It is often said that a hero is only as good as their villain(s), and few superheroes come close to Batman when it comes to this department. Over the course of his 82 years of existence, Batman has built up one of the most impressive rogues' galleries ever for a fictional character. His enemies come in all shapes and sizes, from all over the planet and even from other dimensions. Exactly how much threat any one of them poses isn't fixed, and depends on what the current story arc demands. The 'Emperor Joker' storyline from 2000 depicted the Joker as a reality-altering God-like being, but of course, he is actually not that powerful.
Being powerful can be defined in many different ways. Someone like Bane is ahead of all others in terms of physical strength, but it can also mean having a great deal of influence and assets, like Ra's Al Ghul does. But all things considered, some are evidently more powerful than others, and below it has been tried to rank the villains according to how powerful they are as fairly as possible.
10 Two-Face
Like so many villains out there, Two-Face's origin story is a tragic one, which makes him all the more interesting as a character. Harvey Dent was once one of Batman's closest allies, but since getting acid thrown at his face and turning into what he is today, he is little more than another character out for blood on the streets of Gotham.
He is dangerous of course, as all of Batman's villains are, but at the end of the day, he is still just a guy with some surprisingly symmetrical facial scars, and an obsession with flipping coins.
9 Mr. Freeze
Mr. Freeze is one of those villains for whom it is difficult not to feel sorry for. The only thing he wants to do is find a cure for his terminally ill wife, and all his criminal acts are driven by this rather wholesome motive.
His iconic Cryo-Suit that he can be seen wearing at all times (as it is necessary for him to stay alive) grants him superhuman strength. Mr. Freeze's ice-related powers that he mainly channels through his freeze gun are not to be taken lightly either, capable of taking the temperature of things to insanely low levels.
8 The Scarecrow
His primary weapon of choice is his signature creation the fear toxin, with which he has been terrorizing the citizens of Gotham for many years. There is no denying the sheer potency of the fear toxin, as it has been shown time and time again how effective it is as an agent of chemical warfare, and it is what makes Scarecrow one of Batman's greatest foes.
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But at the same time, he is something of a one-trick pony. Someone as capable as Batman shouldn't have a very hard time protecting himself against the toxin.
7 The Joker
The Joker is undoubtedly the best Batman villain by a long shot, but being the best doesn't necessarily mean being the strongest. His biggest weapon is simply how insane he is, which makes him unpredictable even in the eyes of the so-called World's Greatest Detective.
It's impossible to guess what the Joker is planning at any given time, and the way he can get under Batman's skin makes him a foe that is not to be underestimated. As much as the film Joker would like people to believe, there really isn't anything sympathetic about the character.
6 Ra's Al Ghul
Besides being a terrible father-in-law (his daughter Talia al Ghul and Bruce Wayne were married once upon a time), Ra's Al Ghul is also the head of one of the deadliest factions in DC - the League of Assassins. That makes him a fearsome adversary in itself but he is also nigh immortal on top of that, due to the fact that he has access to the Lazarus Pits which are capable of prolonging life and healing any wounds.
The knowledge and resources he has gathered over the centuries of being alive make him deadlier than most, and he has never shied away from putting them to use when necessary.
5 Poison Ivy
Poison Ivy's control over all kinds of plant life, many of them poisonous in nature, is a mighty superpower in itself, but she has shown the full extent of her powers only a few times.
In 2018's Batman #41 she literally took over the mind of every single person on the planet except for Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, in the most impressive show of her powers ever. As someone who cares deeply about the plant kingdom, her heart is definitely in the right place and it could even be said that she is deserving of redemption.
4 The Court Of Owls
Writer Scott Snyder introduced a completely new and hefty threat to the Bat-family in the form of the Court Of Owls, a group of shadowy figures who had been secretly controlling Gotham for centuries.
Besides owning a seemingly endless supply of resources, they also have their very own house-grown assassins called the Talons, against whom the entire Bat-family practically went to war towards the beginning of Batman's New 52 run. Furthermore, the Court Of Owls is related to an even bigger and more powerful organization, called the Parliament of Owls whose influence extends to around the world.
3 Deathstroke
From Lady Shiva to Lobo, there's no end to the number of deadly assassins in the DC universe, and Batman has gone toe to toe with many of them on various occasions, with Deathstroke being arguably the most formidable of them all. He has enhanced physical attributes but no flashy superpowers, which has never stopped him from heading straight into fights against opponents much stronger than him such as Superman.
DC comics have always made a point about how Batman is insanely skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and Deathstroke has repeatedly shown that he is just as good if not better.
2 Bane
One of Batman's most iconic story arcs, 'Knightfall', and a core premise of the film The Dark Knight Rises revolves around how Bane absolutely breaks Batman, both physically and spiritually. On the surface, it would seem that he is little more than just a brute on steroids, but as Tom King's Batman run showed, he is capable of intellectual planning as well.
Despite being imprisoned inside Arkham Asylum, he managed to take over Gotham and drive Batman out of his own city. Bane beat Batman within an inch of his life during the storyline 'I Am Bane', and also almost killed Nightwing, Red Hood, and Robin.
1 The Batman Who Laughs
The introduction of the Dark Multiverse was a game-changer for the entirety of the DC Universe, and some serious new threats came into the picture in the form of the Dark Knights. These Dark Knights represented some of the worst versions of Batman that could possibly exist, and the most dangerous of them all was The Batman Who Laughs, an amalgamation of the Joker and Batman.
He isn't just unredictable to boot, but also has the powers of the god-like being Doctor Manhattan, and there is seemingly no limit to how powerful he is. He single-handedly defeated the entire Justice League of his reality.
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