The evil doppelganger is an age old trope that has been incorporated in comics for decades
now.
From evil versions that exist on alternate earths, to sinister clones that were created
solely to bring down our beloved superheroes, both Marvel and DC have their fair share of
carbon copy villains that have appeared in some of our favorite panels over the years.
And sometimes, they even outshine the hero they were inspired by.
So today, we’re taking a closer look at them with our list of the top 10 evil doppelgangers
cooler than the heroes.
But before we begin, I’m joined by a very special guest from our brand new sister channel,
Beyond the Screen- 10 The Crime Syndicate
Let’s start off this list by looking at an entire team of doppelgangers; the Crime
Syndicate from Earth 3 in the DC multiverse.
The Crime Syndicate is the Justice League on an alternate earth, except instead of being
superheroes, they are all villains.
The original iteration of the group included Ultraman, the evil version of Superman.
Atomica, who is the evil version of the Atom, and was particularly fond of killing children.
There’s Deathstorm, the evil version of Firestorm.
Grid, who is Cyborg but bad, and passively compiled information on those across the globe,
not caring about invading anyone’s privacy.
Johnny Quick was the evil version of the Flash.
Hal Jordan’s dubious double is Power Ring, Sea King is Aquaman.
Wonder woman’s evil double is Superwoman, who is the Earth 3 Lois Lane.
And of course, Batman’s evil doppelganger, Owlman.
Hell, there was even an evil version of Alfred Pennyworth.
9 Bizarro This wouldn’t be a list of doppelgangers
if we didn’t include the OG doppelganger himself, Bizarro.
Bizarro first hit the scene back in the Silver Age, in October 1958 in issue 68 of Superboy.
He was created as an antagonist who was the mirror image of Superman who essentially does
everything backwards, or opposite, to how the superhero does things, or perceives things.
The first version of the character was a play on Frankenstein’s monster, a teen version
to combat Superboy, which was later adjusted into an adult version.
According the writers who first penned that adult version of the character in a newspaper
comic strip, Alvin Schwartz, I quote, “I was striving, you might say, for that mirror
image, that opposite.
And out of a machine which would reveal the negative Superman, came the mirror image – always
remembering that in a mirror everything is reversed.”
Two years after Bizarro’s initial appearance in DC comics, the publisher expanding on his
story, creating Bizarro World, which first appeared in Action Comics issue 263.
It’s a cube shaped planted that Bizarro calls home, along with other Bizarro versions
of Superman and other heroes in the DC universe, including Batzarro, the world’s worst detective.
8 Dark Beast During Marvel’s Age of Apocalypse crossover
story event back in 1995, we go to see a timeline in which Magneto formed the X-Men instead
of Charles Xavier, all while Apocalypse was basically the supreme ruler of that earth.
Hank McCoy, one of the founding members of the X-Men, was still that, but his origin
story had changed quite a bit.
He was a mad scientist who worked for Apocalypse, and conducted a bunch of terrible and dehumanizing
experiments on his test subjects.
At some point, he traveled back to the main 616 universe, and pretended to be Beast.
He was found out, and became a reoccurring villain of the X-Men’s for a while.
He just wasn’t the real McCoy after all.
Get it, cause, Hank McCoy, the real mccoy, it’s an idiom….
Moving on.
7 Trick Shot Trick Shot is the evil doppelganger of Hawkeye,
who first appeared in Solo Avengers issue 1 back in 1987.
He does pretty much everything that Hawkeye can do.
Initially, the character met his demise thanks to cancer and a life of heavy drinking and
partying.
Instead of dying a slow death, he wanted to go out with a bang, so he challenged Hawkeye,
who was retconned to be his former pupil, to a duel.
A duel that he planned on losing.
But Hawkeye, despite winning, couldn’t kill him, and instead promised to help fund his
health care.
Later on down the road, after going through a period of remission, Trick Shot would die,
with the cancer overpowering his body.
6 Sabretooth This number might be a tad controversial,
thanks to the love that X-Men member Wolverine gets from Marvel fans worldwide.
Whether or not that you agree that Sabretooth is modeled as a cooler version than Wolverine,
it’s undeniable that the character was crafted in Logan’s image.
When Sabretooth first appeared on the pages of Marvel comics in 1977, he was depicted
as a non powered serial killer.
This was later changed, with the character gaining mutant abilities, and being integrated
into Wolverine’s storyline, although over the years, there’s been multiple reasons
given as to why him and Logan clash so much, one of those reasons being that he was a part
of the Weapon X program with Wolverine, and saw Wolverine as competition.
But back when the character debuted, Chris Claremont, one of his creators, intended for
him to be Logan’s father.
According to him, the rivalry between the two has still retained a father son quality,
with Sabretooth considering Logan to be his sloppy seconds.
5 Black Adam Black Adam is the archenemy of Shazam, and
much like his goody two shoes counterpart, he got his powers from the wizard Shazam way
back when.
Whereas Shazam’s powers are derived from Roman and Greek entities, Black Adam’s are
from ancient Egyptian entities, with each letter of the word Shazam representing a specific
power; Shu for stamina, Heru from swiftness, Amon for strength, Zehuti for wisdom, Aton
for power, and lastly, Mehen for courage.
Essentially, he’s an evil rip off of Billy’s character.
The reason why Black adam didn’t turn out to be a hero like Billy though is because
he was corrupt, and the wizard shunned him.
These days, the character has been reformed, now depicted as an antihero attempting to
clear his name and reputation.
4 The Batman Who Laughs The Batman Who Laughs is the newest character
on this list, and perhaps one of the most terrifying.
This character, created by Scott Synder and Greg Capullo, is the amalgamation of Batman
and the Joker.
He’s created when Batman of Earth -22 in the Dark Multiverse kills the Joker.
When the Joker dies, his body releases a toxin that Batman then inhales, which drives him
mad.
Essentially, he’s the Joker’s mind and love of chaos with the body, training and
experience of Bruce Wayne.
The result is deadly.
First appearing in the Dark Knights Metal story event, the character was so popular
that he ended up getting his own spin off in which the caped crusader must find a way
to put an end to the Batman Who Laughs, all while facing the fact that this alternate
version of himself is his greatest nightmare come to life.
3 Kaine Parker Back in 1994’s Web of Spider-Man issue 119,
a new spider-man character was introduced as part of The Clone Saga.
Kaine Parker is one of the many attempts to clone Spider-Man by super villain Jackal,
and was considered to be a failure, being mentally unstable and slightly deformed.
When he’s abandoned by Jackal, he goes through some major daddy issues, and realizes that
his abilities are slightly more amplified than Peter Parker’s.
In addition to this, he also gained a precognitive sense that allows him to see flashes of the
future, and a burning touch that would eat away at his victim’s flesh; a tactic that
would be known as the Mark of Kaine.
While Kaine had a bit of a rough start, the character would go on to be a sometimes ally
of Spidey’s, and became the Scarlet Spider back in 2012, patrolling the streets of Houston
Texas, using methods that were more so brutal than his original name sake, making him a
fan favourite amongst readers.
2 Venom Speaking of spider-Man doppelgangers, while
Eddie Brock’s Venom might not be a clone of the web slinger’s, he sure does share
a lot of similarities to the superhero.
What makes Venom arguably cooler is that the character was expanded to be more than what
his association to Spider-Man initially made him.
Let’s jump back a sec though.
Venom first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man issue 252 in 1984.
But he wasn’t the Venom we know and love now.
Instead, he was an ‘alien costume’ that Peter Parker puts on during Secret Wars when
his gets damaged.
It’s soon revealed that it’s a sentient alien attempting to use Peter as a host, and
the Fantastic four aid Peter in getting rid of it.
Then, two years later, Venom would return in his full form, with Eddie Brock being his
host, and the two would go after Peter; Brock with his own vendetta, and Venom upset for
being rejected by the hero.
Since, Venom has gone through a few other hosts, but Eddie is always his mainstay.
He’s become an anti-hero in his own right, even teaming up with Spider-Man on occasion.
1 Reverse Flash There have been plenty of characters who have
taken up the mantle of the Reverse Flash over the years.
An obvious foil to the scarlet speedster, Reverse Flash first debuted back in Flash
Comics issue 104 in 1949.
Back then, he was known as the Rival, or as Rival Flash.
Needless to say, his current name is still just as on the nose as the persona’s previous
one.
The first Reverse Flash, Edward Clariss, recreated the same formula behind Golden Age Flash Jay
Garrick’s speed formula.
Later, in the Silver Age when Barry Allen took over as the Flash, a new Reverse Flash
would challenge and antagonize him; Eobard Thawne, who debuted back in 1963.
The Reverse Flash gets his powers from the Negative speed force, and his powers rival
the Flash’s, especially in speed.
And hey, the dude is literally wearing an inverted version of the Flash’s costume.
If anything screams Doppelganger, it’s that.
There we have it friends!