Superheroes have long been an established fixture of modern culture, serving as the subject matter for a seemingly endless wave of comic books, movies, television shows, and lines of merchandise. In addition to loving a multitude of crime fighters, fans are also showing increasing interest in supervillains – given all their complexities – as demonstrated by the audience excitement for the new film “Venom,” being released on Oct. 5.

Villains’ levels of intrigue vary, however, and certain characters do a better job of capturing the public’s attention than others. 24/7 Wall St. has identified the 30 best comics supervillains based on user votes and the popularity of each character’s Wikipedia page.

Click here to see the 30 best supervillains.
Click here to read our detailed findings and methodology.

30. Black Adam
> Primary opponent: Shazam
> Most recent film appearance: N/A
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 1.6 million

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29. Scarecrow
> Primary opponent: Batman
> Most recent film appearance: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 1.0 million

28. Ego the Living Planet
> Primary opponent: Thor
> Most recent film appearance: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 2.2 million

27. Dormammu
> Primary opponent: Doctor Strange
> Most recent film appearance: Doctor Strange (2016)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 2.0 million

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26. Mystique
> Primary opponent: X-Men
> Most recent film appearance: X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 1.3 million

25. Catwoman
> Primary opponent: Batman
> Most recent film appearance: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 2.0 million

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24. Red Skull
> Primary opponent: Captain America
> Most recent film appearance: Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 1.6 million

23. Jean Grey (Dark Phoenix)
> Primary opponent: X-Men
> Most recent film appearance: X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 2.5 million

22. Doomsday
> Primary opponent: Superman
> Most recent film appearance: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 1.2 million

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21. Ultron
> Primary opponent: Avengers, Hank Pym
> Most recent film appearance: Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 1.3 million

20. Hela
> Primary opponent: Thor
> Most recent film appearance: Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 2.8 million

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19. Scarlet Witch
> Primary opponent: X-Men
> Most recent film appearance: Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 2.8 million

18. Erik Killmonger
> Primary opponent: Black Panther
> Most recent film appearance: Black Panther (2018)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 3.0 million

17. Juggernaut
> Primary opponent: X-Men
> Most recent film appearance: Deadpool 2 (2018)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 2.0 million

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16. Lex Luthor
> Primary opponent: Superman
> Most recent film appearance: Justice League (2017)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 1.5 million

15. Bane
> Primary opponent: Batman
> Most recent film appearance: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 1.0 million

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14. Ra’s al Ghul
> Primary opponent: Batman
> Most recent film appearance: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 1.6 million

13. Galactus
> Primary opponent: Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer
> Most recent film appearance: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 2.0 million

12. Punisher
> Primary opponent: Daredevil, Spider-Man
> Most recent film appearance: Punisher: War Zone (2008)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 3.3 million

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11. Doctor Doom
> Primary opponent: Fantastic Four
> Most recent film appearance: Fantastic Four (2015)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 1.4 million

10. Apocalypse
> Primary opponent: X-Men
> Most recent film appearance: X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 1.7 million

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9. Steppenwolf
> Primary opponent: Justice League
> Most recent film appearance: Justice League (2017)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 3.8 million

8. Loki
> Primary opponent: Thor, Avengers
> Most recent film appearance: Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 1.6 million

7. Venom
> Primary opponent: Spider-Man
> Most recent film appearance: Venom (2018 film)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 1.6 million

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6. Carnage
> Primary opponent: Spider-Man, Venom
> Most recent film appearance: Venom (2018 film)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 2.0 million

5. Magneto
> Primary opponent: X-Men
> Most recent film appearance: X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 1.6 million

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4. Deathstroke
> Primary opponent: Teen Titans, Green Arrow
> Most recent film appearance: Justice League (2017)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 3.2 million

3. Harley Quinn
> Primary opponent: Batman
> Most recent film appearance: Suicide Squad (2016)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 5.2 million

2. Joker
> Primary opponent: Batman
> Most recent film appearance: Suicide Squad (2016)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 1.6 million

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1. Thanos
> Primary opponent: Avengers
> Most recent film appearance: Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
> Wikipedia page views (2 yr.): 8.9 million

Detailed Findings

While not every popular supervillain has made it to the silver screen, the majority have. This, in turn, feeds back into a character’s popularity as they’re exposed to moviegoers who may not have known about them from comic books. For instance, while Batman villain Harley Quinn was first introduced in 1992, her popularity skyrocketed after being portrayed by Margot Robbie in the 2016 film “Suicide Squad.”

For others, popularity in comics drives their appearance in film. DC Comics’ Black Adam is frequently considered one of the best comic book villains of all time. While the character has never appeared in a live action film, there have been multiple attempts to make it happen. While fans reportedly will not see the beloved supervillain in the upcoming Shazam movie, there is now a separate, Black Adam-centric film in pre-production. Dwayne Johnson is currently set to fill the role.

The upcoming Black Adam movie is indicative of the same trend that “Venom” does: a growing interest in movies in which the lead character is a villain. Other slated titles include “Joker” and “Dark Phoenix,” which will focus on Jean Grey’s relationship with the Phoenix Force. Both films are scheduled to be released next year.

Methodology

To identify the 30 best supervillains, 24/7 Wall St. generated an index based on user votes both for and against each comic book villains on user-based website Ranker.com and the popularity of each character’s Wikipedia page over the past two years. Each character was required to have their own Wikipedia page to be considered. Each character was also required to be portrayed as a villain at least some of the time, if not all of the time, such as with Punisher. “Most recent film appearance” is based on live action movies as opposed to animated.

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