2. Lex Luthor
Lex is basically the super-villain's super-villain. He's done it all. He is the template upon which all other super-villains (human anyway) take their cue. Originally conceived as the classic mad scientist archetype, Lex would rob banks to fund his crazy experiments and obsession in defeating Superman before being taken back to prison where he would escape the following week. Following a few decades of this, John Byrne reinvented the character in his classic 1980s reboot of Superman, Man of Steel, which saw Lex become that quintessential symbol of the 80s, a highly successful corporate businessman. His origins are tied in with Superman's, the two having grown up in Smallville, originally as friends. Clark, ever the good guy, reached out to social pariah Lex and the two became friends for a brief period. That is until Lex began experimenting with kryptonite and, misinterpreting Clark's reaction to the material as disgust with his work, Lex spurned Clark's friendship once and for all. The next time the two would meet, Lex would be head of LexCorp and Clark would be a successful journalist for the Daily Planet and secretly Superman, this time the object of Lex's dangerous obsession with power. Since becoming a businessman, he's also been an Orange Lantern and President of the United States! So he really has done it all. He has that great Blofeld-ish bald guy look, and his suits are a simple but effective touch. Though he's no match for Superman physically, Lex is the smartest person in the DC Universe so his genius gives him the upper hand in his confrontations with Superman, who simply isn't his match, intellectually. That said, Lex has on occasion put on various power suits enabling him to cause some damage to the Man of Steel, especially when he incorporates kryptonite into his arsenal. Lex is given short shrift in the movie versions of Superman, often portrayed as a real estate-obsessed goon when in the comics he's far, far more brilliant. Brian Azzarello wrote an excellent Lex book, Lex Luthor: Man of Steel, that takes a look at the character without Superman in the book, and his portrayals in Mark Waid's Birthright and Grant Morrison's All Star Superman are both fantastic. And the name, Lex, with that x, one syllable - small details but all of them make up one of the greatest super-villains ever created. He's Professor Moriarty to the nth degree.