Best DC Comics villains

The Joker leads with an ELO of 1,537, ahead of Lex Luthor (1,294) and The Penguin (1,272). Ranked over 8,864 duels between 16 contenders, last updated August 25, 2026.

Who's your fave DC Comics villain? Discover the greatest antagonists in the DC universe: Joker, Lex Luthor, Darkseid and more.

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.