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DC’s Taking the Dark Crown

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Cal Lutheran chapter.

The DC Universe is no stranger to the flood of critiques on their dark films– but let’s admit it– they can’t omit the darkness with their cruel and vindictive characters that make or break their movies. These are just some of my favorite characters!

1. The Joker: “Some men just want to watch the world burn.” Alfred could not have said it better. A small arsenal, knife, and maniac laugh is all one of my favorite villains of all time needs to make the Justice League’s stomach churn with displeasure. With a touch of insane humor, this villain’s practical jokes pushes not only civilians, but even our own Batman to emotional and physical limits. His complicated persona charms me with cruel wits and draws me in to his irrational plans.

Gif Courtesy of Tumblr

2. Circe: Magic, Gods, and Amazonian Women all at once? Don’t worry about, Circe has got you covered. My love for Circe is vast because as a cast-away princess that turned out to be the most powerful sorceress, she is definitely not a damsel in distress. Having the careless and upfront attitude I love in villains, Circe is capable of wiping out the Amazons, and even challenging their own Wonder Woman to death. She reigns with the mystic powers the Greek God Hecate bestowed upon her.

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3. Darkseid (aka Marvel’s Thanos): The true original motive of all villains: greed and obsession to take over the universe. This is what makes titan Darkseid so enthralling to me. This alien-technology wielding creature that can teleport is as close as you can get to an all powerful being. With his intelligence and powers it seems like a no brainer, that Darkseid would be able to control the universe and all beings in it with no trouble, right? Yet in many ways, the Justice League and many other DC super heroes give the dark villain a good fight. He has gone head to head with Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and countless others.

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4. Catwoman: Easily Gotham’s best of thieves. Catwoman makes my all time favorite female villains list, and does so with style. Her suit is simple yet I believe it fits perfectly with the grey, treacherous city. Catwoman’s goody-two-shoes attitude and criminal stealth captivates my villain loving heart, as not many portray two different personalities. I want to be an acrobatic ninja using my hand-to-hand combat skills to steal the good stuff from the rich and give it to the poor but a small part of me says that might not be the best way to go about it. Nevertheless, Catwoman’s unpredictableness sure makes her intriguing to watch.

Gif Courtesy of Tumblr

5. Reverse Flash: As soon as I heard “suit that shoots electrically charged metallic projectiles” I fell in love. Daniel West, (one of the New 52), broke the lovely code of honor he learned in the U.S. Army. He proceeded to purge his pent up anger in the most popular form my beloved villains know how to: vengeance. Resentful from his sister and angry at himself for not making her happy, Reverse Flash is out for blood. These negative emotions seemed to drag on for me but then they somehow fused with an oncoming train crash that made his suit and super speed ability one with his own soul. Gruesome intent and a painful coming-to-be of powers is one of the many things I love about West.

Image Courtesy of Francis Manapul

6. Harley Quinn: If I had to choose a female villain to turn into, you would only have to hand me a collar with the name PUDDIN on it and I’m good to go. A mobile ticking bomb, Harley Quinn is quite honestly the best partner-in-crime, and lover. Clingy? Yes. Incredibly intelligent? Even more. It seems as though with every good and insane attribute, this queen just gets better and better. Quinn is not all crazy though, and this is what allures me about her psychotic breakdown of a personality. Coming from a medicine background and falling for the Joker’s charm only makes her more appealing and it gives her dark actions more meaning. Whether it’s real life or just fantasy, the vicious and beautiful Harley knows what she’s doing when she goes on her killing sprees.

Gif Courtesy of Giphy.com

7. Poison Ivy: Bam! Science gone wrong! Surely, no one has heard of that in comics before. For my dear Ivy, however, this is more than just a genetic mutation. A complete character change (big enough for her to befriend the lovely deranged Harley) Ivy uses mother nature’s less nurturing traits to her benefit. Granted I am an avid nature lover and may be biased when I choose to judging her skills, but as simple as this scientist/botanist may seem she truly has a terrifying lack of empathy. Choking people to death with vines and poisoning her enemies to toxins she is immune to is just some of the cool things this wicked redhead can do that I love.

Image Courtesy of GeekLeagueofAmerica

8. Brainiac (aka Marvel’s Ultron): Yet another semi-all powerful being. Completely born out of the tools, metals and quirkiness of intelligent tech-savvy hands, Brainiac does what I thought impossible and makes evil look simple and graceful. Just like Darkseid, I find his abilities to fight Superman pretty impressive, not to mention fighting him off would be such a hassle! His abilities include creating drone look alikes with the same intelligence and robotic skills. His ability to shrink cities to study them to satiate his thirst for knowledge gives him that “evil mustache twirl” only a villain I like could have.

Image Courtesy of MoviePilot

9. Cheetah: Naming God-like athletic skills and having the trained muscle body of a big cat would be naming the super powers and qualities my younger self would have loved to have had. Aggressive and demanding, Cheetah is certainly my spirit animal in most cases. She does not cause as much overall chaos as other vile villains but instead chooses to make her combat lethal experiences a living hell to any super hero, especially when she goes toe to toe with Wonder Woman and Superman. 

Image Courtesy of ComicVine

10. Deathstroke (aka Marvel’s Deadpool): Even though I would call Wade more of a spirit animal I would identify with, Deathstroke is not far off the sarcastic and badass character I would want to channel. Slade Wilson embodies everything a normal person could, if only they were Slade Wilson, of course. Enemy of my childhood superheroes, Teen Titans, this villain is an obvious threat with his knowledge of the martial arts. Not only is he a ninja as he sneaks up on other non-mercenary supernatural people, Deathstroke also proves to be one of my favorite villains as wields his way out of bad situations with swords and cool one liners. 

Image Courtesy of Tyler Kirkham

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Hailey Raudales

Cal Lutheran

Thank you for reading my articles! I see Her Campus as a way of expressing my ideas on science and technology. 
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