Gotham should consider itself lucky that Batman is protecting them, because the most dangerous Batman villains could overpower entire worlds if they were put in a dimension without the Dark Knight. Every hero has their rogues’ gallery, but Batman has some particularly horrific ghouls he faces off with across the very mean Gotham streets. Batman is often teased by fans for how often he lets Gotham get destroyed, but his foes would destroy entire countries if they were put in the MCU.
For one second, imagine Joker being allowed in the PG-13 all-ages world of the MCU. The heroes wouldn’t even know what to do with a being that chaotic and demented. One shudders to imagine Tom Holland’s Spider-Man having to spend even a single second facing off against the Joker depicted in the comics. The MCU simply isn’t ready for Batman’s rogues’ gallery.
1. If The Avengers Thought Thanos Was Bad, They Don’t Want To See The Batman Who Laughs After He Steals Dr. Manhattan’s Abilities
Thanos’s main weakness is that the source of his powers is a physical object that the Avengers are able to build for themselves (albeit through some time travel that was definitely cheating). Still, if Thanos’s abilities were inherent to his own being, the Avengers wouldn’t have stood a chance at beating him.
The Batman Who Laughs is a villain that has the intellect and strength of Batman with the broken mind of the Joker. He’s able to use Batman’s strategic mind and Joker’s depravity to brutally take over multiple worlds across the multiverse. Then, for his grand finale, he butchered Doctor Manhattan and stole his powers, turning himself into a virtual god. With powers on this scale, the Avengers wouldn’t stand any sort of a chance.
2.The Joker Would Sow A Level Of Chaos The Avengers Have Never Had To Deal With
Even in the universe he comes from, the Joker is a special kind of villain. He isn’t super-powered (except for the times he tries to convince Batman he’s super-powered, like in the New 52), but he still is able to do whatever he wants with impunity. In the main canon, Joker recently took control of Gotham and seized Bruce Wayne’s entire fortune. And in non-canon stories, Joker ruined Superman’s entire life by nuking Metropolis and using Scarecrow’s toxin to trick Superman into killing his own wife. He’s demented to such a degree that most other universes don’t even have a comparison.
The Marvel Universe has demented villains, but no one that so gleefully breaks storytelling convention and supervillain rules quite like the Joker. There’s no telling the amount of havoc he could unleash in the mostly family-friendly Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the storyline Avengers Disassembled, the Avengers disband after a string of tragedies ruin their individual lives. Well, causing individual turmoil is sort of Joker’s whole thing. He would slay loved ones, reintroduce old vices, or just straight-up torture until he got what he wanted. It’s hard to imagine the comics Avengers standing a chance, and it’s even harder to imagine the MCU Avengers facing off against the Clown Prince of Crime.
3. Deathstroke Could Do More Damage Than Taskmaster
The Winter Soldier and Taskmaster are both formidable assassins who are able to greatly impede the Avengers’ Captain America and Black Widow, respectively. While there’s nothing wrong with assassins of their caliber proving to be a challenge, Deathstroke is a much bigger foe than either of them. So if the Avengers couldn’t take them on very well, imagine how they would fare against this assassin from the DC Universe.
Deathstroke has an enhanced brain that operates nine times more efficiently than a normal person’s. Deathstroke also has heightened senses and near-superhuman physical abilities – not to mention his healing factor. Combine that with an amount of combat training that allows him to go head-to-head with Batman, and he’ll make short work of the MCU Avengers.
4. The Court Of Owls Would Stick To The Shadows Instead Of Showing Their Hand So Easily Like Hydra
Hydra is one of the least secret shadowy organizations to ever exist. They love to infiltrate government organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D., but they constantly show their hand and are forced to start again. They’ve been little more than a string of failures since their introduction back in The First Avenger. While it’s impressive that they managed to take down S.H.I.E.L.D. in The Winter Soldier, that ultimately didn’t further their plans and basically ended in their demise, as well.
On the other hand, the Court of Owls has been so good at secretly controlling Gotham events that Batman didn’t even know the group existed, even though it had been around for hundreds of years (much longer than WWII). Combine that with the Court’s talon army of undead highly trained assassins (as opposed to one Winter Soldier), and there’s no reason to not believe the organization couldn’t take over New York City, and then the world in the Marvel Universe.
5. Poison Ivy Would Turn The Planet Itself Against The Avengers
Poison Ivy has long been viewed as just another of Batman’s rogues, who fights with plants instead of, say, a freeze gun – but she’s so much more than that. Only in recent years has Ivy’s true power been shown. During Tom King’s run on Batman, Poison Ivy flexed her powers to such a degree that she took control of the entire planet. Ivy created something of a hive mind, where she was able to control everyone on the planet (yes, even Superman) and speak through them as one unified voice.
The Avengers would fare no better than the Justice League against a threat like Ivy. Their only hope would be to use what little bit of a conscience that Ivy has against her – but without Harley Quinn around to calm her down, she would be unstoppable.
6. Scarecrow Would Render Heroes Too Terrified To Fight Back
Mysterio caused a lot of problems for Peter Parker in Far From Home, and Scarecrow is basically a souped-up, more demented version of him. Instead of using technology to fool his opponents’ eyes into thinking they’re seeing something that’s not there, Scarecrow uses his fear toxin to trick his opponent’s minds. Spider-Man is able to use his Peter-tingle to detect what’s real and what isn’t, but one would presume Scarecrow’s mind-altering drug would trick Spider-Man’s special sense.
The entire Avengers roster would be left completely unable to tell what’s real and what isn’t. It’s not too far of a stretch to then assume that Scarecrow’s toxins would have a similar effect on Hulk as Scarlet Witch’s powers did in Age of Ultron, and without Iron Man to fight back against the green behemoth, it’s anyone’s guess how much damage he could cause.
7. The Avengers Wouldn’t Know What To Do When Ra’s al Ghul Keeps Coming Back From The Dead
The best MCU parallel to Ra’s al Ghul is Xu Wenwu, the father of Shang-Chi. Xu Wenwu is an immortal warrior who once conquered the world before falling in love and settling down (only to come out of retirement once again after the brutal slaying of his love). In the movie, Xu loses because of the intervention of his son, but also because he was being tricked into running a fool’s errand. On the other hand, Ra’s al Ghul has equal immortality thanks to his Lazarus Pits and a clarity of mind that isn’t clouded by the demise of a loved one.
Ra’s al Ghul could command his League of Shadows to cause an incredible amount of destruction in the MCU. Honestly, in a post-snap world, there would probably be people that would welcome the order that the League of Shadows brings.
Ra’s al Ghul could also use his Lazarus Pits to resurrect and recruit some of the villains that have perished in the MCU, creating an undead MCU Legion of Doom to challenge the ragtag remaining Avengers.
8. Clayface Would Disguise Himself And Overwhelm Any Avenger He Faced
Clayface is different than any villain we have seen so far in the MCU. In a lot of ways, he’s far trickier. The MCU is full of powerful aliens who use brute force and humans who use technology, but Clayface is a strange case of a human with interesting powers that let him change his shape however he pleases. If he wants to impersonate an Avenger to sneak into their compound, he can, and he can also go after them as a giant sludge monster.
Most MCU heroes are just regular people without their gadgets, so Clayface could use his abilities to get near them when their guards are down, then go in for a quick and easy kill.
9. Hugo Strange Could Turn The Still-Living MCU Villains Into Even Bigger Threats
Hugo Strange is known for his fierce intellect and beyond questionable psychiatric methods. In Gotham, Hugo operates on patients at Arkham Asylum and turns them into even more gruesome monsters than they already are, which makes him the perfect character to come over to the MCU and rally the still-living villains.
There’s no telling how big of a monster Hugo could create if he got his hands on Vulture or one of the members of Mysterio’s team. Or what if he partnered with Madame Hydra and the Dark Avengers she seems to be creating? The bottom line is that Hugo is a demented weirdo who devises schemes that would flourish in the MCU.