DC Villain Name Generator

DC villains are named by neighborhood. Gotham's rogues are built from a single idea, usually a phobia, a vice or a piece of Victoriana: Scarecrow, Two-Face, Mad Hatter, Calendar Man, Ventriloquist. Central City's Rogues follow a blue-collar rank-plus-gimmick formula (Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Weather Wizard, Mirror Master, Pied Piper) that sounds like a carnival act rather than a god. Metropolis attracts scale and science: Brainiac, Metallo, Parasite, Doomsday, Bizarro. Wonder Woman fights mythology (Ares, Circe, Medusa) and the Lanterns fight color and cosmic law (Sinestro, Atrocitus, Nekron, Parallax).

Titles and definite articles do a lot of work. Doctor, Professor, Mister and Captain put a veneer of authority on a gimmick (Doctor Psycho, Professor Pyg, Mister Mind, Captain Boomerang), while The plus a noun gives you a one-line threat (The Riddler, The Penguin, The Shade, The Key). Apokolips and Krypton use harsher, hyphenated or guttural names: Darkseid, Desaad, Kalibak, Steppenwolf, General Zod, Jax-Ur. Legion of Super-Villains members mirror the Legion's Lad and Lass tags with Lord, King, Queen and Emperor.

For an original DC-style villain, choose a hero and a city first, then pick the template that city uses. A Gotham villain needs a single obsession, a Keystone villain a rank and a weapon, a Metropolis villain a scientific or alien origin.