who is batman biggest enemy

[mxyzptlk]

i say joker

[Calhoun07]

Joker! Is there any contest?

[mxyzptlk]

i think its a contest

[Calhoun07]

But Joker has more power to just totally devastate Batmans' world than the other three. The other three are heavy hitters, but Joker is the king of them all.

[mxyzptlk]

yeah but its mainly a matter of opinion.

[Trent Lane]

Joker, all the way. Freeze is probably the strongest of these foes, but Joker is somewhat of a genius, added he can put up a little fight. Two Face and Penguin rely on weapons too much, IMO...

[mxyzptlk]

two face is also very smart i would put him ahead of freeze

[SilentBob173]

I'm sure the reasoning behind anyone anti-Joker for this poll is that in a head to head fight, anyone of these villains could wipe the floor with Joker. But the thing is Joker, because he is foamingly insane, is a genius. He would figure out a way to strike from a far so he never has to participate in a hand to hand fight.
Joker represents the greatest threat to Batman because Joker's goal is not to ultimatley kill Batman, despite what he may say. He wants to drive him insane. Batman fascinates him, and driving him nuts is what keeps him going. Joker realizes that something happened to Batman in the past (see Batman: The Killing Joke), eventhough he doesn't know exactly what. Joker has killed Robin and crippled Batgirl, and put a hole in the head of Commissioner Gordon's wife, but he's never gotten so close to doing anything of that nature to Batman. Because he wants to see him break under the pressure.
That's what makes him the most dangerous villain.
Two-Face and Penguin are to caught up in their "themes", and Freeze has also tried to break people's minds, but he could never compete with Joker on that scale.
Cheers.
Jason S

[batboy2001]

I would have to say the Joker, don't forget he used to be a hitman for the mob.

[DerekPowers]

JOKER!!!! He is a mad genius (as everyone stated), and i think he does okay in one-on-one fights, not that he's any match for bats, but still. he is just the man, end of story. I remember a little story in a comic (i forget which one) where some guy gets put away in arkam, and the whole time theres like a shadow or pressence running the place, a head honcho on the insanity, and at the end you find out it's the joker. all the other inmates treat him like a king, and basically that's what he is, he stikes fear into the hearts of the most crimanally insane people. and insane people like the joker have no boundaries, thats why they are capable of the most damage. two-face, i'd say, is second, then penguin, then freeze. i place penguin above freeze cause he thinks big and is in organized crime. peace.

[The Mad Hatter]

Batman's biggest enemy? Well, that would have to be Rhino, Scarface's beefy henchman. Actually, now that I think about it, it's probably Bubba the Morbidly Obese.

....oh, you mean Batman's GREATEST enemy! Never mind.

[Mr. Eye]

Joker by far.

Mr. Eye

[Joker85]

I think everyone can figure out who got my vote:)

[JLU Dude]

I just voted. Yes, I think the Joker is the top guy in Batman's rouge gallery. :D

[DR. BELCH]

Just look at "Almost Got Him"--Ivy, Two-Face, Croc, and Penguin are in awe of the clown's depravity at the end (and probably more than a little scared he's gone too g.d. far). Though it's worthy to note that Penguin is probably the only one of Batman's foes who is actually sane, albeit resembling a pudgy bird. A "gentleman villain", as I call him, he gets to go to a regular prison rather than a padded cell at Arkham. This probably made it easier for him to go legit and open a nightclub.
Though Ras-al Ghul, for my money, is a more polished and sinister villian than either of them. Over half a millennium of crime and he has yet to be caught by authorities....

[Joe Tully]

Joker. The Joker is basically the anti-thesis of everything that Batman stands for. Batman stands for order and does everything possible to keep order in Gotham, Joker tries to create as much chaos as possible, even if it doesn.t necessarily benefit himself. Joker stands for chaos just for the sake of chaos, killing people just because he finds it amusing, the others always carry out their crimes for their own gains. Joker also understands the most about how Batman thinks, probably because they are really two sides of the same coin. He spends all of his time trying to think of ways to piss off Batman and destroy the order that Batman fights for, just as Batman spends so much time trying to keep the order.

[Calhoun07]

Was there aever a chance for the others on the poll?

[Govan]

This is probably an obvious question to everyone else, but what exactly is "Batman: The Killing Joke"? I'm pretty sure it's not a TV episode . Could someone please tell me? Thanks.

BTW, my vote goes to the Joker.

[SilentBob173]

"Batman: The Killing Joke" was a oneshot Joker written by Alan Moore in the late 80's. It told the story of Joker shooting Barbara Gordon through the spine (leaving her in the wheelchair so many years still later) and it gave a possible origin story as to the Joker's past. Alan Moore really did an unbelievable job. You can still pick up a reprint of the story at almost ny comic shop. Just ask the guy at the counter. If they've never heard of it before, they have no right to be manning a comic store.
Cheers.
Jason S

Oh, and just in case you wanted it. I wrote a fanfic story based upon the Joker origin kiven in "Batman: The Killing Joke" called "I, Joker". If you want to read it, go to http://www.angelfire.com/weird/JasonS/index.html
There you will find the story that even has a few pictures from the comic book to help you along.

[don Jaime]

Batman's greatest enemy, the one that ultimately will destroy him is himself.

[Govan]

Thanks for the info, SilentBob. I'll check it out this weekend!

[durendal]

I agree that the most dangerous of batman's enemies would have to be Ra's Al Ghul. I mean he seems to have infinite resources and all sorts of serious armory backing him up from thugs to large weapons. he's just a higher level no good s#!$.

[DisneyBoy]

Honestly, I think Batman's greatest enemy, isn't anyone we're familiar with. Sure, the Joker's insane and Two-Face has big ties to Bats and Bruce, but the biggest enemy Bruce Wayne or Batman will ever have is the man who murdered his parents. Think about it: Not only did he make Batman and forever destroy Bruce's happiness, but he was never caught, never known and probably never will be. Joker has affected Batman alot, as have all of the other villains, but as far as his greatest enemy, it will forever be that figure in the lamp light that destroyed it all.

[Calhoun07]

Thats a very intersting view, and to know this man has never been caught...well, I am surprised nobody has opened up that door in any of the Batman stories in the past! That would make for a great graphic novel, where Batman comes in contact again with the man who killed his parents, that would be a great story to tell.

Or could we ever see it as a direct to video movie? If Dini is looking for any good plot lines, I'd love to see that in one of the upcoming movies.

[Joe Tully]

They have touched upon the topic a few times, and each time Batman thinks that he has finally solved the problem, but it opens up again. First, he thought it was the actions of the mugger, Joe Chill, then he found out his parents were ordered to be killed by some crime boss. I can't remember all of the details, but it seems to always get more complicated. Or is what I've talked about all Pre-Crisis and has Bats still not dealt with it in Post-Crisis continuity? Sorry, I like Bats and have followed him to an extent but am not sure exactly what you mean when you say that he hasn't confronted the killer. Is there another link in the aforementioned chain or has Bats not dealt with it Post-Crisis?

[Mr. Mayhem]

It's Joker! Who else is there. Sure, Batman has a gallery of rogues, but which one has done the most to torment Batman himself. Joker!

Joker has always done things to make himself Batman's no. 1 villain.

In the movie continuity he murdered Batman's parents.

In animated continuity he turned Tim Drake into a psychotic.

In comics continuity he's murdered Jason Todd, crippled Barbara Gordon, tried to drive Gordon nuts, and killed thousands etc.

So there's no contest on this one. Joker all the way!

[The Flash]

Why wasn't Ra's a choice? :)

[sun]

My opnion is the Joker, A great character unto himself, brilliant, cunning, and resourceful, always comes back....and in Batman Mask of the Phantasm, we saw a Joker who was the embodiment of evil, a good opposite of BATMAN.

[Kylewayne]

I would have to say Ra'a Al Gul. He is cunning, knows batman's identity, intelligent, dangerous to the world and he is immortal.
This villain will always pose a threat to Batman. The Joker, Batman can elliminate and defeat. Ra's is more of a challenge mentally and physically. :)

[BourgeoisBuffoon]

I'll say the Joker as well, for all reasons stated above....besides, with all he's done in all the continuities, he's bound to be a few notches above other baddies in the horror department...and where would Batman be today with out him?

....in the animated series Robin grew insane?! How?! Did he ever get better....?

[sun]

To me , the secret of a good story of good vs evil, is who portrays evil, and how well drawn that character is. Is he believeable, consistent, and so on. There have been many great ideas here, and everyone, has his favorite.. Mr Freeze, was evil, changed to good, then changed again, and again, Where does he fall in? No matter where you stand on which is the worst, BATS, sure gave us an opportunity to see some great characters matched against each other. There will probably never be anything like it on TV or movies anywhere, anytime....
P.s. one of the reasons that "Snow White" made it and helped to further this art form, no matter what you think of the rest of the characters, the evil queen, is really the star of the movie..