Top 100 Batman VILLAINS

71 - The Club of Villains

#71 - The Club of Villains
First Appearance: Batman #676 (Jun 2008)

"Believe me, everything you've heard about the Black Glove is true." ~Dr. Simon Hurt

Introduced as a Silver Age-inspired group of the darkest sort of villainy, the Black Glove's villainous extension known as the Club of Villains is meant to be a dark parody of Batman's goofy 50s team known as the Club of Heroes. I found this concept to be one of Morrison's better ones on his Batman run, despite the group as a whole only appearing together a few times. Each member seemed to have his or her own deeper significance to the Batman mythos, and the characters themselves all received some showcasing throughout the entirety of Morrison's run.

Characters like Scorpiana, El Sombrero, King Kraken... there were so many interesting characters leaking from Morrison's twisted, brilliant imagination. Each of them has remained active after Batman R.I.P. back in 2008, most of them showing up in Batman, Inc. either prior to or after the New 52 debuted. So many of them feel extremely deep with storied histories despite all being relatively newer characters. They also really fulfill Morrison's promise of Batman being more prominent on the world stage. Everyone from Pierrot to Scorpiana is a villain that hails from another part of the world, helping to define Batman's true significance as an inspiration for other vigilantes, as well as creating true adversarial conflicts amongst the Batman, Inc. franchise.

Greatest Club of Villains Story Ever Told: Batman, Inc. #3-5 - This story featured the two South American members of the Club of Villains, Scorpiana and El Sombrero, as they went toe-to-toe with Batman and his Argentinian counterpart, El Gaucho. The significance of threats of this level can't be underestimated; it forces Batman to utilize all of his skills (both mentally and physically), and leaves the reader with an entertaining and engrossing experience.