Superman's Rogues Gallery

*Originally published on 12/11/09


When it comes to comic book villains, it's well established that Batman's enemies reign supreme. This isn't without good reason, but that doesn't mean that other heroes don't have great villains as well. The other DC mainstay, Superman, has also developed a rogue's gallery of his own with his own set of villains that test his limits on a regular basis.

The first and greatest of Superman's enemies is Lex Luthor. I already wrote an article detailing his hatred for the man of steel so I'll try to avoid repeating myself. Lex is Superman's most well known enemy, having been featured in almost every incarnation whether it be comic, tv series, cartoon, or movie. While he doesn't have the brute strength to beat Superman, he does have an amazing intellect that actually rivals that of Bruce Wayne. When strength is needed, he does have a mech suit that he utilizes from time to time, however, he tends to rely on a small piece of kryptonite that he carries around with him to keep the man of steel at bay.

While still pretty obscure to mainstream audiences, Superman's other major baddie is an alien android named Brainiac. This is another villain that I talked about in another article. He's an artificial intelligence from the planet Colu. His schtick is to collect all the data a planet has to offer and then destroy it. For a long time, his goals were unclear and he went through a number of iterations. It wasn't until Geoff Johns arc in Action Comics that we got a clear cut story on what Brainiac was. It was also stated that Brainiac is the one who destroyed Krypton and trapped the city of Kandor in a bottle to store in his collection.

A somewhat recent addition to Superman's rogues gallery is the rampaging monster known as Doomsday. He was introduced in the early 90's when it was decided that they were going to kill off the iconic hero. When he first appeared, he had no origin story; he was just a monster that was buried and trapped miles beneath the Earth's surface. After being trapped for ages, the monster finally manages to break out of his prison and starts leaving a path of destruction.

The Justice League (albeit one consisting of B and C list heroes) tried its hand at trying to stop the monster, only to get utterly destroyed. Superman comes to their aid and finds that even their combined might is no match for the monster. To stop the monster, Superman engages the beast in a round of fisticuffs that spreads across half of the country. He comes to the conclusion that he, and only he can stop the monster.

Now, I know what you're thinking, the league tried to stop him and couldn't, Superman and the league tried to stop him and couldn't, so how on Earth could Superman alone stop him? I don't know, he's Superman. Both pummel the hell out of each other and Superman gives every inch of energy he has to put the monster down for good. They both deliver a devastating blow to the other simultaneously and kill each other.

Now, of course, Superman comes back eventually, but so too does Doomsday. Other villains like Darkseid and Brainiac try to use the monster's limitless strength and energy to their advantage but find that his hate and rage is too much for even them to control The monster made a brief appearance in Infinite Crisis as one of the villains partaking in the battle of Metropolis, but he gets taken down by two Supermen (one being from a parallel earth).

He comes back again though (it's actually explained as everytime he dies, he comes back impervious to whatever it was that killed him before) when Kandor is freed from its prison. Doomsday is sent in during a press conference. A few of the Kryptonians transport him to the moon and pummel the hell out of him with no trouble.

One of Superman's most powerful enemies is the fifth dimensional imp known as Mxyzptlk. Being from another dimension entirely, Mxy can do essentially whatever he wants. Fortunately, he isn't so much an out and out villain but more of a pest. Actually, he kind of views Superman as his buddy and tries to help him from time to time. The stories with him tend to be a bit wackier and frequently break the fourth wall.

When it comes to Superman villains that the mainstream audience is familiar with, it's few and far between, however Bizarro is a name that even non-comic fans may recognize. Back in the day, Bizarro came from a "backwards" Earth, however more modern incarnations have Bizarro as a flawed clone of Superman created by Lex Luthor. He is more of a tragic villain as he thinks he's Superman and does try to do good deeds, but his limited intellect as well as his warped view on reality tend to leave him causing a lot more destruction. Bizarro is notable for his bizarre speech pattern where he'll say the opposite of what he means. For example, he'll often call Superman his best friend and talk about how much he likes him where really he's declaring his hatred.

While he hasn't been featured in the movies, Bizarro has been featured in both the animated series as well as Smallville. He gained notoriety outside of Superman fandom when his concept was adapted for an episode of Seinfeld. Jerry makes the comic connection and it is one of many Superman references in the series as the comic is a real life fan of the character.

Bizarro (or at least the concept) was also parodied in a classic episode of Sealab 2021 that featured evil versions of the main cast.

Another "big name" Superman villain is Zod, a power hungry Kryptonian general who was trapped in the Phantom Zone before Krypton exploded. He is well known by the general populace for Terence Stamp's portrayal of the villain in Superman II. He is most well known for demanding people to kneel before him.

This next villain is frequently seen as a Superman villain, though you could make the argument that he's more an enemy of the entire DC Universe as opposed to just Superman. That villain is Darkseid, ruler of a planet called Apokolips. I'm fairly sure Apokolips, as well as New Genesis take place in another dimension, but I"m unsure of that myself. Darkseid's strength is equal to, if not slightly greater than Superman's and he too has beams that shoot from his eyes that he calls his omega beams. Unlike Superman's heat vision, Darkseid can manipulate the beams to turn corners or zig zag, almost guaranteeing he'll hit his target no matter how hard they try to dodge. The Omega beams also have varying effects, they can simply inflict great pain, vaporize, kill, or even transport the impactee to other locations. At the end of Final Crisis, Batman himself was hit with the omega beams and was transported far into the past, while somehow leaving a skeleton I'm still not sure how that worked.

A fan favorite villain is Lobo. Created back in the 80's by Keith Giffen, Lobo is an intergalactic bounty hunter. Originally a parody of gritty anti-heroes, he originally turned into one himself. Admittedly his stories do still have a humorous tilt to them and are often over the top so that much remains intact. Lobo is known for his space cycle and his generally poor attitude. He isn't completely without honor though. He does catch bad guys and sticks to his promises whenever he makes one.

People often speculate as to what villain will appear in the next Superman movie whenever it gets made. People have grown tired of Lex and want to see someone new. As you can see, there are plenty of great options available.