Most overrated Batman villain

[Spencermalley935]

I think the appeal of Black Mask is that of probably any of the masked gangsters in Gotham he's probably the most "normal," even compared to Penguin.

I think he was really able to shine as an antagonist for Catwoman though.

Yeah, His rivalries with Catwoman and Red Hood are honestly way more entertaining than his one with Batman.

[oasis1313]

I'd say the Joker is definitely the most OVERUSED villain. Would you guys say it started with the first Michael Keaton Batman movie? He was just another of the silly overactors before then.

[Naked Bat]

Hush and the court of owl. Neither are interesting and both stories were really shallow.

[dancj]

Ra's Al Ghul, Bane, The KGBeast (lower profile, but if anyone anywhere likes him, he's overrated), The Black Mask, Hush.

I love Two Face. He's a bit crap when they're just doing "villain obsessed with the number 2", but in the good stories they go into the fight between the two sides of his nature - and him being a slave to the coin. I love that stuff.

[MichaelC]

I've loved a few stories with Two-Face, especially his origin story in BTAS, and the Nolan version. However, Two-Face really feels like he should be a one-shot villain. His story has a definite beginning, middle, and ending. You can do different versions of that beginning, middle, and ending in different universes, i.e. comics, cartoons, and movies, but you can't really go beyond that into rogues-gallery characterland. He just doesn't have rogue potential. He's the kind of character you tell one good story with, and then you're done with him until the universe reboots.

[adrikito]

The Riddler

[Crazy Diamond]

THE JOKER

10 Char

Without a doubt. He has little nuanse whatsoever, but because of his iconicity alone, he is overexposed to death.

It's weird seeing fans complain about Batgod or how overpowered Superman apparently is only to talk about the greatness of The Joker. Once he went from violent criminal with a joke gimmick to absurd psychopath to full blown world destroyer (as much as I liked Emperor Joker) his character jumped the shark for me. The Dark Knight didn't help matters either. That's one character where I wish there would be a moratorium on him until writers figure out something to do with him that doesn't consist of jokes, mass murder, and the same old stuff over and over again. And I don't mean cutting off his face or claiming he's a boogeyman or multiple people or whatever.

[phantom1592]

For me it's Bane. He was overrated right from the beginning. His whole 'Hey why don't I have Batman fight ALL his villains at once' wasn't even original when Adam West did it in the 1967 movie. Add to that the idea that beating the crap out of Batman after a dozen other supervillains have already beaten him down wasn't very impressive.

He didn't even orchestrate the gauntlet. he just set everyone wild and let them do their own thing... There were at least two chances ever single issue there that Batman was 'almost killed' and was saved by Robin or some lucky break. That's not 'master planning'. If Killer Croc had stumbled across Batman on his way home HE would have gotten all the glory :P

Add in the lack of Venom and an exhausted opponent has really made every 'rematch' pretty simple and Bane really isn't 'all that'.

Ra's al Ghul. Saying that, it may be as he is my least liked

Yep, his plans never work and his only real gimmick is coming back from the dead... which he does a LOT. So the best thing he's good at is dying. That's not a great character.

I'd say the Joker is definitely the most OVERUSED villain. Would you guys say it started with the first Michael Keaton Batman movie? He was just another of the silly overactors before then.

I'd say it was Mark Hamill actually. Nicholson threw Joker into the spotlight and was the highlight of the movie.. but it was just the one movie. The cartoon really amped it up with Hamill's episodes being the highlight of each season and making people want more and more and more of them... then Joker everywhere somehow became status quo.

[Nero]

Yep, his plans never work and his only real gimmick is coming back from the dead... which he does a LOT. So the best thing he's good at is dying. That's not a great character.

Why should Ra's be singled out for something that is more often the case with villains in general? It's rare for any villain to succeed with their plans and popular villains coming back from the dead repeatedly happened before and after Ra's.

As far as who's my pick for most overrated Batman villain goes, my vote goes to Harley Quinn.

[Darkspellmaster]

Joker, Harley, Poison ivy. Ivy can be used well, but a lot of the time people forget she's a eco terrorist.

[Arsenal]

Batman being Batman's biggest villain is getting old.

If writers could dial back on that for a bit it'd be mighty appreciated.

[Mistah K88]

To tell you the truth...the clowns.

. Joker, doing the old "bully" tactic of see what I can get away with before he punches me in the face (in Joker's case it would be see what I can get away with before he kills me) has gotten real stale. This has made him a tad overrated as there's only so much song and dance that one could do with that. I will say he earned his high rating when he was the Clown Prince of Crime, rather than the death/kill/murder god of chaos he has been for quite some time now.

Also...HARLEY (does she still count as a villain?). She was made to be a sidekick...Which is why she always paired with Joker or Ivy... Due to Harley's popularity, it seems to have cannibalized poor Pamela, to the point Ivy has seemed like a sidekick to a sidekick for some time. Also the fact that Harley's personality is one Joker stained her with rather than something unique to her. This shows that despite people thinking that she has moved beyond the Joker, Harley will ALWAYS be tethered to him.

There are some honorable mentions, but the fact that they don't get used as much kind of balances them out...

[phantom1592]

Why should Ra's be singled out for something that is more often the case with villains in general? It's rare for any villain to succeed with their plans and popular villains coming back from the dead repeatedly happened before and after Ra's.

As far as who's my pick for most overrated Batman villain goes, my vote goes to Harley Quinn.

Probably because most others aren't as highly regarded as Ra's. It's not like people wet themselves over the concept of crossing Penguin or Riddler or Clayface… but for some reason "Ra's and his super-immortal terrorist and the League of Assassins" have this overwhelming 'presence' and reputation... despite not really 'earning' it. He doesn't have near enough (any??) wins to justify the Rep he has.

[Restingvoice]

I'm okay with Ra's because he's international while we're following a local hero so we bound to not see what he did to gain that rep, especially since he leads hidden operations, of which the clues only appear when it cross Batman's path.
My take on Ra's is he succeeds most of the time, but fail when facing Batman because it's a far tougher challenge.

[williamtheday]

Definitely not The Hooded Hangman.