There are a lot of villains introduced in comics. Batman and Spider-Man alone have more bad guys than you could count on all of your fingers and toes. Many of the villains in comic book history have become so memorable that they remain the most popular and frequently used characters to date. Villains like the Joker, Venom, Thanos, and Lex Luthor come to mind. However, in regards to all of the villains that have been created, many of them have been lost in the shuffle. There are some genuinely interesting and threatening villains that don't see the light of day too often because they don't have the brand power that someone like Darkseid or Ra's al Ghul would. That's not to say that any of these forgotten villains are bad, they're just not as popular.

Unfortunately, many of these villains have become notorious for being C-listers. Only the bigger comic fans would know them, and everyone else couldn't care less. It's a shame considering that many of these C-listers have the potential and the development to become A-listers and be the biggest villains in comics. Get ready for a deeper dive in comics as we present 20 C-list supervillains who should be on the A-list.

20 TASKMASTER

Taskmaster is a Marvel villain who was subjected to a special chemical. After that, he was granted the ability to watch anyone's fighting style and immediately replicate it move by move. Taskmaster quickly became one of the most vicious fighters in the Marvel Universe and even went on to open his own school of sorts to each others how to fight the way that he does. He has been skilled enough to not only replicate the moves of others but to predict what they're going to do next.

Being able to copy and imitate what other people can do could go a long way in comics. Theoretically, Taskmaster could have all of the money and resources to create suits similar to Iron Man's as well as have soldiers as strong as the Hulk. All it would require is teaching them how to replicate fighting styles and he would have his own evil version of the Avengers. This initiative could see him trying to take over the world and all of the Marvel heroes working together to try and stop him. There's potential with Taskmaster that doesn't seem well-realized. Not to mention that he has a cool yet terrifying costume.

19 VANDAL SAVAGE

Vandal Savage is essentially DC's version of Kang the Conqueror. He was an immortal tyrant who was known for doing dastardly deeds in both the future and the past. However, instead of using a time machine to go back and forth, he lives forever. Because of this, he has been present since the early ages of humanity, constantly putting pieces in place for him to take over the world. He was the season one villain in Legends of Tomorrow, considering that show is mainly comprised of C-listers, though, that didn't bode too well for him.

Vandal Savage has the brains and brawn to become an A-list DC villain. After all, he was shown as one of the primary antagonists in Young Justice. Savage can outsmart just about anyone he chooses to as well as outfight them. He doesn't have a lot of powers, but it's his ability to play the long game and win that makes him such a big threat. If anything, he has been shown to be able to put the Justice League in hot water with the rest of the universe. It only makes sense that DC would start to take him more seriously and make him a much bigger threat.

18 ANNIHILUS

In the Marvel Universe, there are many dimensions. One of the scariest is known as the Negative Zone, which is a reality that is completely filled with antimatter. There isn't much else known about it other than it's a bad place. The ruler of the Negative Zone is an entity known as Annihilus. This demonic creature has all sorts of interesting powers and abilities, complete with an appearance that could give even the Hulk nightmares. He was initially a villain that was discovered by the Fantastic Four before launching a full-scale assault in his own series with the help of Thanos. He controls his victims through the Cosmic Control Rod and can use it to shape matter to his liking.

Apart from "Annihilation", Annihilus hasn't gotten much attention. However, it would be easy to play around with his powers seeing that he heralds from the Negative Zone. On top of that, there is no limit to the types of soldiers he could have at his side. Furthermore, he could be brought back and team up with other villains for another full-scale assault, like Ultron or Loki. Like the other villains on this list, he has the potential to be a much greater threat.

17 GENTLEMAN GHOST

Jim Craddock was dealt a bad hand in life. He had abusive parents and never seemed to get anything good in his own life. He was prophesied to never fully die and return as a tormented spirit. He would later see that prophecy come true when he was wrongly killed by Nighthawk. He came back as a phantom who couldn't pass on to the next life until he resolved his unfinished business: killing Nighthawk. However, Nighthawk turned out to be the reincarnated spirit of Prince Khufu who could never fully die. Because of this, Craddock can never move on and took the identity of Gentleman Ghost.

Gentleman Ghost seems like a silly name, but he has a lot of potential as an A-list villain. Being a spectre, he access to a lot of supernatural abilities that most of the main Justice League heroes don't know how to counter. He can fight and never die, shoot fire and never get burned, and even teleport across the entire world. He has also been shown to command other spirits to work with him. Because of this, we think he'd be excellent as an A-list villain for the Justice League Dark -- just have him fight Constantine.

16 FIN FANG FOOM

Iron Man has a lot of obscure villains that haven't made it far past the comics, and one of them is Fin Fang Foom. This monstrous dragon creature is actually an alien from another planet. Coming to Earth, it took the form of a dragon and started terrorizing the people there. It has super strength, can fly at supersonic speeds, and can even shoot acid from its mouth. For some reason, Marvel thought it was the perfect villain to fight Iron Man and War Machine.

Regardless of how ridiculous a name like Fin Fang Foom is, there's no getting around the fact that this is a massive dragon that takes a lot of effort to stop. Marvel could easily alter the design to make him look a little more frightening, play into a gritter reality where he decides to burn the entire world, and bring all the Avengers together to try and take him down. If the story was to be more interesting, there would need to be a clear exploration of Fin Fang Foom as a character and his motives better understood, but that's certainly not out of the realm of possibility. He's monstrous either way.

15 KING SHARK

King Shark began his life as a humanoid shark who was descended from a Shark God. There isn't much of a real origin to this character, due to him always behaving like a shark. He was responsible for some people who went missing in tropical locations, which spawned the intervention of a few superheroes to try and bring him in. King Shark would later reappear in DC Comics as a villain of the Flash and even go toe to toe with Aquaman. He has also been featured as a member of the Suicide Squad.

There isn't much to King Shark other than his serious strength and his appearance. However, if DC played into him as an Aquaman villain and give him access to some Atlantean magic, there's no telling the kind of terror King Shark could bring. He already has the strength to go against heroes like Superboy, so it's not too hard to think that he could become much stronger. He'd essentially be like another Doomsday, but sometimes that's all that a comic book needs in order to turn a C-list villain into an A-list villain. And King Shark fits the bill perfectly -- no more being just a Flash villain.

14 SERPENT SOCIETY

The Serpent Society is a secret group of villains that all have something to do with snakes. They were organized by Sidewinder, who would then contract the group into doing jobs for other organizations like HYDRA, AIM, and even the Kingpin. Because of this, they have been involved in a lot of secretive missions that put them at odds with Captain America and his friends. The group was eventually led by Viper, who would have much bigger ideas in mind for the Serpent Society. They would also go through a few reboots.

The Serpent Society, as they are now, aren't at a big enough scale to really be A-listers. However, they do bring a fantastic template that Marvel could build on for a much more threatening group. Marvel could add in more snake characters and create some original faces. Together, they could build a plan that would put the entire world at risk. Considering that Viper has also tussled with the X-Men, it would be a nice way to bring in Professor X's mutants into the fray as well. It's important to remember that Marvel once considered the Serpent Society as the original vision for the third Captain America film.

13 MONGUL

There are some villains who have a lot of depth and clear motivation. There are others that just want to exercise their power over the rest of the universe. The latter perfectly explains Mongul. This powerful alien has a predisposition to conquer every planet in the world either by destroying it or claiming it. He began his crusade as one of the strongest beings in the universe, but he became even stronger after he found a key that gave him access to the Warworld: A powerful interplanetary siege engine that is strangely reminiscent of the Death Star.

Having Mongul go to Earth and threaten all of the heroes there is a conflict ripe to turn him from a C-list villain into an A-list one. If necessary, have him be the leader of a group of villains that are on the Warworld with him to give the Justice League more of a formidable battle. When he was first introduced, he was easily stronger than Superman, and there's nothing wrong with going back to that either. He was previously seen in Young Justice filling out a similar role, though most of the Justice League was off the planet at the time.

12 MISTER SINISTER

There is one X-Men villain that has yet to appear on screen despite a tease at the end of X-Men: Apocalypse: Mister Sinister. Sinister was known as Nathaniel Essex, head of the Essex Corporation. He became obsessed with living forever so much that he was willing to strike a deal with Apocalypse. He worked for the mutant and, in turn, was granted a new body and set of powers. He became the villainous Mister Sinister with all sorts of impressive powers that made him a threat to the X-Men.

Mister Sinister has telepathic and psychic abilities that allow him to torment and manipulate his foes. On top of that, he has full control over his own cells. He can take just about any injury before healing himself as well as transforming his body to suit his needs. This skillset alone can make him much more powerful. Adding his intelligence on top of that can easily make him a much bigger threat than he stands as of right now. It could start out as a comic story involving Apocalypse. Sinister overthrows Apocalypse and decides to take all of that alien tech for himself and try to conquer the whole world.

11 THE EXTREMISTS

There are a lot of DC fans who constantly point fingers at Marvel for copying characters. Hawkeye is essentially a ripoff of Green Arrow. Doctor Strange is a copy of Doctor Fate. Moon Knight is Marvel's answer to Batman. The list goes on. However, DC has done the same thing with Marvel a few times. Look no further than the Extremists. This is a team of supervillains who are all clearly based on Marvel villains. It consists of Lord Havok (Doctor Doom), Dreamslayer (Dormammu), Gorgon (Doc Ock), Tracer (Sabretooth), Doctor Diehard (Magneto), and a few more.

Instead of trying to bury them in the ground, it would be so fitting and (excuse us) comical to turn them into A-listers. It would be kind of interesting to see copies of Marvel heroes destroying the DC Universe. If they so decided, DC could also insert them as A-list villains in a comedy series. Either way, there is potential with the Extremists. After all, Marvel can be completely successful with Deadpool, who is an intentional copy of Deathstroke. Because they really leaned into it, Wade Wilson has become a fan favorite character, so there's no reason to think DC couldn't do the same.

10 MOLECULE MAN

There are few supervillains more interesting than Molecule Man. Owen Reece has gone through several different incarnations, but in each one, he has ended up a being known as the Molecule Man. His powers involve him being able to manipulate just about anything at a molecular level. Because of this, he has been able to go against Iron Man and Captain America and turn their suit and shield into nothing but a pile of atoms. He was later given the capability to alter the universe itself with his powers alone due to being designed by the Beyonders.

Molecule Man has a lot of potential as an A-list villain. His name and look don't exactly make him that interesting, but those are things that can be easily altered. Furthermore, it would be interesting to see how Earth's Mightiest Heroes team up to fight someone so powerful. It would also present a challenge because, if Molecule Man dies, then the universe that he was created in dies as well. The Avengers would have to defeat Owen without killing him in order to save everyone. Throw in some villains to help out the heroes, and Molecule Man quickly becomes a memorable antagonist.

9 ONOMATOPOEIA

Green Arrow doesn't have a lot of villains to use. Apart from Malcolm Merlyn and Komodo, few of them are particularly interesting. However, he has one that manages to garner a lot of attention, and that's Onomatopoeia. This character has a unique design and sounds out everything that he does. When he fires a gun, he says "Blam." This premise is surprisingly haunting in execution than it is on paper, and that makes him a standout villain of the Emerald Archer.

Onomatopoeia has been smart enough to even trick Batman for a time, so there's potential for him to hatch a brilliant scheme to take out more heroes at a time. He has the mystery of the Joker with a unique design to set him apart. It would also become a personal conflict with the Green Arrow considering how the two have often fought each other. Onomatopoeia just has a desire to kill superheroes that don't have any powers. It would be quite exciting to see him go through an arc where he targets Batman, Green Arrow, Catwoman, and other fighters in the DC Universe that aren't metahumans. It would be quite a haunting adventure for the readers as well.

8 THE HOOD

The Hood is a Marvel villain that doesn't have a lot of interesting abilities. He is a master criminal and does have some added strength and speed thanks to wearing a hood and boots that came from the Dark Dimension. He combines these two aspects to become one of the most effective thieves in the Marvel Universe. He went on a crusade where he traveled to each member of the Illuminati and took their respective Infinity Stones to try and form the Infinity Gauntlet for himself.

The Hood would make a great A-list villain because he is counter to what normally constitutes an A-list villain -- he doesn't have any powers apart from his equipment. It would be exciting to see a normal person fight the Avengers and, initially, they would think they had control over the situation. However, the Hood would eventually outsmart them and use his brain to get past them, form the Gauntlet, then give them a true run for their money. He would find his own legacy in Marvel's history as the biggest villain for the Avengers that doesn't have any superpowers. He'd be great in the MCU as well.

7 ATROCITUS

The lore of the Green Lantern is vast and complicated. In short, there are several different Lantern Corps who are each based on a different emotion snd color. The Green Lanterns are based on willpower. Typically, they fight the Yellow Lantern Corps which is based on fear. Then there is the Red Lantern Corps, which is based on rage. Its leader, Atrocitus, is the angriest of them all. After watching his family get murdered and being wronged by Sinestro, a Green Lantern at the time, he made his own Lantern faction and became the avatar of rage. He formed his own group and swore vengeance on the Green Lantern Corps.

Atrocitus already has all the pieces in place in become an A-list villain. Because the Green Lanterns are more focused on fighting with the Yellow Lantern Corps, though, the Red Lanterns often get shoved to the side. However, Atrocitus is one of the biggest threats to the cosmos. All that needs to happen is someone ticks him off and he decides to lay waste to the entire universe. At that moment, all cosmic DC heroes have to work together to win an all-out war with the Green Lanterns and the Red Lanterns.

6 CATMAN

Catman sounds extremely ridiculous when you hear his name -- it's clear that he's just a clone of Batman that was chosen because it rhymed. The only difference is that he functions his antics around cats, where the Dark Knight functions his around bats. While Catman debuted as a campy character, he slowly became a potent fighter and villain in the DC Universe. Because of this, we feel that he could easily make it as one of Batman's A-list villains.

Catman, as his name implies, happens to be an extremely good tracker, always finding his prey when he goes out for a hunt. Furthermore, Catman fights as well if not better than the Caped Crusader himself. He's taken on several vigilantes and even fought a lion with his bare hands and won. He also has some effective equipment on his suit and utility belt that would give him a counter for Batman's tricks at almost every turn. Even his gauntlets are reminiscent of a feline, as they are tipped with blades that make each of his punches sting much more. His name is ridiculous, but with the right amount of attention, Catman could easily contend with Batman in a unique series.

5 JACK-O-LANTERN

Jack-O-Lantern is exactly the kind of villain you'd expect -- he fights Spider-Man in the streets of New York and is a bad guy with a flaming pumpkin for a head. He has similar equipment to the Goblin family, but is a little less sane (which is saying a lot). Jack-O-Lantern went through several different versions with several different people taking the mantle, but the powers, for the most part, have been relatively the same. Each one of them fights the wall crawler as well.

The reason Jack-O-Lantern could find himself as an a-list Spider-Man villain is simply because of what Marvel can do with him. He's scary as it is, but other versions of the character have played around with him turning into a demon with a pumpkin head as well as gliding around on a broomstick as opposed to a machine similar to the Green Goblin's. Marvel could make Jack-O-Lantern a villain that would constitute moments of fear in Spider-Man and the audience. Their biggest hurdle would be to distance the character from the Goblin family in order to make him stand out, but the flaming pumpkin head and grenade shooters on his wrists are more than enough to get the job done.

4 KGBEAST

There are a lot of assassins in the DC Universe, and KGBeast is one of the best. This Russian-bred killer is extremely good at what he does and is hired for some of the most intense jobs on the globe. He is easily on the same skill level as Deathstroke and is arguably more dangerous. He has a reputation to keep and will do whatever it takes to make sure that he succeeds in his tasks. He once killed around 100 people with a poisonous gas just to ensure that his one target would be dead.

KGBeast would make a great A-list villain either as a rival for Green Arrow or Batman or as an assassin who pops in and out of other stories like Deathstroke. He is different enough from Slade that the two wouldn't be confused and has a much different attitude when it comes to getting the job done. Furthermore, he is a better fighter than Batman, winning because he will do anything to get the upper hand (even if it means cutting off his own hand to free himself). If he wanted to target superheroes across the world and get rid of them, it would only be a matter of time.

3 MASTERS OF EVIL

When the Avengers were first created, they had to fight Thor's brother, Loki. After that, Earth's Mightiest Heroes became familiar with fighting a single character who had an insane level of power. However, it wasn't long before a team of villains banded together to fight them. They were known as the Masters of Evil. This team had a rotating roster of villains that would constantly fight the Avengers. Even characters like Baron Zemo and Ultron would lead the team.

It's not hard to see why the Masters of Evil should be A-listers. For some reason, Marvel has thrown by the wayside and hasn't really used them. There's so much potential with them. Many of the villains on the team aren't all that memorable, but it wouldn't be that hard to bring in some more familiar faces or up the ante with the characters that are already being used. After all, the Avengers don't go against a lot of teams when it comes to fighting villains. Using the Masters of Evil as A-list antagonists would be exciting. On a side note, we'd also like to see them appear in the MCU after Thanos has his time.

2 THE DEAD KING

Aquaman is the current King of Atlantis, but he was far from the first. The original king was named Atlan (hence the name Atlantis). He had a prosperous kingdom, but was in a power struggle with his brother, Orin. Because of this, Atlantis was split up into four different groups and thrown into the sea. Atlan was then cast away into the depths where he would be asleep for many years. However, Atlan didn't die and would eventually reawaken years later to see Aquaman on the throne of his kingdom.

Atlan, known as the Dead King by that point, can wage war on Atlantis and win over many soldiers to his side. Considering the royal and political dynamics that would rise as a result of the Dead King and Aquaman fighting for leadership of the underwater city, there is a lot of reason that he could be on the A-list. While he wouldn't exactly be someone that would reappear over and over again, he could be the cause of a cataclysmic event. If he got enough Atlanteans to his side, he could wage war on the whole planet and threaten to sink it. Aquaman would then have to lead the Justice League in an all-out war.

1 PURPLE MAN

Here is an interesting choice. Purple Man is a fairly obscure Marvel villain. You may recognize him as the central antagonist from the first season of Jessica Jones. He was the one who kidnapped Jessica while she was still a hero and mind-controlled her to do all sorts of nasty things. He would go on to torment her until she finally decided to kill him and end it all. His effects on his subjects, in life and death, were so great that many of them would end up suicidal out of fear and desperation.

Purple Man could easily become an A-list villain simply because of how much he can torment his victims. Imagine if he got into a mind battle with Charles Xavier and won. What would the X-Men do if their leader was suddenly going insane and hearing voices in his head? Under the right circumstances, Purple Man could make a serious impact in the Marvel Universe. He might not be a character that would constitute all of the Avengers teaming up to bring him in, but he could pose a threat to several key characters. Just imagine what he would do to the already insane Moon Knight.