Batman: The Animated Series showed viewers, young and old, that Batman could be taken seriously and still entertain under the darkness of film noir and procedural crime drama. With the eerie and triumphant musical score from Danny Elfman, the creative direction of animator Bruce Timm and writers Paul Dini, Mitch Brian, and Alan Burnett, and the voiceover talents of Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as Joker, Warner Bros. gave rise to the DC Animated Universe and graced the World’s Greatest Detective with one of the greatest animated series of all time.

The show was highbrow for a children’s cartoon, remarkable for its gothic Art Deco style and comic book adaptations. Among its mature themes, child-like charm still exists through the colorful, and not-so-colorful, villains of Gotham City. The Caped Crusader has some of the most famous baddies, more than a hero could ask for, but the series had its fair share of unusual suspects who were overlooked.

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11 Killer Croc

Waylon Jones, the mutated reptilian man, is not the first Batman villain you think of. His first appearance is menacing albeit underwhelming once you get pass the crocodile part. He was portrayed as a dumb animal and given a shoehorned origin story: a suffering carnival freak but a popular professional wrestler who later turned to crime. While he may be the poor man’s version of Florida Man, Killer Croc is still one of Batman’s original supervillains.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

10 The Ventriloquist and Scarface

     Warner Bros. Television

If Jim Henson and The Muppets were criminals, you get Arnold Wesker. The former puppeteer purloins due to his schizophrenia and Scarface, his obstinate alter ego. The out-of-body duo were nothing short of strange and their attention to details made them a true threat.

9 Maxie Zeus

Money can make you do crazy things, but in the case of ex-CEO Maximilian Zeus, money made him into a villain. After suffering a mental breakdown from financial ruin, Maxie Zeus believes he is the Greek god of all gods, Zeus. The overgrown fraternity brother has an ego the size of Mount Olympus. He sees and speaks in mythological terms and uses a lighting bolt-shaped metal rod to electrocute his enemies. Seeing Batman dispatch Maxie Zeus was like catching lightning in a bottle.

8 Vertigo

A European terrorist who uses an eye patch that cascades vertigo-inducing hallucinations seems far-fetched. Vertigo is basically Mad Hatter, only more scientific. He is a Green Arrow villain first, but it would be impressive to see him announce his presence in crafty ways.

7 Lock-Up

The walking jail cell, Lyle Bolton, was a security guard at Arkham Asylum. His treatment of inmates went above the law, leading to his termination. He blames the media and law’s slap-on-the-wrist approach to justice and decides to bring villains down on his terms. Lock-Up was an original character made for the series and his anti-hero ways were a welcomed addition.

6 Red Claw

Another original character for the show, Red Claw is an international terrorist leader of the crime syndicate that bears the same name. Her identity is unknown along with the organization’s intents and purposes. She did threaten Gotham once with a deadly plague virus. Suffice to say, Red Claw is not to be trifled with.

5 Hugo Strange

Before his starring role in the Batman: Arkham City video game, Hugo Strange was more than the archetype of bald-and-goatee evil. He used his psychiatric prowess and mind reading technology to deduce the secret identity of Batman. It was a clever plot device that could have been explored further, forcing Bruce Wayne and Batman to commit crimes on his behalf. Instead, the secret was too good to be true, and the doctor’s obsessive fanaticism brought about his downfall.

4 Clock King

The only man who can do the crime and do the time, Tempus Fugit is the most punctual of all the villains. He is a reinvented version of the same villain from the 1960s Batman show and named after the Latin phrase, “tempus fugit,” meaning, “time flies.” Anyone that gets in the way of his schedule will run out of time.

3 Lloyd Ventrix

Better known as “Mojo,” Lloyd Ventrix was a robber with a restraining order from his wife, Helen. He eventually stole technology for a cloak of invisibility to steal things undetected, but to the detriment of his health as its material emits a toxin. Similar to how Mr. Freeze commits crimes to find a cure for his terminally ill wife under cryogenics, Ventrix just wants to see his daughter, Kimberly. She treats Mojo like an imaginary friend until he kidnaps her, when Helen plans to leave Gotham. To the detriment of his family, the family man was a worthy criminal.

2 Baby Doll

Mary Dahl was a child actor who played Baby Doll on the Love That Baby TV sitcom. Her physical condition gives her the appearance of a child, leaving her literally and mentally trapped in her past. She kidnaps members of the old show to relive her popular run on television in response to her downtrodden acting career and personal life. In the style of The Lady of Shanghai, her identity and humanity were equally manipulated and misplaced. Baby Doll is possibly the most tragic, if not the most dangerous, villain in the series.

1 Sewer King

Charity begins at home and criminality begins in a sewer. The Sewer King makes the Ratcatcher look tame, as he commands his army of orphans he calls the Underdwellers. Taking inspiration from Charles Dickens’ racketeering Fagin, and his child thieves in Oliver Twist, Sewer King starts at the cradle when it comes to crime. Batman has a soft spot for orphans and Sewer King naturally pokes and prods until it is sore. For reasons unknown, society undervalued him, but not anymore!