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As far as superhero movie universes go, the DCEU hasn’t exactly had the best time of things, with many even wondering if the whole thing can be salvaged. However, one place where things have been pretty good is with the movies’ villains, with the actors pulling off their roles with aplomb. Villains in superhero movies can be hard to pull off well—just ask the MCU—so the fact that the DCEU does it so well is a triumph.
Of course, even within this diverse group of villains, some are crueler than others, relishing their evil in ways that make them more memorable and sell their threat very well.
10 Ocean Master Was Ready To Do What Needed to Be Done To Get His Crown
It’s kind of easy to feel a bit bad for Ocean Master. He was raised to be the king of Atlantis and then Arthur shows up, with his love for the polluting, poaching surface world, and tried to stop him, taking away his birthright. Sure, he’s a bad guy but one can sort of see his point. While he’s not the type of villain that needs to stay around, he wasn’t exactly unjustified.
He also wasn’t exactly super cruel either. His plans weren’t the best but he didn’t enact them to cause suffering but more because it was what he believed needed to be done.
9 Zod Wanted To Rebuild His Home & Would Stop At Nothing
Man of Steel gets a bad rap for a lot of valid reasons but one of the places where it was pretty good was with General Zod. Zod was a patriot, a man who wanted to save his world and would go to any lengths to do it. Even his actions on Earth were just an extension of this; he wanted a new world for the survivors of Krypton and he felt they were superior to humans and deserved the Earth more.
It’s hard to argue with his logic. Technically, Kryptonians under a yellow sun are superior, but that doesn’t mean he was right. However, one can’t read very much malice into his actions, more the steely resolve of a soldier. He would have sterilized the planet and enjoyed it because of the goal but he wouldn’t revel in the slaughter.
8 Enchantress Hated Amanda Waller & Wanted To Hurt The World Because Of Her
Suicide Squad wasn’t exactly the best-reviewed movie, but it had its moments. The plot revolved around the team trying to stop Enchantress and her brother Incubus from destroying humanity, which was motivated by Amanda Waller manipulating Enchantress into doing her bidding. Waller herself was no angel and it’s hard to argue with her being the target of Enchantress’s ire.
One gets the feeling that Enchantress would have flayed Waller and enjoyed every second of it but that she wasn’t the type to do just that sort of thing. She had a cruel streak most definitely but it needed a reason, at least.
7 Doctor Poison Created Gases That Would Cause Untold Suffering With Relish
Doctor Poison was the secondary villain in Wonder Woman, but it was her work that made the whole thing possible. A German scientist during World War I, Doctor Poison took particular glee in creating poisonous gases to use against foes of the German Empire. One got the sense that part of it was just patriotism but a lot of it was because she enjoyed the power of the whole thing.
Doctor Poison knew what her gases could do and didn’t care, even supporting the plans that would cost many civilians their lives if it meant that her side would win the war.
6 Sivana Cared Little For Anyone But Himself
Sivana’s life was full of rejection and abuse and this hardened him immensely. He cared very little for others and after the Wizard rejected him, he made it his mission in life to prove magic existed and release the Seven Deadly Sins, who he believed would never reject him. When he finally gained power, he didn’t care who he hurt, taking out his pain and frustration on the world.
Sivana internalized the way the world treated him for years and he decided that he was going to treat everyone as badly as they treated him. He took glee in causing pain and suffering and would have been a tyrant if he kept his powers.
5 Steppenwolf Didn’t Care Who Got Hurt As Long As He Succeeded
Steppenwolf’s invasion of Earth was meant to open up the way for his lord Darkseid to finally take the planet and it didn’t matter to him who or what got hurt. Steppenwolf’s callousness meant he had no problem unleashing Parademons whenever and where ever he could and the suffering of the people of the Earth once Darkseid took over didn’t matter to him in the slightest.
Steppenwolf only cared about power and he would go to any length to gain it. It didn’t matter who got in his way—he would destroy them and enjoy every single second of it.
4 The Joker’s Maniacal Stylings Frightened Everyone
While viewers didn’t exactly get to see just how bad the Joker could be in Suicide Squad, there have been all kinds of indications that he’s just as bad as the comic version. From his long and painful history with Batman to the fear that the underworld of Gotham had for him, as revealed in Birds of Prey, viewers got a picture of a twisted, sadistic criminal.
Honestly, it’s actually kind of scarier to only see the results of his cruelty than actually witnessing them. It inspires a greater fear of him and lets the audience feel like all the people who only treated Harley Quinn well because they were scared of angering him.
3 Ares Caused Untold Suffering For Millennia
Ares is the God of War and the main villain of the first Wonder Woman movie. Posing as a member of the British government, Ares did everything he could to lengthen WWI because he fed off the blood and chaos of war—it was, after all, his thing. He had been doing this for millennia, living off the pain and suffering of humanity as they fought the wars that empowered him.
He cared nothing for the costs of war—the lives lost, the lifelong physical and mental scars, the destruction of the Earth. All he cared about was the war itself and he’d do anything to keep it going, to ensure the killing in his name endured.
2 Black Mask Was Gleefully Malicious
Black Mask took a certain enjoyment in the more violent aspects of his criminal empire and that set him apart from just about any other DCEU villains. While the Joker’s worst acts were all left to fan’s imaginations, Black Mask’s gleefully malicious actions were on display throughout Birds of Prey and it gave the impression that there are way worse acts that were never shown.
Black Mask didn’t really need the money, he was pretty much just in it for the bloodshed and it was plain to see. Zsasz may have done a lot of torturing but Black Mask was always in the room, watching the blood spill with a glee that was disturbing.
1 Darkseid Desired Nothing More Than The Complete Subjugation Of All
The Snyder Cut did an amazing job of rehabilitating Justice League and one of the best things it did was introduce Darkseid into the mix. Darkseid is one of the DC Universe’s greatest villains and DCEU fans got their first glimpses of him and his quest for the Anti-Life Equation. They also saw how far he would go to get what he wanted.
Darkseid threw himself into the mix every time he could, taking joy in battling his foes. His desire for the Anti-Life Equation illustrated just what he was all about as he needed it in order to grind all life under his heel. Darkseid didn’t just want to rule, he wanted to subject the universe to his cruelty.
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