Top 100 Batman VILLAINS

43 - Zsasz

#43 - Mister Zsasz
First Appearance: Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1 (Jun 1992)

"Man needs no divine assistance. He makes himself! I chose to exterminate the zombies. I chose to kill. But I hurt myself, too -- to remind me that even I am only human!" ~Zsasz

Another tough character to rank.

Zsasz has everything going for him - he's easily one of the most frightening villains to appear in ANY rogues gallery, let alone Batman's. He's got a dark, disturbing, memorable personality with an appearance that is simple yet hard to forget. I think most every hardcore Batman fan would say he's one of the best second-tier villains in Batman's arsenal.

So what's the catch? Name your favorite Zsasz story.

That's what I thought.

Zsasz has a surprisingly major lack of great stories; I could really only come up with one that I thought was truly great, but aside from that, Zsasz has been kicked all over the Batman world in stories that portray him well, but ultimately come off as mediocre. It's sort of an interesting conundrum - how can a character always seem to be "great" and yet all of the stories he appears in be less than? As much as I love Zsasz's murderous personality and psychotic justifications, he's getting serious points off for a lack of anything remotely resembling a good back catalog. And then, of course, there's the terrible portrayal of him in the Arkham games, where he pretty much comes off as a one punch punk in both Asylum and City. No boss fight, no clever deathtraps, just rambling incoherence and ridiculously easy puzzles to solve. Someone show this guy some respect so he can move up on my list, eh?

Greatest Zsasz Story Ever Told: Batman: Shadow of the Bat #4 - A great, chilling tale with Gordon, Batman and Robin hot on the heels of the murderous Zsasz; really demonstrates his threat level and also his psychosis well.