Reviews by Kyle Ellis

First Appearance: The Sandman #4
Best Writer: Mike Carey
Best Artist: Peter Gross

As is the case with so many longtime DC characters, the Cheetah has undergone many revisions throughout her seven decades of existence. This classic Wonder Woman villain has seen no less than four incarnations, including one where the furry bombshell babe was replaced by a man.

The third, and current, Cheetah is British anthropologist Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva. Heiress to a vast fortune, Minerva was selfish and raised by her parents' servants. Throughout her childhood she grew to be very neurotic. At seventeen her parents were killed in a car accident, which permanently disabled Ann as well. She decided to visit Africa to search for the powers of the cheetah to heal herself. Ingesting a combination of human blood and berries of the plant-god Urzkartaga, she became Cheetah, but not without a catch. The Cheetah host was supposed to be a virgin, and Minerva wasn't. Her transformation was part curse and part blessing, as she experienced severe pain in her human form and bloodthirsty elation in her cat form.

As one of the most iconic and oldest Wonder Woman villains, Cheetah was an absolute must for our villains list.

Few villains are scarier than those who truly believe they are doing God's work. Such is the case with William Stryker, a televangelist who uses his position of influence to turn as many as he can against Mutants, a species he believes is an abomination that should be wiped off the face of the Earth.

For 20 years, Stryker was known only for a single appearance, in the X-Men graphic novel "God Loves, Man Kills." However the storyline was so powerful it directly influenced the excellent X2: X-Men United. The film took the general framework from that graphic novel - in which Stryker kidnaps Professor X and attempts to use him to unwittingly help set off a machine that can kill all mutants on Earth. The film revised Stryker to be a corrupt United States Army General.

Thanks to X2's hype and success, Stryker has played a major part in modern X-Men comics, where he's proved to be just as dedicated to his cause as ever, targeting every last mutant on Earth as his "holy crusade" continues.

Born William Baker, Flint Marko is one of Spider-Man's biggest foes: Sandman. As his name would imply, Sandman's body is formed with sand, allowing him to manipulate his body into any shape.

Victim of a poor environment, Marko grew up in the slums and quickly found his way into organized crime. Long before he had his incredible powers, he was a no good thug. During a stint in prison, Marko's girlfriend, Marcy Conroy, left him for another member of gang. This infuriated Marko, who, upon release from prison, killed Conroy's new lover and then went on a crime spree.

It wasn't long before Marko found himself back in jail. He managed to escape, an act which would change his life forever. Marko took refuge on a beach near a nuclear test site. One reactor malfunction later and Marko was bathed in radiation, fusing his molecules with the sand. In real life, this event would have looks a bit more like the ending of Raiders of the Lost Ark, but in the world of comics, it meant Marko was now a super-villain.

When in sand form, Sandman can take any shape he wishes and increase his density and strength to lift up to 85 tons. Marko can form his hands into weapons, such as a hammer or mace, form a near-impenetrable wall of sand or create a dust storm. He has long been a fan-favorite foe of Spider-Man.

The villainous Clayface is one of Batman's oldest foes. The first iteration of the character, Basil Karlo, first appeared in Detective Comics #40 (1940).

Perhaps the Caped Crusader has been unable to rid Gotham of this threat because he doesn't know where to start. There have been more versions of Clayface than drummers for Spinal Tap - there have been six, actually.

The original, re-emergent, and ultimate incarnation, is a failed actor named Basil Karlo. He was the star of a classic horror film that was scheduled for a remake. While remakes of horror movies are rarely good news, Karlo took it especially hard. He donned the mask of Clayface, the villain he played in the movie, and began killing the new cast and crew. Before long, he was apprehended by the dynamic duo and left to rot in Arkham Asylum.

Other criminals adopted his persona, but with a strange twist. Sondra Fuller's clay-like body was able to change shapes, and Preston Payne's corrosive body could melt others with a touch. This duo eventually broke Karlo out of prison. Through a blood transfusion, Karlo gained their powers and suddenly became a very real threat to Gotham. Batman has faced no shortage of Clayfaces over the years, but Karlo could be the most dangerous.

Once, the Saint of Killers was just a man. After serving in the Confederate Army - he was feared for his mercilessness on the battlefield - the grizzled man became a bounty hunter in the West. It was there that he met a woman who cracked his harsh exterior. The two made a life together and had a child.

But this isn't a story with a happy ending. The woman and child fall ill and his attempts to save them are foiled by a gang of outlaws. Driven to rage by the death of his family, the man slaughters the outlaws, kills an innocent bystander, but runs out of bullets as he confronts the gang's leader. The leader kills him and the man is sent to Hell, where he is ultimately banished by the Devil - his hate causes Hell to literally freeze over. The Angel of Death allows him to return to Earth on the condition that he undertakes the duty of collecting the souls of those who die by violence.

Now he's the new face of Death, and woe be it to anyone who crosses his path.

This angel of death is straight out of an old spaghetti western. He wields two enormous revolvers that never miss their mark and never fail to kill their target.

First appearing in the Elseworlds mini-series Kingdom Come, Magog is a kind of semi-villain who works for the cause of good, but with few boundaries.

In Kingdom Come, Magog's rise as a postmodern "hero" is contrasted with Superman's fall. He kills the Joker (who is in custody for the killing of Lois Lane), and is subsequently acquitted. Unable to deal, Supes goes into hiding. It's then that Magog becomes the leader of a new group of more ruthless heroes called the Justice Battalion.

When a catastrophic battle between the Battalion and the villainous Parasite decimates American's heartland, Superman and his new Justice League have a violent confrontation with Magog.

He is captured by the League and ultimately has a change of heart, saving as many lives as he can in the subsequent battle before retiring to Paradise Island.

The character has since been introduced into the DCU mainstream. In this iteration, Magog is a former Marine who becomes metahuman after interacting with a mystical artifact while on a mission in Iraq. He is then recruited by the Justice Society of America, but is later killed in an attack led by the JSA and Gog.

Gog reanimates Reid, dubbing him "Magog," and empowers him by replacing his shattered arm and eye with golden versions. Magog then leads half of the fractured Justice Society in support of Gog, before realizing the error of ways. Infuriated by Gog's horrific treatment of his fellow heroes, Magog joins with the rest of the JSA to defeat Gog and cuts off his head.

We can't really pronounce his name either, but this little trans-dimensional circus carnie pest is just as trying on our patience as he is on Superman's. Mxyzptlk is not one of Superman's most interesting or dynamic rogues, but he is one of the most consistent and annoying ones the Man of Steel faces.

Arguably, his appearance in the Alan Moore story "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" is his best, allowing the character to become more than just a trickster and provide some major torment for Superman during his last days.

This fifth-dimensional sorcerer, made up of "other things" than just a funny derby hat, was a welcomed addition to "Tomorrow"'s inventive "what if" storyline, and most fans consider that to be his biggest glory. That, and a few extended appearances here and there, are all that prevent us from saying his name backwards and making him go away.

Kevin MacTaggert, son of Dr. Moira MacTaggert and her politician husband Joseph, is better known as Proteus or even Mutant X. Kevin was born out of some rather dire circumstances. His father raped his mother and then forced her to marry him. This led to Kevin's birth and Moira ran away before John could get to him.

Forced to live in seclusion in his mother's Muir Island research facility, due to his uncontrollable hunger for energy, she locked him in a cell sustained by isoteric energy fields to keep herself and others safe. This also kept his body from burning itself out as well. At one point he escaped the cell after the X-Men and Magneto had a battle damaging the facility. He took over the body of Angus MacWhirther to disappear unnoticed.

Speaking of taking over bodies, Kevin once took over his father's just so he could kill him. After Proteus came into contact with Colossus in a battle, due to his weakness to metal, his energy was dispersed all over the world thusly killing him. Years later a mutant by the name of Piecemeal tried to absorb all of Proteus' dispersed energy. Piecemeal was so unhappy in this state that he decided to commit suicide.

Proteus, who named himself after a Greek god, can alter reality, has telepathic abilities and can bend the laws of physics. He can also change the weather, take mutant's powers, turn anything into liquid and possess other humans. Only creatures with metal in their bodies are immune.