Comic Book Question of the Week Results: Scariest Marvel/DC Character

Halloween is upon is, so it's only fitting we take a moment to reflect on the most frightening characters in Marvel and DC, right? This week, we asked you which character would likely make you pee your pants or freak out if you ever bumped into them in a dark alley. Over 450 Viners voted and to no one's surprise, a certain pale villain took a very large majority. It looks like most Viners are afraid of clowns... or at least clowns who are mass murders with beyond twisted minds.

We're right there with you, Viners. Joker's a scary dude. If you bumped into him, there's simply no telling if it would be the last night of your life or if it would be one of the most horrific experiences you'll ever endure. There's just no telling what's going on in that mind of his. He may not be able to turn you to dust with eye beams or crush you with super-human strength, but he's can mess with your mind and has a disturbing amount of ways to hurt you on a physical level, too. It's a well-earned victory for the Clown Prince of Crime.

Viner Post of the Week for Joker is by IDontLikeBirds

"Joker for his unpredictability. The majority of the others, you can predict their usual behavior, even Carnage, who will more or less just kill you and maybe torture you a bit. Joker...well he will reeeeeally get in your head, just ask Jason Todd when he died. Making your mother betray you, then beating you nearly to death with a crowbar, and finally blowing you up, that is just twisted, and that was mainly to mess with Batman. The Killing Joke also is a good reason why I picked him."

Joker obliterated the competition, but Carnage and Scarecrow weren't too far behind. Check out the full poll results below. Again, 0% doesn't necessarily mean a character received zero votes. In fact, the only character who didn't earn a vote was Crossbones. Someone please give the terrible man a pat on the back. We obviously couldn't include nightmare inducing characters like Stilt-Man, Squirrel Girl or Vulture because that would just be unfair, you know?

• Joker 23%
• Carnage 15%
• Scarecrow 10%
• Venom 7%
• Other 7%
• Professor Pyg 6%
• Zsasz 5%
• Parallax 3%
• Atrocitus 2%
• Batman 2%
• Darkseid 2%
• Dark Phoenix 2%
• Ghost Rider 2%
• Killer Croc 2%
• Gorilla Grodd 1%
• Green Goblin 1%
• Mephisto 1%
• MODOK 1%
• Punisher 1%
• Red Skull 1%
• Sabretooth 1%
• Sinestro 1%
• Solomon Grundy 1%
• Thanos 1%
• Wolverine 1%
• Abomination 0%
• Cheetah 0%
• Crossbones 0%
• King Shark 0%
• Lady Deathstrike 0%

Who'd you vote for and why, Viners? While you're at it, go ahead and recommend your favorite story arc for said character as well. That way it could potentially motivate your fellow Viners to check it out. Also, if you do dress up as one of these frightening characters for Halloween today, feel free to share an image in this article!

Check the homepage next Tuesday for an all-new Question of the Week! Do you have a suggestion for a topical or superb question for the feature? Post it below it tell Gregg via Twitter.

shockerzsf

wow I'm not surprised

-_- Joker is too OP in these polls.

What a surprise....

Carnage is scarier..........

Even if you guys aren't surprised, you've got to admit he's pretty scary and unpredictable.

He's more of twisted but, for me, what's scary is suspense.

I haven't read anything with Killer Croc but the experience I've had with him was in the Arkham Asylum video game and that always freaks me out.

I still think the best part of Death of the Family was Batman#13 where the Joker attacks the police department and you can see the exact moment where the Commissioner saw who it was and immediately sh!t his pants

You know what's really original and helps you stand out? Saying you're surprised sarcastically about a poll instead of saying who you think deserved to win and why.

I'm happy to see Scarecrow made it so close to the top. He was my number one pick, his name kind of gives it away. Honestly, I can see Joker ranking first (and not just because he's the most popular) but in my opinion he would come in right under Professor Pyg.

@k4tzm4n: I'm actually quite frightened by Stilt Man . He might squash me like a bug when he's not watching where he's going

Oh, I voted for Joker. The guy really creeps me out. I just posted that because I thought it would be funny.

Why so serious?

Although i don't disagree with the resault (yay Joker) i am really glad the 1% of the Green Goblin,is my vote! (hehe!)

The joker or Scarecrow?

@wilbertus: im happy to joker may have won but in reality it would have been scarecrow

I wanted Jack O'Lantern

Once again, heavy support for Batman or Batman villians, can't believe Professor Pyg got 6% of the votes. Better yet there are at least 5 Bat related characters in the top 10 including Batman, something is way wrong here, lol. Nobody's scared of the Ghost Rider, Mephisto, Thanos , Sabretooth, or a guy with 42,000 plus kills , Frank Castle! What happened to the Spectre? Even heroes at Dc fear him at times!

@theacidskull: The article says:

Again, 0% doesn't necessarily mean a character received zero votes. In fact, the only character who didn't earn a vote was Crossbones.

If a couple of hundred people voted, then 1 vote is rounded off to 0%...

Where is Galactus nothing is scarier than having your planet eaten and I'm surprised mephisto is low he's practically the devil

Have to go with Sabretooth.

Oh man, what a load of poll elitists you guys are. Its not even funny.

"Joker is too OP in these polls"

Gimme a break.

The question was who is the scariest guy and Joker deserved the win. All those fantastical guys are too unrealistic to be scary, but guys very much like Joker exist. Thats scary. Read Court of Owls or Black Mirror, Marvel fanboys and tell me again that Carnage is scarier. Joker is the king of scary. He is the dude who lies under your bed, holding a knife while you are sleeping. Thats more scary than alien symbiotes or monsters.

I voted for Red Skull. I'm not really all that freaked out by clowns but I can recognize how scary the Joker has been. Red Skull is a freaking Nazi with a skull face! Most of the people on the list will kill you for fun, for kicks, for laughs. Red Skull would kill you because he hates you and even after killing you he will still hate you.

I didn't vote because I don't think of anyb of them as particularly frightening, but Zsasz is the most realistic of all them and the fact there are people that twisted out there would give him my vote.

I voted Zsasz. Joker is a close second, but Zsasz is just that tiny bit more realistic which makes him extra scary. To all the people saying that Thanos and Galactus are scarier - in which world do you live? You could easily make a horror movie about many Batman villains, but the cosmic guys are just too fantastical to be remotely frightening. They can be a serious threat, sure, but scary? Never.

I think the Ventriloquist girl should be up there.. Man, she is psycho

Dollmaker should be up their

Dr. Psycho is scarier then Cheetah...just saying. But Joker does top them all!

But we're just believing that they did exist for the sake of the poll. The Joker is scary, one of the scariest there is without a doubt, but in my opinion he is not the scariest. Maybe it's because I have the confidence that I can defend myself against people, but at least with the Joker I have a chance at survival because he is still human and I can stop a knife. That's just my opinion.

I picked Parallax because he is fear itself, he does look scary especially if I were to see him in real life, and if I was confronted with him there is no way i could do anything. It's that inability to do anything and ultimately submit to getting killed by that thing that scares me the most.

P.S. It was just a light-hearted joke because it's true.

I can't believe professor pyg only got 6% that dude is the scariest one on that list for me he's so freaking creepy especially in batman and robin (with dick and Damian)

@theamazingimmortalman:

agreed

Joker by far and away! Sinister is pretty nasty too.

after seeing this it proves once again that batman's enemies triumph in any poll but for me the joker doesn't scare me one bit. clowns are just dudes wearing make-up and being silly with toys the one who is scarier is carnage.

@marvel_dc_heroes_villains: You wouldnt get scared about having a being that could have an extinction on a planetary scale. Joker msy be smart and all but one little gun shot or slip and fall could easily put him down

Zsasz should have won.

@kgb725: That's assuming you'd have any chance to take him down (which you wouldn't, Joker is well beyond anyone on the Vine). If I were facing planetary destruction, then at least my death would be instantaneous, painless and probably surrounded by people I know. With Joker or Zsasz you die slowly, sadistically and most likely very alone.

"When villains want to scare each other they tell Joker stories."

You know the Joker is scary when other villains are scared of him.

@thecannon: This , he is legit scary in a real world messed up soul kind of way

I voted Joker. We always fear what we don't understand.

@the_stegman: We don't understand most of the people on the list.

Man I saw that coming and I almost sh!t my pants.

Does Vertigo characters count? If so, the Corinthian would have had my vote.

Does anybody have the scan from Death of the Family where Joker told Batman to sit his ass down?

All of those people may kill me very painfully.

They won't screw with my mind, torture me for pleasure, screw with my loved ones just for the sake of it....

Essentially, everyone else apart from Joker will leave me intact as I get ripped limb from limb...

being torn apart psychologically is scarier to me than physical damage.

Jack O'Lantern was a good mention so would be Daredevil, Punisher and there rouges.

I can see why BATMAN/JOKER would be instantly win

I would agree with Joker being #1 after seeing a lot of the stuff he's done but Carnage as #2? LOL no, there are Wonder Woman villains scarier than he and the rest of the symbiote pack. The only thing Carnage should be #2 in is the list of the most overrated comic villains of all time. Hell, even a D-list villain like Victor Zsasz is a more memorable villain.

@tikhunt: Nah, most people on this list have motives, plans or M.Os, Joker is pure chaos.

@takeluutzen: Oh hellz yes, Ventriloquist and Ferdie, ftw. I'm shocked that I forgot to mention them during the votes. Gonna reread her Villain's Month issue because Gail Simsne crafted a great little horror movie-esque piece in that comic.

So many good choices were left out. Read Sandman for The Corinthian, and also Doctor Destiny at his scariest.

I also recommend non-Lantern regulars check out some early Sinestro Corps material for Kryb, who scares the bajeezus out of me. A skeletal monster who kills parents and stuffs their babies inside her back to keep as her own is so dark and twisted.

@muyjingo: So by that logic, Shadow King should have won. I mean, he can LITERALLY get inside your mind. Plus he's a psionic demon. Shadow Thief = scarier than Joker.

However, I say that as a huuuuge Bats and Joker fan. He was terrifying in A Serious House.