It is the supervillains who make the superheroes more lovable - if they aren't imposing deadly threats, why would we need superheroes? Comic book genre is at its pick in both big-screen and small-screen. Warner Bros' DC Extended Universe is looking promising enough to give a hard fight to Disney's well-flourished Marvel Cinematic Universe with so many highly-anticipated ventures to arrive in the coming years. Meanwhile, 20th Century Fox's X-Men Universe is also at a good position with the success of X-Men: Days of Future Past and promising ventures Deadpool and X-Men: Apocalypse waiting to hit the theaters next year.
The story is similar for comic book based live-action ventures on television. DC and Marvel shows like Arrow, Agents of SHIELD, The Flash, Daredevil, Gotham, etc. have earned enough recognition to continue for follow-up seasons. And there is a whole lot of new comic book based live-action ventures set to premiere in coming days, including Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Lucifer, etc.
What we are going to here is to present to you a ranking of the best bad guys – the supervillains - from the live-action television shows of recent times based on comic books. What does "˜RECENT TIMES' mean here? Well, that means 2012 to onwards - in other words, post-Smallville era.
So, let's get started then! The countdown begins on the next page!
TEN – Victor Zsasz From Gotham!
Gotham's version of Victor Zsasz grabs the tenth spot in our list of best supervillains from live-action television. Anthony Carrigan plays the Batman-nemesis in the Fox series. In Gotham, the character of Zsasz is depicted as a sadistic hitman who serves John Doman's Don Carmine Falcone with his unquestionable loyalty.
Zsasz was introduced in the seventh episode - Penguin's Umbrella – of the Batman-prequel series. To be frank, it is Anthony Carrigan's character that makes Don Falcone impose some threat. Victor Zsasz, with his two female subordinates, is truly terrifying. And that scene where he adds a tally mark on his arm after killing female cop was an epic one.
The only other live-action venture where the DC supervillain appeared was in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins - a brief appearance to be specific. In Gotham, Victor Zsasz is a recurring character - which means, more terrifying fun waits! Check out this Zsasz clip!
On the next page - a baddie from Marvel's Agent of SHIELD!
NINE – Grant Ward From Agents of SHIELD!
Like many other Agents of SHIELD baddies, Brett Dalton's Grant Ward is a SHIELD specialist who secretly worked for HYDRA. Dalton is main cast of the ABC series and his character has appeared in each of two seasons. Ward is set to appear in the third season as well which premieres on the 29th date of this month.
It was in the seventeenth episode - Turn, Turn, Turn -of Agents of SHIELD's opening season where we got to know about the true colors of Grant Ward. In that episode, he first proved his worth as a soldier by defending his team and taking down a set of guards to let Skye pass. Eventually he kills Saffron Burrows' Victoria Hand and a couple of other SHIELD agents. That was a true shocker since Dalton's character always seemed to be fiercely loyal SHIELD agent.
He is the one out for himself alone and is constant double-crossing is fun to watch. But he's got something good too - he truly loves Skye and surely won't hurt her.
Check out this Grant Ward clip!
On the next page - an Arrow supervillain!
EIGHT - Malcolm Merlyn From Arrow!
John Barrowman's Malcolm Merlyn is a supervillain who has shown a lot of character until the third season of Arrow Season 3, and is likely to show some more in the upcoming season(s). The character was the main antagonist whom Oliver Queen apparently killed on the season finale of Season 1. He returned in the second season to save his daughter Thea and take her away from Starling City.
The third season made him a far more complicated character that did train his daughter to become a warrior, but also made her kill Sara Lance, aka Black Canary. He' done a lot more other things but every single time, he's got his incredible reasons to justify his acts. He's got the brain with which he's managed to get Oliver's protection in a number of occasions.
And, he's made Oliver hand him over the ring of Ra's Al Ghul which made him the new Ra's Al Ghul! And, we are definitely excited to watch what he does in the upcoming season(s).
For now, let’s check out the final showdown between the Arrow & Malcolm Merlyn!
On the next page - a baddie from The Flash!
SEVEN - Captain Cold From The Flash!
Unlike most other supervillains in The Flash, Wentworth Miller's Leonard Snart, aka Captain Cold, isn't a metahuman. He's got a sharp mind to sketch out plans and moves, and a cold gun which was made by Carlos Valdes' Cisco Ramon which freezes anything at absolute zero - that's all! That's all he needs to impose some serious threat to Grant Gustin's titular character.
And, unlike most other supervillains in The Flash, Barry didn't take him down. Rather he was forced to make a deal where Snart wouldn't kill any innocent people and he wouldn't reveal Barry's identity to anyone, in return of which, Barry would let him go. Later in the season, Barry asked Snart for help in transferring the metahumans from the Pipeline prison to the Ferris Aircraft. Snart with his cold brain eventually sabotaged the plan and allowed the metahumans to escape so that they would owe him!
Captain Cold is a member of Legends of Tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see him working with superheroes like the ATOM, Firestorm, Hawkman and Hawkgirl to take down Vandal Savage. Let’s check out this sequence from the The Flash featuring Captain Cold for now!
https://youtu.be/Xt2CJfoZ4UE
On the next page - an Arrow baddie!
SIX - Ra's Al Ghul From Arrow!
You are likely to have been disappointed with Matt Nable's Ra's Al Ghul in Arrow Season 3. The reason behind it is simple - the Demon's Head is one of the greatest supervillains in the history of comic books. You are likely to expect more of a threat from this character. And to be frank, Nable's version of the character had the strong screen presence missing to at least some extent. That's the reason why this supervillain finds the sixth spot instead of first in our list!
In spite of not being as impressive as we would have expected, Ra's Al Ghul of the CW series was better than many other supervillains we've seen on television in recent years. He was still a heavy threat for Oliver Queen. The sword fight sequence in the Nanda Parbat where he apparently killed Oliver was truly an epic one.
And throughout the third season, he has managed to display the intellect of his comic book counterpart at least to decent extent which actually forced the savior of Starling City to team up with the person who is responsible for the death of his father (Robert Queen), his best friend (Tommy Merlyn), his love-interest (Sara Lance) and so many other people - Malcolm Merlyn.
Check out the epic sword fight between Oliver and Ra’s Al Ghul!
The TOP FIVE begins on the next page!
FIVE - John Garrett From Agents of SHIELD!
On the fifth spot of our list stands Bill Paxton's John Garrett, aka The Clairvoyant, from Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. The supervillains of the ABC series haven't been very impressive, to be honest, but Garrett was definitely an exception to that. The character was introduced initially as a protagonist in the first season of the series. But eventually we discovered that he was a HYDRA agent and the mastermind behind the Centipede Project. Since then, he just seemed to grow more and more psychotic.
He was a master manipulator and almost everyone appeared like puppets in front of him. It was Garrett who corrupted Brett Dalton's Grant Ward at a tender age. This man was a joy to watch in the inaugural season of Agents of SHIELD and we definitely missed him afterwards – mostly because of the lack of good villains in the series!
Check out this John Garrett scene!
https://youtu.be/Lb3JW2vh1mQ
On the next page - a supervillain from the CW's DC Universe!
FOUR - Reverse-Flash From The Flash!
Eobard Thawne, aka the Reverse- Flash, was the main antagonist of The Flash Season 1. There was a whole lot of twist circling the supervillain - really a lot. It was Matt Letscher's Eobard Thawne who took the disguise of Tom Cavanagh's Dr. Harrison Wells - so we've seen both the actors play the role of Reverse-Flash. But since Harrison Wells was the face of Eobard for most of the time, we would focus on his portrayal of the character.
The Reverse-Flash mystery made us speculate a lot - we came across a bunch of theories but hardly any of them worked perfectly. Tom Cavanagh's performance must be appreciated - his shuffling of emotions, the transformation, all of that was truly amazing. The man who uttered the words "˜Run, Barry, Run' in the first episode was his deadliest rival - that's a complete shocker!
Here’s the fight scene of The Flash, Arrow and firestorm against the Reverse-Flash
The TOP THREE stars on the following page!
THREE - The Penguin From Gotham!
Some of you might have not liked Gotham much, but hardly anyone would complain about Robin Lord Taylor's Oswald Cobblepot, aka The Penguin. He's the one in the Fox series who could match to the creepiness level of a true Batman-nemesis. The inaugural season of Gotham has offered us the rise of this supervillain from just an attendant for Fish Mooney to the city's sole lasting mob boss.
Robin Lord Taylor's character is the one who bluffed almost everyone - from Fish Mooney to Sal Maroni to Don Falcone to Jim Gordon. He is the man truly for himself - he just wants to become the most powerful man in the Gotham City. And we are sure that he will grow even more powerful during the upcoming season which premieres on 21 September.
Check out the clip where Oswald Cobblepot kills Fish Mooney!
https://youtu.be/cvHhHexeZWc
On the following page - the second best supervillain on TV!
TWO - Deathstroke From Arrow!
Manu Bennett's Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke, grabs the second spot in our list of best supervillains on television. This is a character we've all loved - we have loved his transformation from the protagonist role in the first season to the main antagonist of the second season. He was the one to act as the mentor of Oliver in Lian Yu - but tragic changes happened when he was injected with Mirakuru. He eventually started blaming Oliver for the death of Celina Jade's Shado.
He literally destroyed Starling City in the second season of the CW series with his army of Mirakuru injected soldiers. He also injected the serum in Colton Haynes' Roy Harper, took control over Queens Consolidated with the help of Isabel Rochev, killed Oliver's mother (Moira Queen) and revealed Oliver's secrets to Thea and Laurel Lance. Oliver was forced to take help from Katrina Law's Nyssa Al Ghul and the League of Assassins to take him down.
Slade also caused quite a bit of trouble to Oliver in Season 3 and we may see more of him in the upcoming season(s) of Arrow.
Check out this fan-made Slade Wilson tribute clip!
On the next page - the best of the best!
The Best Of The Supervillains - The Kingpin From Daredevil!
Marvel's Daredevil just changed the fate of Marvel Studio on small-screen. With the Marvel Cinematic Universe so much flourished, so much developed, they are clearly dominating the superhero genre on big-screen. But DC/Warner Bros were clearly ahead of them on television with shows like Arrow, The Flash and Gotham. But Daredevil explored in the forte of DC/Warner Bros - darkness and grittiness - and excelled in it.
One of the best things about the Netflix series was its main antagonist - Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin. He's a supervillain we all loved. Vincent said about his character (via TV Guide):
"Our Fisk, he's a child, and he's a monster. Every move that he makes and everything that he does in our story comes from his foundation of morality inside himself."
And that's what we got to see in the first season of Daredevil. The character of Wilson Fisk often confused us on whether to feel sympathy for him or hate him. He was the most realistic supervillain that we've seen on television and that's why grabs the first spot in our list.
Check out this final fight sequence between Daredevil and the Kingpin!
https://youtu.be/UEmjRNHKefY
Do you agree with our ranking of the best supervillains on TV? Or, have do think differently? Do let us know via comments!
