Antiheroes have recently taken center stage on the big screen, with The Joker, Harley Quinn, Venom, Maleficent and countless others receiving acclaim for their representation of the “bad guy.” Most recently, the pad-footed foe Penguin, one of the beloved Batman villains, has earned his shot at stardom. 

The Penguin, a spin-off series to the 2022 film The Batman, is coming to Max this fall. Colin Farrell returns to play Oswald Cobblepot in the television show. The mini-series will follow the Penguin’s rise to power in the gangster Gotham underworld.

In recent years, most adaptations of Batman have featured the Penguin and other well-known villains like Catwoman, Poison Ivy and the Riddler. But Batman has been around, in some form, since May 1939. He has a long-running catalog of villains who deserve time in the limelight. Here are five lesser-known Batman villains who should have their own television show.

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Dollmaker

Batman's The Dollmaker, with his head tilted. He looks like a straw man, scrawny with mousy hair. He has glowing green eyes.

Everyone knows the freaky face of Joker. In many adaptations, what seems like a clown mask is a face sown or stapled onto his. In the New 52 rebooted DC continuity comic series, the Joker has his face cut off to be reborn. The man who does such a vicious deed? Dollmaker, also known as Barton Mathis.

At a young age, Mathis witnessed his father kill and cannibalize people on “hunting trips.” Needless to say, the father-son bonding trips left a lasting impression. Later, he would watch his father be shot and killed by a young cop named James Gordon.

Traumatic experiences piled on top of one another drew Mathis towards a life of violence. He becomes a serial killer who creates dolls out of his victim’s skin and limbs. For Arrow fans, Mathis appears in Season 2 of the CW Series. With an established, intriguing backstory and a “family” of villains, the Dollmaker would make a compelling main character for a television series.

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Hugo Strange

Hugo Strange from the Batman Universe. He is grinning, staring with a deranged look on his face.

With his recurring presence in the Batman comics, it is shocking that Hugo Strange has not found success around different mediums. He first appeared in 1940, making him one of the oldest villains of Batman, and did briefly appear in the TV Series Gotham. Just like his nemesis, Strange does not possess any supernatural power. However, he has extreme intellect, particularly regarding psychology. He can emotionally and mentally control his foes, thanks to his understanding of human behavior. 

Like many other Batman villains, Strange’s childhood was marred with struggle. He was raised in an orphanage in Gotham City, but he was determined to overcome his hardships. He became a professor of psychiatry at Gotham State University but was suspended over theories in genetic engineering.

Instead, he began working at Arkham Asylum. Thanks to his intellect, Strange is one of the first villains to learn Batman’s true identity and believes he could do better at eliminating the city’s criminals—but it would be for fame. The best villains are oftentimes the ones who think they are morally right and intellectually superior, and Hugo Strange fits that perfectly. A series following him would offer a look into the mind of a master manipulator and be an intriguing watch.

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Professor Pyg

Professor Pyg speaks to Batman after he discovers him in surgery.

Professor Pyg in Batman: Arkham Knight

This villain’s name aptly describes his characteristics: Professor Pyg wears a pig face and terrorizes Gotham City. He sees human beings as broken and seeks to perfect them through surgery and chemicals, changing them into creatures called “Dollotrons.”

These humanoids are under his control, and he can unleash them on his foes. While it may sound like Professor Pyg is nothing more than a comedic villain for Bruce Wayne, the truth is that he is deranged and disturbing. He is effectively performing freak science experiments on the innocent people of Gotham, obsessed with the myth of Pygmalion.

Also known as Lazlo Valentin, Professor Pyg is the leader of Circus of Strange, a crime syndicate full of circus-themed villains. He appears in Gotham Season 4, where he murders crooked cops. Professor Pyg is visibly terrifying in the show, and his unique appearance and obsessive personality would create an interesting spin-off series. Admittedly, it would have to be rated R.

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Killer Croc

Killer Croc in chains in Arkham Asylum. He is enormous, pulling at the chains.

Killer Croc in Son of Batman.

Unfortunately, in most adaptations of the villain Killer Croc, he is very one-dimensional. He will be a brute-like creature looking to rob, steal or kill. However, there is potential to dive deeper into the story of Killer Croc, or Waylon Jones, a man born into a monster.

Waylon Jones was born with an extremely rare genetic mutation that caused him to grow to an enormous size, with green scales for skin. Bullied and mocked by those around him, Jones became insane. Unfortunately, he found little relief at home — his mother died in childbirth, and his father left at a young age, so he was raised by his aunt.

Joining a freakshow, Jones found a pseudo-family he cared for deeply, but his circus mates were brutally murdered. This pushed him over the edge. Soon after, he gave into his primal urges, turning into a cannibal and hunting down the killers. While he is a crazed criminal, there is more to Killer Croc’s story than being born a crocodile. He has grounds for sympathy, creating grounds for a television show that focuses on his life. 

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Jason Todd

Jason Todd stands in the rain in the city at night. He wears a red mask with a black coat.

Jason Todd from the animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood

If producers want to create a television show about disillusioned father-son relationships, look no further than Jason Todd, aka Red Hood. Once, he was Robin, succeeding Dick Grayson as Batman’s sidekick. However, he wasn’t popular in the 1980s, and DC Comics held a telephone poll to determine if he would be killed. For anyone who may have voted “yes” to that poll, thank you. Because of you, Todd died at the hands of Joker, and in 2005, we got him filling the role of Red Hood. 

In many ways, Red Hood is like Batman. However, he is willing to kill. He plays a part in the animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood, but aspects of his story could be further explored in a short series. Furthermore, he interacts with multiple other beloved Batman characters, like the other “Robins” — Grayson, Damian Wayne, and Tim Drake.

His death was the consequence of losing a phone poll by less than 100 votes. But his rebirth is an incredible expansion of an otherwise ordinary character. His story is worthy of expansion in a television series for more than a face-off with Batman.

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