Could Jim Parsons go from playing one brainiac to another? There’s one super villain that Jim wouldn’t mind playing, and that’s the Riddler! Surprise!

As we all know, the Riddler is one of the greatest super villains of all time. And most of the greatest comic book villains have been inspired by a number of interesting and fascinating real world ideas. 

So today, we’ve compiled a list of 10 real life inspirations behind comic book supervillains. 

1.The Joker – Verified

Joker is, no doubt, the best inspiration of comic characters. Batman’s deadliest foe was created by Jerry Robinson, Bob Kane and Bill Finger April, 1940. 

He was a psychopath criminal who used to play card of the Joker, looking just like Conrad Veidt. Robinson also admits the inspiration of Conrad Veidt in The Man Who Laughs of 1928’s classic movie.

2.Catwoman – Verified

Catwoman (a.k.a. Selina Kyle) was co-created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, but in his autobiography Batman and Me, Kane revealed that the feline femme fatale was partially inspired by his cousin Ruth Steel and received her sex appeal from buxom 1930s actress Jean Harlow. 

3.The Penguin – Verified

Characters from the early years of Batman’s canon are steeped in “who-created-what” controversy, at least in the minds of Bob Kane and Bill Finger. And the “Gentleman of Crime” known as The Penguin is no exception. 

In Les Daniels’ 2004 book Batman – The Complete History: The Life and Times of the Dark Knight, Bill Finger is quoted saying:

“[The Penguin] was inspired by emperor penguins, who reminded [me] or stuffy English gentlemen in tuxedos.”

Of course, Bob Kane’s recollection of the situation is completely different, saying his inspiration came from:

“…the little penguin who appeared in print to advertise Kool menthol cigarettes and also hawked them on the radio with his insistent falsetto slogan ‘Smoke Kooools!’” 

4.Red Skull – Verified

Co-created by Joe Simon, Jack Kirby and France Herron, Red Skull was introduced as the principal villain of our hero with the Vibranium shield, “Captain America”, born as Johann Shmidt, almost killed by his madness-driven dad, Hermann Shmidt, right after his birth.

Later during his teens, Red Skull got the job of a bellhop who served the rooms of Adolf Hitler. While talking about this Nazi fella, Joe revealed that this ruthless villain came to his mind when he was enjoying a hot fudge sundae. 

To him, the hot fudge running down through the vanilla ice cream looked like limbs. With the intention of naming him as “Hot Fudge”, Joe changed his mind after looking at the cherry on top and made him “Red Skull”.

5.Two-Face – Verified

Though the credit for creating The Joker is shared between Bob Kane and Bill Finger, Kane is widely seen as the sole creator of the lawyer-turned-villain Two-Face. 

In his 1985 biography, Batman and Me, Kane says he drew inspiration from the 1931 movie version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 19th century tale,  Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, when creating the iconic villain’s look. 

Meanwhile, his origin was influenced by the pulp magazine character Black Bat, who was also splashed in the face with acid.

6.Doctor Doom – Verified

The arrogant and vengeful Doctor Doom was the creation of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Kirby once said about using Death as his influence:

“It was the reason for the armor and the hood. Death is connected with armor and the inhuman-like steel. Death is something without mercy, and human flesh contains that mercy.” 

7.Magneto – Verified

Born “Max Eisenhardt” and famous as “Erik Magnus Lehnsherr”, Magneto’s introduction was done as “Magnus” by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963. 

He was also the one who laid the foundation of “Brotherhood”, and was inspired by Malcolm X and his contributions to American civil rights movement. 

8.Galactus – Verified

When Stan Lee and Jack Kirby needed to create a unique super villain, the likes of which the comic book universe had never seen, they decided to make someone that was beyond good and evil with almost God-like powers – enter Galactus.  

9.Poison Ivy – Alleged

Robert Kanigher and Sheldon Moldof created Poison Ivy. It had been a deadly beautiful batman villain. It is placed at rank 64 in the IGN list of top 100 villains of all time. 

It was an inspiration of ’50s pinup model, and was acclaimed as the “after reading effect” of “Rappaccini’s Daughter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s in the “Batman. 

10.Harley Quinn – Verified

Harley Quinn was a crazy and obsessed girlfriend of Joker. She got introduced for the first time in September, 1992 at the “Joker’s Favor” episode of “Batman”. It had been a wonderful creation of Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. 

Dini, in his book, has admitted that “soap opera actress, Arleen Sorkin was dressing as a court jester, and she became the inspiration of Quinn.

See Also: Top 10 Super-Dark Origins Behind Your Favorite Disney Movies