97. Violator (Spawn)

The number one cause of coulrophobia (the abnormal or exaggerated fear of clowns) is not, as you might initially think, a bad childhood experience at a birthday party or the circus. Mental health experts believe it may have more to do with children seeing sinister portrayals of clowns in the media. If true, Spawn creator Todd McFarlane may have psychologically damaged an entire generation with the Violator.

A Hell-born demon whose purpose is to groom Hellspawn's in the service of evil, the gruesome Violator's most iconic physical form is the Clown, a disgustingly overweight, short, balding man who wears blue face-paint. His demonic powers include super-strength, shape-shifting, healing, teleportation, and the ability to breathe fire... just to name a few. And if being a real bastard was a superpower, we'd have listed that, too.

Sent to Earth by Malebolgia, the powerful ruler of the Eighth Circle of Hell, Violator is tasked with monitoring Al Simmons. But the foul-mouthed Clown harasses and taunts Simmons, feeling that he is far superior to this newest Spawn. And while he cannot kill any Spawn without an order from his superiors, that hasn't stopped him from making Simmons life a (literal) living Hell.He has been killed numerous times, only to be sent back to Hell and restored to life by his master.

Violator first appeared Spawn #1 (May 1992), he was prominently featured in the popular HBO miniseries, and was main antagonist in the oft-maligned 1997 live-action movie (played by John Leguizamo). The Violator has also made an appearance in every Spawn videogame ever released.