Batman: Arkham - All 40 Villains Ranked Worst To Best 

Black Mask really got the short end of the stick in this series. He only makes a tiny cameo in City where he's beaten senseless by Tyger guards, he's Joker's punching bag in Origins and he's unceremoniously kicked out of a window to his death by Red Hood in Knight.

I got to be honest, Cat Woman in the Arkham Universe is not really a villain. She's more of an Anti-Hero, if that makes sense.

Twoface was criminally underused in the series. I wish we had gotten more of him.

Professor Pyg is spelled with a Y because he's referencing Pygmalion, a Greek mythological figure who was a sculptor who fell in love with his sculpture and pined for her so much the gods brought her to life, also a play by George Bernard Shaw...Just a fun fact I thought y'all might want to know

The Arkham universe was so great. Now Rocksteady is run by a bunch of smooth brains.

A very comprehensive list. I do agree Mr. Freeze was the best villain in the series. His relatively recent (1997) reimagining as a tortured scientist was, along with making the Penguin a crime boss, were likely the two best bits of Batman lore created in the last 30 years.

Arkhamverse Scarecrow has to be my favourite adaptation of the villain ever. He was easily the scariest villain in Arkham Asylum. Then they turned him into a right proper Claude Frollo/ Darth Sidious like villain in Arkham Knight, and I loved it. I also loved John Noble's portrayal of him, I loved it

As legendary as the Mr. Freeze boss battle in Arkham City was, it sort of just comes out of nowhere and felt unneeded in terms of the story. It's like "I'll help you, Batman... NOW HELP ME OR DIE... Fine, I'll resume helping you."

So happy to see Riddler so high at the top where he deserves to be. Honestly in my opinion these games have the best depiction of The Riddler outside the comics. Wally Wingert who voiced the character in all 4 games always delivered such an incredible performance that always managed to perfectly capture Riddler's obsessive personality, massive ego and superiority complex. It's honestly his voice I hear for Riddler in my head when I read comics with him. I really love that through each of his designs in every game you can see how his stability and mentality deteriorate. In Arkham Origins he doesn't entirely sound sure of himself. He looks quite fit and handsome like he actually takes care of himself but as the character progresses he becomes more and more unhinged. In Arkham Asylum he is more obsessed, in Arkham City he looks filled with dirt around his clothes, he has noticeable stubble, looks a lot skinnier and has gone to more extreme lengths to ensure Batman solves his riddles to the point where in Arkham Knight Batman is all he thinks about, so much so that no one else wanted to work with him and so he started building robots instead. I love the taunts and the boasts and the way he just completely melts down when he's beaten because he can't even begin to comprehend that he's not the smartest person in existence.

They've should've done a calendar man side story in the same vein as the professor pyg side story.

I really liked Joker's effect in Arkham Knight! The way as you progress through the game, the disease affecting batman gets worse. Statues , adverts and other stuff gets changed to his face which is you turn away and look back have changed. It's neat use of the fact that in modern gaming, everything you see is all that exists

I still think Anchary should have been the Arkham knight! Batman could've taken him in after beating him as Robin after origins, and I think that it would've been a cool storyline

Surprised, you didn't mention the Halrey Quinn Revenge DLC where she literally beats and captures batman after the Joker died. Something similar happened in the comics too.

I wonder if we should include Rocksteady on this list of Batman Arkham villains. Seeing how they were one of the very few to kill batman, "you ether die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

Poison Ivy dies similarly to Mr. Freeze in Arkham Knight: a villain forced into evil due to a higher purpose and call (if you consider Poison Ivy an agent of the Green like Swamp Thing).

It is worth mentioning cat woman did have a role in Arkham origins blackgate and Grundy also had an appearance. Zazz had a brief appearance in knight. Shiva appeared again in the Arkham origins initiation campaign map where she was the final boss. Penguin was also in Arkham origins as well as black gate Some dlc worth mentioning Riddler in the Catwoman dlc Two face in the Robin dlc Harley Quinn’s dlc had penguin and poison ivy

Calendar Man also comes out in Origins in the beginning of the game.

"Copperhead has serpentine features such as s forked tongue and talons...." Apparently snakes have talons now!

Electrocutioner deserves to be higher, he was the perfect example of Batman’s lesser known (and possibly more loved” crap villains……. Long live The Condiment King!

Scarecrow is easily number one. He's my favorite type of villain.

I totally disagree with Firefly being a 'simple' villain. The bridge sequence in Arkham Origins is fantastic and surprisingly complex...His role in Arkham Knight was a bit of a letdown.

I’ve never thought that he’s too present in Arkham knight. The series is about their relationship ever, it just is. And it’s one of the best Batman/joker stories ever made.

I'm happy riddler is so high on the list. He was always one of my favorite villains in the game.

The Black Mask twist was NOT pointless. It was the best detective implementation in the entire series. It was a mystery that we didn’t even know was a mystery but that actually had clues the entire way through. Additionally the Joker reveal was an actual awesome surprise as there was no hint of him prior to the games release. It was a pretty dope retelling of the joker and Batman’s first encounter.

To be honest, is Selina even a villain?

27:51 “Vertically challenged” pure GOLD 😭😭😂😂

how is starro a better villain than solomon grundy?

Mr.freeze being nr 1 is so based, he really is THE best batman villian with the best backstory and the best reason for why he does what he does.

As a nature man i gotta give it to Poison Ivy, she really saved the world 🌿 long live Ivy!!!

Im dying at the fact that 29:52 is marked as Racheal Ghoul

The list I never knew I wanted

The little Manbat segment would've been so much more effective if they hadn't spent the rest of the game jump scaring you with the Joker hallucinations in exactly the same way. About the most it got out of me was a, "Huh. That was different."

Good, I needed a TRON in my videogame rankings good job

I need a live action Mr. Freeze that shows the regret and mutual respect he and Batman have for each other. Done well, it will really change how people see Batman and show that he can be compassionate to his enemies

Thefirst time i fought freeze in the second game- and he learns what you do so you cant attack the same way twice- so much fun.

Wait, so you totally forgot that Penguin was in Origins?

The new 52 version of freeze was a very interesting take, he was never married to her. She had been frozen for decades and was a project at Wayne industries as the first person to get frozen when she was sick. Victor was put on the project and ended up going insane. His perception was the same as it always was, he saw that as his wife and was determined to cure her. But in real life. They never met and he was obsessed

I wish we had at least one fight against catwoman throughout the Arkham series.

I'll be honest. I never really played Batman games but this coverage of the worst to best.... AWESOME!!! I LOVED IT!!

Catwoman shouldn’t be so low, she’s great.

Damn Alberto Falcone over Catwoman? Didn’t even remember he was in the game

For asrael’s mission there’s three options you could just leave and not even touch the sword

IMO Mr Freeze is Super Underrated people think Joker is the best Villain and in live action ext he is but in arkham games for me freeze takes the n1 spot

“Goes down in one punch” cut to him being kicked

Elecrocitionor: "With one spiky punch" *Kicks him* Good job with that script, mate.

Arkham Knight Joker is top tier. Written better thab most joker iterations

Very good list ❤

I would of enjoyed some missions where you were trying to actually Catch Catwoman

I legit can't remember Black Mask in any of the games. I only saw his mask in Asylum as an easter egg, but that's about it. He really got the short end of the stick.

The Arkham series got so much right with so many (but not all) of it's depictions of it's many villains. Joker, Harley, Killer Croc, Scarecrow, Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Ras Al Gul, Riddler, Deathstroke...and so on!

Nice list

Lmaooo scarecrow below harley is stupid

Awesome list. Thanks, Psy!

2:23 This guy is the legendary holiday killer???!!!!!!

Ras al ghul is the best villain

Azrael sneak peak at 11:08

The twins were separated by Tommy Elliot as seen or heard in origins

OK, less than a minute in and we've already crossed the border into Inaccuracy City. "He goes down in one spikey-gauntleted punch" - shows clip of Executioner going down in one heavy-booted kick. 🤣 EDIT - Next stop, Banesville. "During his research he comes extremely close to figuring out Batman's secret identity, and may well have done so..." is quite the statement considered Bane not only deduced Bruce Wayne is Batman, but as the player you find his evidence wall about it AND have to revive Alfred using the shock-gloves after Bane invaded the Batcave and brutally attacked the butler. EDIT - The list itself was pretty damn good, but Hush is waaaaaaaaay to high up for his limited time in the games.

Hush is way way too high. For his appearances he should be low thirties. All build up no returns.

10:07 "Goodnight Humanitarian....."

1. If you included Starro, Stagg and others like that, why didn’t you include the “new” Jokers! 2. Hush is way too high, being above Bane, Killer Croc, Deathstroke and Mad Hatter is insane

I think bane in origins did a little more than get close to finding out who batman is.. he calls him bruce and attacks alfred in the batcave...

How do you skip penguin in origins?? You guys are great at this!!😂

0:00 yes

as long as bane's only so low because 2/3 times we see him he's absolutely done DIRTY by rocksteady then i agree with the list... if it was origins' Bane the whole way through he'd have to be in the top three

Where would you put bronze tiger from blackgate?

Ivy in this serie IS iconic.

Not that I'm passionate nor care, but I've noticed that this list does not include Bird; who was one of the side-missions in Origins. You could chalk up up to just being another mobster punk but in a list that includes EVERY Arkham villain, including a lot of the other silly ones that made the bottom of the list, you'd think he'd be here too.

EXCELENT LIST😊

Its tough this list because alot of these villians are so iconic and threatening to Batman

Copperhead one of my fav

Hatter views Batman as the bat in the 'twinkle twinkle little bat' rhyme. Alice is always any poor blonde little girl he finds.

One might argue that a pyromaniac with horrific burns all over his body makes his ability with fire less of an 'aptitude' and more of a 'penchant'.

Deathstroke is so awesome! Almost as awesome as Batman! Literally his best villain!

In terms of acts of sheer villanry, Fries doesn't make the top 10. Scarecrow tops it. It's strange Catwoman makes 39 for not being that villianous, while Mr Freeze is also not that villinous and comes top.

A mobster who's tied up in a chair for a few minutes ends up with better ranking than Electocutioner and Catwoman.😂

Electrocutioner. the greatest boss fight the Arkham series NEVER had... could have been top tier.

I dare you disrespect Electrocutioner! World’s greatest villain.

Unless you count Arkham Origins Blackgate (which I don’t blame you if you don’t) Catwoman ain’t even a villain.

Solomon Grundy is great in Arkham city. His boss fight is fun, the lead up is great, and his design is one of his best. Him being this low is a lil wild when a good amount of the characters above him are a lot worse imo. Anarky, Starro, Ferris Boil (what?), Quincy sharp (what?), copperhead, and more are worse imo

Who is 'Victor Frites' ?

Apparently, Victor has met his end after the event of Arkham Knight and they mentioned his death in suicide squad, killed the justice league by the hands of red hood.

Talia condemns Batman to die. She’s just like ‘oops, just kidding’ when he ends up living. She’s gotta we way higher up on the list than cat women who alternatively saved batman without ever having tried to kill him. She’s not really a villain to be honest, more a female Han Solo. DC has softened her up into a borderline good guy in the past twenty years

No Bird or Bronze Tiger or Loose Lips LeBlanc?

Killer Moth Number 1.

Mad Hatter in AK looks like Alice Cooper to me

Meanwhile K*ller Moth being an absolute unit of a villain. Let me explain. He is largely considered a joke, meaning that he can essentially commit most crimes and proceed to get away with it as people don't perceive him as much of a threat and they have their guard down. Meanwhile most villains will alert every alarm within a 5-mile radius if spotted, K*ller Moth can probably slip past relatively un-noticed. Idk lol, I just kind of like him.

No. 1 should be Brainiac as he was able to control Batman and force him to kill innocents and go against his principles. Harley will be a second as it was her to end Batman’s life in Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League.

The Riddler sucks.

Black Mask is one of my fav villains but he keeps getting shafted in games and movies..

The joker being black mask was a terrible call

List was great until you decided not to do the obvious and put joker at #1

I like the list and all, but I don't think that was any sort of ranking. All that was said is each of the villains' roles in all of the games, but that just isn't ranking bro. I think the only exception is the Joker (whose ranking I absolutely hated, he's not number two no way no how, even to Freeze), you actually developed a good paragraph for him, but for the others you must make comparisons, see their backstory with Batman, see how much impact they each made along the games and/or how hard was it for Batman to catch them. We've all played the games, we all know what the story is yk

I'm going to guess joker is number one, right now I'm on clayface

Disagree here. Anarky 35?! He deserves much more. Freeze is good, but c'mon, the whole series is about Batman and Joker. He easily takes number one. Glad to see Riddler at number three though.

I don't see how you can put characters you don't fight ahead of characters you do

Wait a second the long Halloween movie is Arkham canon????

Is there a lore reason on why Whatculture didn't give Jonkler number 1? Are they stupid??

Deathstroke got buried in the Arkham games esp knight

so just focusing on the 3D open world ones & ignoring Blackgate then ( yeah it's not exactly a good game but the story is interesting at least )....also the name Fries is pronounced the same as Freeze not like french fries....