7 DC Villains That Became Deadly Threats in Alternate Realities

If you like superheroes and supervillains, you have DC Comics to thank for them. The publisher created the first examples of both, using the ideas from pulp detective stories, sci-fi, and men’s adventures tales. Many of the best villains in comics have come from DC and they’ve been battling the most powerful heroes of them all for decades. Supervillains in comics have to walk on the razor’s edge. They can’t ever really win in the long run, but they also need to seem dangerous. Over the years, DC has done their best to keep their villains looking strong and a great way to do that is alternate universe stories.

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These stories allow villains to kill some of the most powerful heroes out there, showing just how potentially dangerous they are. Over the years, many villains have become more dangerous than ever in alternate universe stories, including ones that are already known for being monsters. These seven DC villains are way more deadly in alternate universes, killing their enemies and actually winning.

7) The Joker

The Joker is a legendary villain and is known for being deadly. He’s killed thousands, but how many actual important characters has he killed? It’s basically just Jason Todd and Sarah Essen (and most people don’t remember the latter). In alternate universes, though, he’s much more dangerous. In JLA: The Nail, he killed Robin and Batgirl. He’s killed Lois Lane twice in two different alternate universes in Kingdom Come and the Injustice comics. There are plenty of alternate universe comics out there where Joker is actually dangerous to the top ranks of the heroes, showing just what the villain can do.

6) Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor is DC’s smartest villain and has spent years trying to beat Superman. While he’s gotten some minor victories, in alternate universes, he’s much, much deadlier. Lex in alternate universes has killed the Man of Steel many times (starting with the old school “imaginary stories” of the Silver Age) and has even been able to take over the world, destroying the rest of the superhero community as well. Lex is a beast in any universe, but alternate reality versions of the villain are much more deadly than the one that we’re used to.

5) Bizarro

“Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” is one of the greatest Superman stories of all time, and we’re getting two villains from the story on this list. The first is Bizarro. One of the first threats that the Man of Steel faces in the story is his perfect imperfect duplicate, who has suddenly started killing people in Metropolis. This isn’t the way he usually rolls and it set the tone for a story that would see Superman and his friends pushed to the brink by his enemies. Bizarro is scary in general, but there are few things more frightening than a Bizarro who would kill.

4) Mr. Mxyzptlk

Mr. Mxyzptlk is something of a joke villain. The Fifth Dimensional imp had massive reality-altering powers, allowing him to do whatever he wants. He usually just does funny stuff, though, but “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” established that this was a choice. He spent millennia being funny, and then decided to become deadly for millennia. All of the atrocities committed by Superman’s foes in the stories were because of his powers manipulating them, and the story showed just how dangerous the villain could be when he puts his mind to it.

3) Ultra-Humanite

Ultra-Humanite was one of the first supervillains, battling Superman and the Justice Society (and later the Justice League) over the years. There are two alternate universe stories that show how deadly he can be. The first is JSA: The Golden Age, where the villain helped make the plan that would almost destroy the superhero community (I’m not going to spoil the how for you in case you haven’t read it; it’s such a fun twist) and “Stealing Thunder”, where he took over the body of Johnny Thunder and used the Thunderbolt genie to take over the world, killing heroes, and putting the rest in cold storage.

2) The Batman Who Laughs

The Batman Who Laughs was DC’s top villain from the end of Dark Knights: Metal to the end of Dark Knights: Death Metal, but he didn’t really kill anyone except Perpetua. The Joker virus-infected Batman was played as the ultimate evil, but when it comes right down to it, most of his actions were pretty bloodless when he was fighting the heroes. However, in other alternate universes, he was as deadly as they come. On his own Earth, he killed every single hero and villain in the world, as well as everyone else on the planet. However, put him on the mainline DC Earth and he’s still formidable, but he’s not deadly.

1) Darkseid

DC is full of irredeemable villains, and Darkseid tops that list. The God of Evil is one of the most formidable villains out there, but who has he actually killed? However, in alternate universes, he’s been able to kill some of the most powerful heroes out there. We’ve seen the villain in many alternate universe stories where he’s won, like the amazing classic “Rock of Ages”, and in those worlds he’s been responsible for killing some of the most famous and powerful heroes in the DC Multiverse, something that he doesn’t get to pull off on the mainline Earth.

What DC villains do you think are deadlier in alternate universes? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!