"You will be a curse upon Gotham. Children will wake from sleep screaming at the thought of you. Your legacy will be death and madness."
Even on the small screen, the DC catalogue of shows, no matter the media, has certain characters that stand out as particularly vile.
Animated works can be found here.
All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
The following have their own pages
Other examples
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Examples
- "Pilot" & "Fast Forward": The Flash's Arch-Enemy, Nicholas Pike, is a former police officer who was disbarred for his crooked involvement in criminal activities, swearing vengeance against Jay Allen for bringing his corruption to light. Forming a biker gang, the "Dark Riders", Pike had his cronies terrorize Central City, torching streets and killing anyone in their way. When one member leaves out of disgust, Pike cruelly kills him by having him dragged on a motorcycle with a bomb and then detonating it. He later murders Jay for revenge. Storming the jail to free his men Barry Allen has arrested, Pike intends to use them to destroy the entire city regardless of any causalities. After being released from prison, Pike returns for vengeance on Barry, firing a heat-seeking missile at him which sends Barry ten years into the future. An utter dystopia with Pike as mayor, he forces citizens to submit to him lest he have them executed or lobotomized if they don't bow down to him. A smug and wicked man motivated only by petty revenge, Pike cements himself as one of the most evil and personal enemies that the Flash has ever faced.
- "Out of Control": Dr. Carl Tanner is an amoral geneticist who ostensibly wants to better world. In truth, to erase the "shame" of having grown up in poverty, Carl intends to perfect a mutative formula to allow him to wipe out the homeless "vermin" of the world, testing his formula on the vagrants of Central City and killing them through agonizing mutation. Lusting after and trying to mutate his former college sweetheart Christina McGee, Tanner eventually uses the formula on himself, rampaging across Central City in his new monstrous form and attempting to massacre the nearest homeless den.
- "Child's Play": Bougart/Beauregarde Lesko creates an insidious hallucinogen called "Blue Paradise", which becomes rampant in Central City. Creating a powerful physical addition, if users do not regularly take Blue Paradise, they die, much to Lesko's apathy. When suspected in the drug's production by a reporter, Lesko kills him by blowing up his car to destroy the evidence, also trying to murder a teenager who manages to get ahold of it. Trying to force the teen into addiction to control him, Lesko also tries to spread his drug over the city via helicopter, not content until he can control the entire population with his drug.
- "The Trickster" & "Trial of the Trickster": James Montgomery Jesse, better known as "The Trickster", is an insane criminal mastermind with a penchant for numerous murderous personalities and gimmicks leading to a string of murders over six states. Adopting the persona of the Trickster after he's smitten by private investigator Megan Lockhart — after failing to saw her in half — the Trickster murders the cops who try to detain him; leaves an exploding Flash statue in a public square; takes the customers of a novelty shop hostage while murdering one of them for giggles; and attempts to drown Barry Allen in his twisted crusade to make Megan his criminal sidekick "Prank". Busted out of prison in his second appearance by his twisted fangirl Zoey Clark, the Trickster butchers the host of a talk show and announces his new crime spree, torturing and brainwashing the Flash into his sidekick while causing wanton mayhem throughout Central City and endangering the lives of countless innocents. The Trickster finally tries to hold a "trial" for the city by killing those who prosecuted him after ruling them "guilty against crimes of good taste!" and, even after this is thwarted, ditches Zoey to the police even after she saves him. Zany, witty, and absolutely in love with his own murderous psychosis, Jesse's tricks murdered countless innocent people and cement him as one of the Scarlet Speedster's worst foes.
Examples
- The Valeska twins, Jerome and Jeremiah, are the precursor and ultimate incarnation, respectively, of this show's version of The Joker, and are a pair of utter madman obsessed with spreading murder and insanity to satisfy their twisted senses of humor:
- Jerome Valeska is a psychopath introduced being placed in Arkham Asylum for murdering his own mother, laughing at his crime when interrogated. Recruited along with other inmates by Theo Galavan to form the Maniax, Jerome functions as their leader, committing crimes such as taking hostages and throwing them off a rooftop; attempting to set fire to a bus full of cheerleaders; shooting up the Gotham City Police Department, personally killing Commissioner Sarah Essen; killing his own father; and taking those in attendance at a children's charity hostage, killing the deputy mayor of Gotham. Tormenting the 13-year-old Bruce Wayne, Jerome slowly begins slitting his throat, trying to kill him. After being killed and resurrected, Jerome encourages his followers to spread death and chaos as he announces his return and straps his own follower, Dwight, to a bomb, detonating it and killing him. As the chaos spreads through the city, Jerome again goes after Bruce, making it entertaining for himself by taking Bruce to a twisted carnival he's set up, tormenting Bruce before trying to kill him yet again. Taking over Arkham along with other criminals, Jerome has Jonathan Crane produce an insanity-inducing Psycho Serum, then chooses to kill himself to deny Commissioner Jim Gordon arresting him. Sending a package of his Venom to his twin brother Jeremiah as his final act of villainy, Jerome ensures his nefarious legacy lives on in the creation of Gotham's most infamous criminal.
- Jeremiah Valeska is Jerome's seemingly orderly twin brother and a powerful but suspicious businessman. According to Jerome, Jeremiah is just as bad as he is and plans to make him his heir; when seemingly Driven to Madness by a special gas, Jeremiah states it did nothing but alter his appearance, and that he intends to usurp Jerome's legacy to gratify his own ego; Jeremiah starts off with a plan to detonate powerful bombs all over Gotham, before incinerating his new followers after he fails, and has his lover Ecco shoot herself to prove her loyalty. Jeremiah later teams up with Ra's al Ghul to destroy all the bridges out of Gotham and turn the city into a lawless hellhole. Obsessed with Bruce Wayne, Jeremiah does anything to become the center of his world, including shooting Selina Kyle; torturing a decoy of Alfred to self-mutilate; attempting to recreate the night of the Wayne murders with brainwashed victims, before trying to use Jim and Leslie as a substitute; and attempting to unleash chemicals onto the city to ruin it beyond repair. Emerging ten years later, Jeremiah eventually kills Ecco, stating they'll be others like her, before kidnapping and trying to drop Jim Gordon's young daughter into a vat of chemicals.
- Dr. Hugo Strange is a former associate of Thomas Wayne in the Pinewood Farms project, meant to cure disease but abused by Strange to perform horrifying experiments on patients. When Wayne discovered Strange's deeds and shut the project down, Strange allied himself with the Court of Owls, having Wayne and his wife gunned down in front of their young son, Bruce. Becoming head of Arkham Asylum, Strange continues his torturous experiments on his patients, driving many insane or transforming them into monsters. Discovering how to bring the dead back to life, Strange resurrects Gotham's deceased criminals as raving lunatics who go on to kill numerous innocents while Strange happily accommodates them to commit their crimes. Ordered by the Court to detonate a nuclear device to destroy evidence of his experiments, Strange agrees, apathetic that this may potentially take out much of Gotham City, and later returns to create a Hate Plague from the Tetch virus, driving Gotham into a killing frenzy. Later allying with Nyssa al Ghul when the city devolves into a No Man's Land, Strange mind controls Edward Nygma and an army general into attacking refugees, creates Bane, and attempts to turn Gordon into a similar Super-Soldier to force his aid in the total slaughter of Gotham's populace. Playing everyone as it suited him, Strange proved a narcissistic scientist who cared only for performing his depraved experiments.
- Season 1: Dr. Francis Dulmacher, aka the Dollmaker, is a respected, soft-spoken surgeon who works with rich clients, and is the mastermind of a Human Trafficking ring, which he uses to harvest organs for his experiments. He often sends his thugs to abduct people, then takes them to his facility on a private island where said thugs keep them hostage. Early in the season, he sends two of his lackeys to abduct street children to such a fate, using charity as a lure. When his plan is exposed and the children are sent into protective care, he tries to have his lackeys hijack the convoy. Later on in the season, crime boss Fish Mooney finds herself in Dulmacher's clutches, with him intending to take her eye; later he demonstrates what happens to those who fail or cross him, as he shows her his former lackeys disassembled and reassembled with other people's body parts.
- Season 4 (A Dark Knight): Lazlo Valentin, aka Professor Pyg, is a sadistic hitman known for copying the MO of other serial killers. Hired by Sofia Falcone to aid in her takeover of the Gotham underworld, Pyg makes himself known to the GCPD by killing many of its cops in various brutal ways, which include slashing several with a cleaver and adorning their corpses with grotesque, carved off pig faces; having one blown up by a grenade Pyg inserted in his stomach; and having a raid team mowed down by machine guns after tricking them into shooting one of their own. He later kills six homeless people, bakes them into meat pies, and forces Gotham socialites to eat said pies, holding the young Martin at cleaver-point to ensure their compliance. Upon being caught and sent to Arkham Asylum, he viciously kills an inmate for interrupting his music leisure, before murdering multiple staff to escape. He then kills crime boss Carmine Falcone on Sofia's behest, and attempts to kill Commissioner James Gordon himself before Sofia shoots him and ends his reign of terror for good.
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Examples
- Tempus, one of the most recurring villains of the show, is a witty criminal mastermind who originates from a utopian future created by Lois and Clark. Considering this future tedious and longing to tear it down and replace it with a hellish dystopia, Tempus tries various schemes to make this happen, attempting to murder an infant Superman with Kryptonite and leaving Lois stranded in a time period where she'll have no legal rights in his first appearance, and trying to frame Superman as a hostile alien invader before trying to leave a building full of people to blow up with a bomb he's activated in his second. In Tempus's last appearance, Tempus traps Superman outside of time and mindwashes America into voting him in as President; personally murders or disposes of various loose ends who might compromise him; tosses his bodyguard to his death for a cheap laugh; and ultimately tries to trigger a global nuclear war to annihilate the entire planet while gleefully attesting he simply wants to murder billions for the fun of it now. Even Tempus's snarky demeanor fails to mask the utter lunatic he truly is, and he stands above even Lex Luthor as Superman's most vile enemy.
- "Honeymoon in Metropolis": Thaddeus Roarke is a tycoon who runs a company called Apocalypse Consulting. After losing a military contract to Lex Luthor to develop a coastal defense system for the Navy, Roarke plans to sabotage Luthor's system so that the Navy will pick his system. Roarke is working with a Congressman Ian Harrington who works on the House Subcommittee on Defense and is giving Roarke information about Luthor's system. Roarke eventually reveals his scheme to Harrington, that he plans to cause a massive disruption in Luthor's system that will result in it creating a giant tidal wave which will destroy Metropolis and several cities on the coast, which horrifies Harrington. When Roarke discovers Lois Lane and Clark Kent have been spying on him, he tries to kill them by putting a bomb in their hotel room.
- "Chip Off the Old Clark": "Anonymous" is a mercenary who works for the highest bidder. Anonymous is hired by terrorists to destroy an ongoing peace process between two countries, Tanzor and Fostonia. Anonymous learns of a young boy named Jesse who has some of Superman's powers and kidnaps him. Anonymous hires a hacker to hack into Tanzor's nuclear defense system and then shoots the hacker so he does not have to pay him. Anonymous has Jesse kidnap the President of the Tanzor and uses truth serum to force him to reveal Tanzor's nuclear launch codes, planning to launch a nuke at Fostonia's capital city. Lois Lane arrives and tries to trick Anonymous into surrendering by pretending to have a gun, but Anonymous tricks Jesse into pressing the launch button. Discovering that Jesse has lost his powers, Anonymous decides he is no longer useful and tries to use poison gas to kill Lois, the President and Jesse.
- "Super Mann": Steve Law is a Nazi who awakens from suspended animation in present-day Metropolis to help lead the world into the Fourth Reich. Establishing himself as the nastiest of his three compatriots, Law tries to have a Western sympathizer in his inner circle murdered when he tries to renege and unflinchingly executes his own associate when he tries to abandon the mission as well. Law spearheads the mission to crush the world himself by threatening to detonate bombs in Metropolis, Washington, and LA if America's government doesn't surrender, trying to detonate the bombs as soon as he's able and even dismissing all of his own men who will be caught up in the explosions as "martyrs to the cause".
- "The People vs. Lois Lane" & "Dead Lois Walking": Professor Jefferson Cole is a narcissistic, brilliant mind expelled from S.T.A.R. laboratories after he attempted to sell weapons technology to those who would misuse it. Breaking out of jail years later and possessed of a vendetta toward the people who locked him away, especially Lois Lane, Cole frames Lois for murder by rigging a gun to go off in her hands and kill his own henchmen, later using his illusory technology to further discredit Lois until she's sentenced to death. Cole murders one of his own minions who tries to clear Lois's name in remorse and reveals his trump card is to rain down hybrid-Kryptonite on Metropolis to horribly kill its entire populace, all out of petty spite for the city having "shunned his genius".
Examples
- Archangel Michael, the Evil Twin of Lucifer Morningstar, seeks to ruin the latter's life out of petty envy. Michael is the true mastermind behind many actions in Lucifer's life, which include his rebellion against God; visit to the Garden of Eden; and retirement to Los Angeles, having manipulated Lucifer into these actions. Michael would gaslight his father into believing he's losing control of his powers so that he could retire, allowing Michael to replace him as God. Coming down to Earth to impersonate Lucifer and ruin his life, Michael gives his infant nephew a common cold to exploit his brother Amenadiel's fears about his son's mortality. Assembling the Flaming Sword to force his siblings into helping him become God, Michael would kill his sister Remiel with it, not giving her any afterlife in the process. Afterwards, Michael would order the murder of Lucifer's friend Dan so that his ex-wife Chloe would feel guilty about it and go to Hell after her death, which would also make Lucifer return down there for her. In his final battle, Michael would temporarily kill Chloe and try to erase his brother from existence with the Flaming Sword.
- "Orgy Pants to Work": Julian McCaffrey is the son of Jacob Tierning and Willow McCaffrey. After his mother's death, Julian took over her nudist sanctuary and using his father's shipping company smuggled both drugs and foreign women into America, with the latter quickly being sold into sex slavery. Once nudist visitor Gary Van Blunt found out, Julian had him murdered, and after one of his human trafficking operations got ambushed, Julian killed a cop and tried to defend himself by saying he's better than his father because unlike his father, Julian admits to being bad. Remorseless and always trying to pin the blame on something else, Julian claims the women he smuggles are broken toys even before they're forced into slavery.
- "Who's da New King of Hell?": Dromos is a demon who possessed the body of the recently-deceased Father Kinley to get his king, Lucifer Morningstar, back to Hell. Originally acting friendly and loyal towards his king, once Lucifer makes it clear he's not going back, Dromos drops the act. Instead deciding he will get himself a new king, Dromos kidnaps Lucifer's infant nephew Charlie, planning to mold him into the type of king he would like. Alongside this, Dromos would kill dozens of humans so his demonic siblings could help him in his goal. With his actions convincing Lucifer to go back to Hell, Dromos manages to win while not facing any consequences for his actions, free to continue torturing sinners for all eternity.
- "Our Mojo" & "Spoiler Alert": Pete Daily, first appearing in "BlueBallz" as a friendly journalist, is the Whisper Killer, notorious for cutting women's vocal cords and leaving them to choke on their blood. Killing four women in this style, Pete's actions inspire Les Klumpsky to start murdering women in the same style and pin all of Pete's murders on himself, making Pete responsible for all of Klumpsky's murders. When his girlfriend Ella Lopez finds out about Pete's secret, he tries to strangle her to death.
Examples
- Brainiac, debuting in Season 5 as "Professor Milton Fine", was the ruthless AI responsible for triggering Krypton's destruction, and he didn't prove himself any better after arriving on Earth. Viewing humans as little more than animals, Brainiac made repeated efforts to exterminate the human race, first on behalf of General Zod, and then of his own volition, engineering a deadly plague from the planet's most devastating diseases, releasing a computer virus intended to send the human race back to the technological Stone Age, convincing President Luthor to start a nuclear war in a Bad Future that he himself created, and finally kidnapping Doomsday so that he could turn him into a weapon to destroy all life in the universe. Along the way he infects Martha Kent with a Kryptonian virus; self-repairs by cannibalizing the trace minerals in a succession of victims; murders his "father", Dax-Ur, by draining his mind of all data; leaves Lana in a coma, unable to move, but experiencing constant agony; traps Kara in the Phantom Zone; and bodyjacks Chloe, intending to kill her afterwards. Incapable of empathy, and dedicated to the annihilation of all organic life, Brainiac was easily the vilest foe that Clark ever faced.
- The Toyman, real name Winslow Schott, is a brilliant, deranged assassin who elaborately sets up bombs placed in unsuspecting locations. Putting one on top of the Daily Planet, the Toyman threatens to destroy half of Metropolis with it. To get revenge against Oliver Queen for framing him for Lex Luthor's murder, the Toyman captures over a dozen civilians, strapping one to a bomb and placing them in a factory, intending to destroy it and kill them all. Later planting bombs at a shareholders' meeting Oliver is making a speech at to make him confess to killing Lex, the Toyman reveals he plans to blow up the gala whether or not Oliver caves to his demands. Later creating a fake company to take control of Metropolis's water supply, the Toyman intends to leave thousands without water unless they give into his demands.
- "Hug": Robert "Bob" Rickman is the CEO of Rickman Industries, and possesses the ability to persuade people to do whatever he wants through touch. He uses this ability to build chemical plants which have caused 96 local citizens to be poisoned. He is introduced meeting with an agent who wants to prevent him from building one in Smallville, and makes said agent jump from his office window. Arriving in Smallville, he runs into his old business partner Kyle Tippet, who threatens to expose the truth, due to a year-old agreement that he would leave Smallville alone. Bob uses his ability to force numerous people to make attempts on Kyle's life, including sending Whitney to bludgeon him to death; sending a sheriff to shoot him after he's arrested over the previous attack; and having Lex Luthor trap him and Clark Kent in a car before trying to blow up said car. Completely uncaring about innocent lives, Bob stands above the usual meteor freak.
- "Lazarus": LX-3 is a failed clone of Lex Luthor who was so depraved that even the LuthorCorp staff at Cadmus Labs felt the need to incarcerate him. Accidentally freed by Tess Mercer, LX-3 beats her and handcuffs her in place, tries to kill the five-year-old LX-15, then grabs a blowtorch and proceeds to set fire to the lab, slaughtering all the other clones while claiming that "There can only be one Lex Luthor!" Making his way to Metropolis, LX-3 wires the Daily Planet building to explode, planning to crush hundreds of people in the streets below, then journeys to Smallville where he kidnaps Lois Lane, ties her to a stake, and sets the field around her on fire. Confronting Clark, LX-3 gloats that Clark can save the woman he loves, or the citizens of Metropolis, but not both, sneering that Clark's pride will be the death of him yet. Almost out of time thanks to Clone Degeneration, LX-3 spends his last moments trying to force Clark into violating his moral code by killing him.
- "Abandoned", "Masquerade", & "Finale" two-parter: Desaad is one of Darkseid's Co-Dragons from Apokolips, and unnerves even his fellow dragons, Granny Goodness and Gordon Godfrey. Operating a chain of BDSM-themed nightclubs, Desaad uses them as a front to corrupt the minds of his clientele, making them susceptible to a mass Mind Rape by Darkseid. Anyone who cannot be corrupted is gruesomely murdered, as Desaad uses his telekinetic powers to induce hemorrhaging and implode their internal organs, leading to an agonizing death from internal bleeding. Having disposed of several FBI agents who were investigating him, Desaad kidnaps Chloe and subjects her to an extended mind rape, attempting to turn her into one of Darkseid's minions. When she proves resistant, Desaad tries to kill her, tries to kill Clark when the latter intervenes to save her, and then turns Oliver Queen/Green Arrow into a minion of Darkseid after provoking the archer into brutally beating him. Incarcerated under Belle Reve, Desaad breaks out, gives the now mind-controlled Oliver a Gold K ring, and tries to force him to depower Clark, so that the future Superman can be slain and the end of the world ushered in.
Other Continuities
Examples
- The Adventures of Superboy:
- "Bringing Down the House": Judd Faust is a famous musician studying for a masters degree at Schuster University. Although he seems nice at first, he has a lot of sinister hobbies in his spare time. Faust wants to force a amusement park owner to sell to him (simply because he wants something he know he can't have), and to do this he sends his henchman Charles to bomb a baseball game being played at the amusement park. After Superboy foils that scheme, Faust sends Charles to kidnap the park owner, cover him with alcohol and put him in a roller coaster track so that he gets run over. Meanwhile Faust has started to date Lana Lang, and one night takes her to see his special collection. Faust takes her to his basement which is filled with ghoulish torture devices; Faust plans to torture Lana on the rack and record the screams for his personal enjoyment, having done this to 3 other women already. Faust is so vile, Superboy briefly considers killing him.
- "Carnival": Deville is an ageless demon all but explicitly stated to be Satan himself. He set up a traveling carnival to study human nature and tempt others into acts of sin on its grounds, taking the souls of all those who fall to his wiles and locking them in a box in howling agony for all eternity. Seeking to possess the soul of Clark Kent himself, Deville tries to tempt him into betraying his morals to claim his soul, eventually trying to force Clark to resort to murder on the threat of raping Lana right in front of him, in the form of a despicable Serial Rapist Clark had apprehended earlier.
- "A Change of Heart" two-parter: Adam Verrell is a respected philanthropist who is beloved by the public of Capitol City for his charitable deeds. Verrell donates a series of TV screens to Capitol City that have uplifting messages on them. However, Verrell is secretly a nihilist who believes that humanity is collection of moral degenerates and plans to prove this by destroying Capitol City. The TV screens are actually mind-control devices designed to drive people insane. A priest looks at one of Verrell's screens and flies into a rage, pushing 2 strollers with babies in them into traffic (they are saved by Superboy). Later at a public event, a screen causes the mayor to go into a rage and take a gun from a cop and start firing on the crowd. After Superboy disarms the mayor, the screen causes the crowd to riot. Meanwhile, Verrell is dating Lana Lang and puts a drug in her wine that makes her appear dead, and frames Superboy for her death. Verrell takes Lana to his basement lair and puts her in a cage, threatening to electrocute her if she gets out of line. Verrell then kidnaps a Mad Scientist named Tommy Puck who was recently released from prison and forces him to increase the power of his mind-control machine so that he can affect the entire city at once. Later, Verrell wants Puck to further increase the machine's power, so that people will actively try to murder each other.
- The Adventures of Superman's "The Mind Machine": Lou Cranek is a major crime boss being investigated by a Senate subcommittee for his illegal activities. Cranek kidnaps a scientist named Edward Stanton and steals a device Stanton invented that would use hypnosis to help mental patients. Cranek, who wants Stanton to use the machine as a Mind-Control Device, forces Stanton by knife point to force his former accountant to change his testimony in front of the committee. The accountant then goes insane, hijacks a bus with school children on it and nearly drives it over a cliff. Superman saves the children, but the accountant dies, the machine having destroyed his mind. Cranek uses the machine to silence and kill 2 other witnesses. When confronted with these deaths by Stanton, Cranek states he does not care and will use the machine himself when Stanton refuses to. Cranek plans to kill Stanton after he no longer needs him and plans to use the machine to silence the final witness against him, Lois Lane.
- Birds of Prey (2002):
- "Prey for the Hunter": Detective Claude Morton is a transfer cop from Bludhaven's PD who in actuality is a Serial Killer of Metas. Morton copies his victim's mutative powers before turning them against his victims and horribly killing them, racking up a sizable victim count of criminals and innocents alike. When he's ousted by Huntress, Morton derides his partner as a "disappointment" for refusing to shoot Huntress and reveals that not only is he a Meta as well, but he's seeking to commit genocide on his own kind simply so he can live in a world free of "freaks".
- "Gladiatrix": Malcolm Lagg is the misogynistic owner of the titular illegal fighting club. To keep his club running, Malcolm has Metahuman woman kidnapped and uses a drug to give them uncontrollable rage to make them fight to the death for the amusement of both him and his customers. Any fighters who don't strike the killing blow on their opponent are tortured to death for disobeying him. A Control Freak of the highest order, Malcolm also uses electric shock collars which inflict horrific pain to keep his fighters docile and under his control.
- Doom Patrol (2019): In a world of supervillains and monsters, two parents and one infamous Serial Killer stand out as being worst of all:
- Kay Challis's nameless father manages to stand out as particularly depraved. Not only did he rape his daughter repeatedly as a child, but whenever he felt she disobeyed him or only dared to as much as look at other males but him, he forced her down a well in a bucket, leaving her there terrified and crying for hours. His abuse of her was so bad that her mind broke into multiple personalities, one particular being "Daddy", who keeps tormenting and egging her on to commit suicide, making him the source of all her trauma.
- "Cult Patrol" & "Paw Patrol": Martha Patterson is a member of the Cult of the Unwritten Book, which worships the Decreator, which she intended to bring to the world via the use of a human vessel for the Unwritten Word. To these ends she had a son, Elliot Patterson, and raised him alongside her husband, Todd. Tattooing him and telling him he'd save the world, the truth came out when Todd, ridden by guilt, told Elliot the truth. Martha, dropping all pretense of being a loving mother and wife, slit Todd's throat and chased after her son, eventually sending cultists to fetch him when he took refuge at Doom Manor. Successful in summoning the Decreator—which soon after killed her son—Martha became an archon and confessed to Cliff and Jane her motivations: a nihilist of the highest caliber, she settled for a brief time as ruler of Nurnheim and deemed the rest of creation worth condemning to annihilation. She then proceeded to deconstruct both heroes, exposing their insecurities and traumas for the sake of mocking them. When a counter-cult finally took action to destroy the Decreator, Martha wrathfully attacked the heroes one last time, rejecting all attempts at preventing the world from being erased.
- "Pain Patrol": Red Jack is an interdimensional being who feeds on suffering. First encountered by Caulder as Jack the Ripper, Red Jack has been many serial killers since, including the Monster of Florence. Kidnapping Mr. Negative and torturing him while using his radiation to torture others, Red Jack tries to sway Caulder to be his apprentice, deciding to torture him and his allies eternally as one of his collection; rows and rows of people turned into butterflies and kept in horrific agony so he may feed on them for all time.
- Krypton: Brainiac, known as The Collector of Worlds, is a cyborg who wiped out his entire race and travels through the galaxy to abduct cities, shrinking them for his collection and often causing the destruction of their planets. While Brainiac publicly claims to bring immortality for the people he takes, in actuality they are put into a paralyzed stasis while remaining conscious forever. Having already inflicted this fate on countless cities and setting sights on Kandor from planet Krypton, Brainiac sends a sentry that possesses and kills an innocent woman before infecting the dictator of Kandor, whom Brainiac remotely controls. After defeating a coup, Brainiac brainwashes the rebels into his loyal guards and forces chief magistrate Daron-Vex to execute his co-conspirators, including Daron's own daughter, Nyssa. To replenish his forces, Brainiac regularly feeds on the birth facility, draining embryos as batteries. Brainiac then slaughters any opposition with his Psychic Powers and turns a little girl into a living bomb he sends upon her friend, Seg-El. Upon being defeated and cast away into the Phantom Zone, Brainiac drags Seg with him and possesses him to return back to Krypton, kidnapping Seg's son and taking him to Earth so he can rule over the planet as a god.
- The Sandman (2022):
- The Corinthian is a nightmare who glories in his dark nature. Helping to keep Dream of the Endless imprisoned without any care of the horrific effect on the world, the Corinthian also enables John Dee in his potentially global plots to destroy the minds of countless others as long as he kills Dream. A sadistic Serial Killer, the Corinthian murders many young men, torturing them and eating their eyes. Arriving at a serial killer convention, the Corinthian plots to lure Dream into a fight with the Dream Vortex Rose Walker to destroy him and inspire countless serial killers to more horrible acts.
- "Calliope": Erasmus Fry is an elderly author who became world-renowned through the vilest means imaginable. Having bound the magical muse Calliope to his will many decades ago, Erasmus used Calliope to inspire himself with creativity by regularly raping and abusing her, trapping her as his slave for over 50 years. Erasmus kept Calliope hopeful for release through all the years, yet when he grows tired of her presence, Erasmus sells her off to Richard Madoc and encourages Madoc to continue raping and dehumanizing Calliope, and Erasmus personally mocks her for having ever believed he would let her go.
- Stargirl (2020):
- Dr. Shiro Ito, the Dragon King, is the sociopathic Mad Scientist of the Injustice Society of America who crafted plagues during World War II and once attempted to destroy New York. Ito frequently abused his daughter Cindy to turn her into a tool, subjecting her to tortuous experiments and gassing her when she objected to being imprisoned. Having captured Shining Knight, Ito broke his mind to force him to live as a mundane janitor, amused at his suffering. As part of the ISA, Ito designs a device to focus the power of Brainwave and shows no care for the tens of millions who will die to satisfy his scientific curiosity in Project: New America. Later returning after his apparent death, Ito allies with Icicle and the Ultra-Humanite to resurrect Starman and steal both his body and legacy, trapping his mind in a mental loop where he relives the painful brain transplant for months on end. Ito takes the Ultra-Humanite's body to serve as the trio's muscle and murders the Gambler, allowing the Ultra-Humanite to pit the JSA and their former ISA allies against each other as Ito plans to kill them all in his mission to become "something greater."
- Season 2: Eclipso, the ancient demon residing in the Black Diamond, is a malevolent being who savors fear, negativity, and corruption. Having corrupted and devoured the souls of countless beings, Eclipso opens the season by murdering the young daughter of Dr. Mid-Nite in a flashback and assists the orphaned Cindy in forming a new group of supervillains after murdering her stepmother. Trying to corrupt the heroes into evil after betraying Cindy by killing one of her allies and trapping her in the Shadowlands, Eclipso eventually attempts to merge the world with the Shadowlands to rule it like a god and feed on the souls of humans at his leisure.
- Titans (2018):
- Trigon, Big Bad of Season 1, is the evil, world-destroying demon that the Organization worships, and is actually the father of Rachel Roth and the source of her dark powers. Trigon seeks to use his own daughter as a gateway to cross back into the world, using his cult of personality the Organization to butcher and torture swathes of people and having her mother Angela Azarath manipulate Rachel into his clutches. Once he crosses through, Trigon proceeds to Mind Rape almost all of Rachel's friends into his broken slaves, having them beat Gar into a bloody pulp to shatter Rachel's heart before literally tearing Rachel's heart out of her chest. Trigon even breaks Angela's neck to "housekeep" before he prepares to set out to swallow the Earth in darkness, devastating it of life and continuing on to destroy all life in the universe.
- "Hank and Dawn": Vincent, Hank Hall's old gym coach, proves himself far worse than even many superpowered characters, preying on his young students to molest them at his whim. Vincent goads Hank's young brother into his clutches by threatening to have Hank expelled from his prestigious school, raping Hank instead when he substitutes himself. A laptop discovered in the present day reveals he has pictures of countless other kids he'd targeted before him.
- Watchmen (2019) has a duo of vile racists:
- Senator Joseph "Joe" Keene Jr. is the true leader of the Cyclops splinter cell known as the Seventh Kavalry, using his position as an Oklahoma politician to mask his terrorist activities. Organizing the Seventh Kavalry and using them to perpetrate the White Night—a massacre of off-duty police officers and their families on Christmas night—Keene gets dozens of Tulsa police killed just so he can institute a new law to protect cops and make himself look good. After discovering the presence of Dr. Manhattan, Keene has the Kavalry commit a variety of other murders and bombings, threatening the entire family of Angela Abar along the way, before capturing Manhattan and revealing his plans to drain the man's life force and powers to become a god and rewrite reality to one where white men reign supreme just to satisfy his racist, egomaniacal agenda.
- "This Extraordinary Being": Fred T.—all but stated to be Fred Trump, father of Donald—is the secret leader of Cyclops, a division of the Ku Klux Klan and the Predecessor Villain to the Seventh Kavalry. Fred gleefully abuses his status to set fire to a Jewish deli and walk free of the consequences, and is furthermore revealed to be using his factory as a base for the manufacturing of films laced with subliminal messaging that drive black people into homicidal rages. Fred intends to have these films shipped all over the country, with only one showing resulting in a theater full of people tearing each other apart.
- Wonder Woman (2011 pilot): Veronica Cale is the corrupt CEO of a pharmaceutical company planning to create Super Soldiers. To test her product, Cale peddles dangerous drugs to poor teenagers from minority communities; the drug's side effects make their users bleed from their eyes before dying via catastrophic heart failure. Cale further refines her serum by conducting experiments on over a dozen trafficked subjects, leaving them horribly deformed. When Wonder Woman attacks her facility, Cale happily allows her employees to be brutalized so that footage of the illegal trespass can be used against her nemesis.
