What motivated many DC Comics supervillains during the Silver Age?

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Heath Ledger as the Joker sits at an interrogation table with Christian Bale as Batman standing behind him in a scene from the film The Dark Knight. — Supervillain Heath Ledger (seated) as the Joker and Christian Bale as Batman in *The Dark Knight* (2008).

During the Silver Age of DC Comics (1956–1969), the primary motivation for most supervillains was greed. Their conflicts with superheroes were typically a secondary byproduct of this underlying avarice rather than a result of inherent evil.1

While these characters were often defined by their flamboyant costumes and sophisticated, science-based weaponry, they were rarely categorized as purely malicious. Notable exceptions to this trend included Lex Luthor, who sought the death of Superman, and the villain Grodd, who demonstrated a complete disregard for human life.1