They always say that a hero is as good as his or her villains. There holds much truth to that sentiment. We read stories and comics to see heroes triumph or fail in the conflict that they’re forced to take a part of. There can be no conflict without an antagonistic force either challenging our hero for something they want or by threatening something our heroes want to protect. This sentiment results in the creation of a plethora of villains, some more powerful and popular than others. This collection of villains that come into conflict with one specific hero more than others is referred to as a rogues gallery.

There are some truly classic rogues galleries out there from Spider-Man’s animal themed collection to Batman’s psychological antagonists. All of these rogues galleries are indicative of the kind of hero they face up against and are generally either related to them somehow, a perfect foil, or have a similar powerset to them. As a result, the villains that make up these rogues galleries are usually quite different from the villains in another one. But which of these rogues galleries are actually the most powerful. To answer that question, here are 15 Superhero Rogues Galleries Ranked From Weakest To Most Powerful.

15 BATMAN

While Batman definitely possesses the most iconic and well fleshed out rogues gallery (though a case can be made for Spider-Man’s), the fact of the matter is that they’re not all that powerful. They’re perfect foils for Batman as they put him in situations where they truly test his morality and force him into making impossible choices. But they don’t generally threaten anything more than Gotham City with their crimes.

However, that doesn’t mean these rogues aren’t dangerous. Poison Ivy has the potential to cause mass destruction with her dominion over plant life. Ra’s al Ghul is a centuries-old figure with a sect of highly trained assassins and unlimited resources behind him. And while Joker may not generally threaten the world with his antics, he did manage to drive Superman insane during the Injustice comic book and laughed as the big blue boyscout punched a hole in his chest.

14 CAPTAIN AMERICA

Captain America’s rogues gallery is most likely the least well known on this list with the exception of Aquaman's. People generally think of Cap as a team player, being the leader of the Avengers and working alongside other early superheroes like Namor and the Human Torch in the Invaders. However, he does have numerous enemies who have sworn to take him down and they’re dangerous for the same reason that Cap is: they’re crafty and they never give up.

Baron Zemo has fighting skills comparable to Captain America and has been responsible for creating numerous iterations of the Masters of Evil. His machinations have almost taken down the Avengers multiple times. The Winter Soldier and Crossbones have also been deadly threats but the most dangerous villain Cap faces is the Red Skull, whose incredible tactical mind has almost taken over the world numerous times.

13 AQUAMAN

Aquaman is stronger than you think. There, we said it. Justice League did a good job showing that Aquaman can be useful outside of water with Jason Momoa serving as a tank of sorts for the League before Superman came into the picture. This means that his villains have to pose a challenge to Aquaman and, on that front, they deliver.

Black Manta, his most famous adversary, is a master assassin with technology capable of taking on superhumans and an army of mercenaries at his disposal. He’s devious, cunning and is one of the most dangerous assassins in the world. Meanwhile Ocean Master and Nereus are Atlanteans with similar metahuman abilities to Aquaman. Charybdis, the man who took Aquaman’s hand, is able to absorb a wide array of powers from anyone and has actually defeated Aquaman before.

12 SPIDER-MAN

Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has some of the most recognizable villains around from the eight-legged Dr. Octopus to the cackling Green Goblin. He has taken on a wide array of villains, some more dangerous than others, and still manages to keep his good wit about him despite how devious his rogues gallery truly is.

Doctor Octopus is a genius whose ingenuity and ruthless nature allows him to create technology powerful enough to defeat anybody. The Venom symbiote has the potential to overcome the entire world like in 1995’s "Planet of the Symbiotes". The biggest threat, though, is Norman Osborn whose business acumen combined with his genius intellect allows him to serve as a Lex Luthor-like figure. He manipulated himself into the director of S.H.I.E.L.D position, started his own Dark Avengers, and even launched a nearly successful invasion of Asgard.

11 THE FLASH

The Rogues - Baddest Supervillain Teams

The Flash may have the wackiest rogues gallery of them all. There’s people who throw boomerangs, plays with toys, and ice skate. But while the Rogues are truly an odd bunch, when they combine their powers, they’re truly dangerous. Together, they killed Bart Allen on his first real outing as The Flash and then, once they found out that they were tricked into doing so, they killed Inertia, another speedster. Speedsters are powerful characters who are really tough to kill and the Rogues did it twice in a row.

However, The Flash’s real opposition comes in the form of other, evil speedsters. The Reverse-Flash is a genius who is just as fast as he is. Zoom can alter time relative to himself, making him as fast as he needs to be. The Black Flash is death. Speedsters are innately powerful and so is the Flash’s rogues gallery.

10 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

For a collection of odd misfits from every corner of the universe, the Guardians of the Galaxy have some powerful villains. As a rule of thumb, cosmic villains tend to be more powerful than earth-based villains and that’s the entirety of the Guardians’ rogues gallery. Throughout their run, they’ve battled the Supreme Accuser of the Kree empire, Ronan; the future man made of energy, Michael Korvac; the Technarchy, Magus, and the Collector, an Elder of the Universe.

Though the Guardians of the Galaxy have battled these individual foes, they’re most well known for going against powerful and bloodthirsty alien races such as the Kree, Skrulls, the Badoon, and the Chitauri. They’ve even managed to run afoul of Thanos on more than one occasion and were a big part of battling Annihilus during his Annihilation Wave.

9 TEEN TITANS

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You may not think that the rogues gallery of a bunch of teenage heroes would be that powerful, but the Teen Titans have shown time and time again that they can punch above their weight. While the Titans have a wide array of villains they face down from Psimon to H.I.V.E,their most iconic rogues are Deathstroke and Trigon.

Deathstroke is an extremely formidable threat with one of the best tactical minds on the planet. He was able to defeat an iteration of the Justice League by himself using primarily his tactics. However, Deathstroke still pales in comparison to the threat of Trigon. He is an interdimensional being of vast power who has proven to be undefeatable at times. Yet the Titans always seem to stave off his incursions.

8 HULK

If “Hulk is the strongest there is”, then what does that say about his opponents? People read his comic books to watch the jade giant do battle with beings just as muscular and powerful as he is. To that end, he’s battled hulking foes such as the Abomination, Juggernaut, and Absorbing Man. Another prevalent theme in his comics is gamma radiation and that has created foes like the Leader and Red Hulk.

Abomination can trade blows with the Hulk and actually beat him to death in their first encounter. Juggernaut’s connection to Cyttorak gives him the potential to be one of the strongest people on in existence. Absorbing Man has been able to absorb Uru from Thor’s hammer and the essence of Asgard. The Leader’s intelligence makes him capable of almost anything while Ross is just as powerful as the Hulk with a strategic mind.

7 X-MEN

The X-Men have faced their fair share of Omega Level mutants over the course of their existence. Their most persistent foe is Magneto whose absolute command over metals in a world filled with the material makes him an incredibly powerful foe who won’t go down without extreme measures. And Magneto is rarely by himself. The Brotherhood of Mutants has some powerful members as well from the immovable Blob to the hotheaded Pyro.

Though Magneto is their most persistent villain, he’s definitely not their most powerful. Apocalypse, the first mutant ever, has proven powerful enough to take over the entire world with his vast array of mutant powers. In addition, Mister Sinister’s intelligence and virtual immortality makes him a worldwide threat. And even greater than both of them is the Phoenix Force, an extradimensional energy powerful enough to corrupt individuals and threaten the universe.

6 GREEN LANTERN

The Green Lantern Ring is considered one of the most powerful weapons in existence. With a rogues gallery made up of Lantern Ring wielders from various other colors of the emotional spectrum, it makes sense that it’s ranked high on this list. Sinestro’s Yellow Lantern Corps is a powerful intergalactic organization. Atrocitus and the Red Lanterns’ unstoppable rage make them very difficult to stop while Larfleeze of the Orange Lantern Corps has an unquenchable avarice that compels him to fight to take everything.

Besides all of the lantern rings, the various iterations of the Green Lantern have also had to take on Parallax, a powerful parasitic being that is the physical embodiment of fear. Parallax is capable to taking down heavy hitters like Superman and Wonder Woman and generally requires the entirety of the Green Lantern Corps to stand up to it.

5 WONDER WOMAN

You ever wondered what it would be like to do battle with the pantheon of Greek Gods? Well Kratos from God of War and Wonder Woman can give you extensive knowledge on the subject. Many of Wonder Woman’s enemies are actually powerful beings from Greek legend such as Circe. However, she also has done battle with the actual Greek gods on more than one occasion.

Circe is known as a goddess-level sorceress with incredible reality-altering magic. She’s able to turn men to animals, project her energy and voice over long distances, and create protective force fields. Meanwhile, Cheetah possesses the strength, speed, and agility of the Cheetah god. And these two aren’t even her most powerful foes. The foe most associated with Wonder Woman is Ares, the god of war. But she has also battled Hades, the god of the underworld. Both are extremely powerful beings capable of worldwide destruction.

4 THOR

Thor is a god and, as such, battles godly threats. His heritage as an Asgardian and possession of a weapon of the caliber of Mjolnir made him one of the most powerful heroes in existence. And even then, his power was still dwarfed by some of his enemies.

Surtur has dominion over his fiery realm of Muspelheim and is an all powerful entity that actually succeeded in destroying Asgard. The Midgard Serpent was big enough to literally wrap itself around Earth twice. Hela is the goddess of the Niflheim, or Hel. Her touch of death is an instant kill move and her tremendous strength and magical prowess makes her a powerhouse in a fight. Gorr literally kills gods.

3 FANTASTIC FOUR

The main reason that the Fantastic Four are at number three is that their main villain may be the most dangerous villain in comics. Yes they face a number of powerful opponents from the Super Skrull to Annihilus, but none of them have caused the damage that Victor von Doom has. Doctor Doom is a universal threat due to his sheer force of will. He was able to craft a plan to battle and steal the power of the Beyonders, a race of beings that are more powerful than anything ever faced before, including Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet.

With this power, he merged numerous realities into one and ruled over this Battleworld as God-King Doom, a being of ultimate power. Beyond that, they're enemies of Galactus, the Skrull, the Mole Man, and more. But Dr. Doom and Galactus are enough to put them near the top of this list.

2 DOCTOR STRANGE

Doctor Strange’s rogues gallery isn’t one that many people generally recall, but when you take a closer look, you can see why it’s ranked so high. Considering the power level of a peak Doctor Strange is incredible, it only makes sense that his enemies are even more powerful. He’s the Sorcerer Supreme and commands tremendous magical power that he uses to protect earth from all manner of extradimensional foes. He even went along with Molecule Man and Doctor Doom to battle the Beyonders, who had nearly limitless power.

His main foes Dormammu and Nightmare dwell over their own realms and are essentially unbeatable while they’re in their respective realms. Meanwhile threats like the Shuma-Gorath require numerous heroes to band together to even keep it busy. And Baron Mordo, his arch enemy, is almost as powerful and even more crafty than Strange is.

1 SUPERMAN

You should have seen this one coming. As the most overpowered superhero, it’s only fitting that he has the most overpowered rogues gallery. It’s surprisingly diverse as well. If you want strength, you got Mongul, Zod, and Darkseid. If you want intelligence you got Brainiac and Lex Luthor. There are aliens, robots, alternate versions of himself, and all manner of world-ending threats that the Man of Steel has to take on on a daily basis.

Lex Luthor’s intelligence and insatiable urge to be superior makes him one of the most dangerous people in the universe. He's even ascended to near godhood once by merging with the physical embodiment of the Phantom Zone. Meanwhile Mongul and his Warworld are a universal threat. Superboy-Prime required TWO Supermen to defeat him. Brainiac is powerful to go along with his unfathomable intellect. Finally Darkseid is a threat the whole League sometimes can't defeat.