10 Best Marvel And DC Supervillains Who've Debuted Since 2000

Invariably, when you think of great comic book bad guys, the same names crop up. The Joker. Doctor Octopus. Magneto. Doctor Doom. Lex Luthor. Catwoman.

All are classic comic-book superheroes, and all have been bedeviling the likes of Spider-Man, Batman, Superman and Wolverine for decades.

But the writers at Marvel and DC have come up with plenty of memorable new supervillains in the last decade. And while the classic villains tend to get the most love-and the best stories-these new super-powered baddies are pretty impressive in their own right.

Of course, not every new bad guy sticks. If you read Spider-Man comics in the 1970s, for instance, you might have met Mirage, a yellow-and-purple-clad villain who could project mirror images of himself, making it difficult for heroes to figure out which one of him to punch. In his debut, way back in Amazing Spider-Man #156 in 1976, the Mirage almost defeats Spider-Man, before the wall-crawler drops a chandelier on him.

But after that? The Mirage more or less disappeared. And that is the unfortunate fate for most of the new supervillains that comics writers crank out. Just ask Spider-Man fans what became of such villains as Will-O-The-Wisp and Armada, both of whom debuted in lengthy arcs and then faded away.

Let's hope, though, that the newer supervillains on this list won't disappear so quickly. Because these villains deserve to become classics, too.

Bizarro has always been a great Superman villain, especially considering that he's not really a true bad guy but just the twisted opposite of Superman. What a great idea, then, to create a Bizarro for Batman to battle.

That's what writer Jeph Loeb did with Batzarro, the Bizarro version of Batman that Loeb introduced into DC's main continuity in Superman/Batman #20 in 2005. How much fun is Batzarro? He goes by the tagline "The World's Worst Detective," he has an upside-down version of Batman's logo on his chest and he wears his utility belt upside-down, too, with its pockets open.

Now that's a great character.

Best Moment: 

Batzarro makes a big impression in his very first appearance, shooting people as they walk down Crime Alley. Bizarro, from Superman fame, shows up, and the two become friends, vowing to work together to solve the murders that Batzarro has committed. You're correct in assuming that this is pretty much the opposite of Batman's origin story.