The 35 greatest DC characters in movies and TV
Sep. 25, 2024When there’s a crisis on infinite earths, these are the heroes up in the sky
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TheDC Comicsmultiverse is expansive and epic, with more than just Batman and Superman to represent the bravest and boldest heroes ever imagined. But with so many DC characters having leapt to TV and movies, it begs the question: Who are the greatest DC characters in movies and TV?
Beginning with the 1951 movie Superman and the Mole Men, DC Comics has been a regular fixture in Hollywood with many movies and television shows based on its comics. In 1966, the TV series Batman, famously starring Adam West, left a permanent imprint over pop culture, being a true camp classic which laid the foundations for not just future Batman movies but all superhero media to come. When the movie studio Warner Bros. acquired the comic book publisher in 1969, it quickly led to DC becoming an even bigger brand and a wellspring for WB to leverage against its competitors in Hollywood.
With too many DC movies and TV shows to count, surely there have to besomestand-out characters. From the iconic to the underrated, these are the 35 greatest DC characters in movies and TV. A quick note that we’re omitting all animated versions completely, because that’s justtoo manycharacters to account for and honestly deserves its own list. (And number one would be Kevin Conroy’s Batman, anyway.)
35. Stargirl (Brec Bassinger)
Anyone can break the fourth wall, but Mr. Nobody knows how to make it a show. In the impeccable and surreal DC streaming series Doom Patrol, Alan Tudyk frequently steals its first season as the chaotic villain Mr. Nobody, an omnipresent trickster who is more of anideathan he is a corporeal entity. Mr. Nobody has the power to break through dimensions and change reality. He is completely aware of the audience watching at home too, which makes him a highly unpredictable villain and one of the most unique in the entire DC multiverse.
There are a lot of heroes and villains who crowd DC’s Titans, but its heart and soul is found in Raven. One of the most popular characters in the original Teen Titans, Raven is the team’s resident moody child, an empath of hybrid origins who commands dark magical powers. Teagan Croft anchors the first season of Titans as its de facto main character, a young girl who slowly discovers the full extent of her abilities. While Croft’s iteration of Raven is a lot younger compared to her older, slightly more mature teammates, there’s no denying that Titans isn’t Raven’s show, if unofficially.
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In 2006, Brandon Routh took the skies as Superman in the movie Superman Returns. Years later, Routh donned a whole new identity: The Atom, a genius inventor named Ray Palmer with the power of size-shifting. While Routh’s first few episodes as Ray Palmer, for the DC TV series Arrow, initially felt inspired by Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark, the spin-off show Legends of Tomorrow allowed Routh to make Ray Palmer entirely his own, his character evolving into a joyful misfit with a love for old musicals and his archenemy’s beautiful daughter.
Black Adam may not be many people’s favorite DC movie, but the movie did one thing right: Feature James Bond star Pierce Brosnan as the sorcerer Doctor Fate. In contrast to Marvel’s Doctor Strange, Brosnan’s Doctor Fate is an elder statesman superhero, a wise sage who plays an important role in guiding the more youthful Justice Society members while they deal with the titular antihero Black Adam (Dwayne Johnson). Black Adam woefully doesn’t take full advantage of Brosnan, but he’s easily the most fun to watch do his thing.
She carries herself with classic old world glamor, but it’s all a disguise to mask her inner pain. In the TV series Doom Patrol, April Bowlby co-stars as Elasti-Woman, a former Hollywood actress whose hubris and arrogance exposed her to a toxic gas that transformed her into a disfigured shapeshifter. (Her default state is that of a gelatinous blob, like melted pudding.) Despite retreating from the limelight, Rita Farr’s extroverted nature makes her a true standout from the rest of the more reclusive Doom Patrol members.
In the era of dial-up internet, Teri Hatcher broke the internet. But the actress' portrayal of intrepid journalist Lois Lane, in the classic TV hit The New Adventures of Lois & Clark, is so much more than her online virality. While the show had Hatcher co-star with Dean Cain, it was Hatcher who made the series a true ’90s staple, giving Lois equal parts brains, wit, humor, and playful sex appeal. For many who grew up tuning into the show, Hatcher epitomized their dream gal and remains the ultimate TV crush of the 1990s.
In one life, she was the presumed dead sister of Laurel Lance who was sleeping with her sister’s boyfriend Oliver Queen before a fateful shipwreck. But upon her rescue by the League of Assassins who took her in, Sara Lance found new life as the Black andlater White Canary. Introduced in the TV series Arrow, Caity Lotz’s Sara plays an important supporting role of the Green Arrow before leading a group of superhero outcasts in the spin-off series Legends of Tomorrow. While in the grand scheme her complete story is a tad overwritten, including an early recasting of the role, Lotz imbues so much fun into Sara, someone who grows from a young scorned lover into the commanding leader of the multiverse’s worst best defenders.
When The CW more or less specialized in mixing young adult melodrama with superheroic adventures, one show dared to stand apart: Black Lightning. For four seasons of the TV show Black Lightning, Cress Williams starred as the titular hero, a middle-aged high school principal who resumes his crime-fighting duties. Williams plays the part, ahem, heroically, with a central protagonist who is already matured as both a masked vigilante and a person but must instead adapt to a scary new status quo. In a multiverse crowded with young superheroes, Black Lightning is one of the few to prove that some heroes age like fine wine.
Not all heroes wear capes, but some know how to dry clean them. While Christian Bale anchors Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed Dark Knight trilogy, therealhero in them is Michael Caine as Batman’s butler Alfred Pennyworth. With Caine keeping his natural Cockney accent, we find an Alfred with an unusual blue collar background (in contrast to previous Alfreds with more posh, old money auras). This not only makes Caine’s version of Alfred entirely his, but reveals a new dimension in Nolan’s trilogy that implies much about the Wayne family and Alfred’s life before his service. And really, what other kind of Alfred could quip that Wayne does “all those bloody pushups” for nothing?
In the world of Damien Lindelof’s Watchmen, the paranoid investigator Looking Glass dons a reflective, mirror-like mask that is not only a weapon against local crime and corruption, but illustrates his own distrust of the world at large. The role is masterfully played by Tim Blake Nelson, whose distinct southern-accented speaking voice and authoritative tone imbues Looking Glass with an aura of psychological lethality. Looking Glass is an especially memorable addition to the Watchmen universe as someone who wrestles with his own vulnerabilities while keeping a steely facade.
There have been many Lex Luthors, but there is only one Michael Rosenbaum. From the very beginning of the iconic WB series Smallville, Rosenbaum’s Lex Luthor harbors suspicions about the man who saves him from an otherwise deadly accident. Over the course of 10 amazing seasons, Rosenbaum delivers arguably the definitive portrayal of Lex Luthor, a complicated man who believes what’s best for humanity has nothing to do with Kryptonians - and it all stems from a complicated relationship with Clark Kent.
Throughout its run on The CW, producers of Arrow were open about their inspirations from Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, a DC superhero epic that featured Lian Nesson in the role of mystic mastermind Ra’s al Ghul. In Season 3 of Arrow, the show introduced its own version of Ra’s al Ghul with actor Matt Nable, whose performance is maybetoo goodfor TV. With alarming composure and unbearable calm, Nable’s version of Ra’s al Ghul is like a predator in waiting; a villain who doesn’t do big speeches or maniacal cackles, but instead breathes pure fire.
It should have been so easy for actor Wentworth Miller to phone in Captain Cold, one of many recurring villains on The CW’s The Flash. But Miller deserves all the flowers for daring to experiment as Leonard Snart, aka Captain Cold, whose freeze ray can literally ice The Flash in his tracks. From the unusual ways Cold talks, walks, and even smirks, Miller elevates Cold from a one-note episodic villain to a welcome recurring presence whose fox-like stage presence and sharp timing make him one of the best single characters in the whole Arrowverse, bar none.
Amanda Waller is, to put it mildly, a hard ass. So it’s no surprise the DC film franchise sought out decorated actress Viola Davis to fill the shoes of the feared head of A.R.G.U.S.. Amanda Waller’s whole deal is that she is the uncompromising face of the United States government as it stands eye-to-eye with supernatural and extraterrestrial threats; Davis plays that role to a T, embodying a cold, calculating, morally ambiguous woman unafraid to get blood stains on her pumps. Through her command of Task Force X - aka, the Suicide Squad - Amanda Waller just might be the most dangerous person in the entire DC multiverse. That she has a literal license to act with impunity makes her more unstoppable than any of the New Gods.
Who knew Aquaman could be sorad?In what was an obvious effort to reinvent Aquaman for the modern age, the DC cinematic universe enlisted Jason Momoa, fresh from his star-making turn on Game of Thrones to wield the trident of the iconic DC superhero. Departing from the character’s popular image as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed royal, Momoa’s approach to Aquaman was to basically let Momoa be himself, transforming Arthur Curry into a rugged dude with a taste for Harleys and brews. It may offend comic purists, but don’t say you wouldn’t want to hang out with Momoa’s Aquaman.
It was no small feat to undertake a role previously played by Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Halle Berry, but Anne Hathaway was up for the challenge. In Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Returns, Hathaway appears as cat burglar Selina Kyle, who gets wrapped up in Bane’s plot to take over Gotham and break Batman in half. Hathaway weaponizes both her natural beauty and intoxicating charisma to remake Catwoman into her image, instilling again her femme fatale status that makes even Batman quiver in his cape.
After an first appearance in Arrow that functioned as an unofficial backdoor pilot, Grant Gustin starred in his own spin-off The Flash, playing the title role. The second TV adaptation of the DC Comics character, Gustin’s version of Barry Allen, aka The Flash, was in a lot ways like his predecessor John Wesley Shipp andverymuch unlike Stephen Amell’s grim and moody Green Arrow. At times dorky and goofy but never a pushover, Gustin’s Flash knew when to put the business on bad guys and when to be more human than hero. While Ezra Miller’s big screen version of the same character was tons more neurotic and manic, and maybe more memorable, Gustin’s was the best of all different worlds.
While Henry Cavill was the Man of Steel on the big screen, parallel to him on TV was Tyler Hoechlin, who reintroduced a wholesome Superman that brought the icon back down to Earth. Initially appearing on Supergirl before leading his own spin-off series Superman & Lois, Hoechlin’s version of Superman feels a lot like the spiritual reincarnation of Christopher Reeve mixed with some Dean Cain. But Hoechlin’s Superman is firmly his own, leading a series that sees Superman deal with the ups and downs of fatherhood in a way no past Superman has ever dealt with before. All the while, Hoechlin’s interpretation feels definitive for the modern era, a Superman that feels timeless as much as it feels fresh.
At first glance, John Cena should have been a straightforward hero like Superman or Captain America. But no one can drop bizarre one-liners with a straight face like John Cena. And that is why it was a genius move forJames Gunnto have Cena play Peacemaker, a gun-toting freedom fighter with the foulest of mouths. While his appearance in The Suicide Squad is certainly entertaining, his spin-off streaming series adds depths of humanity to an otherwise absurd role. When we first meet Peacemaker, he’s nothing more than a deranged man in a costume. It’s only with the gift of more time that we see Peacemaker for the troubled soul he truly is.
It’s basically tradition for all actors cast as Batman to suffer the wrath of fans. Michael Keaton, Christian Bale, George Clooney, and Robert Pattinson were all met with feverish skepticism and biting sarcasm before fans actually saw them wear the cowl. Ben Affleck was no exception, his gossip magazine reputation looming over the decorated filmmaker when he was chosen to play Batman. But after the release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Affleck didn’t just earn respect from fans but cemented his own legacy as the ultimate Caped Crusader for the big screen. Infinitely more aggressive and lethal than his predecessors, Affleck’s Batman inhabits the abyss before basking in the light of friendship with the help of Superman and the Justice League. Also, let’s just admit it: He has the coolest Batsuit of all time.
The central protagonist of Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen, Angela Abar is a product of a young girl finding her calling on a grimey grindhouse movie’s VHS cover. Adopting the moniker “Sister Night” after her childhood inspiration, Angela Abar fights crime and uncovers a vast and racist conspiracy as the vengeful woman of the cloth, Sister Night, who brings holy justice to a troubled world. While there is still dispute if Lindelof’s “sequel” to the original transgressive graphic novel is as worthy as its predecessor, Angela Abar makes a great case that the story is as timeless as it is malleable to suit contemporary anxieties.
“Peace has cost you your strength. Victory has defeated you.” With lines like that and more, Bane suddenly became so much more than the bizarro Mexican wrestler he used to be in the comics. Through director Christopher Nolan and actor Tom Hardy, Bane instantly rose from obscure bad guy to A-list villain in all of Batman’s rogues gallery, someone we could reasonably believe could break Batman’s back. With Hardy’s unusual and eerie choices in his performance as Bane, including how he spoke - sitting somewhere between old-world Latin and elderly English aristocrat - Bane muscled his way to iconic status with ease.
In the months leading up to the summer 2008 release of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger’s unflinching performance as The Joker was generating significant critical buzz. But when Ledger died in January 2008, his passing imbued a haunting aura around the whole thing. Between the spectacle of Ledger’s reportedly obsessive transformation into the role, the generally morbid subject matter of death, and the abject grisliness of the Joker himself, Nolan’s movie suddenly felt so much more otherworldly than your typical superhero tentpole. Even if Ledger did not live to see his work change culture forever, his Joker is forever imprinted in our psyches thanks to just three words: “Why so serious?”
There are legends, there are icons, and there is Christopher Reeve. We take it for granted now, but the embarrassment of riches that is the superhero genre today is all largely thanks to Reeve’s lively and deeply human portrayal of the most impossible fictional character ever imagined. Through Reeve, Superman feels like a man first and foremost, a person who was raised right and wants to do the right thing even when the world thinks otherwise. Between his admirable principles and handsome charm, Reeve’s Superman is considered the definitive movie superhero and for good reason. He truly made us all believe that a man could fly.
Eric Francisco is a freelance entertainment journalist and graduate of Rutgers University. If a movie or TV show has superheroes, spaceships, kung fu, or John Cena, he’s your guy to make sense of it. A former senior writer at Inverse, his byline has also appeared at Vulture, The Daily Beast, Observer, and The Mary Sue. You can find him screaming at Devils hockey games or dodging enemy fire in Call of Duty: Warzone.
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