The Injustice League has existed in many forms over the years. It started in Justice League International #23 and is actually the result of an ancient being: Agamemno coming to Earth to conquer the universe. He got into contact with Lex Luthor which led to them recruiting supervillains to defeat the Justice League and conquer everything. Though the plot was foiled, this event proved to be the genesis of several future versions of the Injustice League. Their roster is incredibly diverse, and has included villains from all walks of life. There are some that rely on their wit like Penguin and the Riddler, magic villains like Jinx and Felix Faust, silly villains like Prankster and Cluemaster and more. With such a wide-ranging set of characters, it’s inevitable that Warner Bros will continue to pull from their ranks.
The Worlds of DC, formerly known as the DCEU, is at a crossroads with the fans. Man of Steel is probably the most divisive with many enjoying the action and story but despising Superman’s characterization. Meanwhile, Justice League and Suicide Squad were massive commercial failures and critical failures respectively, meaning that 2011’s Wonder Woman has managed to be both critically and commercially successful. With so many divisive and downright poor films in their universe, they need to take a lot of care with who and what they introduce. The Injustice League has an incredible roster of villains. Some can be the saving grace that DC needs while others would be best avoided. With that, here are 10 Injustice League Members We Want To See On-Screen (And 10 That Could Stay Away).
20 WANT TO SEE: CATWOMAN
Yes, Catwoman has been done numerous times by numerous actors in the past, but all of them have been interesting because the concept of the character is interesting. In fiction, your wild cards are some of the most compelling characters and Catwoman is one of the most well known instances of this trope. When she’s on-screen, you don’t know if she’s going to help the heroes or follow her own selfish desires.
Catwoman can give the DCEU a character whose moral ambiguity actually makes sense within her narrative. Catwoman has always been a conflicted character who frequently goes between looking out for herself and grudgingly helping those she’s grown to care about. Cast a talented actor and audiences will fall in love with Catwoman.
19 STAY AWAY: BLACK SPIDER
Black Spider has the same vague background common among many DC comics characters. All of his incarnations are essentially highly skilled vigilantes who seek to end criminals rather than capture or rehabilitate them. Some versions of Black Spider are even skilled thieves as well. The only Black Spider with any real history is the original, Eric Needham, who decided to wage war on drugs after his own addiction to substances compelled him to end his father.
Black Spider is just too generic to work. His skillset is the same as any regular action hero's, and nothing else stands out. There’s no legacy with the Black Spider character -- the character just kind of pops up with no connection between the those who don the identity.
18 WANT TO SEE: FELIX FAUST
With 2019’s Shazam! set to delve further into magic within the Worlds of DC, the powerful sorcerer Felix Faust shouldn’t be far behind. One of the premier magic users in the DC Universe, Faust has plagued the Justice League over and over.
Magic opens so many opportunities for stories and visuals. He can summon fantastic beasts, send our heroes to alternate dimensions or timelines, and even alter reality as he sees fit. Faust has the potential to be obscenely powerful, but his biggest boon to the WoDC is the fact that magic can actually hurt Kryptonians. In Justice League, the stakes were lowered tremendously when Superman arrived and easily manhandled Steppenwolf. If Superman can’t be challenged, where’s the stakes? Faust can provide them in spades.
17 STAY AWAY: MAMMOTH
Mammoth is another villain best known for his time on the animated Teen Titans series. There, he was core H.I.V.E member and frequent foil to Cyborg. In the comics, Mammoth is Baran Flinders. He’s not much different from his animated counterpart but he has a sister, Selinda, aka Shimmer, who he is incapable of being separated from.
Mammoth’s problem is that he’s only interesting because of others. Whether it’s because of a rivalry or a dependence on his sister, Mammoth just doesn’t offer much by himself. If he did join an ensemble, he would only really be able to be the dimwitted muscle of whatever group he joins. That’s a role that’s become generic.
16 WANT TO SEE: CHESHIRE
Cheshire is yet another character whose specific situation in the comics lends itself well to further drama in a comic book movie. Cheshire, or Jade Nguyen, had a difficult childhood which culminated in her being sold to bad people. After taking out her master, she began acquiring skills from freedom fighters and assassins and eventually forged herself into one of the world’s foremost assassins, capable of protecting herself.
While her backstory is tragic, the main point of interest for a movie would likely be her relationship with Roy Harper. On an undercover mission, Jade and Roy fell in love and had a child together. Seeing the two face off against one another on their respective teams would be enthralling, especially with a baby in the mix.
15 STAY AWAY: GIGANTA
Giganta is one of Wonder Woman’s most well known villains, likely because of Hanna Barbera’s Super Friends cartoon that featured Giganta as a member of the Legion of Doom. Giganta, or Dr. Doris Zeul, is a gifted scientist tried to use Wonder Woman and a consciousness-swapping device to save herself from a fatal disease. However, when the plan doesn’t work, she instead swaps bodies with a circus strongwoman with size-changing abilities.
We’ve seen this powerset before with Ant-Man in the MCU. Giganta may be a common Wonder Woman villain, but there are more unique combatants in her rogues gallery who can make for a more unique fight than battling a giant woman.
14 WANT TO SEE: DOCTOR ALCHEMY
Doctor Alchemy is one of the best non-speedster Flash villains. He has the ability to transmute matter which stems from his possession of the Philosopher’s Stone. There have been numerous versions of Doctor Alchemy, but the most well known is the first, Albert Desmond, a genius chemist who suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder.
The ability to transmute matter is actually fairly unique, even in today’s age of superheroes. It’s visually interesting and different enough to put heroes in situations and traps that audiences haven’t seen before. Plus, the Doctor Alchemy that we got in The Flash was absolutely nothing like his character in the comics, so fans are owed a more comic-book accurate version of the character.
13 STAY AWAY: SHRAPNEL
A living collection of organic shrapnel really should be more interesting. Shrapnel, also known as Mark Scheffer, was a Doom Patrol villain introduced in 1988 who has battled the team more than once.
Shrapnel is just another generic big guy without a personality. Not much is known about his past except for the fact that he used to have a family. Other than that, he is just a blank slate that’s a vehicle for some interesting fights against the Doom Patrol. That isn’t needed in the Worlds of DC. They have plenty of cool-looking bad guys, but they need ones that are actually dramatically and/or thematically interesting to avoid a Doomsday or Steppenwolf problem.
12 WANT TO SEE: GORILLA GRODD
While it’s understandable as to why Grodd hasn’t been done on the movies yet, it’s still odd that he made his live-action debut on the small screen; though he’s been handled well. Grodd is a mutated gorilla with super intelligence, telepathy and telekinesis powers.
Grodd has been used extensively on television to great effect. He featured heavily in the Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited series. He was an extremely prominent villain in both series, capable of assembling and mobilizing several villains. While his mental powers are great, the real threat comes from his intelligence and cunning which he’s used to manipulate others many times. On top of this, the bonkers concept of super intelligent Gorillas living in a Gorilla city shouldn’t be passed up.
11 STAY AWAY: CLUEMASTER
Arthur Brown was a failed game show host who decided to become a criminal after flaming out in his field. However, his flair for showmanship compelled him to leave clues at the scene of his crimes.
Cluemaster isn’t a character you want in your franchise, at least right now. He’s a villain who uses his intellect to commit crimes and leave clues at the scene of the crime. Sound familiar? Granted he did stop leaving clues eventually, but the name is all one needs to draw comparisons to the much more popular and maniacal Riddler. He just sounds like a knockoff of the Riddler and, no matter how unfortunate, that’s how most people who don’t read comics will look at Brown.
10 WANT TO SEE: JINX
Most people most likely have only seen Jinx as a core member of HIVE in the Teen Titans series. There she seemed to manipulate some sort of chaos magic. However, in the comics, she is much more. Jinx is an elemental sorceress with the ability to manipulate the elements and various magical energies. However, in order for her powers to work, she must have her bare feet in contact with the ground. Besides that caveat, though, Jinx is very powerful.
The “feet in contact with the ground” rule adds an interesting dynamic to Jinx’s magic that can make for either a compelling weakness if she’s a protagonist or a believable way to defeat her if she’s an antagonist.
9 STAY AWAY: TWO-FACE
We’re pretty sure that everyone has at least heard of Two-Face considering he’s had a prominent role in two different Batman franchises. Harvey Dent started off as Gotham’s District Attorney and Batman’s ally until a mobster scarred half of his face and drove him to a psychotic break.
Two-Face has been well trodden already. With Tommy Lee Jones (formerly Billy D. Williams) and Aaron Eckhart already portraying the scarred District Attorney. On top of that, Two-Face doesn’t exactly offer a super creative powerset or give us anything we haven’t seen yet. Dent can be an integral part of the Gotham City in the Worlds of DC, but there are many other characters who have less exposure that can offer as much if not more.
8 WANT TO SEE: KILLER FROST
Though Caitlin Snow may be the most well known version of Killer Frost now since she’s on The Flash, but there are others who took on the name well before she ever did. The most heavily used is Louise Lincoln, the second Killer Frost. After the demise of her friend and colleague, Crystal Snow, aka the first Killer Frost, Lincoln repeated the experiment that gave Snow her powers and immediately picked up where Snow’s villainy left off.
Killer Frost’s powers are interesting because they aren’t as simple as Ice generation -- Frost is a heat vampire. She needs to absorb heat in order to survive and fuel her powers. This primal instinct makes it easy to relate to her villainous motivations.
7 STAY AWAY: T.O MORROW
Thomas O Morrow is a genius inventor who was responsible for the creation of the “Red” siblings: Red Tornado, Red Inferno, Red Torpedo, Red Volcano. Morrow is important in the DC universe for sure. The Red Tornado alone was a vital part of the Justice League, not even mentioning his other “siblings”.
But Morrow, himself, is just a typical criminal scientist. Though he’s taken the term “futurist” to new levels, Morrow really only invents machines and tries to commit crimes. If you’re looking for a mad scientist, you’d have better luck with Anthony Ivo who is long-lived, has a second layer of skin that is highly impenetrable, and invented Amazo.
6 WANT TO SEE: SCARECROW
Johnathan Crane was a psychologist obsessed with fear when he was fired from his teaching job and decided to pursue a life of crime. From there, he went on to weaponize a hallucinogenic “fear toxin” and become one of Batman’s most enduring villains.
Scarecrow offers the chance to literally explore the fears of any characters he encounters. His fear toxin is an easily employed mechanism that can cripple the strongest foes. Also, the toxin will allow filmmakers to make use of some very trippy dream sequences in a way that makes narrative sense. In the Batman: Arkham series, Scarecrow’s fear toxin gave us some extremely fun dream sequences levels to play in. It wouldn’t be hard to translate that to the movie screen.
5 STAY AWAY: PRANKSTER
Oswald Hubert Loomis, or Prankster is primarily a Superman villain who uses his wit to come up with pranks that eventually develop into criminal schemes. There’s not much to say here. Prankster uses practical jokes to commit crimes. His first foray into crime was to pretend to rob a bank and then give the tellers money instead only to actually rob a bank later.
A character like the Prankster needs a deft hand to keep him from being annoying or too foolish. With the Worlds of DC at a turning point, they need unique characters that will easily appeal to audiences. Prankster isn’t that character.
4 WANT TO SEE: RAG DOLL
Peter Merkel has always been a master contortionist. But when he lost his job at the carnival, he decided to sustain himself by turning to a life of crime. Over time, he became a famous thief known as “Rag Doll”.
Rag Doll has a very unique set of skills and when we say that, we actually mean it. Rag Doll is triple-jointed, granting him unparalleled skills as a contortionist. On top of that, his body is absorbent enough to withstand concussive forces that would disable another human, and his costume is haunting. Used correctly, he could be a horror villain of sorts. At the very least, he’d be a talented and unique thief to include.
3 STAY AWAY: RIDDLER
Edward Nygma is one of the most popular Batman villains in history and one of the smartest villains in Batman’s rogues gallery, if not the smartest. He grew up as a disturbed but very intelligent young man with a major superiority complex. Riddler has a compulsion to prove his intellectual superiority at all times which is why he leaves riddles at each of his crimes.
The only reason that Riddler shouldn’t be added to the Worlds of DC is because of Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of Lex Luthor. His jittery performance was more reminiscent of the Riddler than Lex Luthor and the Worlds of DC don’t need two characters that similar in the same universe.
2 WANT TO SEE: FATALITY
Sinestro has had a monopoly on the Green Lantern villain mantle for a long time. It’s time for something different. Your first idea to switch up the villain might be Atrocitus or Larfleeze, but we think that the introduction of Fatality would actually be unexpected and go very well.
As the oldest daughter of planet Xanshi’s ruling family, Yrra Cynril was sent off-world to become the pinnacle of her species. One day, Xanshi was accidentally destroyed by John Stewart, leaving Yrra as Xanshi’s only survivor. She continued training until she became Fatality, possibly the best warrior in the universe and swore vengeance on the Green Lantern Corps. She would be so compelling because she has a truly relatable reason for wanting vengeance and offers variety.
1 STAY AWAY: SINESTRO
It’s probably best to avoid anything that would remind us about 2011’s Green Lantern. Thaal Sinestro, unfortunately, is one such thing. Sinestro is a former Green Lantern who was discharged from the Corps for his totalitarian rule over his sector. He then went on to receive a Yellow Power Ring and become the Green Lantern Corps’ biggest threat.
Sinestro is always the first villain that anyone thinks of when talking about Green Lantern. Sinestro is a good character and a powerful villain, but the Green Lantern brand needs a different approach to renew audience interest. Sinestro may not have been the villain of Green Lantern, but he was still heavily involved in the story and we all knew where that post credits scene was leading.