No hero is worthy of worship if he has not defeated the meanest baddest villain; in fact, his or her worth is directly proportional to how scary their Big Bad is. Over the decades, DC and Marvel have been successful in creating Super Villains who inspired fears in the young minds that read comics. A few of them have been immortalised on the small and big screens, but all of them command fear and respect.

Here are some of the DC and Marvel villains we believe are the scariest of the lot:

Eclipso (DC)

Straight out of a biblical lore, Eclipso is one of the darkest characters from the DC Universe. He used to be God's right-hand man until he was cast out of His good graces after the villain went too far. He has been credited with everything ranging from Noah's Flood in "Bible" to plotting to kill God in "Justice League of America". He is also gifted with the greatest talent a super villain needs – patience. He has waited centuries to strike at the right time and is feared by all.

Apocalypse (Marvel)

The oldest and strongest mutant originally names En Sabah Nur (The First One) Apocalypse was raised by nomads in Akkaba over 5,000 years ago. Soon after realising his powers, he travelled around the world convincing people that he is a God. On top of being immortal, he is also capable of manipulating matter and teleport and has an intellect of a genius. He has an army of sadistic acolytes and is a vicious killer who believes only strong mutants deserve to survive.

Banshee (DC)

Silver Banshee, one of the greatest adversaries of Superman, was granted her hypersonic powers by a creature called Crone in the netherworld. Although it was believed by Superman in the beginning that anything she touches dies, it is in fact her screams that killed those around her. Banshee has superhuman strength, agility, speed and endurance, and her screams can reduce victims to desiccated husks.

Thanos (Marvel)

Also known as the Mad Titan, Thanos is the most dangerous villain in the Marvel Universe. An alien prince belonging to the Deviants race, Thanos fell in love with an embodiment of death and to prove his love to this death he killed millions, including his own mother. In his thirst to become the most powerful creature in the entire universe, he went on a bloody rampage, rendering heroes like Avengers and the Fantastic Four his enemies.

Joker (DC)

Joker, the embodiment of chaos, madness and mayhem, has been immortalised both on the small and silver screen. And regardless of the premise he has always remained the blood-thirsty agent of anarchy. He is the greatest enemy of Batman, but also single-handedly challenged the entire DC Universe by seizing the power of Mxyzptlk. However, what makes him scary is his unhinged desire to dig deeper into the darkness and succumb to absolute evil with no regrets whatsoever.