10 Doctor Who Villains With Terrifying Abilities

The Abzorbaloff might seem like a bit of a joke... right until he sucks you into his buttcheek.

the whisper man doctor who
BBC

There are very few villains out there that can actually pose a serious threat to the Doctor. After all, the vast majority of Doctor Who stories conclude with good triumphing over evil - or, to put it another way, the Doctor always wins.

But just because a villain is defeated, that doesn't mean they're stupid, or weak. In fact, most of the time, the exact opposite is true - it's just that the Doctor is a little bit better at the hero thing than the bad guys are at the evil thing.

Despite being full of losers, the Doctor's rogues gallery is littered with foes that have some seriously impressive (and terrifying) abilities, from the Weeping Angels' unique method of possessing their victims, to a classic monster that is capable of extracting every single drop of bodily fluid from our frail human forms. Gross.

While some of these abilities were only implied or described, that doesn't make them any less horrifying to think about. And for the characters who were on the receiving end of them? Well... death would surely be the preferred option.

10. Dissect And Flatten Your Body In Seconds (The Boneless)

the whisper man doctor who
BBC Studios

The Boneless are fascinating creatures that hail from a mysterious two-dimensional realm. Encountered by the Twelfth Doctor and Clara in Series 8, their natural form allows them to travel across flat surfaces only, such as walls, floors, ceilings.

As a result, their primary method of attack also revolves around two dimensions, as seen when they completely flatten an unsuspecting police officer against a wall.

This officer screams in pure agony as the Boneless drag her into the floor, and when Clara (along with her new pal, Rigsy) enters the room, a mural of the human nervous system can be seen painted onto the wall.

Except, this isn't actually a mural - it's the remains of the officer, who has been dissected and torn apart by the Boneless, and splayed across the wall like an overly-graphic museum exhibit.

It's an incredibly grisly sight to behold, with the Boneless stripping this person down in a matter of seconds. Even worse, these creatures can travel across most surfaces in the environment - so there's almost nothing you can do to hide from them.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.