10 Most Brutal Comic Book Villains

8. Deathstroke

Sin City
DC Comics

When it comes to fear-inducing monikers, Deathstroke the Terminator is certainly an effective name to go by.

For Slade Wilson, he's one of the most badass villains under the DC Comics banner, and he's a standout villain of modern-day comic books, period.

Where Deathstroke is concerned, it's rarely personal, for his heinous acts are so often carried out purely for business reasons. A hired gun who commands the big bucks, Wilson has a unique set of skills that many other no-good sorts are eager to make use of.

Think Liam Neeson in the Taken series but turned up to eleven, with a dash of sadistic pleasure thrown in for good measure, and you have the fundamentals of the Deathstroke character.

Slade is so efficient, he's one of the very few people who Batman struggles with in one-on-one combat - and given how the Caped Crusader is viewed as one of the very best hand-to-hand fighters on the planet, that gives a further indication of just how good Deathstroke is at what he does.

In terms of brutality, Slade has nuked Bludhaven, he's created more dead bodies than most, has gleefully killed animals, abused his children, and had sex with a minor - all in order to complete whichever mission he's been tasked with, usually with a hefty payday being all that Deathstroke is bothered about.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.