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Magnificent Bastard/DC Games

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Another successful heist.

Another successful heist.

Considering the source material, it's no surprise that Video Games (and related comics) based on the The DCU have some brilliant planners and masterminds.

Batman Games[]

  • While the Big Bads in the Batman: Arkham Asylum game series - The Joker, Professor Hugo Strange, and Johnathan Crane/the Scarecrow - are all big contenders for this trope, there are many villains that give them big competition:
    • Selina Kyle, better known as Catwoman, is a mischievous cat burglar with a dry wit and one of the few villains in Gotham City to not only outsmart Batman himself, but ally with the Dark Knight on many occasions for the benefit of both. In her first confrontation with Batman, Catwoman allows herself to be captured, stages a prison riot at Blackgate, then manipulates Batman into clearing out all obstacles for her so as to break Bane out of the prison as part of a deal, and even though Batman thwarts this initial plan, Catwoman nonetheless appeases her employer through other means and gets what she wants. During the Arkham City event, Catwoman infiltrates the supermax prison after TYGER steals her valuables, and, using Two-Face and Poison Ivy to her advantage, retrieves her valuables along with assisting Batman in taking down the prison complex. Though Catwoman is later captured by The Riddler and fitted with a bomb collar, she works with Batman to take down the supervillain, even clearing out all of Riddler's funds for herself and destroying his base of operations to ensure his reign is over for a long time to come.
    • Ra's Al-Ghul is the "Demon's Head" and leader of the League of Assassins. A centuries-old warlord who got his start buying Gotham City and restructuring it into the criminal-murdering "utopia" Wonder City, Ra's found and used the healing properties of the Lazarus Pit to sustain his life over the years, amassing countless resources and soldiers to his League in the process. In the present, Ra's pulls strings to begin his ideas for a mass-genocide of those he deems "unworthy" to live in his planned perfect world, and finds a concrete scheme when approached by the monstrous Hugo Strange. Fully backing Strange's plan to build a super prison called Arkham City that functions as a nightmarish concentration camp to hold thousands of prisoners until they are all wiped out, Ra's continuously tries to convince Batman to join his crusade, even betraying and murdering Strange due to a preference for Batman as his potential heir. If allowed to die in his final appearance, Ra's uses his last words to proclaim how proud he is of Batman for taking steps towards doing what is 'necessary,' and throughout the franchise holds the utmost respect for the hero no matter what animosity comes between them.
    • Lady Shiva is a high-ranking servant of Ra's Al-Ghul, using her position in the League of Assassins to pave the way for events in later games. Arriving in Gotham on the basis of hunting Batman for a bounty, Shiva uses it as an opportunity to manipulate Quincy Sharp into opening Arkham Asylum and ally with the League, laying the groundwork for the League's coming decades of schemes. Outdoing Bane himself after being captured, Shiva lures Batman to her with a trap and sends him on a hunt to rescue corrupt cops from death traps before facing him in physical combat, all to test the hero for his worth as a potential member of the League.
    • Basil Karlo, better known as Clayface, is a theatrical shapeshifter who enjoys manipulating others with his excellent doppelganger skills. Breaking out of Arkham Asylum by tricking a guard into thinking he is an innocent, Clayface then sneaks into the maximum security prison Arkham City, where he makes a deal with the sickly Joker to masquerade as him and keep his troops and enemies under the illusion that Joker is healthy as ever. Clayface plays the part of Joker near-flawlessly, fooling everyone including Batman himself into thinking he is the Clown Prince of Crime, and uses his position to orchestrate a variety of takeovers in the city. During his fight with Batman, Clayface gives Batman one of the hardest of his career, forcing the caped crusader into lethal force due to his deadliness. Not reserved solely to Joker, Clayface also shifts into the assassin Deadshot, gaining The Penguin's trust and a stash of guns with the disguise.
    • Bane shows again and again why his cunning and intelligence combined with his immense Venom-enhanced strength make him one of the deadliest foes Batman has ever faced. When the Joker hires him along with eight other assassins to kill Batman, Bane quickly proves himself a threat by immediately seeing through one of Batman's ambush tactics and viciously beating him down. When the ensuing fight is interrupted by the police, Bane flees and lures Batman to an empty hideout where it's revealed that he's been analyzing him and has correctly deduced his identity. He goes on to use this knowledge to emotionally torment Batman by invading his home and nearly murdering his loyal butler Alfred, and soon afterwards joins forces with the Joker in taking over Blackgate Prison in an attempt at forcing Batman to break his moral code and take a life. When that fails, Bane transforms himself into a hulking berserker with the flawed, experimental TN-1 formula, but still has enough clarity of mind to react to and adjust to strategies Batman employs against him in their final confrontation.
    • Henry Adams, despite appearing to be immune to the Joker infection, is in fact the most devious of the infected. After beginning to transform into Joker, Henry pretends to be immune, convincing Batman that a cure for the infection is possible while simultaneously reaching out to Harley Quinn to plan an invasion of the movie studios with her. Having Harley actually hit him to sell the illusion and hacking the Batcomputer to let her in, Henry continues the charade while Batman defeats the other infected, luring them back into his room in the process. After they're all defeated, it's revealed that Henry has killed all of the infected, believing that only the strongest Joker should be allowed to live due to evolution. When he learns that Batman himself is infected, Henry proves that he genuinely believes in this ideal by shooting himself in the head with no hesitation, vowing that Batman is going to be "spectacular".
    • Batman: Assault on Arkham: Floyd Lawton, aka Deadshot, is a highly efficient assassin and master marksman. Employed by Amanda Waller as the leader of Task Force X, aka the Suicide Squad, Deadshot organizes an infiltration of Arkham Asylum to acquire stolen information from the Riddler. Throughout the mission, Deadshot displays his cunning and tactical genius as he repeatedly improvises when faced with numerous setbacks by his more reckless and untrustworthy allies, Batman and the Joker, and even fearlessly stares down the latter at gunpoint and bluffs him into wasting his only bullet. Managing to escape via helicopter in the midst of a prison riot while his allies are either killed or detained, Deadshot then single-handedly defeats the Joker in combat, withstanding multiple near-fatal injuries in the process. In the end, Deadshot achieves his true goal of reuniting with his daughter, and spends the last few moments of the film scoping Amanda Waller a distance away with a sniper, intent on making her pay for using him.
  • Batman: The Telltale Series:
    • Lady Arkham, real name of Victoria Arkham AKA "Vicki" Vale, is the charming, strategic leader of the Children of Arkham, a terrorist organization seeking absolution for the crimes committed against them by the higher society of Gotham City. A victim of abuse who lost her parents at a young age thanks to Thomas Wayne's corruption, Arkham spent her childhood plotting revenge and making schemes, and upon adulthood, puts these into action as she rallies the otherwise peaceful Children of Arkham and radicalizes them into a military force. Utilizing an insanity drug to drive mayor Harvey Dent mad—injecting the serum into the other candidate in the process as a precaution—Arkham uses her public guise to masterfully manipulate the situation to seem as though the Children of Arkham are heroes, driving Bruce Wayne himself temporarily insane and getting him thrown into Arkham Asylum. When her master plan to flood the streets with her insanity drug fails, Arkham initiates her backup plan to raid Arkham Asylum and free the dozens of inmates as a final "justice" against the corrupt Asylum's checkered past.
    • Floyd Lawton, aka Deadshot, is a wealthy military contractor seeking vengeance against the Wayne name for his horrific childhood. Scarred by a past of tragedy, Lawton witnessed his cherished older brother's murder at the hands of their abusive parents, going on to avenge his sibling by coldly murdering his parents and getting away with it at the age of fourteen. In adulthood, Lawton learns that his parents were enabled and kept out of law enforcement's eyes by Thomas Wayne, and, blaming the long-dead man and his living associates for his brother's death, Lawton becomes the assassin "Deadshot." Beginning to track down and systematically murder all of Wayne's former compatriots, Deadshot confronts and outwits Batman himself with several traps and decoys, and even kidnaps the man's butler, Alfred Pennyworth, to use as a hostage. Planning to force Batman to either kill him or let the hostage associates of Thomas Wayne die, Deadshot can only express respect and acceptance for Batman when beaten, simply moving on to join a government task force for an early release from prison with a smile.
  • LEGO Batman:
    • The Joker is the zany but brilliant Arch Enemy of Batman. An expert schemer, the Joker regularly threatens Gotham City with his various crimes, from kidnapping Commissioner Gordon to gassing all of Gotham, often assisting his allies himself and accepting any help that he's offered. Teaming up with Lex Luthor in the second game, he uses his chemical skills to fabricate Kryptonite, using it to track down the Batcave and steal the real Kryptonite stashed there and uses his laughing gas to hypnotize the citizens into voting for Lex, the duo then putting up a prolonged fight with the Justice League. Later playing a big role in the Legion of Doom breaking into the Watchtower, he happily assists the heroes in saving the world from Brainiac, even after forcibly becoming more affectionate in the process. During DC Super Villains, he joins the Legion in fighting the Crime Syndicate, with him and Harley Quinn volunteering to recruit Black Adam, fighting off Shazam and Superwoman in the process. Eventually, after trashing Apokalypse upon arrival, he gleefully joins forces with the heroes to take out Darkseid.
    • Catwoman is the expert cat burglar who acts as The Dragon to the Penguin's plot to take over Gotham City with an army of machine powered penguins. Responsible for stealing a diamond to power the machine, she and Penguin evade the GCPD and steal the diamond, with Catwoman making her escape upon being cornered. Evading and pursuing Batman and Robin, she then distracts Batman by kissing him, using the moment to toss the Diamond to her cat. Upon being delivered the diamond in jail, she uses it to bribe Penguin and Killer Croc into freeing her, continuing to aid her boss in his scheme. Eventually managing to unleash the penguins, they proceed to fight the Dynamic Duo, with Catwoman doing the physical fighting. Later games would have her successfully break out of Arkham after a failed first attempt, and acting as the Team Mom to the Legion of Doom, willingly helping Batman fight off the Parademon invasion.
  • Batman: The Brave and the Bold: The Video Game (2010): Catwoman is the mastermind behind the game's first "Episode", working together with supervillain Catman to turn the city of Gotham into cats so they could rob the city of its riches. Having Catman distract Batman and Robin with a robbery while she sets up the plan, she first makes herself known by swiftly rescuing Catman from the duo with a stun bomb. Being chased by the heroes, she manages to lure them to an abandoned building, using its crumbling interior to her advantage before blowing the building up with Batman and Robin inside it, the two only surviving due to luck. Sending goons to check if the heroes are alive, she and Catman successfully transform the city and take refuge in Wayne Manor, before taking on the Dynamic Duo one last time, only being beaten by the secret entrances scattered around.
  • Batman: Dark Tomorrow: Ra's Al Ghul is the mastermind behind the game's events. Plotting to cause a tsunami that'll wipe out every major city in the world, thus leaving the survivors to rebuild it from scratch, he anticipates Batman's involvement and plans to keep him distracted while he finishes the satellite. For this, he arranges a gang war between Black Mask and Scarface by supplying both of them with weapons, then he hires The Joker to cause a mass Arkham breakout at the same time. By the time Batman had stopped both scenarios, Ra's had finished the satellite, again anticipating that the Dark Knight would arrive at his base and stop him. Catching his daughter Talia trying to help Batman, he sends his best men after him before fighting him in a sword fight himself. Depending on the ending, he'll either triumph over the Dark Knight and win, or be mortally wounded and provide Talia and Ubu a means of escape to the Lazarus Pit, being revived to fight another day.

Injustice Franchise[]

  • Slade Wilson, AKA Deathstroke, was a mercenary and assassin and a major enemy of the Titans, whom he tried to kill on many occasions. After the rise of Superman's regime, Deathstroke lost most of his work. He was brought back into action when Batman contacts him, hiring him to steal a Mother Box from the Regime for Batman's plans. He manages to get to it, but knowing he can't escape, he sends Batman the Mother Box's model so he can copy it before he is captured by the Regime. After being tortured by the Regime, he joins the Insurgency and ends up on a mission with Cyborg; during it, he enacts his own plan. He first takes out Shazam and Flash with creative usage of bombs, then sabotages the Watchtower reactor to blow up, not caring about it putting the Insurgency's plans in jeopardy. He is then sent on another mission by Lex Luthor, in which he sneaks up on and ties up Wonder Woman, later taking her down by analyzing her fighting style and outsmarting her.
  • Injustice: Gods Among Us (comics):
    • "Year Three": John Constantine wants revenge on the Regime for opressing his daughter, so he joins the Insurgency and enacts a plan to take the Regime down. Constantine first tricks Raven into calling on Superman for help so he can trap Superman to exploit his weakness to magic. He uses this to spread false rumours in Hell from Etrigan to convince Trigon that Superman was the one who kidnapped his daughter, which causes Trigon to return to Earth, putting all of reality at risk for Constatine's own ends. Constantine manipulates every single event throughout the issue to get rid of the Regime and Trigon in one shot. He banishes Trigon and Mr. Mxyzptlk to another dimension and severely cripples the Regime, though at the cost of Huntress's death.
    • "Year Four": Ares is the God of War and an ancient enemy of Wonder Woman. After the rise of Superman's Regime, Ares was terrified of the idea of this alliance since it would mean he would be starved of all conflict which he needs to survive, so he allies with Darkseid. He manipulates the Olympian gods into coming to Earth to reclaim it and works for both the Insurgency and The Regime as a way of pitting the two against each other to create anarchy in the world. His plan fails, and Ares is taken to Darkseid where he manages to escape from captivity and continue assisting the Insurgency in taking down the Regime, eventually playing a major role in its eventual fall.

Others[]

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