Best DC Comics villains

8998 duels later, The Joker is still #1 in the DC Comics villain ranking, with Deathstroke close behind.

The Clown Prince of Crime dominates with 1540 ELO points and wins 82% of his duels across 388 matchups, but the gap to second place tells its own story. A massive 189 ELO points separate The Joker from Deathstroke, the widest margin in the entire ranking and a testament to the community's enduring fascination with Gotham's most unpredictable threat. Deathstroke himself commands respect with 1351 points and a 60% win rate over 447 duels, while Harley Quinn claims third place with 1280 points. Darkseid and Black Adam round out the top 5, proving that cosmic tyrants and antiheroes hold their own against Gotham's rogues gallery. The bottom of the ranking reveals sharper divisions: Vandal Savage sits at #16 with 994 ELO points and a 28% win rate across 363 duels, suggesting that immortality and ancient cunning do not sway voters as much as theatrical chaos or tactical brutality.

This ranking draws from 8998 duels involving 196 players who weighed in on 16 contenders. The figures reflect the state of the vote as of 11 October 2026. Head to VAINKEURZ to cast your own votes and shape the next update of the DC Comics villain TopList.

Updated on October 11, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →