5 DC Villains Who Make You Question Who the Real Bad Guys Are

DC Comics has been creating exemplary heroes and villains for almost a hundred years now. Their heroes are some of the most powerful and pure out there, people who inspire everyone who has ever met them. With heroes like this, they need villains to match and luckily, the creators of the DC Multiverse have understood the assignment. Over the years, readers have been introduced to some of the greatest antagonists ever, ones who have grown and changed with the years. While many of them started out as completely and totally evil, the changing tides of the comic industry and the way that villains are perceived has led to them becoming more complex than ever.

This complexity has led to some of the greatest stories ever, but it’s also muddied the waters with many of them. They’ve become more than what they were before, to the extent that sometimes it’s very hard to tell them apart from the heroes. They may do bad things, but it’s hard to say that they are actually completely evil. These five DC villains blur the line between heroes and villains, their actions leading some readers to question who the real good guys are.

5) The Great Darkness

“American Gothic” is Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing opus, a story that took readers through the dark soul of the United States, as seen by a British man. This story pit Swamp Thing and John Constantine against a group of sorcerers who wanted to free the Great Darkness on creation. The Great Darkness is the primordial void that existed before creation. It’s hard to say if it’s sentient and it’s entire point is to be the darkness in creation. It’s fueled numerous evil beings, all in attempt to bring creation back to its default state where it’s everything that exists. However, that doesn’t mean it’s evil. The Great Darkness isn’t anything; it has no true will of its own. It exists because it has to exist and it’s those that tap into its power that are the actual bad guys. It’s merely fulfilling its purpose. Fans got in a tizzy when it returned in Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths because it seemed like it was in control of its action, but the end of the story again revealed that the Great Darkness isn’t the problem – it’s what people do with it.

4) General Zod

General Zod is one of Superman’s biggest threats. The Kryptonian general was his world’s greatest soldier, fighting to keep his planet safe and powerful. However, he saw the rot at the core of the planet, working with Jor-El at times to change the Science Council. He ended up going too far and was imprisoned in the Phantom Zone, where he would stay until he learned about the existence of Jor-El’s son Kal. Zod hates humanity, but he also hates just about every other race out there as well. He wants Kryptonians to have their place in the universe and is willing to conquer the Earth to get his people a new home. If Zod was a human fighting for the future of humanity against another race, he would be a superhero. In a lot of ways, he’s basically his world’s version of Captain America – a soldier who exemplifies his planet’s ethos and fought hard to save it, even fighting against the powers that be when they proved to be corrupt. He’s only evil because he’s targeting us.

3) Mr. Mxyzptlk

Mr. Mxyzptlk is one of Superman’s most powerful enemies, which is saying something. Mxy is a Fifth Dimensional imp who travels to our dimension to entertain himself and mess with Superman. That’s basically the extent of his appearances. While there have been some times when he’s actually done something evil – “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” showed an actual evil version of the villain and “Superman Reborn” saw him targeting Jon Kent – most of his appearances are just him playing the kind of pranks that someone with reality-altering powers could pull off. In fact, recent appearances in World’s Finest have seen him and Bat-Mite teaming up with Superman and Batman; in fact, it looks like Mxy is the Fifth Dimensional equivalent of Superman in a lot of ways. Mxy is basically an all-powerful god that gets bored easily and wants to mess with someone. He’s not really all that bad, as far as it goes, and is just as likely to help Supes as do anything else, as long as it promises to be entertaining.

2) Ares

Ares is the Greek God of War and has gone down as one of Wonder Woman’s greatest villains. Diana was sent from Themyscira to Man’s World to spread peace and that’s basically the antithesis of everything Ares stands for. He’s the embodiment of war and that’s where it gets complicated. War is a terrible thing, but it’s also something that has done good things for the world. Ares is played as evil because he tries to start wars, but not all wars are evil; for example, World War II. This shows the facets of the God of War and makes you question whether he is truly a bad guy. Sure, he’s fueling the worst people on the battlefield, but he’s also powering the best. War is one of the most complicated parts of human history and that makes Ares into way more of an interesting character than he seems. Many of his actions have been terrible, but they’ve also done some good for the world at times.

1) Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor is DC’s most unhinged genius, but he’s also one of the most complicated. Over the years, readers have seen many versions of Luthor, everything from the evil mad scientist of the Golden Age, the evil supervillain of the Silver and Bronze Ages, and the greedy businessman that is all of them put together. However, recent years have seen new facets added to the character. His origin is actually kind of heroic, when you think about it – he was abused by his father and wanted to ensure that he never became that kind of monster. However, his own ego and need for validation led him down dark paths. It was recently revealed that he came to Metropolis to be a superhero, but that changed over the years as he found success and aggrandizement. Lex hates Superman, but he loves humanity and will protect the Earth when it’s threatened. He’ll work hard to protect Metropolis and has even fought alongside the Supes and the Justice League. He’s still greedy and will take things to extremes, but in 2026, it’s very hard to say that Lex is actually a villain.

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