7 DC Villains That Defeated Batman (And How Bad They Beat Him)

Batman is possibly the most popular superhero ever. One of the most formidable superheroes, The Dark Knight has a reputation not only as being The World’s Greatest Detective, but when it comes to more formidable foes, that with prep time, he can defeat pretty much anyone. Over the years, he has taken down plenty of extremely skilled and powerful villains leaving little doubt Batman is the best of the best, and often times it’s hard to imagine him beaten.

But Batman isn’t infallible. Over the years, several DC villains have been able to take down Gotham’s greatest hero, trouncing Batman in variety of ways. These are 7 DC villains that have earned some rather epic wins over the Dark Knight, showing that he isn’t invincible, no matter how formidable he is.

The Joker

The Joker is one of Batman’s most well-known villains, and is the among most popular supervillains ever. The Joker and the Batman’s war has taken both of them to some rather dark places, with Batman constantly having to hold himself back from killing the Clown Prince of Crime. While Batman almost always triumphs over the Joker, there have been some times when the Joker has been able to defeat his archfoe, one of the most notable times coming in the 2014 story known as Batman: Endgame.

Written by Scott Snyder, in Endgame, Joker was able to use Joker toxin to get the Justice League to attack Batman and constantly nipped at the Dark Knight’s heels. Eventually, he was able to get into the Batcave and the two foes had an epic battle. They tore each to pieces, and technically this battle was a draw. However, both of them ended up dead afterwards – resurrected by a Lazarus Pit-like liquid that ran under the Batcave – so this counts as one of Joker’s most brutal victories over Batman.

The Riddler

The Riddler and Batman have clashed for years and while The Riddler isn’t a physical threat to Batman – although recent years have seen creators make him much more physically imposing – his genius has been enough to challenge Batman. The Riddler is constantly trying to outsmart Batman and has been able to do it several times. The Riddler’s biggest victory over Batman isn’t one where he beat the Dark Knight physically, but one where he was able to move Batman around like a chess piece.

The Riddler was the mastermind of the classic Batman story Hush. Written by Jeph Loeb, in Hush The Riddler met Tommy Elliott and used his connections with Gotham’s villain community to help Hush in his attacks on Bruce Wayne. The Riddler learned Batman’s secret identity and was able to keep him guessing until the very end of the Hush affair. While Batman was able to eventually to figure out that Riddler was the true mastermind, the fact that Riddler was able to stay in the shadows for so long and learn Batman’s secret identity is one of the greatest losses that Batman has ever suffered. The Riddler sustained a brain injury and forgot Batman’s identity, but for a time he had a weapon that most other Batman villains wish they had.

Bane

Bane has jumped over many other villains to become one of Batman’s greatest foes. He did this by defeating Batman in the classic story Batman: Knightfall. In 1993’s Knightfall, Bane attacked Gotham, breaking open Arkham Asylum, and forcing Batman to race all over the city in order to apprehend all of the released villains. Bane ran the Dark Knight ragged and then attacked him, breaking the back of the Batman, leaving him paralyzed. This forced Azrael to become Batman, with Bruce Wayne leaving Gotham in order to find a way to heal his broken body.

While many consider this Bane’s greatest victory, Bane also has a second big time victory over Batman that is more impressive to some. In Tom King’s Batman run, specifically the “City of Bane” arc, Bane decided to attack Batman and went into overdrive to show his tactical genius. Bane created a plan that involved many of Batman’s greatest villains, and Batman never realized that everything he went through was a part of a plan that Bane created to defeat him and throw him out of Gotham City. Bane even ended up killing Alfred. Bane’s defeats of Batman make a great argument for him being Batman’s most dangerous – and greatest – foe.

Darkseid

Darkseid is sometimes considered the greatest villain in the DC Multiverse and for good reason. Darkseid is the God of Evil, a multiversal force whose only goal is the complete and total enslavement of the entire multiverse. He’s out of Batman’s league in a lot of ways, but Batman’s place in the Justice League means that he’s faced off against Darkseid several times. For example, in an alternate future where Darkseid took over the world, Batman was able to fool Darkseid into thinking he was DeSaad, Darkseid’s chief torturer, and allowed the surviving Leaguers to attack Darkseid. However, Darkseid killed him in that alternate timeline.

[Related: DC Reveals the Tragic Origin & Meaning of Batman’s Wild New Absolute Costume]

In the main universe, Darkseid was eventually able to get the Anti-Life Equation, and attacked the Earth. He made sure to capture Batman, wanting to use clones of him as shocktroopers to use in his armies. Batman was able to escape and confronted the God of Evil, preparing to shoot him with a Radium, a god-killing element, bullet that Batman had found in the body of Darkseid’s son Orion. Darkseid used the Omega Effect before Batman shot him, throwing the hero back in time, causing everyone to think he was dead. However, it was all part of Darkseid’s revenge plan. Batman was pursued through time by a demon created by Darkseid, building up Omega energy as he moved forward. The plan was that when Batman reached the present, he would explode and destroy the multiverse, avenging Darkseid’s loss. However, Batman and Tim Drake were able to stop this eventuality.

The Orghams

The Ogrham family is an ancient one, having dealing with Ra’s al Ghul in the distant past. The family gained a measure of immortality – with son Arzen and matriarch Dariah surviving into the present day – and became fabulously wealthy, mastering magic and using the reality altering Thelemus Engine to manipulate the world around them. Their money made them one of Gotham’s founding families, and their servants had violent dealings with one of Batman’s ancestors in Gotham City’s early days. Eventually, they decided to return to the city, wanting to take back what they saw as their property.

Batman stood in their way, but they were able to out think at every turn. Using their wealth, they were able to hire Gotham’s villains to attack Batman and used their servants – the lycanthrope Gael Tenclaw, the priestess of serpents Shavhod Erhad, and the fleshcrafter Neang Modhram – to keep Batman on his toes. With the help of the Thelemus Engine, they were able to turn Gotham against Batman, eventually arresting him and staging a public execution, all while Batman battled a demon placed in his mind by them. Catwoman and a group of allies were able to rescue and spirit him out of the city to Talia al Ghul, during which the Orghams took complete control of the city. While Batman was able to come back and depose them, the Orghams were one of the few villains to actually take Gotham from Batman.

Ra’s al Ghul

Ra’s al Ghul has been operating for centuries, moving in the shadows of the world. He’s amassed more power than many countries, leading the League of Assassins, and has played a silent role in world history. Using the Lazarus Pits to stay alive, al Ghul is one of Batman’s most cunning foes. He’s a master strategist and combatant, and has challenged Batman in a number of ways. He’s also defeated Batman.

Ra’s al Ghul has killed Batman. The two had a sword fight and al Ghul was able to use his centuries of experience with a blade to kill the Dark Knight. Batman was resurrected by al Ghul’s daughter Talia, using one of the Lazarus Pits to bring back the man she fell in love with. This was the first time that Batman had faced off against Ra’sl al Ghul and after this, the Dark Knight never took the Demon’s Head lightly, knowing exactly what the villain was capable of.

Failsafe

First appearing in Chip Zdarsky’s 2022 Batman run, Failsafe is a creation of Batman which makes this villain one of the hero’s own design. Batman is always known for making plans for everything, and made plans to deal with the Justice League should things go sideways with those heroes. He also made plans to deal with himself in case his mind was ever taken taken over and that was the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, an alternate personality that would allow him to break free of any mental attack. Zur-En-Arrh then created Failsafe, a robot that combined all of Batman’s anti-metahuman technology with his database on how to defeat anyone he’s went up against. Failsafe was basically unstoppable and would only be activated if Batman killed someone.

When Batman was blamed for a death, Failsafe came online and went after him. The robot tore through all of Batman’s allies, whether they be part of the Bat-Family or his Justice League friends, forcing Batman to go on the run. Every time they fought, Failsafe nearly killed Batman and eventually the two had a climactic battle that saw Failsafe throw Batman into the multiverse. Batman would eventually return and defeat the robot, which would lead to Zur-En-Arrh to take over the body and team up with Amanda Waller, but Failsafe still did something that few have done – defeated the Batman in nearly every way and earning a place as one of his biggest foes in the process.