From the classic Superman films to the DCEU, DC movies got to bring some of DC Comics’ most powerful villains to the big screen. Despite its problems, one advantage of the current DCEU is that it allowed for multiple DC characters to be adapted into live-action films, steering away from the usual Superman and Batman films. As a result, most of the strongest DC movie villains are from the DCEU.
Whereas the Batman movies were overall realistic compared to the extent of DC’s lore, the DCEU films have delved into all the corners of the DC Universe. Names like The Suicide Squad‘s Starro andJustice League‘s Steppenwolf finally debuted in live-action, offering a very different challenge to the DC heroes than the Joker or Two-Face. Here are the 10 most powerful DC movie villains, ranked.
10 Starro (The Suicide Squad)
Starro was the first villain the Justice League ever fought in comics, leading to the iconic cover of The Brave and the Bold #28: Justice League of America. The Justice League did not get to fight Starro in the DCEU, and it was instead Amanda Waller’s Task Force X who took on the alien conqueror in The Suicide Squad. For that reason, The Suicide Squad’s Starro could not be a Justice League-level threat, even though a giant alien that controls other people is quite menacing. Still, Starro’s basic set of powers was in The Suicide Squad, making it one of the most powerful DC movie villains.
9 Enchantress (Suicide Squad)
Enchantress was not a great villain, especially for a Suicide Squad story. Granted, a larger-than-life threat can make for an interesting Suicide Squad villain, as The Suicide Squad proved with Starro, but the 2016 film did not live up to its creative premise. Still, Enchantress was incredibly powerful, and her attack could have easily escalated into a “Superman scenario,” which would have been a problem since Superman had just died. Had the Suicide Squad not talked June Moone out of her Enchantress possession, the Suicide Squad villain could have caused as much damage as the Kryptonian invasion did.
8 Ares (Wonder Woman)
Ares was defeated relatively quickly in Wonder Woman (2017), but any opponent who can keep up with Diana Prince in a fight has to be considered one of DC’s strongest. Ares was also part of the alliance to protect Earth during Uxas’ invasion, as seen in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. In the DC Comics lore, the God of War is one most powerful entities in the DC Universe, not just because of his sheer strength and magic but also due to his schemes. Ares thrives on conflict, and the God of War’s big play in Wonder Woman was never about fighting Diana Prince but rather working from the shadows.
7 Sabbac (Black Adam)
A villain from the Shazam corner of the DC Universe, Sabbac made its live-action debut in Black Adam. The Black Adam movie featured, besides its titular character, four other DC superheroes – Doctor Fate, Hawkman, Cylclone, and Atom Smasher – and it took the combined efforts of all of them to defeat Sabbac. Even Doctor Fate’s death in Black Adam was necessary so that Sabbac could be defeated, showing just how powerful the villain was. Black Adam was never really a villain in his solo film, nor did he get to test his powers against characters like Shazam or Superman. Regardless, Black Adam puts Sabbac among DC’s most powerful movie villains.
6 Parallax (Green Lantern)
Green Lantern (2011)’s Parallax was far from being a comic-accurate take on the Green Lantern villain, yet its power level cannot be ignored. The Green Lantern movie’s Parallax was a Guardians-level threat, that is, it caused the Guardians and their Green Lanterns to act with urgency. Parallax was able to kill dozens of Green Lanterns in the blink of an eye, and it took all the Guardians to even try to stop it. Parallax would then become the source of the Yellow Lantern’s power, further displaying how powerful this entity was. Though Parallax deserves a better adaptation, its Green Lantern version is among DC’s most powerful live-action villains.
5 Steppenwolf (Zack Snyder’s Justice League)
There are two movie versions of Steppenwolf, one from Justice League’s theatrical cut and one from Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and the designs are not the only difference between them. How Steppenwolf’s story plays out in Justice League is quite different from the Snyder Cut story, although Steppenwolf works as the lieutenant for a bigger threat in both versions. Overall, Zack Snyder’s Justice League’s Steppenwolf seems stronger than the theatrical version, mostly because he gets more screen time for extended fight sequences against not only the Justice League but also Amazons and Atlanteans. For example, Steppenwolf fights hundreds of Amazons at the beginning of the film.
Steppenwolf was also able to fight Atlanteans in the ocean, where the Atlanteans were supposed to have the upper hand. The Justice League villain had no problem taking on Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Cyborg all at once, now to mention how he commanded an army of thousands of Parademons. The only reason why Steppenwolf does not rank higher in the list of most powerful DC movie villains is that he was easily defeated by Superman, both in the theatrical cut of Justice League and the Snyder Cut. As a comparison, Superman struggled way more against General Zod, Faora, and Doomsday than against Steppenwolf.
4 General Zod (Man of Steel)
The original DCEU villain, General Zod set the tone for what Man of Steel and the Zack Snyder DCEU movies as a whole would be like in terms of antagonists and power levels. Whereas previous Superman movies had not displayed Superman’s sheer strength, Man of Steel felt like a Superman comic book fight had come to life, merging anime influences with Snyder’s action-oriented filmmaker style. As a result, Man of Steel’s Kryptonians were by far the most formidable villains Superman had ever faced on the big screen. General Zod was more experienced than Clark Kent, yet Zod still did not know how to control his abilities on Earth’s atmosphere.
As a testament to how great of a warrior General Zod was, it took just a few minutes for the villain to adjust to Earth’s atmosphere and master his superpowers, thus catching up with Superman. By the end of Man of Steel’s Superman vs. General Zod fight, the villain even knew how to fly. Considering how difficult it was for Superman to defeat General Zod, it makes sense for the Kryptonian villain to be considered more powerful than Steppenwolf. In fact, one of the reasons why Steppenwolf attacked Earth was because there were no longer any Kryptonians protecting it.
3 Faora (Man of Steel)
Though it can be difficult to compare Faora and General Zod’s power levels, the former has a slight advantage compared to the latter. Whereas General Zod fought without displaying a refined technique, almost as if he was being guided by rage, Faora-Ul’s moves were quicker and more precise. From the soldiers to Superman, it never seemed like Faora was struggling to fight Earth’s defenses, and the only reason she was defeated was that Superman and his friends managed to create a wormhole leading into, presumably, the Phantom Zone. As fast as a speedster and as strong as any Kryptonian, Faora was deadlier than Zod.
2 Doomsday (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice)
Superman struggled against the Kryptonians in Man of Steel, but he still survived three of them. Doomsday, however, caused Kal-El way more trouble. Created by Lex Luthor, Batman v Superman’s Doomsday was quite different from the comics in terms of design and story, but the creature was as deadly as its comic book counterpart – if not more. There was nothing Batman could do against Doomsday other than distract it with a couple of Kryptonite bombs, and not even Superman and Wonder Woman fighting side by side could take it down. Doomsday was only defeated because of Superman’s sacrifice, otherwise, he could’ve killed Batman and Wonder Woman too.
1 Darkseid (Zack Snyder’s Justice League)
Despite its importance to the Justice League lore, Darkseid only has a few minutes of screen time when it comes to the DC movies. In fact, considering that Zack Snyder’s Justice League’s “Age of Heroes” chapter only displayed a younger version of Darkseid, Uxas, Darkseid himself has only appeared for a few seconds in live-action movies. In the Snyder Cut, Cyborg gets a vision from the future when the Justice League is about to resurrect Superman, in which Darkseid kills Aquaman and presumably kills Wonder Woman too. Regardless of DC Comics lore, the DCEU Darkseid was strong enough to kill Aquaman and Wonder Woman, making him the most powerful DC movie villain.
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