Part 1 of a greater list for villains who are pure, irredeemably evil. And yes, I know that there is already a Complete Monster list on this site, but I felt that it had too many "wrong names" on it, so I opted to do my own, more detailed and comprehensive one. Since there are too many names for a 100-item list, I divided it into "sub-lists". This is the first one, for DC Complete Monsters only.
By way of being just as bad as his real-life counterpart. Also noteworthy is the current Earth X version, who molded Kal-El into a loyal Nazi supervillain that Hitler used to conquer the entire world and create a Nazi-run Earth.
The horribly miswritten and character-inaccurate Arrow version, who might as well have green hair, red lips, and be named "Joker".
Attempted to destroy the entire DC Multiverse and came darn close to succeeding. His Green Lantern: The Animated Series counterpart has a similar goal and so also fits.
While he is very much a sympathetic anti-villain/anti-hero in the actual comics, the animated version of the character is this due to his tragic past being downplayed and his villainous and sadistic tendencies being augmented. He's also a pretty big hypocrite too, so you can't even say that he's a Well-Intentioned Extremist anymore. What with casually destroying planets and murdering innocents and all. Really, mainstream Atrocitus would be disgusted with his counterpart.
Arrow version, who instead of a sympathetic, well-intentioned extremist is more akin to a real life African warlord.
The Geoff Johns version, who kills his own family and helps usher in the Blackest Night.
The Post-Crisis, Pre-New 52 version, who killed Aquaman's infant son and enjoyed it. Incredibly, Aquaman still didn't kill the slimeball.
A torture-happy sadist who was so bad that Catwoman (who maintains a no-kill policy) shot him in the head. To be fair, he DID torture her sister and also drive her to madness by forcing her to eat her husband's eyes after Black Mask killed him. Oh, and did I mention he's a self-made orphan too?
Has destroyed countless worlds and civilizations. And the "he's just following his programming" bit doesn't work because Brainiac is shown to have at LEAST human-level sentience, and therefore knows full well that he's doing is wrong, and doesn't care. His status as a Complete Monster extends to his portrayal in DC Universe Online, who fits this for the same reasons as his mainstream version, plus the DCAU version too. Also of note is how both the Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis versions fit this.
Easily the most psychotic and bloodthirsty of all of the dirty cops to ever be a part of the GCPD. According to Gordon, when he and his "lunatic Gestapo" calmed down a riot, they did so in such a way that they "didn't even leave the statues standing". Branden was also prepared to gun down a man who had taken child hostages, not seeming to care for the latter's well-being at all, and when Batman showed up Branden and his SWAT forces opposed him not because he believed Batman to be a dangerous vigilante, but simply because his activities hurt the corrupt GCPD and their mob friend's business. In fact, during his attempt to take Batman down, Branden resorted to using fire bombs that killed innocent people, something he didn't care about in the slightest. He was also in on the Falcone's plan to use Gordon's wife and infant son to blackmail him.
Granted, all of that might seem like small change compared to the actions of say, the Joker, but remember that Branden hasn't had anywhere close to the number of appearances of Joker, or for that matter Zsasz or Black Mask. But he's as bad as he could have been given his limited number of appearances.
Possibly in Batman Arkham City if his twisted tales are actually true. This is someone who has claimed to have murdered all of his own men just to find one mole, murdered his own parents, and implies murdering children. But again, it's unclear if anything he tells you is actually true, so ultimately this one is an ambiguous case.
A living nuclear disaster who dive-bombed onto Bludhaven and killed everyone in it.
Though the Young Justice version has a fairly sympathetic backstory and genuinely loves her family (except her father), the comic book version is a sadistic sociopath who destroyed an entire country just to make a point.
The embodiment of evil after all. And besides the mainstream comic versions (all three of them), there's also the DCAU version and the one from the Elseworlds story "Superman: The Dark Side".
Screwed up religious fanatic. You know, the usual. Note that this is just the comic version, NOT the Arkhamverse version, who fails the heinous standard.
As Slade in the Teen Titans cartoon, where he not only lacks any kind of sympathetic backstory, but is also guilty of among other things trying to blackmail Robin into being his protege by threatening to kill his friends if he doesn't comply, blackmails Terra into working for him and abuses her when she tries to leave his service, and becomes a devoted (and openly sadistic) servant to Trigon that tries to help him usher in the end of the world. And even when he helps the Teen Titans against Trigon, it's only because Trigon betrayed him, not because he's a good guy.
The second one, who's biggest claim to victory is creating the supervillain "Genocide" and doing so by taking samples of Earth from places where genocide occurred. While the granddaughter of the first and deceased Doctor Poison, she gives really no indication that she is at all sorry that her grandmother is dead, and so cannot be said to have that as a redeeming quality.
Both the Pre-Crisis and current versions, though interestingly not in the continuity in-between them.
Raped Sue Dibny on a whim and displayed an absolutely disgusting relish over his crime, also vowing to tell everyone he could about it before the Justice League erased his memories/lobotomized him. After regaining his lost memories and intelligence, he resumed his obsession with rape, is strongly implied/confirmed to be either a pedophile or attempted one, and when battling his heroic successor, dared her to guess what sort of things he'd done when he was in her body (as they'd switched bodies at one point).
Among other things, this really messed up (and aptly named) villain once used his powers to force several people to commit cannibalism, and then to associate it with arousal and pleasure, which of course completely ruined their lives since they now associate something sick and twisted with arousing. In short, a bad dude, and one of Wonder Woman's most evil foes.
Also, the version fused with Imperiex in "Gods and Monsters" is a Complete Monster, for the following reasons:
1) Performed unethical experiments on innocents in the 60s, 2) Conned numerous rich people out of their fortunes by making them wholly dependent on drugs he gave them to make them superhuman and showed really no great concern for what happened to them if they ran out of money to pay him, 3) let the other folks he'd empowered loose on the planet without giving a hoot for what their power-mad antics would lead to, and 4) Turned into Imperiex and went on a destructive rampage that would have killed numerous innocents had the Justice League not stopped him.
There is nothing quite like being a child murderer and willingly selling your soul for knowledge and power to establish yourself as one of the worst of the worst.
The first Post Crisis iteration
The DCAU version tried to first enslave his entire city's population via mind control and then when that didn't work and they (understandably) tried to arrest him, he tried to kill them all via nukes out of spite. Now, all of that would SEEM to make him this, but all of his villainy after that is pretty par-for-the course supervillainy, so he doesn't quite fit due to inconsistency. The mainstream comic version however, has tried to wipe out the human race quite a few times now, among other evil deeds.
A sadist who enjoys torturing people into mindless servants. The DCAU version also tortured a young Mr. Miracle repeatedly and with glee.
The sadistic witch-hunting version from the Vertigo series "Fables"
The Gods and Monsters version, who murders innocent people and then stuffs them up as dummies in a makeshift diorama. Basically, think Harley Quinn acting like Leatherface minus the cannibalism. Still pure evil though, especially considering she lacks any kind of Freudian Excuse or sympathetic backstory whatsoever. Sufficiently nasty that Vampire Batman elected to kill her rather than take her to jail.
In "JLA: The Nail" where he's responsible for every bad thing that happens in the story, including the Joker's murdering Robin and Batgirl. He also casually murders Kal-El's Amish foster parents.
Obviously most modern versions of Joker are this, and it would be easier to list versions of him that AREN'T this. But, the versions that do fit include: New Earth, Prime Earth, Arkhamverse, Burtonverse, Nolanverse, DCAU, Kingdom Come, JLA: The Nail, The Dark Knight Returns, Under the Red Hood movie version, Regime-Universe, and "Joker" Graphic Novel.
Long story short, he's evil incarnate more often than not.
Especially the New 52 version, who prior to becoming Killer Frost murdered at least one innocent family.
An absolute madman who nearly destroyed the universe. Albeit, he's not the only DC villain to fit the "Omnicidal Maniac" mold, but that doesn't make him any less pure evil.
Sometimes, depending on the writer. This includes the version killed by Justice Lord Superman seen in the episode "A Better World". Also the version seen in the "mainstream" reality in Injustice Gods Among Us, who was fine with nuking Metropolis all in the service of his own ego. I'd make a case for the Donnerverse version too, given that he's outright admitted that he enjoys causing the deaths of innocent people and in Superman Returns tried to kill millions over some silly and stupid plot involving land. Yes, it was ridiculous, and yes, it was a terrible movie, but it doesn't make his attempted killing of millions for selfish reasons any less deplorable.
The perpetrator of the infamous "Women in Refrigerators" debacle, as well as rape and mass murder.
Mongul is noteworthy for being this in all three iterations of mainstream continuity (Pre-Crisis, New Earth, AND Prime Earth). To the second one, he destroyed Coast City and repeatedly uses the Black Mercy plant to screw with people for his own sadistic amusement. The DCAU version also fits this by way of being essentially an alien Commodus (the villain from Gladiator) who threatens to destroy an entire planet of innocent people unless Superman throws his fight against him. Also of note, Mongul II is a Complete Monster as well.
Just as much of a bloodthirsty monster as the Joker but nowhere near as entertaining, making him one of my absolute least favorite DC villains. And no, the Arkham City version is NOT sympathetic, he only tries to pass himself off as being it.
Embodiment of Death who seeks to end all life. Yeah, this is kind of a given, especially after you learn the truth about the Black Lanterns.
The DCAU version, who tried to start a genocidal campaign against the surface world and also murder Aquaman's infant son alongside him so he could stay the rightful heir of Atlantis, all the while taking sadistic pleasure in his actions. You REALLY don't feel bad for him when Aquaman leaves him to die.
In "Justice League, Crisis on Two Earths", where he tried to destroy the entire multiverse.
One of the worst mass murderers in the DCU who has relished in the atrocities he's committed.
The Arkham City version, who tortures Mr. Freeze and police officers with sadistic glee, has no loyalty to his men whatsoever (and finds leaving some of them to die funny), found he Waynes' deaths hilarious, and murders one of those aforementioned police officers, cracking up while doing so. The version of Penguin seen in Batman Earth One by Geoff Johns is also this, and the version of him seen in Batman Returns could also qualify, given his plan to kill every firstborn child in Gotham (including infants), and murdering one of his own men for objecting to his plan. Yes, he has a Freudian Excuse, but whether or not that's enough to keep him out of CM territory is debatable.
Became this in "Cry for Justice", which may be a terrible, critically panned story, but it doesn't change the fact that, within the pages of that story, Prometheus is indeed this, what with his destroying Star City and killing millions (Lian Harper included).
The "Batman Earth One" version
The Arkhamverse version. Not only does he lack a sympathetic backstory or Freudian Excuse (which most Post-Crisis comic versions of Scarecrow have), his actions are worse too: he tries to unleash a "Fear-Apocalypse" on the entire Eastern Seaboard, beginning with Gotham City. Had he succeeded, millions would have torn themselves and each-other apart through fear brought on by Fear Gas. And, Scarecrow DID manage to unleash a mass-fear gas outbreak in Gotham proper that Poison Ivy dies helping to stop. He also kidnaps Oracle, makes Batman think she committed suicide under the influence of Fear Gas just to mess with him, tries to kill Oracle for real, tries to kill Robin after taking him hostage, and forces Batman to expose his secret identity in order to prevent the latter event.
The Arkhamverse version. While Simon Stagg is always a bad guy, he also usually has the one positive trait of caring about his daughter (in a twisted sort of way). The Arkham version on the other hand, despite outwardly appearing a nice guy, is in fact in cahoots with Scarecrow and alongside him performed unethical experiments on innocent people that drove them to madness and death, with Simon also sadistically taunting at least one of these people prior to their death. He dislikes Scarecrow, but because he views him as impractical rather than because he has moral standards. He also helps Batman stop Scarecrow's plot...but only because Batman scares him into doing so, not because he actually cares about anyone but himself. And, unlike his mainstream version, he doesn't even have a daughter to love or care about.
Freudian Excuse he may have, but after destroying one planet too many and having a really quite massive bodycount, he's definitely this. Especially considering his destroying Earth 15 was done practically on a whim.
She is, by her own admission, a murderous psychopath, and in "Justice League, Crisis on Two Earths" gladly helps Owlman try and destroy the Multiverse...for no reason.
When written by Grant Morrison she's a sadistic mustache-twirling cartoon villain who rapes Bruce Wayne to conceive Damian and created an older clone of Damian that ended up killing him, making her responsible for her own son's death.
As DC's answer to Satan this isn't exactly surprising. Rapist, genocidal despot, horribly abusive parent, sadist, the whole nine yards.
Though the comic book version genuinely loves Zod and has a semi-sympathetic backstory, the same cannot be said of the version of her seen in the second Superman movie. What really pushes her into this is when she has Non kill a child for no reason whatsoever. And when it's pointed out that the person she killed was only a boy, her response is: "And now he will never become a man!"
Besides the cannibalistic and Hiterlian (and child-abusing), New Earth version, there's also the Legends of Tomorrow version, who destroys Central City and kills all of the superheroes before Flash goes back in time to avert this, kills Hawkgirl and Hawkman again and again throughout their many lifetimes with total sadistic relish, manipulates Pre Degaton into unleashing a virus that kills billions before then killing Pre Degaton after he outlives his usefulness, and murders Rip Hunter's wife and son with sadistic glee and then taunts Rip about it over and over. Even his professing his "love" for Kendra rings totally hollow in view of how many times he's happily killed her without remorse. Similarly, his having a daughter in the future does little to save him from CM status either, given how he tricked her into thinking he was a savior when in reality, HE was responsible for her mother's death.
The CW Flash version eventually turns into this. While he starts out somewhat sympathetic on the account of his Freudian Excuse and love for Caitlin Snow, the former ceases to hold much water when he reaches the point of trying to destroy all but one of the Earths in the Multiverse, and the latter ceases to apply when he tries to murder Caitlin despite her claiming to still care for him. Granted, she wasn't telling the truth, but he didn't know that. His willingness to kill her there showed that he no longer loved her, and by the time he's trying to wipe out entire earths, his Freudian Excuse really ceases to mean much. Especially when he even describes family as a "weakness".
