Pretty much since video games have been a thing, there have been adaptations of comic books and superhero games people can play. Unfortunately, many of them haven't been the best games in the world, but that hasn't stopped developers from continuing to try. This has resulted in hundreds of decent games with only a few dozen really considered to be truly noteworthy. Of those, the fights within have become a thing of legend. When you consider the fact that superheroes tend to have dangerous and difficult enemies to fight, it makes sense that defeating them in a video game might be tough for a player. Because these enemies can be tough, their video game adaptations are rarely easy.

The video games featuring superheroes and their various rogues that are fun to play feature many of these types of battles. Across all video games, many of the boss fights featured here are easily some of the most difficult to beat. To determine which was the hardest of them all, we looked across more than 30 years of video games on various platforms and consoles to find the very toughest. While some may have been easier for certain players while others might have been more challenging, the ones listed here are generally considered by most to be the absolute trickiest to defeat. Have you taken on these enemies over the years? Sound off in the comments and let us know who you thought was the hardest to beat and let us know of any we might have missed in this list of the 25 hardest superhero video game bosses, officially ranked!

25 POISON IVY - BATMAN ARKHAM ASYLUM

When the game began, Batman found Poison Ivy locked in her cell. As he made his way through the compound, he found that a derivative of her plants were used to create the dangerous version of the Titan Formula. She was released later by Harley Quinn and worked with the Bat to stop the assault on her plants.

Their brief alliance was thwarted in the final boss battle when Ivy became overpowered thanks to her mutant plants. She began controlling the guards and engaged in a long battle with the Bat. Eventually, she was taken back to her cell, but only after the player defeats her.

24 DOCTOR OCTOPUS - SPIDER-MAN 2

The Spider-Man 2 video game closely follows the film and culminates in a boss battle between the titular hero and Doctor Octopus. The battle takes place in a large arena, allowing the player to swing around avoiding Doc Oc's many blows.

Thanks to his metal arms, he presents a challenge to any player who hasn't mastered dodging. Each time the player is hit, a great deal of damage is taken and the battle takes anywhere from five to 10 minutes depending on the player's skill. The fight is difficult, but it also closes out the story just like it does in the film making it entertaining and memorable.

23 KILLER CROC - BATMAN ARKHAM ASYLUM

Like most of the bosses in Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman makes contact with the character numerous times throughout the game. He ends up entering Croc's lair in the sewers of Arkham looking for an antidote to the Venom. The boss fight that ensues requires the player to skillfully hit Croc in specific points.

The fight is less of a battle and more of a game of hide and seek. It's not the best confrontation in the game, though, seeing as it's an avoidance level. In order to defeat him, you have to throw a Batarang at his shock collar whenever he surfaces. It's a long mission/boss fight and difficult only due to it being time-consuming.

22 RED SKULL/MECH SKULL - CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE AVENGERS

The Red Skull was the final boss in the 1991 arcade game Captain America and the Avengers. When players approach the Red Skull, he is wearing a suit and tie looking rather dapper. A few well placed hits knocks him out rather easily, but he isn't down for the count.

He is quickly replaced by a giant Mecha Red Skull while the real villain stands to the back in a glass dome laughing. Players must then beat Mecha Red Skull who presents a much more difficult challenge. Defeating him results in his body crashing down on the real Red Skull, but it turns out he escaped at the last moment.

21 RA'S AL GHUL - BATMAN ARKHAM CITY

Ra's al Ghul is one of Batman's oldest and deadliest villains so it should come as no surprise he battled the Dark Knight in Batman Arkham City. Batman confronted the Head of the Demon and undertook the Trail of the Demon while pretending he wanted to succeed Ra's so he could get close to him.

Batman is thrust into a world of illusion for the battle requiring the player to fight multiple enemies while working their way to Ra's through various cutscenes. Ultimately, Ra's threatens his daughter to entice Batman into killing him and taking his role as the leader of the League of Assassins.

20 JUGGERNAUT - LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES

One of the reasons Juggernaut is such a difficult boss in LEGO: Marvel Super Heroes is due to the fact that the fight against him comes in several phases. It is necessary to choose the right character to battle him during each phase. In the first, the player needs to control Jean Grey so she can return hurled crates via telekinesis.

In the second phase, players will need to switch over to Iceman and then back to Jean Grey to make their way through the battle. Ultimately, it becomes necessary to switch again to Beast, but the entire fight requires fast-switching to combat different play styles to beat the big guy.

19 GALACTUS - LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES

Battling Galactus: the World Devourer in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes is no easy task. Like most battles in the game series, it is necessary to switch from one character to the other to accomplish various tasks and they aren't easy during this fight.

The player must face a series of puzzles requiring changing from the Thing to Spider-Man to Mystique to Venom to Magneto to Storm and finally to Cyclops to finalize the mission and defeat the boss. It's difficult and challenging, but one of the more entertaining boss fights in the game.

18 SHREDDER - TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES IV: TURTLES IN TIME

The villainous Shredder is easily the hardest boss to beat in 1991's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. When you finally make your way to fight him, he has a number of special abilities that make it difficult to even land a blow.

Shredder glows with fire, can block nearly any attack, phase-shift/warps across the screen, can throw green fireballs or even light up the floor with fire along the player's path. Beating him requires effective dodging and avoidance while getting in blows. It's time-consuming and difficult, especially if there is only one player left to fight him.

17 CLAYFACE - BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY

Just when you think you've finally confronted the Joker only to see him skewered by Talia, he goes and reveals himself to be a fake. The real Joker then reveals himself and shoots Talia in the back before the "dead" Joker on the floor turns out to be Clayface and the battle ensues.

Fighting Clayface requires a lot of dodging thanks to his ability to fire off his bits in all directions. Clayface continues to attack relentlessly as the player/Dark Knight throws "Freeze Blasts: at him. It take a lot of time and skill to defeat him, but he is also one of the better bosses in the game thanks to the cinematic reveal.

16 SENTINEL MARK I - X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE

The Sentinel Mark I represents a significant challenge to the player when Logan comes face-to-face with it. The player has to try and avoid the giant robot for as long as possible while simultaneously battling human enemies on the ground.

Slashing the Sentinel doesn't do much damage given its huge size, so Wolverine has to trick it into slamming its foot on specific areas to weaken it. He can then slash at specific points to do damage but it doesn't do much and it takes numerous attempts to win the battle. Midway through the fight, the Sentinel blasts off with Logan clutching on board. He then causes its jets to fail and fall back to Earth.

15 CARNAGE - SPIDER-MAN AND VENOM: MAXIMUM CARNAGE

Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage released for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo/Sega Genesis back in 1994. Like many comic book-inspired games from the era, it wasn't positively received and suffered from some problems, though it is still remembered fondly as one of the greatest of all time by some. Ultimately, the game was a simple-enough side-scrolling beat 'em up game pitting Spider-Man and others against Carnage and his gang.

The game was meant to follow the storyline featured in the comics and it did so fairly well. The final boss battle between Spider-Man/Venom and Carnage is tough thanks to Carnage's ability to extend his weapon/arms across the screen. It's a button-mashing battle that requires skillful dodging and expertly placed blows.

14 ABOMINATION - LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES

Over the years, the Incredible Hulk has acquires some powerful villains. One of his oldest and most deadly is Abomination and you get to fight him in LEGO: Marvel Super Heroes. Granted, because the game's mechanics require you to switch from one character to the other, you don't fight him entirely as the Hulk.

To battle Abomination, the player needs to cycle through at least two characters: Hulk and Wolverine. When beginning the fight, each character is used to accomplish the puzzles to get to fight Abomination. Switch from Wolverine to Hulk and back again to finally defeat Abomination as the Hulk in this classic battle.

13 MORTUS - COMIX ZONE

Comix Zone was an innovative action game released in 1995 set in a fictional world split into panels of a comic book. The player went from page to page uncovering secrets and battling enemies while revealing dialogue through speech bubbles. The game was difficult, but generally considered fun by most players.

The final boss in the game, Mortus finds a way out of the page and into the real world, which enables him to draw an infinite number of enemies for the player to face. Eventually, he returns and the player battles it out with the villain, but it is far from an easy fight.

12 ONSLAUGHT - MARVEL VS. CAPCOM

Onslaught is considered to be one of the toughest bosses to appear in any fighting game, and as such is one tricky opponent in the Marvel vs. Capcom series. This is thanks mostly to his attacks, which deal a ridiculous amount of damage. Not only do his hits knock the player down, many are almost entirely unavoidable.

When you first face him, he maintains a form similar to that of Juggernaut's in the game... at least in size... and has special armor that makes him difficult to hit. His second form places him in the background, able to fly around the stage making him even harder to hit.

11 THANOS - MARVEL SUPER HEROES: WAR OF THE GEMS

Unsurprisingly, the final boss in Marvel Super Heroes:  War of the Gems is none other than Thanos (followed by a quick confrontation with Nebula). Once the player puts Nebula down, Thanos pops up on the screen threatening to defeat the player and combine all of the gems into his Infinity Gauntlet.

When the fight begins, Thanos appears in a beam of light as the player's health returns to full. Thanos' attacks come from all over the screen and are difficult to dodge... also, he has double health, making him even harder to put down. After considerable skill dodging his attacks, he can be defeated and the game is won.

10 PRIMAGEN - TUROK 2: SEEDS OF EVIL

When Valiant returned Turok to comics in 1992, the character quickly popped up in video games and other media. An unconventional superhero to say the least, Turok specializes in hunting dinosaurs with his bow and arrow (and later various modern weaponry).

The final boss in 1998's Turok 2: Seeds of Evil doesn't pit the titular hero against a man-eating T-Rex like you might imagine, but rather a telepathic alien. The Primagen is infamously difficult to defeat thanks to his preference for tossing mechs and nukes at you. The battle takes place on an arena so the player has to maintain their footing while dodging his constant attacks.

9 JOKER - BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM

Batman finally comes face-to-face with Joker at the end of the game and gets himself injected with some Venom in a cutscene where he protects Gordon from the same fate. Joker antagonizes Batman as he fights off the change and things come to a head when Joker injects himself with the Venom, growing into a massive monster the player must then battle.

The fight against the monstrous Joker requires a great deal of dodging and maneuverability thanks to the additional villains who constantly attack. It's a fun and challenging way to close out the game and the battle takes all the skills players acquired playing up to that point.

8 MAGNETO - LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES

Magneto is a character who is larger than life, which is how he likes to battle when the boss fight on Asteroid M takes place in LEGO: Marvel Super Heroes. Spider-Man, Thor and Iron-Man take on the Master of Magnetism as he enshrouds himself with metallic blocks.

The player must then engage in fighting his minions while dodging his attacks and taking on the mutant villain via various character switches and puzzles. It's tough thanks to Magneto's use of various crafted weapons and his constant attacks, as well as his many minions who must be defeated.

7 DEATHSTROKE - BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT

Deathstroke is one of Batman's deadliest villains so you would imagine a battle between him and the Dark Knight would be epic. Unfortunately, the boss fight in Batman: Arkham Knight between the two tends to be more frustrating than it is challenging.

Instead of going toe-to-toe against the assassin, Batman has to fight against his tanks via the Batmobile. This requires driving around in circles until you finally have the chance to take out Deathstroke's tank. It would have been far more entertaining to clash mano-a-mano, but someone thought a boss fight in a Batman title needed tanks.

6 APOCALYPSE - X-MEN LEGENDS II: RISE OF APOCALYPSE

X-Men Legends 2 - Rise of Apocalypse's final boss fight is, of course, against Apocalypse and he isn't just someone you can walk through. The player enters his lair and engages the ancient Mutant, who throws attacks of all kinds at the player.

In order to defeat him, it's best to swap characters and fight him on multiple fronts. He can easily engage against every one of the player's four characters at once so it's important to diversify your attacks. After he is "beaten," he increases in size and comes at you even harder. The full engagement can last well over 10 minutes.