginable power to punch right through reality. He is also able to alter reality at will.
He once absorbed Shazam’s powers, making him an even bigger danger. A specialized armor augments his natural powers even further. Superboy-Prime’s armor collects and infuses him with the energy of the yellow sun no matter where he is in the universe, giving him a huge advantage over Kal-El.
Darkseid
Comic book fans know Darkseid ranks among the most powerful villains in the DC Universe. Immortal and invulnerable, Darkseid commands a massive army armed with highly advanced technology on Apokalips, which he unleashes on countless worlds, spreading his hate and fear across the universe.
He shoots laser beams from his eyes in any direction, and most people never get the chance to get close to him. His obsession with finding the Anti-Life Equation distinguishes him from all other villains, as nothing can stop him, not even death.
Anti-Monitor
Darkseid seeks to control life. The Anti-Monitor seeks to destroy it. The Anti-Monitor contains the power to destroy entire universes and in Crisis On Infinite Earths in 1985, an important DC Comics crossover event, destroyed all but one reality in the DC multiverse at the time.
He also marshals armies by turning others into his Shadow Demons. Immortal and invulnerable, the Anti-Monitor manipulates reality, matter, and energy on universal scales, meaning he has virtually all the power in existence at his disposal.
Nekron
The Spectre stands among the most powerful DC Comics superheroes, but Nekron flicked him away with little effort. The living embodiment of darkness in the universe, Nekron raises the dead and commands infinite armies of Black Lanterns to terrorize on a cosmic scale, as he did in Blackest Night, the seminal Green Lantern comic book storyline.
Nekron’s power protected him from the Anti-Monitor. In a stunning display, he banished the Anti-Monitor back to his universe after a brief fight, suggesting Nekron wields more power than him.
