Instilling terror into the hearts and minds of criminals is the whole point of Batman's persona. The intimidation factor plays a huge role in his mystique. After all, Batman wouldn't be nearly as effective if the goons he fights were not afraid of him.
However, there is no denying that certain depictions of Batman have painted him in a positively nightmare-inducing light. The scariest versions of Batman often portray him at his most brutal, coloring his persona in shades of gray or sometimes in outright villainy. These alternative versions of the Dark Knight are definitely not someone you want to bump into in a dark alley.
Updated December 5, 2021 by Mark Hospodar: Batman is an awfully intimidating fellow. No doubt about it. Nevertheless, even Bruce Wayne can sometimes go too far, despite good intentions. Over the years, plenty of stories have tackled the subject of what happens when Batman goes off the deep end.
It turns out that a Batman who has lost his way isn't a pretty sight to see. Even more versions of demented Dark Knights have been added to keep DC Comics fans up at night. Although their origins may differ, the one common denominator these Caped Crusaders share is their effective ability to terrify those unfortunate enough to meet them.
15 Kingdom Come Batman
Despite being an old man, the Bruce Wayne depicted in Kingdom Come is no less intimidating. In this particular Elseworlds story, a new generation of superheroes has supplanted the old guard, including Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman. Nevertheless, as readers learn, Batman still possesses a few tricks up his sleeve.
In the world depicted in Kingdom Come, years of constant crimefighting took a major toll on Batman's body. He continues to fight crime with the aid of an exo-suit, along with an army of robotic minions known as "Bat Knights." Despite his physical limitations, age certainly didn't dull Bruce's significant mental faculties, which is perhaps his most frightening weapon in Kingdom Come.
14 Red Son
Red Son tells a terrifying "what if" story. In this universe, Superman is raised in the Soviet Union instead of the United States, which drastically impacts the course of the Cold War. As a champion of the USSR, Superman enforces the will of his Soviet masters with brutal enthusiasm.
Batman, however, has one or two things to say about living under Soviet oppression. In the universe of Red Son, Batman is an anarchist freedom-fighter who uses any methods at his disposal to defeat Superman. He retains many of his canon abilities but is willing to go to extreme lengths to accomplish his goals.
13 Leatherwing
While some depictions of Batman enjoy exploring the morally gray aspect of his character, others portray him as outright evil. On Earth-10, an alternative universe, Bruce Wayne's alter-ego is Leatherwing......a merciless enforcer for the Nazi Party.
According to Earth-10's history, the Axis Powers managed to achieve victory in World War II. With the Nazis victorious, Bruce became a willing agent of their perverse plans, taking on the identity of Leatherwing. Similar to Superman's case in Red Son, this version of Batman employs his significant skills and abilities in service to a tyrannical government.
12 Batman The Merciless
The Dark Multiverse contains plenty of horrific alternatives of the Caped Crusader. They're all very powerful, not to mention evil, but arguably one of the worst is "Batman the Merciless." Taking place on Earth -12, this version of Bruce falls in love with Wonder Woman while battling the Greek god of war, Ares.
When Wonder Woman is seemingly killed, Bruce takes Ares' magical Helm and slays the god in a fit of rage and grief. Unfortunately, Bruce becomes drunk with the power the Helm grants him and abandons his noble mission. An evil Batman with the power of a demi-god? Now, that's terrifying.
11 Jean-Paul Valley's Batman
The Knightfall story-arc is arguably one of Batman's most popular and recognizable tales. After getting his back broken in a fight with Bane, Bruce is forced to temporarily retire from his role as the Caped Crusader. His successor, Jean-Paul Valley, proves to be a poor choice.
Although effective, Valley reveals himself to be a violent and overly brutal vigilante. His methods tarnish Batman's reputation, forcing Bruce to reclaim his old mantle. One only needs to take a look at Valley's Batsuit to see the difference between the style of his and Bruce's methods.
10 The Grim Knight
Mainstream Batman is staunchly committed to his "no guns" rule. But what if he wasn't? The result is the Grim Knight, an amalgamation of Bruce Wayne and The Punisher. After the murder of his parents, this version of Bruce guns down Joe Chill in cold blood. The experience colors the rest of his life, teaching him that most problems can be solved with violence.
Restyling himself as the Grim Knight, Bruce utilizes a veritable arsenal of deadly weaponry in his war on crime. Criminals are killed mercilessly and even Bruce's own allies live in fear of him. Alfred, disgusted by Bruce's methods, is strong-armed into cooperating due to a device implanted in his neck that can kill him whenever Batman pleases. Crime in Gotham City is practically nonexistent, the Grim Knight having already wiped out his rogue's gallery with brutal efficiency.
9 Flashpoint Batman
The Flashpoint story-arc explores an alternative timeline, where many of the DC Universe's characters are drastically altered. The Batman of this reality isn't actually Bruce Wayne at all, but rather his father, Thomas. In this universe, Bruce is killed as a child by Joe Chill, while his parents survive. Bent on revenge, Thomas takes up the mantle of Batman instead.
Thomas takes a different approach to the Dark Knight persona. As an older and more jaded crimefighter, he has no compunction about using lethal force. Thomas funds his activities through the vast wealth generated by his casino empire. He's a cold and grizzled crimefighter, believing that the ends justify the means.
8 Castle Of The Bat
Castle of the Bat, an Elseworlds story published in 1994, is Bruce Wayne's version of Frankenstein. Set in 1819, Bruce is a medical student who seeks to resurrect his long-dead father through the use of unnatural scientific methods. His experiments ultimately bear fruit, although Thomas Wayne isn't revived in the manner that Bruce expects.
Dressed as a bat, Thomas is brought back to life as a hulking monstrosity. Known as the "Bat-Man," he manages to break loose from his confinement, prompting Bruce to apprehend his unnatural creation. An undead version of Batman is never a pretty sight to see...
7 Vampire Batman
The Batman & Dracula trilogy adds a supernatural twist to Bruce Wayne's life as a vigilante. In this collection of stories, Batman defeats Dracula, but not before getting infected himself. At first, Bruce manages to contain his newfound bloodlust, but eventually, he succumbs to his inner demon.
The result is a completely demonic Batman devoid of nearly all humanity. He embarks on a killing spree, decapitating and draining his enemies of their blood. It's an image of Batman that longtime fans won't soon forget.
6 Batman The Broken
The Dark Multiverse, as its name implies, explores more tragic, alternative endings to popular stories. At the conclusion of Batman: Knightfall, Bruce is able to defeat Jean-Paul Valley and reclaim the mantle of Batman. However, in Dark Multiverse: Knightfall, Valley actually defeats Bruce and becomes the dictator of Gotham City, styling himself as Saint Batman.
Bruce is physically and mentally tortured by Valley for the next thirty years, forced to watch the destruction of his life's work. Bruce is eventually freed but has become a changed man. Convinced that there is no noble way to save Gotham, Bruce kills Valley and takes his place as the cruel and merciless ruler of the city.
5 Arkham Knight Epilogue Batman
Batman: Arkham Knight is the final entry in Rocksteady's vaunted trilogy. With his secret identity revealed, players are led to believe that Batman dies at the end of the game when his manor explodes in a fiery blaze. Nevertheless, a scene in the epilogue casts some doubt on Batman's apparent death.
A group of muggers is confronted by what appears to be a nightmarish apparition of Batman. The shadowy figure grows to an inhuman height before bursting into a cloud of bats. Fans theorize that Bruce faked his death and has reinvented himself by incorporating Scarecrow's fear toxin into his persona.
4 DCEU Batman
Ben Affleck's portrayal of the Dark Knight in the DCEU has proven divisive with fans. Part of the controversy stems from the overly brutal and downright homicidal nature of the character. Taking its cue from The Dark Knight Returns, Affleck's Batman ratchets up the violence to a whole new level.
In this universe, Batman has seemingly abandoned his non-lethal methods. The Batmobile utilizes deadly machine guns. He purposefully kills various thugs, one of which by shooting a tank full of flamethrower fuel. DCEU Batman also dabbles in a form of torture by painfully branding the bat signal into the flesh of his enemies. Seriously.
3 The Batman Who Laughs
The Batman Who Laughs is arguably the most dangerous version of Bruce Wayne that has ever lived. After finally being pushed over the edge, Batman kills the Joker. However, in doing so, Bruce is exposed to a special form of gas that steadily transforms him into the Joker.
Batman's intelligence and razor-sharp skills are combined with the Joker's demented lack of morality, forming an almost unstoppable hybrid. The result is pure chaos and destruction. Batman not only viciously murders the members of his own Bat-family, but the entire Justice League too. Above all, the appearance of the Batman Who Laughs is positively haunting.
2 I, Joker
I, Joker is a rather strange Elseworlds story that depicts a futuristic, dystopian Gotham City. In this world, the citizens of Gotham have come to fanatically worship Batman as a god, who they refer to as "The Bruce." The original Bruce Wayne is long dead, his noble message having been progressively perverted over the succeeding years by a series of increasingly unstable successors.
Batman's entire persona is turned into a freakish cult of personality. "The Bruce," although just a man, is depicted as a living god who the people worship without question. It's an interesting story that explores how even the best of intentions can be skewed and misinterpreted over time.
1 Frank Miller's Dark Knight
In Frank Miller's DC Universe, the Dark Knight isn't a man that should be taken lightly, no matter his age. Depicted as an idealistic crimefighter in Year One, Miller's version of Batman slowly transforms into a stern and obsessively pragmatic anti-hero. At the age of fifty-five in The Dark Knight Returns, Batman is a calculating and oftentimes savage vigilante.
His willingness to stop just short of outright lethality makes him a brutal opponent. Visually, Miller's Batman is intimidating. He's a mound of pure muscle with a square, firmly-set jaw that gives him a larger-than-life appearance. In addition, this version of Batman possesses incredibly high standards for his sidekicks, perfectly willing to fire them when they fail to meet his expectations.