Bad to the bone: New York Newsday finds that behind every great superhero there lurks a great supervillain.

Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada: "Some of the best villains, at least within the Marvel universe, have always been the villains who are almost identical in character structure as the hero. The hero took a step to the right, and the villain took a step to the left."

DC's VP-editorial Dan DiDio: "The greatest supervillains are the ones that exploit the weaknesses of our superheroes. Batman is a very structured life. The Joker's about complete chaos. It forces [Batman] to think in new and varied ways to meet the challenge head-on. That's something we've always done in all our storytelling."

Writer Brad Meltzer: "The more you can ground your villain in reality, the scarier he or she will be. What is scary to me is not a villain who throws a car at you. What's scary to me is I go into an empty house and I walk into the bathroom and hear a squeaky noise from behind the shower curtain. The more I can put you in that moment, the more you're going to be terrified. That's the most important key to writing an effective villain."