Everyone knows that Batman is a force for good in DC Comics, and as the most popular superhero, it seems that nothing can stop his path to justice. Yet, despite how heroic the mainline Batman is, in plenty of other DC Comics, Batman has been evil, something to fear not just because of his beatings on criminals, but because of the sheer power he exhibits when it’s time to kill.
The worst Batman is one who doesn’t have a no-kill rule, one that transcends the morals of the Batman known and loved by all. These evil versions of Batman have Bruce’s mind and fighting prowess, but without the limitation of morals, and a continuing lust for power that sees them able to almost takeover the Multiverse.
Updated on August 31, 2024, by Jake Fillery: The Multiverse offers a cosmic infinite when it comes to differences from familiar characters. As such, DC Comics wastes no time in presenting Elseworlds and other Multiverse stories about the Caped Crusader, presenting readers with some of the evilest Batman variants the pages of DC Comics have to offer. Whether it’s through the Dark Multiverse or corruption, there have been many evil Batmen over the years.
9 Omega
The Authoritarian Elder Batman of a Dying Elseworld
- Featured Comic:Batman: Last Knight on Earth #1 (July, 2019)
- Creators: Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo
In a post-apocalyptic future from a distant world, Bruce Wayne becomes Omega, a tyrant who rules across his Earth by destroying those who oppose him. This world’s Bruce Wayne became a conqueror, and used his powerful batsuit to destroy the very superheroes that were once Earth’s protectors and his friends.
Omega has dreams of Anti-Life, and his grasp on the world is tightening with nobody available to stop him. This Elseworld shows a Batman where morality is out the window, and the powers of Batman with a new suit and no opposition to killing, present a truly deadly and evil Batman.
8 Red Death
A Bruce Wayne Who Absorbed Barry Allen Through the Speed Force
- Featured Comic:Dark Days: The Casting #1 (September, 2017)
- Creators: Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo
A rather metal creation, Red Death was the Batman of Earth -52 after Bruce Wayne failed to save Gotham and his Robins. In an effort to raise further powers against evil, Bruce kidnapped Barry Allen and forced the Flash to merge with him by breaking into the Speed Force with his Batmobile and the Cosmic Treadmill.
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Red Death was born of this impact, and Barry Allen and Bruce Wayne clash in one body and mind. It’s effectively a Batman with the powers of the Flash, and one who will not be slowed down in his corrupting fight against crime, and one who takes pleasure in the invasion of the Dark Multiverse.
7 The Merciless
Batman With the Powers of the God of War
- Featured Comic:Dark Days: The Casting #1 (September, 2017)
- Creators: Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo
Hailing from Earth -12, this world’s Batman had a war on crime like most other Bruce Wayne variants across the Multiverse. Yet, the key difference here is that his compassion and mercy were put to the test when the Greek god of war, Ares, helmed a reign of terror thanks to a new helmet to amplify his powers. In the final fight against Ares, Batman placed the god of war’s helmet upon his head and was embedded with the corruption and power that made him the Merciless.
With his new strength, Batman’s morality was gone, and nothing mattered more than wielding the helmet, not even Wonder Woman, whom he loved more than life itself. Batman went on to slaughter gods and brought his never-ending war to the Multiverse through the other Dark Knights.
6 Flashpoint Batman
Thomas Wayne Attempts To Break His Son So He Abandons Being Batman
- Featured Comic:Flashpoint (2011)
- Creators: Geoff Johns & Andy Kubert
Thomas Wayne became the Batman of the Flashpoint timeline when his son was killed in that alleyway all those years ago. Ever since, Thomas Wayne has been far more ruthless and uses guns to slaughter those who get in the way of justice, in an attempt to eradicate the crime that brought his life to disarray and killed his son.
Yet, things went from bad to worse, as Thomas Wayne was supposed to die when the Flashpoint Timeline was wiped, but the Multiverse is not so forgiving, at least, Reverse Flash isn’t. Reverse Flash decided to leave Thomas Wayne stranded in the main continuity, where he would have to see Bruce as Batman. Thomas would try and break his son in an attempt to bring him to a peaceful life where he could be happy. Thomas is a killer, and his acts are horrible, but at the end of the day, he just wants to save his ten-year-old son who lost his parents.
5 Zur-En-Arrh Batman
The Alternate Personality Within Bruce Wayne That Isn’t Afraid Of Killing
- Featured Comic:Batman Vol. 3 #136 (August, 2023)
- Creators: Ed Herron & Dick Sprang
Whilst first introduced as an alien with the Batman moniker, the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh has later been retconned and repositioned as an alternate personality of Bruce Wayne, a far more violent version of Batman that lives deep inside his mind when his psyche is compromised. In the most recent continuity, Zur-En-Arrh is an absolute threat who wants to finally push past the abyss to kill Joker and cross a line where Batman will never go.
Zur-En-Arrh is basically Batman but not held back from the no-kill rule, and his mental instability makes him dangerous to allies and foes that try and stop him. Zur-En-Arrh is powerful and definitely dangerous, but other Batmans in the Multiverse are far worse.
4 Owlman
An Alternate Earth Batman With An Opposite & Oppressive Morality
- Featured Comic:Justice League Vol. 2 #23 (October, 2013)
- Creators: Geoff Johns & Ivan Reis
Thomas Wayne, Jr. was always evil, and it didn’t take his parents getting gunned down in Crime Alley to change that. Thomas hated his parents and how they squandered their Gotham wealth, so he killed them. Growing up without a brother, butler, or parents, Bruce adopted the persona of Owlman, where he would create more corruption in Gotham under his grasp.
Owlman eventually teamed with other villains to forge the Crime Syndicate, and with their conquering of their Earth, they decided that it was time to invade the Prime Earth and bring forth a new age of gods. Owlman is still Batman, just with a different identity, and goals that align with an evil warlord rather than a hero.
3 The Devastator
A Batman With The Powers Of Doomsday
- Featured Comic: Dark Nights: Batman – The Devastator #1 (November, 2017)
- Creators: Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo
Combine Bruce Wayne with Doomsday, and the Devastator is born, a being with Batman’s intelligence and Doomsday’s brutality. This creature is one of darkness, one who wishes for nothing more than to destroy worlds with his strength, infecting the populous with a Doomsday Virus to mutate them and turn them into ghastly beings from other worlds.
The Devastator became that way after the Superman of Earth -1 became evil, and Batman injected himself with a serum comprised of Doomsday’s DNA in order to become a monster to beat the Man of Steel, yet, it took Bruce’s humanity. The Devastator is perhaps the strongest thanks to his combat prowess and his Doomsday strength, but the virus constantly mutates to the point where he won’t even remember he is Bruce Wayne.
2 The Batman Who Laughs
Batman With The Personality Of The Joker
- Featured Comic:Dark Nights: The Batman Who Laughs #1 (November, 2017)
- Creators: Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo
It’s an age-old question that has finally been answered: what would happen to Batman if he became the Joker? The Batman Who Laughs is that terrifying answer, and he’s a Bruce Wayne who was forced to kill Joker, only for it to be all a part of the clown’s plans to drive Batman insane with a mutagenic gas. The Batman Who Laughs quickly killed his allies and enslaved his reanimated Robins as pets, only to seek further cruelty across the Dark Multiverse and the Multiverse.
The Batman Who Laughs refuses to be held back by morality, and there is no atrocity that he won’t commit. He’s sin incarnate, pure evil that wants to consume the universes into utter chaos and disarray, bounded not by rules or ideas.
1 Final Bruce Wayne
Bruce Wayne, If His Body Was Imbued With Doctor Manhattan’s Powers
- Featured Comic:Dark Nights: Death Metal #1 (August, 2020)
- Creators: Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo
Existing within the Dark Multiverse, the Final Bruce Wayne is an energy construct incarnate, a being who has the powers of Doctor Manhattan himself thanks to an investigation into the strange energy of the god. Final Bruce Wayne is the most powerful Batman, due to the fact that it’s literally Batman but with the powers of Doctor Manhattan, being so powerful, he was able to reset the DC Universe simply out of curiosity.
Yet, it’s a tad cheating, as Final Bruce Wayne wasn’t exactly evil, and the experiment caused by Batman Who Laughs, would eventually see him lobotomized, used as a mere vessel for the Batman Who Laughs to become even stronger, granting unlimited power to end the Multiverse itself.
