The Justice League is the premier super team in the DC Universe, consisting of the greatest heroes planet Earth and beyond has to offer. They're more than a superhero team, though, as they not only face down some of the deadliest villains around but also do their best to solve cosmic calamities and keep the Multiverse safe from destruction. Few teams can match the League in their mandate.

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Some threats, though, are more severe than others. The Justice League faces down villains that would freeze the blood of even the stoutest heart, evils that take everything the team has to defeat.

10 Lex Luthor's Intelligence And Rage Make Him Very Scary

An image of Lex Luthor holding blueprints and smugly smiling in DC Comics

Most people know Lex Luthor as one of Superman's greatest rivals but he also faces off against the Justice League from time to time and he's always a grave threat. Lex might not seem scary but any villain as smart as he is, with the resources he has, is very frightening. His twisted imagination and mission of self-aggrandizement disguised as pro-human altruism make him a scary foe.

Luthor will do anything to ensure victory, going to any length to defeat the League. He knows that his money and power make him untouchable, so he'll commit any terrible act in order to destroy his foes.

9 Solomon Grundy Is Basically A Zombie Hulk

Immortal Villain Solomon Grundy

Solomon Grundy is basically a professional henchman but that makes him no less frightening. Reborn in the bogs of Gotham City's Slaughter Swamp, Solomon Grundy is massively strong and has worked with many groups of villains, always acting as their muscle. Able to go toe to toe with Superman and with no qualms or conscience, the slate grey monster is a frightening foe to behold.

What makes him even scarier is the fact that even if he's destroyed, he always comes back, cursed to walk the Earth and commit terrible acts forever.

8 The Batman Who Laughs Is An Evil Batman

The Batman and Joker fuse together to create a nightmarish hybrid

Batman is one of the League's most skilled and dangerous members, using his resources, knowledge, and experience to be clutch for the League. While there have been many villains who fancy themselves as an evil version of Batman, only one of them can really lay claim to the title - the Batman Who Laughs. A Dark Multiverse Batman infected by Joker toxin, he was known for his savage acts.

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The Batman Who Laughs was able to defeat Lex Luthor, taking his place at Perpetua's side and manipulated that godlike being, gaining power of his own, destroying her, and almost ending the entire Multiverse. There are few things scarier than an evil Batman, and the Batman Who Laughs proved that.

7 The Crime Syndicate Are Evil Multiversal Versions Of The Justice League

Crime Syndicate Ivan Reis

The Justice League has faced down many foes, but few were as powerful as their own twisted reflection, the Crime Syndicate. Based on Earth-3, the Crime Syndicate came from a world where evil won and consisted of the most powerful beings on that world. The Justice League has battled multiple versions of the team over the year and it's always a desperate battle.

The Crime Syndicate has all the powers of their Earth-1 selves and while their evil nature makes it easy to take advantage of their lack of teamwork, they're still frighteningly effective and a massive threat whenever they show up.

6 The Legion Of Doom Is The Greatest Assemblage Of Villains In The DC Universe

Death Metal Legion of Doom

The Justice League represents the DC Universe's greatest assemblage of heroes and the Legion of Doom represents its greatest villains. Consisting of the most powerful and dangerous villains in the DC Universe, the Legion of Doom has gone by many names over the years - the Injustice League, the Injustice Gang, and the Secret Society of Supervillains - but they've always been one of the greatest threats to the League.

The Legion of Doom has some of the scariest villains ever in its roster and taken together, the team is easily one of the most frightening threats the League faces. Lesser teams would fall before their might and the League only beats them by the skin of their teeth.

5 Starro Is Way More Terrifying Than A Giant Starfish Should Be

starro

Starro the Conqueror is one of the League's greatest B-list villains, regardless of how ridiculous it looks. This giant alien starfish earned its Conqueror moniker, using small versions of itself to take mental control of entire planets, turning defenders against each other. Each time it attacks Earth, the League is hard-pressed to stop it.

Starro seems like a lame Silver Age villain but there are very few enemies who can challenge the League as it can. Cruelly subjugating the minds of its victims, it takes away their free will, a terrifying fate for anyone.

4 Mageddon The Anti-Sun Almost Destroyed All Of Creation

mageddon

Mageddon the Anti-Sun was the big bad of Grant Morrison's JLA. An ancient weapon long chained in the Underverse, Mageddon broke free and destroyed the titanic heroes of Wonderworld, the beast's jailers, and made its way to Earth, taking control of Lex Luthor's Injustice Gang and using it to distract the League from its inexorable approach.

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Mageddon tested the team to its limits and beyond, almost taking control of Superman. Finally, in a last-ditch effort, the League modified the Amazonian Purple Ray and used it to transform everyone on Earth into a metahuman. Only then could the League defeat this threat, not as the Justice League of America but as the Justice League of Earth.

3 Darkseid Is One Of The Multiverse's Most Frightening Tyrants

Darkseid inside a spaceship

Darkseid is the lord of Apokolips and a master of horrors. Leader of limitless armies of Parademons and powerful evil New Gods, Darkseid is obsessed with finding the Anti-Life Equation and transforming the Multiverse into Apokolips writ large- where all are subjugated by his dark will. Few villains have challenged the League like Darkseid.

Darkseid has almost conquered the Earth many times and his threat is usually more than the Justice League can handle on their own. Darkseid's name is enough to strike fear into even the bravest soul and his terror is insurmountable. Darkseid is fear.

2 Perpetua Was The Most Powerful Threat The Justice League Ever Faced

DC Dark Nights Death Metal Perpetua Erases Earths

The Justice League has faced some grave challenges but few were as scary as Perpetua. Perpetua was one of the Hands who created the Multiverse and was imprisoned outside of the Source Wall. Upon her return, she threw her power fully behind the forces of Doom, working with the villains of the DC Universe to destroy everything.

Perpetua may not have had the success of her son the Anti-Monitor but she was still a daunting foe. Few times had the League ever faced a villain as powerful as she was and she was able to beat them at every turn before finally falling to the treachery of the Batman Who Laughs.

1 The Anti-Monitor Destroyed Countless Universes

Anti-Monitor at war Cropped - DC Comics

There are few villains in comics who have the kind of body count the Anti-Monitor has. Sure, Thanos killed half the universe but the Anti-Monitor destroyed countless entire universes in his quest to reduce everything to anti-matter and become the most powerful being ever. It took the heroes of five universes to take down the Anti-Monitor.

While his threat has lessened every time he returns, there are no villains who frighten the denizens of the DC Multiverse quite like him. If he had succeeded, everything would have faded into anti-matter and devastation.

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