Ranking Every DC Movie Villain From Worst To Best
15. Max Shreck - Christopher Walken (Batman Returns)
In the long and starry history of megalomaniac businessmen supervillains, few can rival the twin pillars of the DC comic book movie series - Lex Luthor (or most versions of him, anyway) and Christopher Walken's excellent Max Shreck. They're completely different characters, with different approaches, but both are extremely memorable.
Walken is the perfect actor to play an arch-manipulator in Burton's films: his physique suggests majesty but not exactly strength and you get the sense that he's far more of a psychological threat. And despite the suggestion that he's an organ grinder alone, Shreck proves in his "murder" of Selina Kyle that he is willing to get his hands dirty. The fact that she's an easy target says even more about his malevolence.
It's rather unfortunate that he's limited to third string status because of The Penguin and Catwoman, but he is more purely hatable than either, and his charisma makes him all the more enjoyable to watch.
Check out Batman Returns over at Amazon.