5. King Tut
King Tut is one of the more successful of the series original villains largely because he has the most extensive and zany backstory. William Omaha McElroy is a well-respected Egyptologist professor at Yale until, that is, he hits his head. Then he believes himself to be a reincarnation of Tutankhamun intent on becoming the pharaoh of Gotham. Until he hits his head again and then he returns to normal. Until the next time he hits his head Tut is such a popular villain from the series, theres even been a recent, more serious, version of the character in the Batman comics who is derived from Victor Buenos original creation. We’d love to see the comics tackle the next villain on our list…
6. Egghead
Every Batman villain has a gimmick. And they don’t come more gimmicky than Egghead, egg-cellently brought to life by veteran horror star Vincent Price. The self-proclaimed smartest criminal in the world, Egghead is thoroughly obsessed with eggs his crimes are all egg-related, he puns at an egg-stremely painful rate and he even looks like an egg. As is clear, Egghead isn’t the most well-rounded character in the Batman universe but is made a fantastic villain thanks to Price who hams it up egg-spertly. Sorry, I think I’ve stretched this yolk too far.
7. The Riddler
As with every incarnation of the character, this Riddler (usually played by Frank Gorshin, but also once by John Gomez Addams Astin) is a criminal mastermind, psychologically unable to commit a crime without leaving a clue for Batman and Robin to solve which they invariably always do, no matter how odd. Frank Gorshin brings the character wonderfully to life Jim Carrey in Batman Forever obviously being heavily inspired by his hyperactive performance and is arguably still the definitive version of the Prince of Puzzles.
The Riddler is also the very first villain of the series, appearing in the semi-serious opening episode Hi Diddle Riddle in which the loss of Bruce Waynes parents is mentioned and someone actually dies, something that was huge no-no later in the series. You can’t say the show didnt develop.