Comics have some of the nastiest, scariest, and creepiest characters in all of fiction. From supernatural beings like ghosts and vampires to mutated men and women turned in to monsters by science to aliens from far off worlds that crave human flesh, these villains have given more than one reader the heebie-jeebies.
And in the DC Universe, no one has enemies as nasty, scary, and creepy as Batman. The Dark Knight himself is a hero of horror, using the image of a bat to strike fear into the hearts of the cowardly and superstitious criminals of Gotham City. But which of his rogues keep the Caped Crusader up long after his bedtime? Who are the ones that give him nightmares, forcing him to wake in a cold sweat, fearing the night that lies before him?
10 Killer Croc
Waylon Jones was born with a medical condition called epidermolytic hyperkeratosis. This affliction caused Waylon's skin to blister when he was a baby. As he aged, more and more of Waylon's skin began to harden and become discolored, making him looks like a human crocodile, a comic-book take on the real-life disease. Constantly abused as a child by both his caregivers and other children, Waylon grew angrier and angrier. When the time was right, he struck out, taking the life of his first victim.
As Killer Croc, Waylon became one of Batman's strangest villains. With each year he becomes more and more animalistic, retreating from the world of man and living in the sewers of Gotham where he kills anyone who comes into his domain.
9 Mr. Zsasz
Victor Zsasz was a very rich man from a very rich family, but after the death of his parents, he went into a state of darkness. Victor found that gambling helped alleviate his sadness, but he wasn't any good at it. Before long, he had run through his family fortune.
When he was accosted by a homeless man with a knife, Zsasz defended himself and in the fight, the homeless man died. It was then that Zsasz realized that killing was the ultimate cure for his unhappiness. Now Mr. Zsasz stalks Gotham City, a serial killer who carves a notch into his own skin every time he takes someone's life. At last count, Zsasz had over 143 self-inflicted scars, each one marking an innocent life that he ended.
8 Two-Face
Harvey Dent had the world in his hands. As Gotham City's District Attorney, he worked alongside Commissioner Gordon and Batman to clean up the most dangerous city on Earth. The people of the city loved Harvey, and it seemed like before long he would be moving up in the political world, but that all ended during the trial of Sal "Boss" Maroni, who threw acid in the DA's face.
Dent woke up to find that half of his face had been horribly disfigured. When he saw his own reflection, his mind snapped, and Two-Face was born. Now, with the flip of a coin, Harvey Dent can end the lives of dozens just as easily as he can walk away. It all just depends on how the coin lands.
7 Scarecrow
Bullied throughout his childhood, Jonathan Crane finally decided to fight back at his senior prom. Dressed like a scarecrow, Crane stood in the parking lot of his high school and pulled out a gun, aiming it at the car of Bo Griggs. Bo quickly turned the wheel, making his car crash. Bo was left paralyzed and his girlfriend Sherry Squires, who was in the passenger seat, died.
Creating that feeling of fear in Bo and Sherry filled Crane with joy, and he began to search for more ways to scare people. As a professor of psychology at Gotham University, Dr. Crane began to experiment on students. When a student was hurt in an experiment, Crane was fired. Angered, he once again donned the costume he wore at prom and became the Scarecrow.
6 Clayface
Once a famous actor, Basil Karlo first became Clayface to stop the filming of a remake of one of his classic films. At that time, he had no powers, but his willingness to kill was evident. Years later, Karlo would steal the enzyme that Preston Payne used to make himself into the third Clayface.
The injection turned Karlo into a hulking monster made out of a substance similar to clay, allowing him to change his shape at will. As the one true Clayface, Basil Karlo uses his power to hide in plain sight, ready to strike at any given moment.
5 Professor Pyg
All Professor Pyg wants to do is to make people perfect, and the best way to do that, as he sees it, is to turn them into his "Dollotrons". First, Professor Pyg lobotomizes his victim, using an ice pick or a drill.
Then he bonds a mask that looks like a doll face to the victim's face. At the end of the process, Professor Pyg's victim is a mindless drone, one that he controls. Wearing a simplistic pig mask and a bloodstained surgical apron, Professor Pyg is one of Batman's most demented foes.
4 Mad Hatter
Suffering from hypogonadism, Tetch is unable to physically mature, leaving him forever in the body of a young man. In an attempt to help him, doctors put Tetch on testosterone-enhancing drugs that altered his mind, driving him mad. During this time, Tetch became obsessed with Lewis Carroll's classic novel Alice in Wonderland.
Taking on the identity of the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland and using a mind-altering device that he created, Tetch likes to kidnap young women and force them to play out the role of Alice. When he can't find a good "Alice" the Mad Hatter strikes out at all the citizens of Gotham City.
3 Joe Chill
Joe Chill had no superpowers. He could not change shape like Clayface, and he didn't have the brains to create a mind-control chip like Mad Hatter. All Joe Chill had was a gun and a willingness to kill. With two shots in an alley, Joe Chill took the lives of Thomas and Martha Wayne, leaving behind their young son Bruce.
Men that look like crocodiles or have a horribly scarred face make for great stories, but the true horror of a character like Joe Chill makes him stand out from so many others. A simple mugging went bad left more than one life broken.
2 Joker
The most famous of Batman's foes, there is no one story that explains the Joker. His flesh has been bleached white, his hair dyed green, and his face forever trapped in a smile, the Joker is the opposite of Batman; an endless typhoon of chaos that rips apart Gotham City every time he shows his face.
There is no way to count the number of lives Joker has destroyed over the years, or how many more he will destroy in the years to come. He is a mystery that even the World's Greatest Detective can't solve, and a force of pure evil that cannot be stopped.
1 Batman Who Laughs
A newer addition to Batman's rogues, the Batman Who Laughs is quite literally the Dark Knight's greatest fear. Coming from the Dark Multiverse, the Batman Who Laughs was birthed from Batman's mind, a version of himself that has become infected with a special version of the Joker toxin, turning him into a mix of the Caped Crusader and the Clown Prince of Crime.
In essence, the Batman Who Laughs is a version of Joker who has the genius intellect of Batman, making him nearly unstoppable. As seen in Dark Nights: Death Metal, this is a Batman who destroyed the Multiverse without even trying very hard, and that was only the beginning of his devious plans.