Updated August 10, 2021 6.5K votes 1.6K voters 413.5K views
Over 1.6K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of 16 DC Villains Who Got Exactly What They Deserved
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Vote up the moments in the DC movies that prove what goes around really comes around.
Crime doesn't pay, and in the world of DC superhero films, it usually ends in some sort of karmic justice. Whether it be General Zod duking it out with Superman or Ares dueling Wonder Woman, most DC villains are so driven by their beliefs that they don't turn back when it leads to a dead end. To live by the sword is to die by the sword, and to live by a twisted sense of justice is to have that same set of rules applied to yourself, ultimately leading to your doom.
In real life, villains don't always get what they deserve. It seems like more often than not, the worst among us live lavish lives of luxury. That's why it's so cathartic to turn to the world of superheroes and see a villain actually face consequences for their actions. Below are a set of the most poetic, cathartic, and satisfying villain demises and punishments in DC's cinematic output.
What Did He Do? Edward Nigma was an employee at Wayne Enterprises who refused to stop working on a dangerous mind-manipulation project after his boss terminated it. Angry, he took out his boss, became the Riddler, and allied himself with Two-Face. Nigma then became rich selling his device to Gotham citizens who didn't realize what it really did. The device allowed him to steal from the minds of the people using it, making himself even more intelligent.
His Fate: Batman defeated the Riddler by destroying the device attached to his brain, overloading his mind to the point of insanity. While Riddler had previously discovered Batman's secret identity, Riddler had completely lost his mind in his cell at Arkham at the end of the movie. A man so obsessed with being the smartest man in the room was reduced to pretending to be a bat in a cell.
What Did He Do? Dr. Jonathan Crane, AKA Scarecrow, was a demented psychiatrist who performed harsh experiments on the patients at Arkham. He also worked alongside Ra's al Ghul and the mobster Falcone to transport his fear toxin into Gotham.
His Fate: Batman gave the doctor a taste of his own medicine and sprayed Scarecrow with the fear toxin he had been so callously using on others. This gave Crane a terrifying vision of Batman as a monster and scared Crane enough to reveal to Batman who he was actually working for. While this didn't end Scarecrow's criminal career, it was still nice to see him suffer the same torment he had inflicted on the inmates in his custody.
What Did He Do? A member of the doomed lineup that arrives first on Corto Maltese in The Suicide Squad, Blackguard (a.k.a. Dick Hertz – seriously) betrayed his teammates by giving the Corto Maltesian forces a heads up about the operation. Blackguard lived up to his D-list scumbag reputation and immediately tried to get his own freedom when they disembarked on the beach.
His Fate: Blackguard gets the fate every traitor karmically deserves. As he strolls up the beach loudly braying about his turncoat bonafides, a sniper takes him out in casually gruesome fashion.
What Did He Do? Gaius Grieves – commonly known as The Thinker – was the chief scientist behind Project Starfish hidden in Corto Maltese's Joutunheim research facility. In the subterranean bowels of the facility, Grieves experimented on Starro to learn how to weaponize the alien beast. Even worse than the pain he inflicted on Starro were the terrors he inflicted on the people of Corto Maltese. He was directly responsible for making Corto Maltesians disappear so he could use them to test the limits of Starro's parasitic influence. These cruel treatments went on for decades before the combined chaos of a coup and Task Force X's mission brought the entire project down around him.
His Fate: When the plans to bring down Jotunheim ggo off the rails earlier than expected, Starro is released. The conquerer wastes no time in getting its revenge on Grieves. The beast quickly wraps up its former tormentor and reduces him to a bloody splash across a window before rampaging into the streets.
What Did She Do? Faora helped lead Zod's strike against Earth in an attempt to terraform the planet into a New Krypton. She was ruthless in her strikes against Earth and racked up quite the body count of humans.
Her Fate: When Faora first came into contact with Colonel Hardy, he refused to back down from the fight. After bullets proved useless against the Kryptonian, he continued firing. When his ammo ran out, he pulled a knife. Almost mockingly, Faora drew a blade, as well. She looked upon Hardy and said, "a good death is its own reward." That confrontation ended with Superman stepping in.
Later, the two would meet in battle again. This time, when all hope was seemingly lost, it was the colonel's turn to utter the same phrase as he crashed his ship into the side of the Kryptonian's Black Zero command center. Faora was struck down by the very people she considered no better than insects.
What Did She Do? Enchantress was an ancient evil who took over the body of an archaeologist to return to our world. She then freed her brother Incubus, and the two set in motion an ancient plot to impose their will over the entire world.
Her Fate: Enchantress often used her powers to make promises to the mortals on Earth. The promises usually included the return of deceased loved ones, like Diablo's family or the return of Joker to Harley. Upon her loss, she begged the Suicide Squad to eliminate her mortal body, returning her to her brother Incubus. Instead, the Suicide Squad destroyed her mystical heart, destroying her forever and returning the body she had been inhabiting to its rightful owner. In the end, her deepest desire was denied to her.
