74. Bane

First Appearance: Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1
Best Writer: Chuck Dixon
Best Artist: Brian Bolland

Like The Joker, the scariest thing about Bane is his motives (or lack thereof). The beastly man infamously put Batman out of commission in the Knightfall comics, forcing a broken Bruce Wayne to let Jean-Paul Valley take over the Dark Knight mantle. Bane’s a terrifying foe, born in darkness and raised to thrive on terror—not endure it. As badly as he was botched in Batman and Robin, his first on-screen appearance, Tom Hardy later knocked the role out of the park in The Dark Knight Rises. — Tyler Kane