DC Comics Super-Villains: 100 Greatest Moments

Review by KC Carlson

DC Comics Super-Villains: 100 Greatest Moments: Highlights From the History of the World’s Greatest Super-Villains is the third such book written by former DC Comics Editor (amongst many other DC Comics duties) Robert Greenberger (better known in the DC offices as “Bob”). The other two books are Justice League: 100 Greatest Moments: Highlights from the History of the World’s Greatest Super Heroes (July 2018) and DC Comics Super Heroines: 100 Greatest Moments: Highlights from the History of the World’s Greatest Super Heroines (September 2018). Both of these books were previously reviewed here at CWR by either Johanna or me.

This latest book is all about the bad guys and features all your favorite villains, running the gamut from heavy hitters like Lex Luthor and the Joker to people like Lesla-Lar (who was kind of Supergirl’s evil twin). I find it somewhat amusing that the the first villain mentioned in the book is Adolf Hitler, who kinda tops the badness charts both in the DC Universe as well as the “real” world.

There are exactly 100 villains (and teams) listed in the contents. I was glad to see that the bad girls of the DCU are prominently mentioned — including Catwoman, Talia al Ghul, Harley Quinn, Circe, and Cheetah. Plus, you can’t ignore villainous groups like the Brotherhood of Evil, the Court of Owls, Crime Syndicate of America, the Fatal Five, Injustice Society, Legion of Doom, Legion of Super-Villains, Manhunters, Phantom Zone Criminals, Red Lanterns, The (Flash) Rogues, the Secret Society of Super-Villains, and the Suicide Squad. Groups are cool! More bang for your buck!

Villains are fascinating, perhaps even more fascinating than the heroes, since they have such different motivations. There’s a lot more that they can do, since they’re not constrained to helping people. As with Bob’s other books, this is a fun flip-through to check your knowledge of the DC universe. Greenberger’s next big DC Comics book will be Batman: 100 Greatest Moments: Highlights From the History of the Dark Knight, currently scheduled to be released on October 1. (The publisher provided a review copy.)