20 Smartest Video Game Villains Who Deserved To Win

5. The Joker - Batman: Arkham City

Even though The Joker is typically characterised as chaos incarnate, he actually had a pretty damn water-tight plan to both deal with Batman and save his own skin in Batman: Arkham City.

Goal numero uno is for the Clown Prince of Crime to be cured of the Titan poisoning he suffered from after ingesting the formula in Arkham Asylum.

He does this by both infecting Batman with the same disease and then shipping samples of his tainted blood to Gotham hospitals, providing the ultimate double-incentive for Bats to find a cure.

Meanwhile, The Joker also projects a far sunnier picture of health by having shapeshifter Clayface pose as him, no matter that the real Joker is deathly ill.

His only real mistake - and it's a big one, admittedly - was attacking Batman once he had the cure in hand, causing the vial to smash, effectively wiping out his last-ditch chance at survival shortly before succumbing to his illness.

If not for that feckless moment, it was a pretty damn incredible plan, and probably the closest The Joker has ever gotten to a decisive W over the Dark Knight.