Superman Rogues’ Gallery

List of Superman enemies

As Superman is one of the most powerful superheroes in the
history of the genre, the ability of comics creators to create villains of
equal power has proven challenging. In the beginning, Superman merely fought
common criminals: street gangs, mafia leaders, corrupt landlords, and
politicians.

Superman Rogues’ Gallery - All Superman enemies

As such, Superman’s
rogues’ gallery is not as populated or complex as, say, Batman’s or
Spider-Man’s. His litany of villains, however, is powerful and more than a
threat to the Man of Steel. As with all rogues’ galleries, the villains have
come to define the hero, to focus his mission, and provide conflict for the
protagonist.

Superman’s archnemesis is Lex Luthor. Originally, in 1940,
the character was known only as “Luthor” and had red hair (Siegel and Shuster,
Action Comics #23, April 1940). For decades, Luthor was simply a mad scientist
bent on global destruction (though he often utilized weapons stolen from
others); he had no real issue with Superman personally.

In 1960—by which time Luthor had already become bald—Lex was
shown to be a young scientist in Smallville and a fan of Superboy’s, even going
so far as to try to develop an antidote to Superboy’s reac[1]tion to kryptonite.
Due to a lab accident that Lex associates with Superboy, Luthor becomes bald
and swears eternal hatred for the hero (Siegel and Plastino, Adven[1]ture Comics #271,
April 1960).

In the Superman films of the late 1970s and 1980s,
Luthor—portrayed by Gene Hackman—is presented more as a bumbling “crim[1]inal genius” with
delusions of grandeur. The modern portrayal of Lex Luthor as a megalomaniacal
businessman who hates Superman began in the post–Crisis on Infinite Earths
continuity (John Byrne, The Man of Steel #4, November 1986).

That portrayal has been consistent in the decades since.
Perhaps the most iconic portrayal of the character outside of comics has been
in the popular television ser[1]ies Smallville
(2001–2011), as played by Michael Rosenbaum and combining the 1960 and
post–1986 incarnations of the character.

Rosenbaum portrayed Lex as a friend to teenage Clark and
who, due in large part to the machinations of his evil father, devolved into
villainy. Over the years, there have been story lines and uni[1]verses where Luthor
has been a heroic character.

Many of Superman’s most memorable villains were introduced
in the 1950s and early 1960s under the editorship of Mort Weisinger. In 1958,
readers were introduced to Brainiac. Though the character has gone through
multiple reincar[1]nations over the
decades, Brainiac is, in essence, a cyborg/synthetic life form from the planet
Bryak—though some incarnations have him as Kryptonian; he travels the universe
and miniaturizes cities from planets, placing them in bottles and pre[1]serving them in order
to rule them.

See also: Who is Joker?

Most famously, he bottled the Kryptonian city of Kandor
before the planet’s destruction, essentially making Superman no longer the lone
survivor of the doomed planet (Binder and Plastino, Action Comics #242, July
1958). The character has been portrayed in numerous animated and live[1]action filmed
adventures, perhaps most brilliantly in the live action series Kryp[1]ton, which began
airing on the SyFy network in 2018.

Just a few months after Brainiac’s first appearance, the
villain Bizarro was introduced, created by a Professor Dalton—originally as a
duplicate of the teen[1]age Superboy. The
duplicate is imperfect and soon destroys itself (Binder and Papp, Superboy #68,
October 1958).

The popularity of the concept, however, called for a return
the following year. Now, Luthor—making use of Dalton’s dupli[1]cation ray—tricks
Superman into being hit with the device, creating Bizarro Superman. Lois Lane
uses the device to create a Bizarro Lois, and the two Bizar[1]ros leave Earth
together (Binder and Plastino, Action Comics #254–255, July– August 1959).
Because the Bizarro duplicates are flawed, Bizarro Superman is the opposite of
Superman in every way (i.e., he says “good-bye” when greeting some[1]one, and he produces
ice rays from his eyes and flame breath as opposed to Super[1]man’s heat vision and
freezing breath).

Over time, an entire “Bizarro World” is developed, with
Bizarro opposites of every character in the “normal” DC uni[1]verse. Unlike other
Superman villains, Bizarro is often shown as being kind and misunderstood, a
modern-day Frankenstein’s monster.

Metallo was first introduced just prior to the adult
Bizarro. Originally, John Corben was a common criminal who became involved in a
tragic accident. Profes[1]sor Vale—yet another
mad scientist character—transmits Corben’s consciousness into a robot body.
Corben soon learns that only kryptonite can permanently power his robot form,
making him a dangerous foe for Superman (Bernstein and Plas[1]tino, Action Comics
#252, May 1959).

Metallo’s debut happens in the same issue as that of
Supergirl. In post–Crisis continuity, Metallo’s origin was slightly altered,
with Vale’s experiment due to his fear that Superman was the first of an
overall Kryptonian invasion force, and Corben/Metallo is meant as a protector
of the human race (Byrne, Superman vol. 2, #1, January 1987).

The first Superman villain to be a true equal to the Man of
Steel was General Zod. Once more introduced in a Superboy adventure, Zod was a
Kryptonian crim[1]inal and military
leader who was banished to the Phantom Zone, an interdimen[1]sional prison for
Kryptonians. When Superboy is inadvertently trapped in the Zone, he meets Zod.
As Zod had met—and surpassed—his original 40-year sen[1]tence,
Superboy released him (Bernstein and Papp, Adventure Comics #283, April 1961).

Once exposed to Earth’s yellow sun, Zod soon develops the
same powers as Superman and sets out on yet another attempted conquest. As an
equal to Super[1]man in power, with
the added advantage of military training, Zod has proven to be more than a
match for Superman over the decades. He was portrayed by Terrence Stamp in the
films Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980).

More recently, he was played by Michael Shannon in Man of
Steel (2013), where controversy developed when Superman (Henry Cavill) kills
Zod in his attempt to stop him. The character has also appeared in the
live-action series Smallville, Supergirl, and Krypton.

One of Superman’s more powerful enemies was not even
designed for the Superman universe. When famed comics artist Jack Kirby
defected to DC Com[1]ics, it was under the
agreement that he would be able to create his own comics. He first introduced
Darkseid in the pages of Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #134 (Nov[1]ember 1970). The
cameo was designed to set up Kirby’s own “Fourth World” epics to be depicted in
the comics Forever People, New Gods, and Mister Miracle.

The failure of the Fourth World series led DC to return
Darkseid to his Superman roots. Darkseid is the lord of the planet Apokolips, a
dystopian world of slaves in service to the all-powerful Darkseid. Darkseid
possesses godlike powers, not the least of which are his “Omega Beams,” which
shoot from his eyes and can either incapacitate, kill, or resurrect those
caught in their gaze.

Darkseid is a recurring threat to not only Superman but the
entire Justice League. He was also the last vil[1]lain
faced by Clark Kent—and his first as Superman—in the television series
Smallville.

Next > Batman Rogues’ Gallery

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Superman Rogues’ Gallery - All Superman enemies

List of Superman enemies