The life of a villain is not an easy one. They only exist to get walloped by the good guys in comics and films (with a few rare exceptions). No matter how smart their evil plans are, or how reasonable their demands are, they never seem to get it done and always come out the loser.
When villains lose and lose and lose repeatedly, they start to make alliances with other villains. Through these alliances, many villains will become good friends. Err... well, good friends for villains. Their very nature isn’t too conducive to friendship, with most of them being selfish and wanting to attain different goals, but every so often, you’ll find villains teaming up and realizing that they have much more in common than they realized, and they hang out together more and more.
Just because they are evil doesn’t mean they don’t need support systems! They need people to talk to and bounce ideas off of sometimes. What’s better than one bad guy? Two bad guys, obviously!
Sure, these friendships and partnership didn’t always last, and some of them ended in very sour ways, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that these villains worked together for a while and had some fun doing it.
These are the 15 Supervillains You Didn't Know Are Best Friends.
15. Poison Ivy and Bane
Poison Ivy has a way with men (and women sometimes). So when it came time for her to debut on screen in Batman and Robin, they wanted to showcase just how alluring she is. They saddled her with a partner-in-crime, and that person just so happened to be Bane.
The duo worked well together throughout the movie, Poison Ivy being the brains of the group and Bane being the muscle. It was a typical brute and beauty friendship. Their performance in the film was hokey and very campy, but the friendship aspect was there.
For at least a brief moment, their plans aligned and want to take out The Caped Crusader, but alas, George Clooney saved the day and all was right in the universe.
14. The Joker and Two-Face
In The Dark Knight, who was it that gave Harvey Dent the courage to pull off his evil deeds? You guessed it: The Joker.
Initially these two were brutal enemies, but once Dent saw the injustice in the world that couldn’t be stopped, he began to take matters into his own hands. It was The Joker who gave him that little push in the evil direction.
In the Hush storyline in the comics, Dent uses his vast legal knowledge in order to free The Joker from prison so he can terrorize Gotham once again, and in The Batman Adventures, The Joker works with Two-Face to take down Batman.
It might just be that The Joker is constantly manipulating Two-Face, but their partnership is a recurring thing in the comics, movies, and animated series. They’ve even been shown as poker buddies in the cartoon!
13. Wintergreen and Deathstroke
Veterans of the Vietnam War, Slade Wilson, AKA Deathstroke, and William Wintergreen took turns saving each other’s lives. When Wilson was in danger, Wintergreen saved him, and Wilson returned the favor when Wintergreen was sent on a suicide mission by an evil commanding officer.
The two share many stories and adventures together, heading all over the world and executing various mercenary contracts together. Wintergreen serves as a bit of a mentor to Deathstroke, and remains one of his closest confidants. At a certain point, Deathstroke even lived in Wintergreen’s mansion.
Even in Deathstroke's newer origins, he and Wintergreen are still seen as great friends, with Wilson saving Wintergreen from peril in Somalia, and slaughtering all of his captors in the process.
Unfortunately, Deathstroke has killed Wintergreen a few times in their storied history, but surely friends like them can let that slide…
12. Red Skull and Hate-Monger
Who would have guessed that these two would be buds, eh? The clone of Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi party in World War II, and a maniacal villain who was so evil even the Nazis thought he was a bit crazy.
Red Skull and Hate-Monger have only teamed up a small number of times, but boy, was it memorable. In a story where Red Skull is trying to kill Captain America, he enlists the help of the freshly cloned Adolf Hitler to get the job done. Unfortunately, he ends up trapping the clone in the Cosmic Cube after the two begin plotting against each other.
Thankfully the Red Skull brings Hate-Monger back to life in a later continuity, but he existed only as a being of pure energy, able to wield his H-Ray at will. Unfortunately, the H-Ray exploded and Hate-Monger died.
It may have been a short-lived friendship, but what a memorable one it was.
11. Toad and Magneto
Now, this friendship is sad.
Toad was a loyal subject to Magneto, a man he considered a friend. Magneto was an abusive a-hole to the diminutive Toad and took advantage of him every chance that he could. But, for a time, the pair worked well together. Toad seemed more than happy to take orders from the man he considered a genius and friend, and Magneto certainly had a lot of orders to give.
This duo spent a lot of time together. They were constantly trying to thwart the X-Men’s plans of getting humans to accept mutants as friends.
Until The Stranger sent the pair into outer space, that is. Magneto had the wherewithal to escape and return to Earth. Toad did not. So instead of being a good bro and bringing Toad along, Magneto just abandoned the poor dude. This finally led to Toad turning on his old chum.
10. Venom and Carnage
Well, these guys are less good buddies and more like inseparable father and son.
The Carnage symbiote is actually the offspring of the Venom symbiote. When the Carnage symbiote attached itself to Cletus Kasady, Eddie Brock saw a worthy partner to team up with to take down that rascal Spider-Man.
But then Carnage got out of control, and began slaughtering just about everyone in sight. His terrorism got so intense that it led to Venom and Spider-Man calling a truce in order to take him down, which was quite a feat.
Later on, Venom and Carnage would team up in order to defeat another symbiote offspring known as Toxin, but they were easily defeated. Their track record of teaming up isn’t a very good one. Their relationship is tumultuous to say the least, but they are forever bound to each other.
9. Kingpin and Bullseye
Whenever Wilson Fisk needs to get a job done that he doesn’t feel like doing himself, he will usually call upon his old buddy Bullseye to do the dirty work. You can’t blame him: Bullseye is known for his deadly accuracy and ability to get the job done in the Marvel universe.
Since Bullseye is a mercenary, and Fisk is a rich evil dude, the pair works well together. Kingpin can promise Bullseye steady work, and Bullseye can get paid to do what he does best; kill people. One of the most notorious deaths in Daredevil history is when Bullseye takes the life of Elektra, Daredevil’s on-again-off-again lover and foe.
Kingpin has hired Bullseye to kill Daredevil, Elektra, Red Skull, Crossbones, and many other presumably. Bullseye is even invited to Fisk’s party during the Secret Wars storyline, so you know the two are tight.
8. Mysterio and Tinkerer
What a weird pair these guys make. For two villains with silly names and even sillier aesthetics, you had to know these two would be in cahoots with each other.
And amazingly, the pair work pretty well together. Mysterio, or Quentin Beck, is a stellar special effects worker and a master of illusions, while Tinkerer is an evil genius with a knack for engineering, able to create sophisticated gadgets to aid Beck in their missions - including the suit Beck wears when he assumes his Mysterio persona. He even created android doubles for Mysterio so Spider-Man wouldn’t know which ones to take out.
Unfortunately, these two are almost always handily defeated by The Wall-Crawler and in rather embarrassing fashion too, but their bond is stronger than many of the more enigmatic villains.
7. Mephisto and Hela
Mephisto, The Marvel Universe’s version of the devil, and Hela, the Asgardian goddess of death, have worked quite well together on a few separate occasions.
During the Siege storyline, Mephisto barters with Hela in order to gain control of the 13 surviving Dísir; dangerous evil predecessors to the Valkyries that were created by Odin's father Bor. Hela agrees, and all hell breaks loose. With the evil Mephisto running the show in Asgard, Thor arrives on the scene in order to put a stop to the madness.
When Hela is brought back to her more human form after Ragnarok, she is seen colluding with Mephisto several times about what they should do about a newly resurrected Magik.
Their friendship is mainly based on making deals and trades with each other, but their partnership is an advantageous one.
6. J. Jonah Jameson and Scorpion
Sure, J. Jonah Jameson isn’t “super” per se, but his villainous actions have given Spider-Man a ton of headaches in the past. He is constantly running a smear campaign against the Web Head, trying to turn the public against the hero, who he considers a menace to society.
One of the ways Jameson was a thorn in the side of Spider-Man is when he hired MacDonald Gargan to find out the identity of Spider-Man. He gave Gargan superhuman enhancements in order to complete this mission, which turns the private investigator into the super villain Scorpion.
Unfortunately for Jameson, Scorpion goes insane almost immediately and turns on him, and then he is saved by the man he was trying to unmask, Spider-Man. Oh, the irony.
Jameson kept his involvement in the creation of Scorpion secret for years because of the shame he felt.
5. Nebula and Ronan the Accuser
Throughout Guardians of the Galaxy, these two were seen working together in order to obtain one of the Infinity Stones. Ronan is hired by Thanos to get one of the six Infinity Stones and Thanos agrees to help him destroy Xandar in exchange for the stone. Nebula, Thanos’ daughter, is by Ronan’s side every step of the way, helping him in his journey.
Their plans align pretty well-- that is until Ronan gets his hand on the Infinity Stone and realizes he can destroy Xandar on his own, without the help of Thanos. That’s exactly what he sets out to do. He agrees to help Nebula destroy her father afterward due to the abuse she suffered at his hands throughout her life.
Their plan falls through once the Guardians go head to head with Ronan and he is defeated after a dance-off.
4. Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy
These two baddies are great partners, teaming up on numerous occasions, and have even been romantically linked to each other. Can’t become much better friends than that, can you?
Several different series tie Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy together. They’ve moved to Metropolis together, they started an all-female villain group known as the Gotham City Sirens, and eventually became crime-fighting antiheroes. The pair also have a penchant for breaking into jails to free each other when they are captured.
Ivy really wants to help Harely escape the shackles of her abusive relationship with The Joker, because she genuinely cares for her and also hates The Joker. When Harley suggests that Poison Ivy may be in love with her, Poison Ivy is initially shocked at the accusation, but fesses up that she may have some romantic feelings toward her.
Harley appears in Poison Ivy’s solo series, Poison Ivy appears in Harley’s solo series, they have many series together; these two are attached at the hip, aren’t they?
3. The Riddler and Cluemaster
If you were to look at a description for these two Batman villains, you wouldn’t be alone in thinking that they are essentially the same villain. They both rely on trickery and mental puzzles, and both have pretty ridiculous outfits.
In fact, it is recognized in the comics that these two are a lot alike, and that’s how their friendship initially began. Riddler was a bit ticked off that Cluemaster had seemingly stolen his gimmick, and the two were rivals at first. Then, like all fans of riddles and mind games, the two became friends and teamed up with the mission of finally taking down Batman, once and for all.
They had a pretty great working relationship until Cluemaster’s apparent death during a Suicide Squad storyline.
2. Sabretooth and Birdy
Sabretooth seems to constantly have a need to murder in his mind, and his bloodlust is apparently uncontrollable, making him go on killing sprees to satiate his thirst for blood.
But then Birdy comes in and help him control these urges. Birdy is a mutant telepath who uses her powers to control Sabretooth’s constant need for chaos and murder. This is a great working relationship and the two become close, leading Birdy to accompany Sabretooth on his many evil missions.
While the two are on a mission to find out who is attempting to murder them and Mystique, Birdy is killed by another villain, Graydon Creed - who also happened to be Sabretooth and Mystique’s son who they abandoned because they didn’t feel like raising a child at the time.
Comics are quite convoluted, aren’t they?
1. Mojo and Spiral
For those unfamiliar with these two, Mojo is a giant blob alien thing who possesses substantial strength and his touch can age humans and wither plants. He also is an inhabitant of what is known as the “Mojoverse,” which is populated by a race of aliens that don’t have spines and created humanoid slaves based on the “demons” they saw in their nightmares, which happened to be characters from television shows from another reality. Mojo is actually a parody of television network executives, and his world is heavily influenced by the television industry.
Again, comics are quite convoluted.
One of the humanoid slaves he created, Longshot, led a rebellion against him. This led Mojo to brainwash a woman named Rita Wayword, thus turning her into Spiral, a time-traveling mercenary hired to kill Longshot.
Spiral is frequently manipulated by Mojo but their partnership and working relationship keeps them forever bound to each other.
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Are there any other supervillains who are besties? Leave them in the comments!