DC Comics are responsible for creating some of the most iconic supervillains of all time with the Joker, Lex Luthor, Darkseid, and Ra’s Al Ghul all making the top 10 of IGN’s list of the top 100 comic-book villains of all time. The Joker, who was created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson and first appeared in Batman in 1940, narrowly missed out on the top spot to Marvel’s Magneto. The crazed clown has, however, arguably been more prevalent in mainstream media over the decades. With the DC Extended Universe recently opting to create Suicide Squad, a film centered on some of their most entertaining bad guys, it stands to reason that other lesser-known villains could soon be represented on the big screen. But which supervillains deserve their shot at the big time?
Owlman
With Zach Snyder’s Justice League scheduled for release on November 17 this year, there is certainly the potential for a number of antagonists relating to these characters to crop up in DCE films in the future. One of these could be Owlman, who heads up the evil opposite faction of the Justice League, called the Crime Syndicate of America. The super-intelligent master martial artist is Batman’s evil counterpart, but mainly operated on the reverse Earth-Three which was a parallel world to the one which Batman and the Justice League occupied.
On this planet, each member of the Justice League had their own evil counterpart, which is why DC may decide to add these characters to their extended universe.
Owlman was created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky in 1964, and the supervillain first appeared in the Justice League of America series of comics. Up to now, Batman’s evil equivalent who in some versions is actually his brother Thomas Wayne Jr hasn’t been epitomised much in mainstream media. He did appear in the straight-to-video Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths animation in 2010 where he was voiced by James Woods, but aside from that some comic-book fans would agree that the villain deserves more representation.
Roulette
Roulette could be a cool addition to the DCE Universe now due to the fact that casino games have become so popular – the online gambling market is worth over $47 billion, and a lot of these players may be interested in watching a supervillainess with skills based on their interests.
The character was created by Geoff Johns and Derec Aucoin, and first appeared in JSA Secret Files in 2001. Roulette is an absolute genius when it comes to calculating odds and gambling winnings. And with her superior gaming abilities, if she was playing the game she was named after, she’d be more likely to bet on what online sources describe as an “inside bet” as they reward the highest payouts.
In addition to her mental powers, Roulette is an exceptional martial artist who also uses robot security dogs, death traps, and is accompanied by a metahuman who can negate super-powers. The character has appeared on TV in season 9 of Smallville in 2009 and season 2 of Supergirl in 2016.
Professor Pyg
Professor Pyg is a much more recent DC villain, and was created in 2007 by Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert. He has been a regular in the Batman comics for the last ten years, and has been described by Morrison as “one of the weirdest, most insane characters that’s ever been in Batman.”
The character is a schizophrenic who strives to make people “perfect” by transforming them into “Dollotrons.” He does this by binding false doll faces to people. This sadistic maniac would be hard to pull off in films that are geared towards a family audience, but he could appear in an R-rated movie if DC decides to follow the same path as Marvel did with Deadpool in 2016.
The Marvel adventure starring Ryan Reynolds was the highest grossing R-rated film of all time and raked in $783.1 million, so it would make sense for DC to try something similar. Pyg’s most recent appearance in mainstream media was in the hugely successful 2015 console game Batman: Arkham Knight. It was the fastest selling game of 2015 with over 5 million copies sold in a matter of months.
The Professor Pyg missions were particularly memorable, as players had to work to track down the crazed psychopath as classical music played in the areas where his victims had been slaughtered.
There are a number of other lesser-known characters that comic book fans would probably like to see in mainstream media and the DC Extended Universe.
Firefly, for example, who was also in Arkham Knight, could feature in upcoming works. In a prequel comic to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Batman has a brief battle with the pyromaniac and leaves him tied up on the street for the police to find, with Lex Luthor watching on CCTV. The comic is available at Dr Pepper.
Marvel has proved with their massive universe which has made over $4.5 billion since it began with Iron Man in 2008 that there is the potential to introduce limitless numbers of characters over the course of the franchise. Perhaps if DC wants to outdo the Marvel powerhouse, it should bring in some of these more obscure and unique supervillains to mix things up a bit.
