The villains in DC can be particularly brutal, a fact that is repeatedly emphasized by their use of excessive and cruel force. One of the most pronounced features of DC’s comic book movies is the fact that they tend to lean into the darker side of their characters.

That isn’t to say that other comic book-inspired stories don’t get dark, but it’s become one of the defining features of universes like the DCEU, and it looks to continue this trend in the DCU. But even in a universe defined by its tendency to get dark, there are times when the villains went above and beyond.

This showcases their unrelenting evil, and their willingness to break the rules, in a way that provides a sharp contrast to heroes like Superman, who are typically beacons of hope. And ultimately, it makes for a more dynamic and intriguing universe of stories.

8

Joker’s Pencil Trick

Heath Ledger’s performance as Joker was a revelation for the role. After previous versions leaned into a more comical and quirky side of the Clown King of Gotham, Ledger’s take on the Joker was brutal and unhinged.

This is seen from the earliest scenes featuring the character, when he robs a bank and kills the others who helped him to do it, but things escalate beyond this in the scene when the Joker confronts the crime lords of Gotham.

He asks the room if they’d like to see a magic trick, and then, suddenly and without warning, he smashes a bodyguard’s head into an upstanding pencil, immediately killing the man. It’s intense, but it perfectly defines how this character acts impulsively, and he has no fear of confronting others.

7

Superman III Goes Full Body Horror As A Woman Is Transformed Into A Robot

By the time Superman III, starring Christopher Reeve, came out, the Reeve movies began to veer into weird and wacky territory. Superman III is particularly experimental in its approach, with a variety of scenes that wouldn’t make sense anywhere else in the series.

Ross Webster, a wealthy maniacal villain who is essentially a replacement for Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor, has paid for a powerful supercomputer to be built, but the machine begins to take on a life of its own. When the programmer who helped make the computer tries to shut it down, the machine grabs a woman, and the movie suddenly shifts into body horror.

The body horror scene where a woman is converted into a machine isn’t incredibly long, as the whole transformation happens in less than 30 seconds, but it’s a genuinely shocking moment in a series that hasn’t done anything similar up until this point.

6

Lois Lane Was Ruthlessly Killed In Zack Snyder’s Justice League

The DCEU went through a lot of changes, and it wasn’t always clear where the series was heading. However, in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the idea that Lois is ᴅᴇᴀᴅ is expressly revealed with Darkseid being responsible for her demise.

In reality, the situation is more complex, because Justice League and Zack Snyder’s Justice League ended up being very different movies, and there is merit in either story. However, Snyder’s extended and heavily altered version ᴀsserts that Lois is ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, which acts as an inciting incident for Superman to be controlled by Darkseid.

Darkseid clearly needed a way to get into Superman’s head, but this is one of the most heartbreaking moments to play out in the DCEU, and her death doesn’t even happen on camera.

5

The Devil Prolongs John Constantine’s Suffering For A Chance To Pull Him Down To Hell

Constantine, starring Keanu Reeves, had an incredibly mixed response from audiences. However, the film’s exploration of Heaven and Hell, angels and demons, and redemption versus damnation are all incredibly interesting.

John Constantine did some dark and dirty things in his life. And despite dedicating himself to fighting against the forces of Hell, it appears almost certain that Constantine will find his eternal end in Hell, a fact that Lucifer seems to relish.

However, the film sees Constantine redeemed, and he almost ascends to heaven, until Lucifer chooses to heal his terminal illness, and bring him back to Earth, hoping he will make more mistakes in the future and ultimately be damned for eternity.

4

Lex Luthor Has Superman Jump To His “Death”

Superman Returns was an attempt to bring the magic of the Christopher Reeve movies back to the big screen. And with Brandon Routh cast in the тιтular role, it seemed as though this could well continue the legacy of the earlier movies.

However, the movie underperformed, and this reboot was laid to rest. But it is worth noting that this movie features some of the darkest scenes in the Superman franchise. After ambushing Superman with Kryptonite, having his goons brutally beat him, and stabbing him, Lex forces Supes to jump off a cliff.

It’s harrowing to watch, and one of the lowest moments for this larger-than-life superhero to ever appear on the big screen.

3

Sivana & The Seven ᴅᴇᴀᴅly Sins Wipe Out A Board Of Directors

Shazam! stands out as one of the brightest and most fun DCEU movies to come from the entire franchise, but even Shazam! featured horrifying scenes with the villains.

Sivana led a difficult life, with a father who resented him. This caused a lot of pain and trauma for Sivana, and after he gains access to the power of the Seven ᴅᴇᴀᴅly Sins, Sivana knows exactly who he wants to wreak havoc upon first.

Sivana’s father is the head of a successful business, and Sivana wastes no time in visiting his father during an important meeting of the board of directors. While the board is not his intended target, they were unfortunate enough to be around when Sivana launched his attack, and things get dark fast.

Sivana lets these demons consume his father and his ᴀssociates in one of the most intense and terrifying scenes from all the DCEU.

2

Arthur Fleck Murdering Randall In Front Of Gary

Speaking of shocking horror, Todd Phillips Joker was a groundbreaking entry for DC that exists outside the DCEU, and now has been incorporated into the world of DCU Elseworlds.

Arthur Fleck, the protagonist around whom the entire film revolves, is a terribly unwell and unstable man. He doesn’t know reality from fiction, and he is prone to violence when confronted with uncomfortable or confusing situations.

This is essentially what happens when Randall and Gary, two men from Fleck’s day job as a clown, come to visit and tell Arthur that the police are looking to speak with him. Arthur launches into a fit of rage, and he takes out his anger on Randall, who hasn’t always been kind to him, stabbing him in the face and neck.

But while Arthur kills Randall swiftly and brutally, he chooses to leave Gary alive, having never harbored any ill feelings towards him. But Gary is traumatized by the horrors he witnessed, and deeply confused about Arthur’s mental state as he appears to have no serious thoughts attached to his actions.

1

The Penguin Bites A Man’s Nose Off In Batman Returns

Batman Returns was one of the best superhero films to come out before the 2000s, with a range of horrifying villains, and a distinct dark style for Gotham thanks to Tim Burton’s direction.

In one quirky storyline, the Penguin, played by Danny DeVito with chilling intensity, decides to run for Mayor of Gotham. And as part of his campaign, the former sewer-dweller had an image consultant come and advise on how he could make himself more appealing to voters.

However, Penguin doesn’t take kindly to the criticism, and he ends up biting the man’s nose off. It’s sudden, it’s grotesque, and it’s another perfect example of how these DC villains deliver some of the most intense and evil acts in comic book film history. And often, they do so with little thought or warning.