The Joker may be DC's most twisted villain, but he would probably be terrified if he ever came across Marvel's cruelest antagonists. The Marvel Universe contains some of the most dangerous villains in all of fiction. Evil comes in many expressions, from self-righteous villains like Magneto and Doctor Doom to purely destructive forces like Dormammu and the One Below All.
A meaningful distinction exists between unstoppable bearers of the apocalypse and twisted souls who consciously choose to unleash pain and suffering. Galactus consumes worlds to survive. Annihilus wages war to avoid extinction and infect the universe. Ultron sees exterminating humanity as the logical execution of his programming. Evil is simply in their nature. On the other end of the spectrum, far less powerful villains inflict harm simply because they enjoy it.
Carnage
Cletus Casady And Carnage Are Two Jokers In One
Although symbiotes are famously effective at killing, Carnage's bloodthirst is unmatched. Cletus Kasady's addiction to violence aligns with Carnage's savage symbiote powers and ungodly birth. From the very start of their alliance, Carnage and Kasady take pleasure in killing their victims in the most gruesome way possible. The rest of Earth's symbiotes are often shocked at Carnage's brutality.
In later years, Carnage went from serial killer to mass murderer. After Maximum Carnage, arcs like Carnage U.S.A. show him seeding entire towns with symbiote infection and turning civilians into living weapons. Like the Joker, Carnage leaves long tails of corpses and ruined lives in his wake, but he takes a more macabre and less comical approach to murder than the Clown Prince of Crime.
Sabretooth
Sabretooth Is A Muscular, Mutant Equivalent To The Joker
Sabretooth’s annual birthday tradition is the ultimate representation of his sadism. Every year, Victor Creed finds Wolverine and torments him in the most personal way possible. Once, Sabretooth butchers Daken and other mutants, and he arranges their dismembered remains in the snow to spell “Happy Birthday” for Logan. Sabretooth also decapitates Kid Omega and weaponizes his severed head, and he harasses and hunts down innocent civilians for sport.
As a child, Sabretooth tortures his own siblings and murders his own father. As an adult, Victor turns into a serial killer during the Vietnam War and carves a path of atrocities across Southeast Asia. Sabretooth also manipulates, tortures, and kills Silver Fox simply to provoke Wolverine. In fact, Sabretooth has an eerie fixation for harming women, which tends to be the darkest implied acts in his comic appearances.
Like the Joker, Sabretooth has no specific affiliation other than the one that allows him to do the most damage. Throughout the years, Victor Creed has provided his violent services to evil criminals and organizations like Romulus, Weapon X, Mr. Sinister, and the Hand. Sabretooth has savored every second of mass murder events such as the Morlock massacre, and he never cares about collateral damage or his own allies' deaths.
Purple Man
Zebediah Killgrave Is The Most Disgusting Marvel Telepath
Purple Man’s atrocities are based on the absolute violation of free will. Zebediah Killgrave’s pheromone-based mind control removes his victims' agency and turns them into his puppets, fully aware of what they're forced to do. Forcing people to maim themselves or their loved ones, and commit acts they can't live with afterward, is an everyday habit for Purple Man. Killgrave's treatment of Jessica Jones is still one of Marvel’s darkest storylines, as he forces her to live in constant terror and humiliation.
Purple Man performs mass control with the same casual disdain. Unlike the Joker’s performative chaos, Purple Man’s terror comes from his desire for entertainment and pleasure. Killgrave is a man-child who would throw a tantrum every time he doesn't get his own way, if only he couldn't compel everyone around him to do exactly what he wants them to do, exactly how and when he wants them to do it.
Through decades of coercion, Killgrave fathers multiple offspring whose inherited powers make them living reminders of the trauma he inflicted on their mothers. Killgrave's kids initially become unwitting tools for their father’s return, leading to mass chaos as they use their own mind control to wreak havoc. Purple Man is simply one of those irredeemable villains who can't be imprisoned long enough or punished strongly enough to avoid future tragedies, because, as if his mind-control powers weren't enough, he also has an impressive healing factor.
Red Skull
Johann Schmidt Is The Embodiment Of Pure Human Evil
Red Skull’s evil comes from an unrelenting ideological hatred that drives every atrocity he commits, both individually and as a tyrannical leader. In classic Captain America stories, Johann Schmidt orchestrates mass executions during World War II, personally overseeing death camps and human experimentation. Disturbingly like real-life tyrants, Red Skull's crimes are methodical campaigns to exterminate entire populations. Where the Joker kills for amusement, the Red Skull kills to reshape the world in his image.
Johann Schmidt doesn't have an occasional moment of conscience. The Red Skull is a monster on the inside as much as he is on the outside. He corrupts everyone around him, from hundreds of nameless Hydra soldiers to his own daughter Sin. Red Skull has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, to the point that the Joker himself refuses to collaborate with him in the 1996 Batman & Captain America crossover.
Green Goblin
Green Goblin Is Marvel's Joker
Without a doubt, Green Goblin is the closest parallel to DC's Joker in the Marvel Universe. Norman Osborn's bloodlusted alter ego derives genuine satisfaction from chaos and suffering. Instead of torturing Spider-Man forever with the idea, Green Goblin murders Gwen Stacy in cold blood and threatens to do the same with all his loved ones. Just like the Joker is obsessed with tormenting Batman, Green Goblin has a deep fixation on toying with Spider-Man’s heart with surgical cruelty.
As the leader of the Dark Avengers and head of HAMMER, Norman Osborn orders mass killings, deploys unrestrained superhuman force on civilians, and attempts planetary conquest during the Siege of Asgard. Norman's time as an Avengers-level villain, without the need for Green Goblin manipulating his thoughts, proves Spider-Man's archnemesis is two villains in one. The Joker would find himself outmatched in cruelty and efficiency if he ever came face to face with Marvel's Green Goblin.
