Batman Beyond: 10 Best Villains

Shriek is everything Spellbinder could have been if he just thought a little bigger.

Shriek started off as a man named Shreeve, an acoustic scientist working for Blight (who we'll get to later) that was initially hired to take Bruce out of the equation so Blight could seize more power in the company, but later struck out on his own to get revenge on Batman when - in the course of defeating him in his debut episode - Batman causes him to lose his hearing.

What makes Shriek so damn cool is how creatively he applies his powers. We take for granted how much we rely on our sense of hearing in our everyday life, and how much that reliance can be used against us. Shriek doesn't just shoot soundwaves, his suit can actively control the vibrations in the air and how much or how little our ears pick up.

This culminates in his best episode, Babel, where he turns all of Gotham against Batman by messing with the hearing of everyone in the city, causing widespread panic, and promising to not stop until Batman surrenders.

Shriek is what you get when a writers' room looks at the setup of a character and asks, "Okay, what's EVERY avenue we can take this in?" and then proceeds to do just that.