Evil Counterpart / The DCU

A list of Evil Counterparts in The DCU.

The following have their own pages:

• Batman

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Superman

• Bizarro is an imperfect clone (of varying origin, depending on the medium) of Superman, with all of the Man of Steel's powers. Bizarro's level of "evilness" depends on the writer; generally, he tries to emulate Superman by doing good deeds, he's just got a warped sense of what "good" means. For example, if he sees a bank robbery occurring, he's likely to intervene to help ... the robbers. Of course, since his notion of "helping" is just as distorted, he often winds up as a net positive force anyway more or less despite himself.
• Brainiac is usually depicted as an alien automaton (if not cyborg), that utilizes his mechanical form and inhuman intelligence to crush those who oppose him/it. In contrast, Superman is given strength from his Kryptonian cells that harvest and metabolize solar energy, using his biological abilities and quick-thinking to passively end battles.
• Mr. Myxzptlk is a reality altering imp from the fifth-dimension, not dissimilar from Superman's own status as an "alien" that doesn't "naturally belong". However, while Superman uses his powers for charity and good will, Myxzptlk abuses his powers for pranks and games to alleviate boredom. Going further, Superman's home planet was destroyed, contrasting with Myxzptlk, who shifts from his home dimension to ours whenever the whim takes him.
• Zod is as much an Evil Counterpart to Superman as he is to his father, Jor-El. While Superman has acclimated to Earth's culture and can perfectly synergize the best aspects of his adopted planet and Krypton, Zod waxes nostalgic on his planet's more violent and competitive past. Sporting a militaristic "might-makes-right" philosophy, he uses his tactical genius and yellow-sun powers to prop himself up over others and wants nothing more than to rule a new Krypton with an iron fist. Superman is a citizen who voluntarily uses his powers to help people and ennoble others, Zod is a soldier at heart and sees no point helping those that are weaker. Both call upon their heritage, Superman opts for an enlightened perspective instilled in him by Jor-El, Zod longs for the brutality of old Krypton.
• Lobo is the last son of Czarnia much like Supes is the last son of Krypton and like Clark, Lobo is a super strong, super fast, nigh-indestructible Genius Bruiser who is more resourceful and canny than his foes would suspect. The difference between them is cystal clear though, while Superman escaped the destruction of his planet, Lobo caused it himself and while Supes is an All-Loving Hero who embodies The Cape, Lobo on the other hand is a ruthless Bounty Hunter Anti-Hero who only cares about getting paid and causing violence. Though ironically Lobo does have a soft side and Superman is quite terrifying when pushed hard enough. Perhaps in recognition of this trope, DC redesigned Lobo in the New 52, taking away his Badass Biker look and making him Tall, Dark, and Handsome like Clark, although they brought back the OG Lobo look when this proved unpopular.
• Superman is an alien who draws his strength harmlessly from the sun, while the Parasite is a human who steals the electro-chemical energy from other people.
• Superman's other well-known nickname is the "Man of Tomorrow" for his forward-thinking ideals and his solar-powered biology, contrasting with Metallo — a literal Transhuman powered by kryptonite, which is Superman's main weakness.
• Livewire's electrical powers parallel Superman's energy absorption, but she uses her powers purely for the fame and attention she gets from being a supervillain, while Superman is a media darling for his good deeds.
• The Krypton Man/Eradicator was yet another villainous equivalent to Superman in his early appearances, before becoming an Anti-Hero Substitute as one of the four replacement Supermen introduced after The Death of Superman.
• It almost looked like Superman’s new substitutes after his famous death were good counterparts of his enemies. With Steel of Luthor (human scientist in a powered armor suit); Superboy of Bizarro (clone); Eradicator of Brainiac (alien automaton); but noticebly averted with Cyborg Superman and Metallo (BOTH evil transhuman cyborgs).

Superboy

• Kon's arch-enemy Match was cloned from him. He does not see clones in the same humanitarian light as Kon and his pride and hatred of Kon-El mean that even if Kon refers to him as a brother and cares more for his safety and continued well being than his creators he'll always ally himself with them against Kon.
• Black Zero is a version of Kon-El from a different universe who was completed to Westfield's specifications instead of released from Cadmus early by the Newsboy Legion and has conquered several earths which are then left to be ruled over by a Cadmus led dictatorship.
• S-01, or "Bizarre-O", was Cadmus' first unstable failed attempt to clone Superman and a prototype to Kon-El that ends up released accidentally. Like most Bizarros S-01 isn't actually evil but his limited understanding of the world, unpredictable nature and incredible powers make him incredibly dangerous anyway.
• Then there is, of course, Superboy Prime. While Prime may also be an evil version of Superman his hatred of Kon-El for carrying the Superboy name leads to him actually killing Kon-El.

Supergirl

• The original Satan Girl, an Evil Twin created by exposure to Red Kryptonite, is every bit as powerful as a Silver Age Supergirl but with zero moral compunctions.
• Post-Crisis Dark Supergirl is a version of the former, but even nastier and violent.
• Superwoman (Lucy Lane) is another female with super-powers and complicated family issues. Nonetheless, she's an human with a super-powerful costume, whereas Supergirl is a Kryptonian with natural-born powers. And even though Supergirl stands up to her mother when she crosses one line, Superwoman would make anything to earn her father's approval, no matter how atrocious.
• Bizarro-Girl is Supergirl's imperfect clone. She's more of a backwards loony with a warped sense of morality than an evil twin, though.
• Overgirl is Supergirl's Nazi counterpart.
• Reign was born and empowered in a lab by who is heavily implied to be Supergirl's father Zor-El. She presents herself as Supergirl's counterpart and her own version of Zod as she wants to use her powers to conquer.

Others

• Axis Amerika was this to the All-Star Squadron, ironically modeled after the Golden Age/Earth-2 heroes (namely, Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Speedy) who vanished after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, with the only exception being Kamikaze, who simply was Imperial Japan's replacement for Tsunami. They soon meet their match with the Young All-Stars, who filled the shoes of the erased All-Stars. Before that, there was Der Zyklon, who was a Nazi super-speedster counterpart of the Flash and Johnny Quick.
• Aquaman has had several evil counterparts. The most obvious is the Ocean Master, his own brother. Others include Charybdis, Evil Twin Thanatos, the Thirst and Black Manta (who's also evil counterpart to his son).
• Death Mayhew, commander of the Nazi flying group the White Lions (and a No Celebrities Were Harmed version of Errol Flynn), was this to Blackhawk.
• Blue Beetle has the Black Beetle, in terms of his name and Powered Armor; beyond that we're not too sure, since he keeps changing his backstory. Eventually he claims to be an evil version of Jaime from the future, but at that point Jaime has stopped caring who he claims to be.
  • In his New 52 series, Blue Beetle has Blood Beetle, who is Jaime's friend Paco controlled by a scarab fragment in his chest.
• The 2nd Supernova is an Evil Counterpart of Booster Gold, who invented the Supernova identity. While Booster works with Rip Hunter, Time Master, to Set Right What Once Went Wrong, Supernova is working with time-travel based villains like Per Degaton to set things wrong in the first place. Supernova also has an Evil Counterpart of Booster's Robot Buddy, Skeets, and at the end of his first appearance is revealed to be Booster's father.
  • Another member of the Time Stealers is Black Beetle, listed above.
• Captain Atom has the Ghost, a.k.a. Alec Rois, a.k.a. the Faceless One. Both men died and returned with quantum-powers, but whereas Captain Atom returned as a living being, Rois came back as, well, a ghost. Their powers cancel each other out, and Cap is a hero while the Faceless One is a villain. Both are manipulated by Wade Eiling, despite being excellent strategists and intriguers themselves.
  • There is also Major Force, a criminal named Clifford Zmeck who was given powers similar to Nathaniel Adam's in exchange for being pardoned for his crimes.
• From Captain Marvel, the Marvel Family has numerous examples:
  • Captain Marvel's original nemesis, Dr. Sivana, was eventually given an evil son and daughter to act as foes for Junior and Mary, respectively, in their spin-off books.
  • Ibac was Cap's first thematic counterpart: he derives his powers from evil historical figures the way that Cap gets his from legendary good ones, and changes by saying a magic word. Junior later got his own version, Sabbac, whose powers come from six demons.
  • Black Adam is Captain Marvel's most direct opposite: they have the exact same powers^note well, Adam gets his from Egyptian gods, but the net effect is essentially the same, since Adam was the Wizard's original Champion. Eventually, he became more of an Anti-Villain and got a super-powered wife and brother-in-law who were analogues to Mary and Freddy; they even knew a mutant crocodile who served as a counterpart to Tawky Tawny. Then Cerebus Syndrome made them all evil to various degrees, fulfilling this trope.
  • There's also one-off 1950s villain Niatpac Levram, who's literally just an evil version of Captain Marvel's reflection brought to life by a wizard.
  • Captain Nazi can also be considered an evil counterpart since he has similar Flying Brick powers. The difference being that the Big Red Cheese gets his powers from magic, whereas Nazi's comes from a Super Serum.
• In the Fables universe, Dorothy Gale is this to Fabletown's Cinderella. They're both female, attractive, and work black ops...but Dorothy works freelance, purely for money, while Cindy considers herself a Fabletown patriot. They are blood enemies.
• The Flash: Every version of The Flash has at least one rival speedster or "Reverse-Flash" as an enemy.
  • Jay Garrick has the Rival a.k.a. Edward Clariss, an old college professor who discovers his power source and commits crimes dressed like the Flash.
  • Barry Allen:
    • Barry's Arch-Enemy is Professor Zoom/Reverse-Flash a.k.a Eobard Thawne, a time-traveling stalker from the future who wants to destroy everything Flash loves, including killing Barry's mother Nora when Barry was a child.
    • Barry's previously unknown twin Malcolm Thawne, a.k.a. Cobalt Blue, who establishes his own legacy of evil that mirrors the Flash Family. Including Professor Zoom ''and'' Inertia.
    • The New 52 gives Barry another Reverse Flash; Daniel West, the younger brother of his love interest Iris. Taking the parallel further, he was a criminal before becoming the Reverse Flash, in contrast to Barry's role as a cop. Daniel is later demoted to being Archnemesis Dad to the new Kid Flash, essentially becoming his Reverse Flash instead.
    • The Flash (Rebirth) introduces two more evil counterparts:
    • August Heart aka Godspeed, Barry's former detective partner who suffered the death of a major family member whose killer was Eobard Thawne (his brother Jorge) and gained his powers in a similar situation that Barry did (struck by Speed Force lightning)
    • Meena Dhawana aka Fast Track, they both have similar professions based in science (Barry being a CSI and Meena being an applied scientist), both use polar opposite Speed Forces (Barry having the Positive and Meena having the Negative)
  • Wally West:
    • His main counterpart is Zoom a.k.a Hunter Zolomon, a former profiler who is convinced that superheroes are only effective if they lose people they care about.
    • Thawne is also Wally's counterpart. Both characters hailed Barry as their idol and dedicated themselves to honoring Barry's heroic ways, which is something even Eobard points out in "The Return of Barry Allen", calling Wally "sorta like a brother". "Running Scared" (a Rebirth-era story) takes it to a new level, depicting Thawne's costume as being inspired by the similar colour scheme of the various Kid Flashes. His hair colour changed from strawberry-blonde to complete redhead just like Wally's too. On top of it all what makes Eobard snap? Seeing Wally take his desired place in Barry's life when he sees Barry telling him the very same thing he told Eobard when they met in the 25th century. Eobard Thawne is basically what would happen if Wally's dedication to the Flash took an extremely dark turn. This comparison is now explicitly stated by Hunter Zolomon at the beginning of "Flash War". He becomes friends with Thawne partly due to similarities.
      Hunter: I would never tell Eobard this, but he has so much in common with Wally West.
  • Bart Allen has Inertia a.k.a Thaddeus Thawne, an evil clone of himself.
• Green Arrow has Malcolm Merlyn/Dark Archer, and as of the New 52, Komodo. Both men mirror Green Arrow's archery abilities, but Komodo in particular rivals him on business terms as well, as he is a Corrupt Corporate Executive.
  • Cupid, a female archer and GA's Stalker with a Crush, is arguably another example.
  • Immigrating from Arrow, Tommy Merlyn mirrors Oliver in terms of the same upbringing: both are from upper-class lineages, both were heirs to large corporations (Queen Enterprises and Merlyn Global Group), both had fathers who were archers themselves, both had parents who committed adultery (Robert cheated 2 times whilst Malcolm had an affair with Moira), both had playboy personalities, both underwent a catastrophic boating accident that heavily traumatized them and left them deserted on an island (although this was the same incident).
• Green Lantern
  • Not only Sinestro was once a Green Lantern himself, in Post-Crisis continuity he actually trained Hal Jordan in the use of his powers before becoming his nemesis.
    • Soranik Natu serves as Good Counterpart to her father Sinestro. Both are (were in Sinestro's case) Green Lanterns who use that power to help Korugar; Soranik as a doctor, Sinestro as an order-imposing dictator. She's also served as the leader of the Sinestro Corps for a time, trying to get them to work to protect the universe like the Green Lanterns rather than by enforce fear like dear old dad.
  • In more recent times, there are even more popping up, but not all evil (so sort of non-evil counterparts to the evil counterparts): while the green represents will, and yellow represents fear, there's now violet (love), blue (hope), red (rage), orange (greed), and indigo (compassion).^note Unless you've read the stories, you'll probably guess wrong about where at least a couple of these fall on the Sliding Scale of Antagonist Vileness; red is definitely antiheroic but "evil" is a bit of a stretch, and violet is more the Stalker with a Crush kind of love than the selfless unconditional sort. And eventually black (death), which is the really evil counterpart.
  • The White Lanterns are a Good Counterpart to the Black Lanterns, as both are Corps that resurrect and recruit the deceased. The difference is that the Black Lantern Corps essentially raises its recruits as zombies that feed off emotions and are used by Nekron to further his plan of killing all life, whereas the White Lanterns are resurrected properly and are recruited to repair the damages done by the Black Lanterns.
  • Kyle Rayner got 2 energy-wielding/manipulating Evil Counterparts, himself. On the 'ring-wielder' side of things, Alex Nero - who was Ax-Crazy, and possibly killed his parents as a teenager. And where Kyle was a creative artist who channelled his prolific imagination into the ring, Nero suffered paranoid delusions and the ring made his hallucinations real. On the 'might've become' side of things, Effigy, who was what Kyle might've been if he hadn't matured and gained a sense of responsibility about the ring and super-heroics in general.
  • Some individual members of the Sinestro Corps are evil counterparts of specific GLs; for instance Arkillo (Evil Kilowog) and Ranxx the Sentient City (Evil Mogo the Living Planet).
• The second issue of the original Hawk and Dove series had the brothers confront a pair of criminals where one was aggressive and belligerent like Hawk and the other had an aversion towards fighting like Dove.
• In many ways Hawkman villain Gentleman Ghost is Hawkman's opposite. Where Hawkman is a powerful Boisterous Bruiser with a love of fighting, Gentleman Ghost is a laidback Affably Evil chessmaster who prefers to manipulate people. Also they both use magic but where Hawkman uses magic to add to his formidable power, Gentleman Ghost prefers more creative uses such as invisibility or teleportation.
• Over in Justice League of America, Mister Miracle of the New Gods had Doctor Impossible (who may or may not be his Evil Twin / Long Lost Brother). Doctor Impossible briefly palled around with evil counterparts of other Jack Kirby heroes: Tender Mercy (Big Barda), Hunter (Orion), Chair (Metatron), and Neon Black (Lightray).
• Another Justice League example would be the Queen Bee, who was the evil counterpart to Maxwell Lord. This was back when Max himself was a good guy (who, granted, did some ethically questionable things), before DC retconned him into being a villain. Max and the Queen Bee both had mind-control powers, and they both got control of superhero teams, the Justice League and the Global Guardians, respectively, and they were both manipulators and intriguers. But while Max was basically good if flawed, the Queen Bee was evil.
• Issue 15 of the 1946 Kid Eternity series had Kid Eternity face a villainous counterpart in Master Man. In contrast to Kid Eternity being empowered by Heaven to summon (mostly) benevolent historical figures by saying "Eternity", Master Man instead summoned malevolent historical figures by saying "Stygia" and was implied to be doing the bidding of Satan.
• DC's White Martians are evil counterparts of the Green Martians.
• The Multiversity:
  • As shown in Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors of the Counter-World #1, Earth-40 is this to Earth-20, with explicit comparisons between the members of their respective teams:
    • Vandal Savage as compared to the Immortal Man, with the meteorite used to create their respective powers being used as the first murder weapon or made into a hallowed holy relic respectively.
    • Felix Faust as compared to Doc Fate, in terms of magical prowess.
    • Lady Shiva as compared to the Blackhawks, as highly proficient female fighters, albeit with her focusing more on swordplay rather than her good counterparts' gunplay.
    • Blockbuster as compared to the Mighty Atom, in terms of Force and Finesse.
    • Sinestro and Parallax as compared to Abin Sur's Green Lantern, with opposing powers of fear versus willpower.
  • In Thunderworld #1, in the Sivanas of the Multiverse, there's a Hannibal Lecter-esque version who is far more bloodthirsty and depraved than the rest of them, who travelled back in time and violently murdered his universe's Captain Marvel before he became the Wizard's champion. As a result has become very bored. (Thunderworld's Sivana seems a bit put off by him.)
  • The majority of the New Reichsmen in Mastermen #1 are evil Nazi doppelgangers of the Justice League of Earth-0.
• Starman's Jack Knight and Nash were on their respective sides of the law mainly because their fathers pushed them there.
• Wonder Woman:
  • (Earth-Two) Gundra is an evil reflection of Diana The champion of a god of wisdom and war who is a leader of a group of warrior women and took part in WWII Gundra put in on the side of the Nazis and Axis powers rather than the Allies. Highlighted when Axis Amerika took her on as their Wonder Woman equivalent in their first lineup, and also by the way the rest of the Golden Age Valkyries defected and joined the Amazons, swearing oaths of non-violence.
  • Wonder Woman (1987): Devastation is an evil counterpart, who was gifted by Cronus and the Titans rather than Olympian Goddesses.
  • Genocide is a... complicated example; she's the reanimated corpse of a future Wonder Woman, empowered by dirt from various sites of, well, genocide, and brought to life by a combination of magic and science. Long story short, she's an evil counterpart right down to the evil twist on 'made from clay'.
  • Superwoman the evil Amazon from Earth 3 is an Evil Counterpart to Diana and a Composite Character of her and Lois Lane. Instead of the Lasso of Truth Superwoman has a barbed Lasso of Submission and while Diana has healthy relationships with Steve Trevor, Superman and Batman Superwoman sleeps around with many men.
  • Barbara Ann Minerva aka Cheetah is in many ways an evil counterpart Diana, especially in the New 52 where she is transformed into a human-cheetah hybrid after cutting herself on an ancient magical dagger and serves the "Goddess of the Hunt" much like Diana serves Olympians. Cheetah can also ensnare people (e.g Superman) with her powers much like Diana can control people with her Lasso, they're also both Blood Knights in later continuities but Diana has moral standards which Cheetah happily lacks. Even outside the New 52 and in DC Rebirth Cheetah is imbued with the powers of the Gods much like Diana is.
  • Ever since the Perez run, writers have played up the similarities and contrasts between Diana and Circe. Both are divinely powered women of Greek origin who live on secluded mystical islands where they worship pagan deities. But while Diana wants to uplift humanity, Circe sees them as no better than animals and wants to drag them further down. As Circe says to Diana in issue #19 of Wonder Woman Volume 2:
    "We were both born by whom of god. I am your reflection in a warped mirror. This world is not big enough for the two of us".
  • There's also Bizarra, who is, as is probably obvious, Bizarro-Wonder Woman.
  • Wonder Woman (2011): Also in the New 52, Donna Troy (who is already a Continuity Snarl) is turned into Diana's Evil Knock Off by the sorceress Derinoe using the same clay birthing method like in Wonder Woman's original origin. However while this Donna Troy was created for the sole purpose of killing and replacing Diana, she is defeated and given False Memories becoming a hero like she is in previous continuities. By the time DC Rebirth, this new origin was scrapped and Donna’s original backstory was retconned back, although funnily enough another evil version of Donna from the future called Troia appears later in Titans (Rebirth) acting as present Donna’s Evil Counterpart.
  • Wonder Woman (Rebirth): Dimension Chi is home to dark tyrannical reflections of Hippolyta and the Amazons, and a heroic version of Queen Atomia.
• Cyborgirl (LeTonya Charles) happens to be an evil version of Cyborg, as she had permanently damaged her body by overdosing on the drug Tar. But her aunt, who happened to be one of the scientists who repaired Victor Stone, saved her with powerful cybernetic implants, hoping that this would reform her and give her a second chance in life. However, rather than use her newfound gifts for good, LeTonya chose to focus more on personal gain, essentially becoming more machine than human.
• Hawk (of Hawk and Dove) has Kestrel, a sentient spell that posesses people to try to force Hawk to fight on the side of Chaos, and who typically manifests a costume that is a dark reflection of Hawk's.

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