10 Best Monsters In DC Comics, Ranked | ScreenRant
The DC Universe is a world filled with heroes and villains both human and metahuman alike. With DC Comics embracing an overall darker tone, various authors and illustrators like Alan Moore and Greg Capullo have explored the more macabre and unusual characters that go bump in the night. In addition to DC's usual colorful parade of superheroes such as Superman and the Flash, monsters also exist and they take many shapes and forms.
Across the DC Universe are many different monsters who have made an impact with fans as crusading heroes, brooding anti-heroes, and nefarious villains alike. Which ones are the best? Kaiju are excluded since they are in a different league of their own.
10 Hugo Strange's Monster Men
Hugo Strange is known for his twisted psychological experiments but with the Monster Men, Hugo Strange became a full-blown mad scientist. Using inmates from Arkham Asylum, Hugo Strange mutated and altered his victims until they resulted in deformed, mindless beasts.
In this case, one could argue that Hugo Strange is more of a monster than his experiments are but they still count. They are towering beasts reminiscent of folklore monsters such as ogres or trolls, they have immense strength, and are cannibals which makes them even more fearsome.
9 Killer Croc
Waylon Jones sadly was born with an affliction that gave him scale-like skin and as a result, he was treated like a monster. Like many similar tragic tales, being treated like a monster resulted in him turning him into one: a man-eating metahuman living in the sewers thus earning him the name of Killer Croc.
Killer Croc is one of Batman's most famous foes. His unique condition resulted in him having superhuman strength, sharp claws, and powerful jaws of sharp teeth. Not only does Batman often struggle to fight him but Killer Croc has earned Amanda Waller's attention, eventually becoming a member of the Suicide Squad.
8 The Trench
The legends of sea monsters told by sailors likely all pale in comparison to the Trench. These abyss-dwelling creatures are best described as underwater versions of the Xenomorph creature from the Alien franchise. They are tall, have sharp teeth, and bipedal bodies that make them a threat both in and out of the water.
They are never alone, traveling in swarms in the hundreds and can sink a ship within minutes. Fast, deadly, and ravenous, the Trench is enough to make even Aquaman afraid to enter some parts of the sea. Most importantly, they are led by a queen who towers over all the others, again similar to the Xenomorph Queen in Aliens.
7 Etrigan
In his life, Jason Blood was a Knight of Camelot until Merlin bound a demon to his soul thus making him immortal. With the citing of a poem, Jason Blood transforms into the demon known as Etrigan who fights for good despite his violent and fatal methods.
It's a similar situation as Johnny Blaze and the Ghost Rider in the Marvel Universe except Jason Blood tends to be in unison with his other half even if they don't always get along. Etrigan is a unique monster who goes on many mystical adventures, especially with the Justice League Dark team and, on occasion, Batman.
6 Clayface
Basil Karlo (or Matt Hagen depending on the portrayal) was already a less than stellar person before his powers. After getting the ability to shapeshift, he became worse especially when he took on criminal activities which further pushed him away from being Basil Karlo and into the shape-shifting monster known as Clayface.
Clayface is a throwback to classic horror actors, even his name is a play on Boris Karloff who played the Mummy and Frankenstein's monster. With his abilities, Clayface can shapeshift into anybody and form melee weapons from his body akin to the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgment Day. This makes him fierce and nearly impossible to defeat, let alone kill.
5 Frankenstein
Yes, the creature from Mary Shelley's novel exists in the DC Universe and even leads his own team of monsters in the comic Frankenstein: Agent Of S.H.A.D.E. The twist in the DC world was that Doctor Victor Frankenstein used the blood of an alien in the process to bring the monster to life.
This Frankenstein has been fighting evil for decades due to his immortality and through different wars including World War II and the Vietnam War. Metahuman, undead, and human alike, Frankenstein is always ready to slay them all even in the modern-day. Already known to comic fans and general audiences as one of the most famous Universal film monsters, this DC version is considerably more powerful and intelligent than its silver screen predecessor.
4 Solomon Grundy
"Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday" begins the famous poem that typically follows this character. An undead brute that has haunted Gotham since his death as Cyrus Gold in the 19th century. He was resurrected as Solomon Grundy in the 20th century as a villain of the original Alan Scott Green Lantern.
Since then, Solomon Grundy has been a recurring villain and anti-hero across many different DC franchises, even making it into crossovers such as the Injustice comics. He mixes the classic zombie trope with a visual reminiscence of Frankenstein's Monster.
3 Man-Bat
It's the classic science-gone-amiss story: a nice scientist trying to cure deafness in the world tries merging his DNA with that of a vampire bat. What could possibly go wrong? Well, Kirk Langstrom ends up transforming into the massive out-of-control creature known as Man-Bat.
It's like something straight out of a horror movie and the stories usually take full advantage of that. In Batman: Arkham Knight, Man-Bat provides one of the scariest quests of the Arkham series, especially with the jump scare that introduces the character in the game.
2 Doomsday
If anything in the DC universe can be classified as a monster, it's Doomsday. He is a creature designed to be a living weapon of mass destruction and nothing else. He fights, he kills, and with each fight he gets more and more powerful thanks to his healing factor, making his bone protrusions grow.
Doomsday is capable of fighting the entire Justice League and he has even killed Superman, proving he is stronger than the Man of Steel. He's also shown to fight the mighty Darkseid but what makes Doomsday so scary is his lack of emotion. There is no talking down Doomsday or reasoning with him, he just kills and continues on to find more beings to slaughter.
1 Swamp Thing
Though he did not create Swamp Thing, Alan Moore revolutionized the character by creating a more complex anti-hero. After Dr. Alec Holland is murdered, his consciousness is merged with a plant to create a humanoid creature that fights for the plant life of Earth known simply as the Green while trying to maintain peace with humanity.
It's far from a typical superhero origin and is best described as a tragic monster story, once again emulating classic Universal monsters such as The Wolfman and The Creature From The Black Lagoon. Swamp Thing has acted as a superhero, however, and proven to be quite the powerful being in the expansive DC Universe. With his power coming from The Green, which unites all plant life on Earth, Swamp Thing is by far the most powerful "monster" in DC Comics and a hero that has saved countless lives since his debut in the 1970s.