The Joker, Clown Prince of Crime, is Batman's arch-nemesis. An agent of chaos known for his purple three-piece suit and insidious smile, he has caused Batman more suffering than any other villain he has ever faced. His origin, name, and true motivations are unknown in mystery.
Ra's al Ghul, whose name translates to "The Demon's Head", is the centuries-old leader of the League of Assassins. He seeks to purge humanity of crime and corruption, utilizing the rejuvenating Lazarus Pits to maintain his immortality. Though Ra's seeks to make Batman his successor, Batman opposes him.
Bane is an escaped convict from an island prison in South America who has abnormal physical strength as a result of having had undergone experiments involving a derivative of the drug, 'Venom'.
Catwoman, the costumed alias persona of Selina Kyle, is a mostly reformed cat burglar with complex love-hate relationship with Batman. She is shown as a woman who is very strong-willed, independent and morally conflicted with her past.
Formerly the D.A. of Gotham City, Harvey Dent was an ally of Batman and Commissioner Gordon until he had acid thrown onto the left side of his face by a mob boss, scarring him for life. The incident drove Harvey insane and he became Two-Face, obsessed with chance and always carrying a double-headed coin, which he flips to determine his every decision.
Edward Nigma is a villain obsessed with riddles, puzzles, and brain teasers, who took the alias of the Riddler to commit crimes. Riddler frequently tries to outsmart Gotham's hero Batman, but is always defeated by the Dark Knight. After spending some time 'reformed' working as a Private Investigator in Gotham, he has returned to his old villainous ways.
A botanical biochemist, Pamela Isley is a fervent eco-terrorist out to save the world's plant life by any means necessary. She often finds herself at odds with Batman, though they have, on occasion, fought on the same side.
Intelligent, rich and sophisticated; Oswald Cobblepot puts up a gentlemanly front, but behind closed doors he is the angered, power hungry criminal known as The Penguin. He shows flashes of compassion sometimes, but he is dominated by a desire to be respected and to control those around him.
The Scarecrow is an overly-obsessive and deranged ex-professor of psychology who uses a variety of drugs and psychological tactics to play on the fears and phobias of his adversaries. He does not commit his crimes for wealth, but rather as a form of "research" to further study the effects of fear on humans and to satisfy his own psychopathic desires.
One of Batman's earliest villains, preceding even the Joker and Catwoman, Dr. Hugo Strange is a brilliant but disturbed psychologist who forms an obsessive vendetta against Batman. He is also one of the few villains who have successfully deduced that the Batman's real identity is Bruce Wayne.
After his wife became terminally ill, Dr. Victor Fries devoted his life to saving her and used cryogenics to freeze her to get time to find a cure. After being attacked by his boss Ferris Boyle and exposed to some of his chemicals, Fries could only survive in sub-zero temperatures and built a special suit to keep himself alive, becoming Mr Freeze.
Obsessed from a young age with Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, Jervis Tetch, a skilled research scientist, embraced a delusion that he was the incarnation of a character in the story, the Mad Hatter. Using his hypnotic skills for mesmerism, Tetch as the Mad Hatter has committed many crimes, often themed around the book that inspired him and his love of hats and headgear.