7 Overlooked DC Villains Who Don’t Get Enough Credit (Thanks to Darkseid)

Among all the notorious villains across DC Comics, none is more feared than the New God of Evil and Lord of Apokolips, known as Darkseid. Few villains are as powerful and cruel as Darkseid, who has earned in spades his reputation as the big bad of DC Comics. However, even though Darkseid is a menacing figure, his popularity and status within the DC Universe have led him to overshadow many other strong and dangerous villains who pose galactic and universal threats. With so much effort put into Darkseid’s popularity, these underrated yet nearly all-powerful villains have been starved of the credit and infamy that they rightfully deserve.

In both the Absolute Universe and DC K.O., Darkseid has been the overarching threat to Earth’s heroes. However, because of his popularity, many DC fans have unintentionally overlooked some other major big bads in the DC Universe that have been unfairly devalued to make room for the Lord of Apokolips.

7) Doctor Destiny

While other villains use brute force to overwhelm their enemies, John Dee, aka Doctor Destiny, attacks the heroes of DC Comics in the one place where they can’t defend themselves: their dreams. Doctor Destiny wields the Materioptikon, a gem he obtained from the omnipotent deity known as Dream the Endless. With this gem, Doctor Destiny can either attack and kill his victims in their dreams like Freddy Krueger or bring their nightmares into reality to act as his monstrous minions. Darkseid may be the more popular mind-manipulating supervillain, but Doctor Destiny is a nightmare-inducing mastermind in his own right who deserves more story arcs centered around him.

6) Grail

Grail is the half-New God, half-Amazon daughter of Darkseid who turned her father into her minion. Her Amazonian mother raised Grail to be a warrior capable of killing Darkseid. After many years of preparation, Grail allied herself with the all-powerful Anti-Monitor. During the Darkseid War, Grail summoned Anti-Monitor to Earth, knowing that her father would come to acquire the Anti-Life Equation, which the Anti-Monitor possessed. The Anti-Monitor proved to be too much for Darkseid, as he killed the New God. The final step of Grail’s plan revealed itself when she took the Anti-Life Equation for herself and resurrected Darkseid as her mindless puppet. Although Darkseid has since broken free of Grail’s control, his daughter is still a menacing villain who deserves more recognition.

5) Mongul

Darkseid isn’t the only intergalactic tyrant the DC Universe has to offer. Mongul is the mad ruler of the planet-destroying space station known as Warworld, where he forces his slaves to fight in gladiatorial games for his amusement. He is Superman’s most cunning and ruthless adversary. Mongul’s most infamous act was in the story “For the Man Who Has Everything,” where he trapped Superman in a dream-like prison in which Krypton never exploded. Despite his many horrendous acts over the years, Mongul gets overshadowed by Darkseid’s greater power and empire. Still, Mongul is one of the most fearsome warlords in the universe and a major villain to the heroes of Earth.

4) White Martians

While Green Martians like Martian Manhunter are peaceful, the White Martians are sadistic, monstrous race that seeks only to dominate and destroy everything in their path. When these violent conquerors attempted to take over a prehistoric Earth, the Green Martians stopped them and banished their evil cousins to the prison dimension known as the Phantom Zone. The White Martians escaped their prison in the modern day and have renewed their attempt to invade and conquer Earth. White Martians have all the powers of their green cousins, including super-strength, flight, shapeshifting, telepathy, heat vision, telekinesis, and intangibility. With their vast numbers, incredible power sets, and savage personalities, the White Martians are some of the biggest threats humanity has ever seen.

3) Eclipso

Before the Spectre took the role as the personification of God’s wrath, there was Eclipso. This angel was cast from Heaven because of his violent and sadistic nature. Eclipso then created the dark dimension known as the Shadowlands, where he ruled for eons. One of his most infamous acts was causing the Great Flood, which destroyed almost all life on Earth and permanently left Atlantis underwater. To interact with the physical realm, he uses dark crystals to possess people, with his favorite host being Dr. Bruce Gordon. Eclipso is one of the strongest and most malevolent entities in the DC Multiverse. With his corrupting influence, Eclipso is a demonic force who’s on par with Darkseid’s cruelty and raw power.

2) Imperiex

While Darkseid is seen as the biggest cosmic threat in DC Comics, Imperiex has been unfairly forgotten, despite being the living embodiment of entropy, existing to destroy and recreate universes. This god-like being stores the energy of the Big Bang within his body, which he uses to obliterate all who oppose him. Imperiex is so powerful that Darkseid, Mongul, and Superman had to team up to stop his rampage. He even reduced the unstoppable Doomsday to a mere skeleton with a single blast of energy. Yet despite his terrifying abilities and status within the DC Universe, Imperiex has only made a few appearances in the comics and is one of Superman’s most underrated villains.

1) Despero

Before Darkseid arrived in 1970, one of the Justice League’s deadliest recurring foes was the tyrannical Despero. An alien from the planet Kalanor, Despero took over his world and began a crusade to conquer the universe. Despero is one of the strongest telepaths in the DC Universe, a power he uses to bend entire planets to his will. Many worlds have fallen under Despero’s control, including, for a time, Hawkman and Hawkgirl’s homeworld of Thanagar. With his overwhelming physical strength comparable to Superman and his telepathic abilities able to rival those of Martian Manhunter, Despero is one of the Justice League’s most dangerous adversaries. Add with his extensive history with the Justice League, and Despero is long overdue for a comeback as an overwhelming and universe-threatening villain.

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