7 Best Villains Without Superpowers (That Aren't Marvel or DC)

A story is only as good as its villain and in the world of comics, that usually means dealing with all manner of superpowered foes, powered bad guys who give the heroes a run for their proverbial money and even sometimes their own superpowers. But not every villain in comics has superpowers. There are some foes that carry out their crusade of crime and evil relying on wits, physical prowess, and sometimes just anger and an axe to grind. They’re complex characters in their own right that we love to hate.

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And while DC and Marvel have plenty of non-powered villains for the heroes to take on, it’s the worlds outside of the Big Two that actually have some of the most interesting villains without superpowers. In some cases, these villains are more antiheroes and antagonists than true supervillains—and in some cases, their stories go on long enough to see them get redemption—but they are the fascinating threats that remind us that you don’t need to have special powers to do evil. Here are seven of the best. Just a note before we jump in: there will be some names on this list that have appeared in DC and/or Marvel due to licensing or other factors. We’re including them here specifically if they exist outside of the primary superhero universes.

7) Herr Starr (Preacher)

As I noted before we got into things, there are a few villains on this list that purists might consider to actually be DC or Marvel characters and this is one of them but given that he (and his overall setting) isn’t a part of the larger DC superhero world and that the book was originally published by DC’s Vertigo imprint, we’re including him. That villain is Herr Starr from Preacher. One of the series’ main antagonists (the other being God who, well, obviously has superpowers), Herr Starr is the ruthless enforcer for The Grail and, eventually, becomes their leader. While he does have some impressive skills, namely being proficient with guns and an expert marksman, and has a high pain tolerance, he doesn’t have any actual superpowers. However, that doesn’t stop him from being absolutely ruthless and direct. He’s also funny, which makes him very, very twisted. Maybe making him even more terrifying is that, in the live-action adaptation of Preacher, Herr Starr is actually very much a fan-favorite (though he was a fan-favorite comic character, too.)

6) Prince Robot IV (Saga)

A recurring theme with a lot of the villains on this list is that many of them aren’t outright traditional villains but are, instead, more complex and fall more into the antagonist category and that includes Prince Robot IV. Yes, his arc is one of redemption and that’s great but when he’s first introduced, it’s a different story. We first meet Prince Robot as a ruthless assassin and enforcer, tasked by the Robot Kingdom to hunt down Marko and Alana. For Prince Robot, his targets don’t even have value as living beings to him, they’re just objectives and he is extremely brutal when it comes to anyone he sees as being in his way. While the character’s story shifts and changes as he develops over the series and that arguably makes him somewhat more morally gray, he starts out as being truly awful, which lands him on this list with ease.

5) The Governor (The Walking Dead)

When people think of villains in The Walking Dead, they usually go right to Negan but while Negan is definitely a solid villain, there’s just something about The Governor that is that much worse and that thing is the cult of personality around him. While other villains use tools like fear and intimidation and strict rules to exert their control, The Governor is all about manipulation and savvy. He makes people believe he really is there to save them and, in turn, that makes his brutal actions seem logical and even necessary. An evil that uses propaganda and manipulation to convince you that it’s “saving” you is possibly the worst kind of evil there is and The Governor is exactly that. He’s also very volatile and unstable, emotionally, which when added to his sadistic streak, makes him a true nightmare even in a world that is itself a nightmare. He’s unrelenting and because he’s sort of a dark opposite of Rick Grimes, he’s all the scarier.

4) The Adversary (Fables)

Another just off from DC villain and once again coming from Vertigo is The Adversary from Fables. Now, this is another sort of addition to the list with an asterisk because you could competently argue that because he’s a “fairy tale” character that means he has some sort of power set and you’re not entirely wrong, but the world of Fables is very unique and these aren’t your standard “superpowers”—and honestly most of The Adversary’s real power comes from his leadership skills and drive to be a full-on dictator. He’s also particularly fascinating because he completely subverts what you’d expect from the villain of Fables. When it is eventually revealed that The Adversary that has been the primary villain throughout is actually Gepetto, it is a shocking twist because he’s just a gentle old man woodcarver. Except he’s not. He’s a power-made dictator responsible for genocide, upheaval and worse.

3) Hunter Rose (Grendel)

It isn’t terribly often that the “villain” is also the central character, but that is the case with the Grendel series by Matt Wagner and that villain main character is Hunter Rose. Real name Eddie, Hunter Rose was a famous novel by day and a vicious mob hit man and crime boss calling himself Grendel by night. Not only is it a genius turn to make the villain the protagonist, but Hunter Rose is also just a really interesting villain. His motivation is largely boredom as he doesn’t really need money—and he’s already incredibly intelligent so he’s easily bored. He’s amoral, sociopathic, and also extremely stylish and full of contradiction. He’s one of those villains that you genuinely have to think about. He’s comparable to Batman in some respects, almost like an evil alternative version of that sort of character type. He also might be one of the most fun villains on this list to read.

2) Cobra Commander (G.I. Joe)

The main antagonist of the G.I. Joe franchise in pretty much every iteration of it be that on screen or on the page, Cobra Commander is a great example of a villain with no superpowers that has some serious impact. While his origin shifts a little depending on version and comic (there was a Marvel comics line for G.I. Joe in the 1980s, among other publishers over the years), he stands out as a villain because of just how relatable he is in terms of his ambition and paranoia and as such, is a representative of how a series of struggles capped off by tragedy can turn someone absolutely evil. He is a master manipulator, absolutely paranoid, unquestionably fascist, and uses terror as one of his tools. He’s clever, he’s cunning, and he’s brutal which makes him not only formidable as a foe but terrifying as well. After all, he is in charge of an evil terrorist organization.

1) Shredder (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

Okay, while this arguably isn’t a ranking list there is no reality in which Shredder isn’t taking the top spot. The main antagonist of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, Shredder is a seriously impressive villain with not a single superpower. Instead, he’s a master of ninjutsu, he has sick bladed armor, and he’s a full-on criminal mastermind. He’s a villain with a very iconic visual design in just about every media format you see him in (especially comics) but what really elevates Shredder above the other non-powered villains on this list is that for him, the motivation is a deep and personal grudge. His beef with Hamato Clan is rooted in personal history, tragedy, and it makes the clash between Shredder and the Turtles so much more than just heroes going against a foe. That gives the story a certain depth that simply cannot be beaten and somehow gets better and better with every iteration.

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