DC Comics has created some of the most evil villains ever imagined. Looking over the 88 year history of the publisher, we’ve gotten villains who defined what evil truly is numerous times. In the DC Multiverse, for a long time, villains were almost always villains and were rarely redeemed. Marvel changed all of that in the Silver Age, and since then, many villains have been redeemed in the DC Multiverse. Some of them have joined major superhero teams and even had their own solo books. In fact, several former DC villains have become rather important heroes in different eras of the publisher.
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However, there are some villains who just can’t be redeemed. Their evil is too great and fans will never actually think of them as redeemed (including ones who supposedly have been). These are DC’s seven most irredeemable villains, ranked by how evil they are.
7) Zoom
Wally West is the greatest Flash, but for years he didn’t have his own archenemy. All of that changed with Zoom. Hunter Zolomon was an FBI agent who was paralyzed in the line of duty, asked Wally to change his past, and when Wally refused, he tried to use the Cosmic Treadmill to go back in time and fix it himself. He failed but gained time-controlling powers and has since believed that every terrible thing he does makes the heroes better. He doesn’t believe that he’s actually a villain, so he will never be redeemed.
6) Reverse Flash
The Reverse Flash hates Barry Allen, and will do anything to make him suffer. It’s his only goal in life. However, even if he changed, it will still be impossible to redeem him. This is a person who went through his own timeline and killed everyone, including his family members, who did anything to him that he didn’t like. He has no problem killing anyone if he thinks that it will help him complete his mission of destroying Barry’s life. He’s a true monster, the kind that no one could redeem. His actions over the years have been much too heinous for anything like that.
5) Deathstroke
So, a lot of people would say that Deathstroke is redeemable and he has been because he’s done “good guy” stuff. However, Deathstroke is completely irredeemable. To begin with, there’s the whole thing with Terra. He used a teen girl as a weapon, all while having some kind of romantic relations with her. That’s basically all you have to say about him being irredeemable. He uses everyone, including his own family, so that when he does do the “right thing”, he’s still doing it in an evil way. Deathstroke is unequivocally a monster.
4) Hush
Hush killed his parents. Sure, his dad was an abusive alcoholic and his mother hid the abuse, but he didn’t kill them because of the abuse, he killed them because he was jealous of Bruce Wayne, who had lost his parents, and the freedom and money the orphan had because his parents died. He then decided to go after the one person who was ever nice to him, Bruce, and try to destroy his life numerous times. Plenty of heroes have started out being abused by their parents, but they didn’t kill them. They used their pain to make themselves stronger and to desire to protect others. Tommy Elliot never did that; he used it as an excuse to become a monster.
3) The Joker
The Joker is DC’s most storied villain and also completely irredeemable. The Clown Prince of Crime kills because he feels like it, ruining the lives of people because he thinks it’s funny. Over the years, we’ve seen stories where he “lost his evil”, but that doesn’t change that he is a mass murderer who cares for no one else. Even if he was somehow cured of his mental ailments, he would still be irredeemable; he’s killed thousands. There have been times when he helps the heroes, but he usually ends up betraying them. There is nothing left in the Joker to redeem.
2) Brainiac
Brainiac is one of Superman’s greatest villains, and also one of his worst when it comes to evil. The Coluan cyborg has killed an unfathomable amount of beings over the years. His MO is simple: he pulls up in a star system, steals a city, and then destroys the solar system by detonating its primary so he will be the only one who has their knowledge. He cares nothing for anything but his own aggrandizement, and will betray anyone to learn anything he doesn’t know. He’s feared throughout the universe for very good reason, and there’s no part of him that would ever seek out redemption, let alone make up for the atrocities he’s committed.
1) Darkseid
Darkseid is the God of Evil. There is literally no way to redeem him. There is no good within him and he represents all the worst thing in the lives of sentient beings. The entire multiverse is a plaything to him. He doesn’t see the lives of anyone but his own as important, and believes that no one should have their own free will. The lord of Apokolips sees no reason for redemption, because nothing but himself matters to him. His heinous crimes are completely ignored by him, because to him, they are completely and totally justified. He will never ask for forgiveness, and the only reason he will help save the multiverse is for the chance to take control of it in the future.
What DC villains do you think are irredeemable? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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