Summary

• Batman's popularity, and central position in DC lore, has resulted in many villains from other classic DC heroes making their way to Gotham City to take on the caped crusader.
• This includes Clock KIng, originally a Green Arrow villain; Gentleman Ghost, a former foe of Hawkman; and Deathstroke, who began as a Teen Titans antagonist.
• Once many of these villains turned their attention to Batman, they've had little or no time to feud with their original heroic foils.

One of the most important factors in ensuring a superhero's enduring popularity is having iconic and recognizable villains. With this in mind, there's simply no denying that Batman has some of the best villains in comic book. Yet while many of his most iconic rogues were introduced to battle the Caped Crusader, a number of them originated as antagonists for other DC heroes.

Part of this stems from the nature of Batman's popularity – the character tends to dominate DC storytelling, for better or worse. Often over the years, this has resulted in Batman absorbing elements from other DC titles, something that is best illustrated with the number of notable villains from over the years that have started out as foes of other heroes, only to turn their attention to Gotham City and its protector, Batman. Some of these villains may have faded from prominence in recent years, while others continue to be perennial thorns in the Dark Knight's side.

7 Clock King Began His Time As A Villain Fighting Green Arrow

First Appearance: World's Finest #111 by Ed Herron and Lee Elias.

Originally an enemy of the Green Arow, Clock King started out a man who took care of his ill sister. When he was diagnosed with a terminal disease himself, he worried about his sister's future. With no other options, he attempted to rob a bank, trying to secure money for her future, but was stopped by Green Arrow. This gave the Clock King an intense hatred of Green Arrow, one that only increased when his sister died while he was in prison, while he found out he was misdiagnosed.

Despite this personal reason for hating Green Arrow, Clock King has become a recurring Batman villain. He was featured on both the Adam West live-action show and Batman: The Animated Series as a repeat enemy for the Caped Crusader. He has confronted Batman several times in the comics over the years, such as in Tom King's Batman: Killing Time. He's never really been given a reason as to why he hates Batman, but he continually pops up, and hasn't been featured as an antagonist for Green Arrow much since seemingly moving to Gotham City.

6 Despite Being A "Gentleman," This Villain Ghosted Hawkman, In Favor Of Batman

First Appearance: Flash Comics #88 by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert.

Gentleman Ghost was originally a villain for Hawkman and Hawkgirl, fighting the two several times over the years. Gentleman Ghost wasn't exactly an evil figure; he was instead a spirit who had a penchant for crime. Several moments demonstrated Gentleman Ghost could be a useful ally and wasn't outright malicious. Gentleman Ghost even helped put to rest spirits that had been haunting Hawkman at one point. Despite this interesting dynamic, Gentleman Ghost would eventually move on to Gotham City and Batman.

Gentleman Ghost first encountered Batman in the 1970s, after moving on from his feud with Hawkman. His first encounter with Batman was in Batman #310, and he has proved to be a formidable villain in the years since. Gentleman Ghost had several standout moments, such as successfully kidnapping and hypnotizing Alfred Pennyworth. At one point, he was even invited to a villain's gathering by the Joker. This recognition cemented Gentleman Ghost as a Batman villain in the minds of most readers, and he still occasionally pops up to this day.

5 Deathstroke Decided It Was Time To Pick On Someone His Own Size

First Appearance: New Teen Titans #2 by Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Rameo Tanghal, Adrienne Roy, and Ben Oda.

Deathstroke is one of the more popular villains in the DC Universe, and he's fought all kinds of characters over the years. Originally, he was created as a Teen Titans villain. This gives Deathstroke a much stronger connection to the original Titans , especially Nightwing. Deathstroke has acted as a personal villain for Nightwing repeatedly over the years. This rivalry between Nightwing and Deathstroke is extremely important for their characters, and yet Batman keeps getting in between them.

Batman is DC's predominant hero, meaning it was inevitable that he would eventually fight Deathstroke. Over time, however, they have faced off against one another more than Deathstroke has encountered Nightwing at this point. Batman has gone up against Deathstroke numerous times, including events such as Batman vs Deathstroke, and notably, Deathstroke was even used as basic goon fodder at the beginning of the Our Dark Designs storyline. Deathstroke's deeply personal connection to the Teen Titans made him the perfect threat for the team of young heroes, but the character's design and personality made him a thrilling match for Batman.

4 Another Titans Villain Who Graduated To The Major Leagues

First Appearance: Batman Family #6 by Bob Rozakis, Irv Novick, and Frank McLaughlin.

Duela Dent is one of the strangest characters in DC Comics, and has had an intentionally confusing backstory. Duela showed up one day and claimed to be the daughter of the Joker. While this was technically true, she was the daughter of an alternate Earth heroic version of the Joker. She would continually pop up as an ally/enemy to the Teen Titans, largely depending on her mood. This strange relationship continued for years until the arrival of the New 52, which completely revamped her into a Batman villain.

While Duela was originally a morally gray character, someone who might help one instance and hinder the next, the New 52 completely did away with this ambiguity. Instead of the multiverse backstory, Duela was now just a mentally unwell girl who found Joker's face after he cut it off. From this point forward, Duela Dent was simply a brutal villain, one who was entirely fixated on Batman, with absolutely no connection to the Teen Titans, in a major departure from her earlier incarnation.

3 Onomatopoeia Zinged From Green Arrow To Batman & Back Again

First Appearance: Green Arrow #12 by Kevin Smith, Phil Hester, Ande Parks, James Sinclair, and Sean Konot.

Green Arrow has always struggled with the lack a proper arch-villain. It was a problem that plagued the character for decades since inception. This finally seemed fixed with the creation of Onomatopoeia, a serial killer who specifically targeted non-powered vigilantes. This brought him into conflict with Green Arrow, and he very nearly killed Connor Hawke during this fight, making Onomatopoeia a serious contender for Green Arrow's archnemesis. However, with a concept like a "serial killer who goes after non-powered heroes," it didn't take long for Batman to get involved.

Onomatopoeia was the primary antagonist of Kevin Smith's Batman: The Widening Gyre series, which has infamously never been completed. It showed Onomatopoeia posing as the vigilante Baphomet, as he slowly earned Batman's trust. This eventually escalated to Batman revealing his secret identity and his current girlfriend to Baphomet, who revealed his identity as Onomatopoeia when he slit her throat in front of Bruce. This cliffhanger has shockingly never been followed up on, and recently Onomatopoeia has reappeared in the Green Arrow comics, but for a moment, he was almost immortalized in the upper echelon of Batman's rogues gallery.

2 Solomon Grundy Feuded With The Original Green Lantern First

All-American Comics #61 by Alfred Bester, Paul Reinman, and Sheldon Mayer.

One of the oldest villains in DC Comics is Solomon Grundy, who first appeared in 1944, only five years after Batman's creation. When Solomon Grundy debuted, he was primarily a villain for the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott. Solomon Grundy proved a dangerous enemy, not just because of his absurd strength, but the fact his body was primarily made up of wood, which Alan's power ring couldn't affect. This made him a major problem, but as Alan fell out of favor and Batman gained more popularity, Solomon switched over to Gotham City.

Solomon Grundy was reanimated as a zombie due to being dumped in Slaughter Swamp. Since Slaughter Swamp is located outside of Gotham City, it didn't take long before Solomon Grundy ended up being a recurring villain for Batman, instead of Green Lantern, who moved out of Gotham after Batman's popularity exploded. This pretty firmly placed Solomon Grundy as a Batman villain, while he has occasionally faced other heroes, such Green Arrow, Solomon Grundy rarely fights anyone other than Batman these days.

1 Professor Pyg Was Meant To Be A Dark Mirror To Dick Grayson

Batman and Robin #1 by Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Alex Sinclair and Pat Brosseau.

When Dick Grayson was acting as Batman, at a time when Bruce Wayne was thought to be dead, one of the first new villains he encountered was Professor Pyg. Pyg was created as a dark mirror to Dick, even running his own circus known as the Circus of Strange. Pyg was a brutal villain ,who delighted in transforming people into "doll-o-trons," and even made an evil version of Nightwing out of one of them. Pyg was essentially Nightwing's own Joker and worked perfectly as a foil to him.

After Bruce returned, and Dick later left the role of Nightwing, Professor Pyg remained in Gotham City and simply carried on as a Batman villain. Despite his character themes having less to do with Bruce Wayne than Dick Grayson – as they were conceived of for the latter character – Pyg nevertheless has had some memorable altercations with the Caped Crusader. Since turning his focus on Batman, Pyg has mostly just dropped the circus theme and continued without it, turning him into just another maniac Batman villain who sometimes appears in Gotham City.