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Quote1 "When I was a child... I dreamt of childish things..." And they was burned and beat and molested and murdered outta me... And I thought that's all there was. And then I met you... An' I hated that you made me feel like a child dreamin' again... But that's the thing, ain't it? You were real... And I... I became a %@#$ supervillain. Cheers, mate. Quote2
Manchester Blacksrc

Superman protects Metropolis, America and Earth from a number of threats. The mad scienstist Lex Luthor, later reimagined as a narcissistic businessman, is his biggest enemy.


Membership History

Metropolis Organized Crime

Before Superman donned his costume, Metropolis was already controlled by several gangs. Even though in America, Metropolis is seen as a gleaming city of hope and prosperity, underneath the public image of the city are many facets that are controlled by the most ruthless gangsters and criminals.

Intergang From the beginnings of Superman's career to now, a national crime syndicate has had its clutches on Metropolis for a long time. This organization had ties through the far reaches of space to Apokolips.

  • Bruno Mannheim[1] Bruno Mannheim, nicknamed "Ugly", is arguably the second formidable human being to ever challenge Superman. His organization, Intergang, has been under the control of Darkseid for many years. After his superior was in the hospital, Mannheim took control over Intergang. When Clark Kent and his partner exposed Intergang, Mannheim was arrested, but he escaped. Bruno Mannheim was revealed as the current head of Intergang, which is also behind the kidnapping of many of the world's "mad scientists", in a grand plan to take over America by the end of the year. He shows himself now acting like a cult leader, exalting the power of crime as the dominant order in the 21st century, even using the Crime Bible to aid his operations, and now becoming a cannibal, eating anyone he kills who refuses to join Intergang. Sometime later, Mannheim returns as a giant wielding alien technology, claiming that someone other than Darkseid is behind Intergang's current activities.
  • Morgan Edge[2] Morgan Edge was former president of Galaxy Broadcasting System, a prominent media corporation that owned television station WGBS. Edge was also the original leader of Intergang. His Apokoliptian contact was Desaad, one of Darkseid's henchmen. After being hospitalized for a stress related heart attack, Morgan's father took over GBS/WGBS and Mannheim temporarily took control over Intergang. Superman's alter-ego, Clark Kent and Cat Grant exposed Edge when it was discovered that he had ties to Intergang. Edge has since lost his job and sponsored the Superman Revenge Squad.
    • Boss Moxie: Bruno's father Boss Moxie, a career gangster, was released from prison after the first Crisis and proceeded to gain control of Intergang. Moxie met with Cadmus scientist Dabney Donovan and arranged for himself and his former gang members to be fitted with superpowers. Afterwards, Moxie used Vincent Edge to set up a meeting with all of Metropolis's gang-leaders and then killed them single-handedly, declaring himself as the new leader of Intergang. Moxie directed all of Intergang's efforts on locating Jimmy Olsen, whom he thought knew Superman's true identity. When Lex Luthor gained control of Intergang after Morgan Edge's short-lived attempt to regain the spot, Luthor retained Moxie as a figurehead. Moxie and his lieutenants were later captured by Superman himself. There's some suggestion that maybe Superboy-Prime killed Moxie by snapping his neck during the second Crisis.
    • Vincent Edge: Morgan's father who took control of GBS/WGBS temporarily until Maxie gained prominence. His son Morgan soon lost the company and Intergang when he was exposed. Vincent's whereabouts are unknown.
    • Frank Sixty: A criminal cyberneticist who gained control of Intergang after Morgan Edge until 52 when Mannheim regained control.
    • Whisper A'Daire:
    • Kyle Abbot:
    • Professor Killgrave:
    • Emil Hamilton:

The Masterminds

Besides Mannheim and Edge, other denizens of subjugation, power, and darkness have appeared in Superman's career that continue to challenge him to this day with their uncanny ability to formulate complex schemes of evil acts.

  • Lex Luthor: [3] Coming out of a rough childhood and adolescence, Alexander Joseph Luthor began furthering his career in the business world. Soon, Luthor became Superman's oldest and most driven foe, thus becoming Kal-El's arch-enemy. A shrewd powerful businessman hell-bent on world domination, Luthor has no special powers, except maybe his exceptional genius intellect, which he uses to formulate plans of destruction towards Superman and sometimes Metropolis; plans of omnipotence over the world. A self-proclaimed Machiavellian industrialist, scientist, and white-collar criminal as referenced by one of his famous quotes, "I'm the greatest criminal mind of our time!," Luthor has proven to be Superman's own "super-foe", being responsible for cloning Superman in order to ultimately destroy him, engineering smear campaigns to ruin Superman's reputation, and for almost destroying Metropolis.
  • Darkseid: [4] After assassinating his mother, Uxas had become ruler of Apokolips for thousands of years. A sadistic despot, Darkseid is determined to make sure that he's ruler of the entire universe and to attain that goal, he desperately seeks the Anti-Life Equation, a device that can control all life. Darkseid is responsible for partially igniting an interstellar war, and has been a persistent villain until before the third Crisis where his son, Orion, killed him. However, Darkseid was reincarnated and is still wreaking havoc yet again.
  • Brainiac: [5] Originally from the distant planet, Colu, the scientist Vril Dox was merged into his own creation, The Brain InterActive Construct, a machine created by The Computer Tyrants to obtain information in the universe. Brainiac thus broke away from his superiors and has a goal of ultimately obtaining all information in the universe and destroying all the planets it came from. Brainiac's rampage has made him enemies with Kal-El, the only humanoid who can stop him. Brainiac has been responsible for shrinking the city of Kandor, inhabiting a human being, gaining a new cybernetic body, plotting to gain control of Superman's body, and almost dominating the universe in his 13th version. Currently, Brainiac and Superman continue to be enemies. With no capacity for good, Brainiac continues to complete his functioning program of learning all information in the universe until he has destroyed everything.
  • General Zod: [6] Dru-Zod was one of Krypton's most efficient military commanders. That all changed when he hears that his friends, renowned scientist Jor-El has predicted Krypton's imminent destruction. When the Kryptonian Science Council lobotomizes Zod's friend for leading a separatist movement, Zod becomes disillusioned with the Kryptonian societal norms. Zod, with the aid of his lover and his friend, launch an insurrection plot to overthrow Krypton's government and establish a new order on the planet. Zod's main motivation applied to his megalomania, his insatiable need to control everything. Zod tried to get Jor-El to join their rebellion, but he refused. Eventually, The Council thwarted Zod's plot; sentenced him and his co-conspirators to eternal imprisonment in the Phantom Zone. Jor-El condemned them to the imprisonment, prompting Zod to swear vengeance against him and his heirs. Zod and his cohorts have since escaped the Phantom Zone and terrorized Jor-El's son, Kal-El, just as he promised. Zod had two accomplices that helped him in his quest for power:
    • Ursa: [7] A former member of the Kryptonian guard, Ursa is Zod's lover and most loyal accomplice. When she heard that Jor-El and another scientist had foreseen Krypton's destruction, she believed them and sought to oppose the Council in rebellion. The Council retaliated by lobotomizing her friend and in turn, Zod and Ursa instigated open rebellion. She hated Jor-El for surrendering to the Council and not supporting their cause; when the trio were arrested, Jor-El himself condemned in their trial by sending them to the Phantom zone as a result of the sentencing. Ursa has since swore vengeance on the House of El with Zod and their friend. Ursa has since escaped with her two accomplices from the Zone and terrorized Kal-El to gain custody of her son, who's also the son of Zod.
    • Non: [7] A former scientist and member of the Kryptonian Council, Non predicted Krypton's destruction with Jor-El, making Zod and Ursa believe their claim. Soon after, Non led a separatist movement to break way from the Kryptonian government, earning him their wrath when afterwards, they lobotomized him. Now a minimally-verbal mute, Non has lost his sense of right and wrong, and sided with Zod and Ursa because of their friendship, ultimately leading them to being banished to the Phantom Zone. After escaping from the Zone, Non has helped his friends in their failed attempt to invade Earth with the help of other Kryptonian criminals that have escaped as well.
  • The Elite: A group of individuals that take extreme measures to eliminate crime. Led by the Villain, Manchester Black.
    • Manchester Black: The sinister, telepathic leader of the Elite. He has made it his personal mission to make Superman think mercy is useless.

The Compulsive Evildoers

Aside from the power-hungry masterminds and ruthless mobsters, Superman has also had to contend with other enemies whose sole purpose in life is to bring evil and suffering to the superhero community and the world.

  • Doomsday: [8] Born on Krypton in the distant past as an evolved artificial life-form, The Ultimate was created by a mysterious alien scientist, Bertron. After many years of dying and coming back alive in Berton's experiments of evolution, Doomsday snapped and turned on Bertron, killing him and hordes of other living Kryptonian creatures. Doomsday then traveled the galaxy, becoming a extraterrestrial serial killer bent on destructing the universe's societies. His murder spree lead him to Earth where his plan for destroying the planet was thwarted by Superman. Doomsday and Superman engaged in a fight that lead to both of their deaths. Superman and Doomsday were later resurrected and they still challenge each other currently. Whatever kills Doomsday only makes him stronger; he revives himself again and again only to bring death to all sentient beings. Doomsday eventually gained the ability to kill people with his mere presence and infect others with a virus that makes others like him.
  • Parasite: [9] A menial slacker and janitor of a Pittsburgh S.T.A.R. Labs facility, Rudy Jones came in contact with hazardous chemicals changing him into a purple being capable of draining energy from anyone. Jones has since used his new-found abilities to gain Superman's powers in order to better himself. After Jones's defeat, Superman has had to battle other versions of Parasite like Dr.Freeman, Alex and Alexandra Allston.
  • Bizarro[10]: An imperfect copy of Superman, Bizarro is the opposite of the Kryptonian hero in many ways. His warped sense of moral makes Bizarro think evil is good, and some of his powers are inversions of Superman's (instead of heat vision and ice breath, Arctic Vision and Flame-Breath). Occasionally he serves as Superman's ally.
  • Cyborg Superman[11]: An evil robotic counterpart built out of Kryptonian technology and genetics. Originally he was Hank Henshaw, an astronaut who blamed Superman for the death of his wife and constructed his body after becoming his mind into Kal-El's Kryptonian Birthing Matrix. Zor-El, who upon his death was rebuilt by Brainiac into a mechanical body was the new Cyborg Superman, before Hank Henshaw took over the role again.
  • Metallo[12]: John Corben is a cyborg whose robotic body runs on Green Kryptonite, thus giving him a natural advantage over Superman.
  • Toyman[13]: A sociopathic mechanical genius, Winslow Schott likes to create violent, destructive, and dangerous toys. He also created several human-like robots who also became the Toyman. In some versions, he seeks vengeance on Mannheim, who framed his father for money laundering.
  • Denny Swan: A mad man made of energy who believed he was Superman. He was killed when the energy in his body exploded, taking Prime Earth Superman with him.

Extraterrestrials Villains

  • Hfuhruhurr[14]: Also known as Word-Bringer, Hfuhruhurr is an alien from an unknown race who travels the universe collecting brains in order to create The Union, an immortal hive-mind capable of accessing the unlimited knowledge of the universe. He was confronted by Superman on two occasions.
  • Imperiex: [15] Essentially the embodiment of entropy, Imperiex-Prime sought out to destroy all galaxies in order to "stop the imperfection" present. He sent numerous probes to guide his destructive campaign which was impeded by Superman and his allies. Even Kal-El's arch-enemies, Darkseid and then-President Lex Luthor, joined the battle against Imperiex. Darkseid and the superhero Steel developed an Entropy Aegis armor (created from a burned out Imperiex probe) for Superman to use for defending himself against Prime. With the help of numerous allies, Superman destroyed Prime by sending him and an accomplice back through time to the Big Bang, the explosive origin of space 14 billion years ago. That in itself sealed Imperiex's doom, erasing his existence forever. Just before being destroyed by Superman, Imperiex realized the "imperfection" in all the galaxies was himself.
  • Queen Maxima of Almerac: Obsessed with becoming the Man of Steel's mate in order to bear strong children, Maxima has alternated between enemy and ally throughout the years.
  • Lobo[16]: After massacring all the other people in his home planet of Czarnia, Lobo became an ultra-violent motorcycle-riding inter-galactic bounty hunter. His wicked ways cause him to occasionally clash with Superman,[17][18][19][20] but often he opts to help various superheroes.
  • Mongul [21]: The devious ruler of Warworld, Mongul is a warlord and despot who has clashed with Superman on various occasions.
  • Mister Mxyzptlk[22]: A reality manipulating imp from the 5th Dimension, Mister Mxyzptlk constantly antagonizes Superman, seeking to pester the Man of Steel and prove he's smarter than the hero.
  • Rogol Zaar: He apparently destroyed Krypton, under the belief that the Kryptonians would defy the gods. He came to earth to kill the remaining Kryptonians and destroyed Kandor.

Alternate Supermen

Superman has made enemies out of various alternate versions of himself.

  • Ultraman: An evil version of Superman from earth-3. Like the rest of the Justice League and Crime Syndicate, Superman and Ultraman fight each other whenever they encounter each other.
  • Superboy Prime: A psychotic, sadistic, and sociopathic version of Superman from Earth-Prime, after his world is destroyed, he went mad and tried to reboot the multiverse to restore his world. In this quest, he killed many people, including Superboy, and massacred through many Teen Titans and Lanterns without remorse.
  • Overman: A Nazi-affiliated version of Superman. He helped the Nazi's take over his world.

Intercontinental

  • Doctor Omen: Mother of the Super-Man of Hong Kong. She created the villain of Superman Zero.

Minor Villains

  • Adversary - A construct wished from the imagination of a psychic child; used as a pawn by the demon Lord Satanus against the Man of Steel.
  • Alex Evell -
  • Amalak - A ruthless space-pirate with fantastic technological gimmicks at his disposal and a fierce desire to destroy the last surviving Kryptonians.
  • Amok-
  • Angstrom
  • Anomaly - A genetically engineered clone of a vicious murderer and criminal, created by Project Cadmus although his true loyalties are with the Superman Revenge Squad.
  • Archer - A crook with a bow-and-arrow gimmick; in a perverse reinterpretation, robs from the rich and gives to himself.
  • Atlas - From a land far and away from time and space, Atlas used a magical crystal that granted him incredible strength and durability, becoming a great hero before becoming corrupted by his own power. Centuries later, he would battle Superman, proving a challenge for the Man of Steel. After Atlas' defeat, General Sam Lane recruited him to be used as a deterrent against Superman.
  • The Atomic Skull - A S.T.A.R. Labs research scientist with a debilitating and ultimately lethal seizure disorder, Albert Michaels sold his soul to the SKULL crime syndicate in exchange for their surgeons to implant an experimental radium-powered device in his brain and slow the progress of his condition. Instead, the radium device transformed Michaels into an emaciated husk and caused seizures to strike with ever-increasing frequency, while also converting the erratic fluctuations of electrical potential during these episodes into deadly blasts of a strange new type of energy. As the original Atomic Skull, Michaels runs the SKULL cartel with an iron fist, desperate to find a cure for his condition if at all possible and willing to take everyone and everything down with him if he can't.
  • Auctioneer - An extraterrestial visitor with a nack for collecting rare and extraordinary specimens from throughout the universe, both living and non-living. He came to Earth in search of Superman and Supergirl, to his knowledge the two last surviving Kryptonians, only to come in for a shock when his scanners registered the presence of a third.
  • Blaze - The sister of the demon lord Satanus and an entity no less bitter, manipulative, or hateful than he. Blaze is also the misbegotten daughter of the wizard Shazam and poses as a human nightclub owner to facilitate her mission in the damnation of souls. Blaze often competes with Satanus for status and power in the hierarchy of Hell.
  • Baron Sunday -
  • Barrage - A small-time meta-criminal with an arm cannon capable of firing high-energy projectiles; also a member of the Superman Revenge Squad.
  • Baud -
  • Black Adam - The arch-nemesis of Shazam/Captain Marvel, he has matched Superman more than once. Originally Teth-Adam of Kahndaq, a satellite-state of Egypt, thousands of years ago, Black Adam was given the enchantment of the wizard Shazam, to summon the powers of Shu, Heru, Amon, Zehuty, Aten and Mehen upon speaking the magic word of the wizard's name and charged with being the hero and champion of all the land. However, Adam strayed from justice and embraced vengeance and domination. Consequently, the wizard banished Black Adam from the mortal world up until his re-emergence in the modern era.
  • Blackie Sarto -
  • Blackrock - A manufactured costumed persona created by Peter Silverstone, the research and development head for the United Broadcasting Company, at the behest of the network CEO Sam Tanner, who wanted an eye-catching superhero at UBC's beck and call to compete with rival WGBS's lucrative Superman-centric media focus. Silverstone gave his creation Blackrock powers with an EM-manipulating Powerstone and brainwashed Tanner and then Tanner's nephew Les Vegas into adopting the identity before taking up the persona himself, tempted by the allure of using the Powerstone for criminal gain. However, Superman and Supergirl put Blackrock down and hauled him behind bars every time. Eventually, unreformed ex-con Sam Benjamin murdered Silverstone and stole the Powerstone to become Blackrock himself. After a brief and unsuccessful villain stint, Benjamin lost the Powerstone, which Superman threw into the Sun for good measure. In the lead-up to the Infinite Crisis, Lex Luthor's imposter used Bizarro to retrieve the Powerstone from the Sun and gave it to a psychopathic drug-baroness from Peru, who gave Superman and Supergirl no small amount of trouble before she too was defeated and deprived of the Powerstone. Even without a human wielder, the Powerstone caused trouble for the world when it was revealed to be a sentient alien parasite and became an integral part of an attempt by Despero to extend psychic control over Earth's variegated alien diaspora.
  • Bloodsport - A traumatized and tragically deranged African-American Vietnam War veteran who was given access to ultra-modern military hardware and a seemingly unlimited supply of Kryptonite ammunition by Lex Luthor as part of a viciously exploitative scheme to destroy Superman. Bloodsport's name and some of his tech were later ironically appropriated by a white supremacist neo-Nazi. The tensions between the original and second Bloodsports came to a head when the two were allowed by prison authorities to brawl it out in a fight to be refereed by Superman himself. Predictably, prison gangs conspired to use the event to wreak racially-motivated chaos, and both Bloodsports are believed to have ultimately been killed. Since Infinite Crisis, an imitator of the original Bloodsport has been seen amid the Metropolis underworld scene.
  • Bloodthirst - An alien or supernatural creature who used the second Bloodsport and Hi-Tech to cause havoc for its own empowerment.
  • Borden Moseley -
  • Brainiac 13 - An upgraded version of the original Brainiac from the 64th Century, B13 used his 20th Century/21st Century counterpart to open a gateway into the city of Metropolis upon the eve of the new millennium and used his future nanotech to convert Metropolis into a true City of Tomorrow, albeit one totally under his self-serving control. B13 willingly returned to the future and handed the secret information of how to control the nanotech to Lex Luthor in exchange for the body of Lex's daughter Lena Luthor, which contained a copy of the original Brainiac's consciousness. B13 then returned during the Imperiex War to take advantage of the situation and remake creation in his image from the control-seat of a new Warworld. Superman stopped this by transporting both B13 and Imperiex through a time-portal back to the dawn of time, where both met their ignominious end. B13 was then retroactively prevented from ever having come into existence when Superman fought his immediate predecessor Brainiac 12 and caught him in an eternal time-loop, also retroactively undoing the hi-tech modifications to the Metropolis infrastructure.
  • Chemo: Chemo is an inexplicably animate vat of toxic chemicals created from the waste products of dozens of failed experiments by a single scientist. The scientist stored these chemical wastes in a humanoid container due to his odd sense of humor, but it is doubtful that he still found it funny when the random cocktail of corrosive and poisonous compounds in the container came to life and melted him down to the bone. Although primarily the arch-foe of the Metal Men, Chemo has battled the Man of Steel on numerous occasions. He has been destroyed on numerous occasions but somehow keeps on finding some way to return. Such indefatigable resolve is remarkable for an entity which is likely not even truly sentient, though perhaps Chemo's most infamous act was when the Brotherhood of Evil, on behalf of the Society, dropped him over Bludhaven, killed thousands of people upon detonation, and made the city uninhabitable for over a year.[23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28]
  • Colonel Future - On Earth-One, Colonel Future was not an enemy, but an ally, of Superman, who used his hi-tech equipment and precognitive abilities to the Man of Tomorrow's benefit. On Earth-Two, however, Colonel Future was a criminal mastermind active in the early 1950s whose gimmick was the utilization of futuristic technological gimmicks in his heists. It was on behalf of Colonel Future that the Injustice Society's Wizard attempted to sabotage the Earth-Two Superman, unwittingly creating the circumstance for that version of Clark Kent to pursue his self-denied dreams and live happily in matrimony to Lois Lane, while being honest with his wife about both of his identities.
  • Conduit - A rival of Clark Kent during his youth in Smallville, who grew up sickly and plagued by health problems due to long-term exposure to Kryptonite radiations that arrived on Earth with the coming of the baby Kal-El's rocket. As an adult, Kenny Braverman became a ruthless and heartless intelligence operative but never forgot his original goal of destroying Clark Kent's life to resolve his deep-seated insecurities. Braverman realized that the Kryptonite radiations absorbed into his tissues could be harnessed by a specially constructed armor and that he could use this radiation to kill Superman by channeling it through retractable cables, making Braverman a living conduit for K-energies. Braverman was one of the few villains to independently deduce Superman's true identity as Clark Kent and use it against him and his loved ones to terrifying effect.
  • Dabney Donovan: Co-founder of Project Cadmus with a twisted belief in human experimentation, with connections to Intergang. From a certain perspective, Donovan can be seen as the arch-enemy of the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion.
  • Dev-Em - A survivor from Krypton's destruction, Dev-Em tried to ruin Superboy's reputation by committing acts of vandalism dressed as him. Later he reformed and became an ally of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Alternate versions of Dev-Em have been criminals banished to Phantom Zone who have harassed not only Superman but also his cousin.
  • Doctor Stratos -
  • Doomslayers -
  • Dreadnaught -
  • Effron the Sorcerer -
  • Equus - A cyborg used to do the dirty work of the very organization which employs Mr. Orr.
  • Elias Orr - The mercenary operative of a clandestine conspiratorial organization which engineered the sudden disappearance of thousands of people from the face of the Earth and into the Phantom Zone.
  • Etrigan - A demon who has battled Superman in the past, though usually acts in a heroic or semi-heroic role due to his curse of being bound to the immortal Jason Blood. - [29] [30] [31] [32]
  • Ferlin Nyxly - A petty criminal sorcerer who styles himself after the Greek satyr/god Pan, Ferlin Nyxly struck during a time when Superman's powers were ebbing due to the presence of a doppelganger, the Sand Superman, but even then, Nyxly's skills ultimately did him no good against the Man of Steel.
  • Galactic Golem - A super-powerful behemoth made of the very primordial matter at the heart of the universe, and more than capable of crushing Superman in a contest of pure brawn under any given set of circumstances. The original Galactic Golem was the construct of Lex Luthor, and was nearly mindless in his first outing, although he gained human-level intelligence by the time of his second. Another Galactic Golem, several stories taller than the original, was unleashed upon the Earth by the xenophobic High Priests of Daxam.
  • Grax - A multi-limbed alien conqueror with a 20th-level intellect and a frequent competitor with Brainiac. Grax made a few attempts to destroy Superman's morale with his scheming but has never succeeded as of yet.
  • Harley Quinn - Harley is a villain/anti-hero who has battled Superman on occasion.[33] [34] [35]
  • Hellgrammite - A grasshopper-like villain who has crossed paths with Superman.[36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41]
  • Helspont -
  • Hi-Tech - A hi-tech mercenary/assassin who has worked under the employ of Bloodthirst and Manchester Black; not really a match for Superman by any stretch.
  • Host -
  • Ignition - A twisted cyborg conjured into existence from the demented imagination of the Joker during a brief period when the Clown Prince of Crime possessed Mister Mxyzptlk's magic powers.
  • Insect Queen - An extraterrestrial insectoid intelligence that influenced Lana Lang's actions during her brief tenure as CEO of Lexcorp and eventually took over completely, attempting to expand its dominion over the whole planet.
  • Jackhammer -
  • Jack Nimball - An overly ambitious yet not very bright career criminal who thought it was a good idea to try stealing the gimmicks of the Toyman; Nimball was killed by the true Toyman, Winslow Schott, before long for his impudence, though subsequent revelations indicate that Nimball may have been a mere android proxy of Schott to begin with.
  • J. Wilbur Wolfingham - An outrageous confidence trickster who tries to affect more class than he actually possesses.
  • Kalibak: The cruel son of Darkseid, Kalibak has fought Superman several times.[42] [43] [44] [45]
  • Khyber -
  • King Kosmos - A cruel despot, exiled from a future Earth, who went back in time to subjugate the planet when it was less advanced. His technology made him Superman's superior, and only the intervention of a time traveller subdued him.[46][47]
  • Medini -
  • Kru-El - The first cousin once removed of Superman himself, and the black sheep of the House of El, who brought disgrace upon the family name by manufacturing an arsenal of forbidden weapons and unleashing them for a field-test upon Kryptonopolis. Kru-El was the first Kryptonian criminal to ever be imprisoned in the Phantom Zone, at the hands of his cousin Jor-El, and his weapons were sealed with the Phantom Zone Projector into a casket and launched into orbit around Krypton when punishments by incarceration in the Zone were discontinued. When Krypton exploded, the blast sent the casket containing the Projector and the weapons on a course towards Earth, providing the circumstances for them to be discovered by a naive Superboy.
  • Kryptonoid -
  • Kryptonite Man - A scientist whose research on harnessing Kryptonite radiation as a renewable, more efficient energy source was brought to an abrupt end when his experimental K-reactor exploded, bathing Abernathy in radiations that were absorbed into his tissues. As the Kryptonite Man, Abernathy was given an irrational and pathological desire to kill Superman and commit criminal acts, but gained the ability to emit high-intensity beams of K-radiation from his eyes and hands, in addition to a degree of super-strength and invulnerability that is not to be scoffed at.
  • Lady Lunar - A Kryptonite-empowered astronaut with a split-personality who has fought Superman and Batman on a few occasions.
  • La Encantadora - A woman with illusion-casting abilities that she once used to make Superman perceive the presence of a chunk of fake Kryptonite, as though it were the actual thing.
  • Lelia -
  • Livewire: A former DJ who developed electric powers after being struck by lightning.
  • Loophole -
  • Lord Satanis - A powerful sorceror from many millennia into the Earth's future, at a time when magic has displaced science and technology in their traditional roles. Satanis is in a state of constant struggle with his wife Syrene for total domination of the planet and yearns to possess Superman's body to possess the power to decisively overcome her.
  • Syrene - Lord Satanis's wife and arch-enemy, who constantly struggles with him in their own far-flung future time-period for total domination of the Earth, over the grave of the other competitor in the running. Syrene became entangled in the plot to split Superman's essence into two autonomous beings to cut his power in half and hinder Satanis's ambitions of controlling a complete, fully-powered Man of Steel.
  • Lyla -
  • Maaldor the Darklord - An eternal being who conquered worlds in his own dimension until it grew tiresome and contacted Superman, Power Girl, Starman, and the Green Lantern Corps in his search for a foe that would finally match his power. Superman defeated Maaldor by challenging him to internalize his dark powers, which had the effect of causing him to explode into his own separate universe, completely permeated at the most minute level by the full extent of his consciousness. Maaldor once tried to possess Superman through his dreams but failed by the intercession of Madame Xanadu. On another occasion, the Phantom Stranger summoned Superman and the Joker to "lobotomize" Maaldor before his consciousness ran out of control.
  • Magpie - An obsessed minor crook with a magpie-gimmick whom Superman and Batman fought in one of their earliest team-ups.
  • Malleable Man -
  • Master Jailer - A genius locksmith and inventor who made himself considerably wealthy by putting his mind towards devising inescapable containment units for maximum security super-prisons, Carl Draper was driven by an irresistible, nagging insecurity at the back of his mind to match wits against Superman, a fruitless preoccupation which eventually saw Draper put behind bars. His neuroses having been brought under control with the assistance of a computerized interface to his brain, Draper has a new life to lead as the resident security expert (Castellan) of Checkmate.
  • Microwave Man -
  • The Mole -
  • Moon-Man -
  • Mongal - The villainous sister of Mongul II, she was often an enemy of Green Lantern, but has crossed paths with Superman.[48] [49]
  • Mr. Z - An immortal time-traveler and sorcerer who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II and whose grudge against the Man of Steel comes from his claim of having fought Superman back then. Unbeknownst to Mr. Z, his own schemes against Superman created the circumstance for Superman to defeat Z in the past, making his whole life and career a fruitless time-loop.
  • Nam-Ek - A Kryptonian madman, imprisoned in the Phantom Zone for Rondor-poaching. Nam-Ek was transformed into an indigo-skinned bestial creature by the act of consuming the elixir vitae contained in a Rondor horn.
  • Neutron - A former henchman of Lex Luthor and member of the TNT Trio group of industrial saboteurs, Nat Tryon was trapped under a lead wall during a nuclear meltdown and mutated into something both beyond and below human by exposure to the neutronic emissions. Luthor placed Tryon in a containment suit and left him under an apparatus intended to control the rate and pace of his mutation, resulting in Tryon's transformation into an incorporeal energy-being, only capable of interacting with the world through his suit and burning mad with the desire to exact bloody vengeance on all who made him into the freak of nature he has become.
  • N.R.G.-X -
  • Nzykmulk -
  • Obsession - A mentally unbalanced, magically empowered woman who believes herself to be the perfect life-partner for Superman, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.
  • Output
  • Paul Westfield - The unethical and unscrupulous director of Project Cadmus, at one time believed to be the genetic donor for Superboy (Kon-El).
  • Persuader - A disaffected blue-collar worker who used the image of the Fatal Five's Persuader and a replica of his Atomic Axe weapon to upend society in his rage against the system.
  • Prankster - A psychotic former entertainer on children's daytime television programming, Oswald "Prankster" Loomis is more of a nuisance than a threat to Superman, but his "gags," while mostly harmless to Superman, are anything but for the innocent civilians endangered by his highly public rampages.
  • Professor Zee -
  • Psi-Phon - An alien automaton, part of a pair with Dreadnaught, with the ability to negate Superman's powers psionically.
  • Quakerer
  • Quex-Ul - A Kryptonian who was brainwashed by a Rondor-poacher back on Krypton into managing an illegal kind of medical/therapeutic clinic and taking the fall for harvesting the Rondor horns for their curative properties. For years, Quex-Ul plotted like the other Phantom Zoners to avenge himself on Superman once he was freed, but he came to see the light thanks to Supergirl and sacrificed himself to save Superman from exposure to Gold Kryptonite radiation which he initially intended for Superman to receive. His powers permanently wiped and his memory suppressed, Quex-Ul was given a new identity by Superman and Perry White as "Charlie Kweskill," a worker in the Daily Planet's production department.
  • Reactron - Normally a foe of Supergirl, Reactron has found himself fighting Superman before.
  • Redemption -
  • Remnant -
  • Repo Man -
  • Riot - An insane scientist whose experiment to give himself the ability to duplicate his body had unforeseen side-effects of exacerbating the extent of his unreasoning madness.
  • Rock -
  • Satanus - A lord of Hell who takes the form of human tabloid publisher Colin Thornton by day, while furtively seeking the corruption and damnation of souls and the downfall of humanity's greatest inspiration in Superman.
  • Saviour -
  • Scarlet Scythe -
  • Shadowdragon -
  • Shockwave -
  • Shrapnel - Mark Scheffer is an assassin with a monstrous metal appearance who has clashed with Superman.
  • SKULL - A crime cartel formed by racketeers, weapons specialists, and scientists to occupy the vacuum in the Metropolis underworld created when The 100 fell.
  • Skyhook - Aleister Hook was an evil doctor from the 1800s who was transformed by the demon Blaze into a monster. Skyhook has mainly found himself in conflict with Superman.[50] [51] [52] [53]
  • Slug Kelly -
  • Snare: - Carla Draper is the daughter of Carl Draper, otherwise known as Master Jailer.
  • Sodom and Gomorrah -
  • Solomon Grundy: Solomon Grundy is a deceased gangster who came back from the dead as a zombie. He has been a semi-recurring enemy of the Man of Steel.[54] [55] [56] [57] [58] [59]
  • Stone Emperor
  • Superdoom -
  • Thaddeus Killgrave - A mad scientist in the employ of Intergang who has been a thorn in Superman's side ever since very nearly his first appearance in Metropolis.
  • Tolos - An extradimensional wizard who stole Kandor II from the collection of Brainiac[60] and intended to use the bodies of its inhabitants to prolong his natural lifespan indefinitely until Superman rescued the bottle-city from his wicked grasp.
  • Ultra-Humanite - A crippled yet brilliant criminal scientist whose modus operandi was the transplantation of his brain via a highly experimental surgical procedure into the bodies of his victims. The Ultra-Humanite first transferred his brain to the body of actress Dolores Winters, then a giant insect, and finally to a mutated albino gorilla. Though the Ultra-Humanite was the original arch-enemy of the Superman of Earth-Two, in other universes and timelines Superman's place is often substituted for that of the Justice Society. Even then, a latter-day U.L.T.R.A. Humanite appeared during the early years of the Post-Crisis Superman's career in Metropolis to pose a distinct type of unusual threat.
  • Untouchables -
  • Va-Kox - A Kryptonian mad scientist who often bedeviled Superman with some sort of plan to escape from the Phantom Zone and substitute the Man of Steel in his place, though often overshadowed by General Zod or Jax-Ur.
  • Volt Lord - A metahuman crook with electrokinetic powers whom Lady Quark once mistook for the Post-Crisis universe's counterpart to her late husband Lord Volt. Superman assisted Pariah, Harbinger, and Lady Quark in defeating the villain.
  • Volcana - A petty crook with fire powers that Superman has tried to redeem a few times.
  • War -
  • Xenon -
  • Yuga Khan -
  • Zaora - The Pocket Universe's version of Faora and a perpetrator of the genocide of humanity in that alternate dimension.
  • Zha-Vam - A construct made of clay, given intelligence and animate human form, and bequeathed a belt with tiles that allow selection of the various Greek gods' powers. Zha-Vam was given life by the Gods of Olympus to punish Superman centuries into the future for eclipsing the legends of their exploits with his own.

Recommended Reading

Trivia

See Also

Links and References


  1. First Appearance: Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #139
  2. First Appearance: Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #133
  3. First Appearance: Action Comics #23
  4. First Appearance: Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #134
  5. First Appearance: Action Comics #242
  6. First Appearance: Adventure Comics #283
  7. 7.0 7.1 Action Comics #845
  8. First Appearance: Death of Superman
  9. First Appearance: Action Comics #340
  10. First Appearance: Superboy #68
  11. First Appearance: Adventures of Superman #500
  12. First Appearance: Action Comics #252
  13. First Appearance: Action Comics #64
  14. First Appearance: Adventures of Superman Annual #1
  15. First Appearance: Our Worlds at War
  16. First Appearance: Omega Men #3
  17. Adventures of Superman #464
  18. Adventures of Superman Annual #2
  19. Superman: The Man of Steel #30
  20. DC First: Superman/Lobo #1
  21. First Appearance: DC Comics Presents #27
  22. First Appearance: Superman #30
  23. DC Comics Presents #4
  24. Superman #342
  25. Superman #370
  26. Action Comics #590
  27. Adventures of Superman #593
  28. Adventures of Superman #648
  29. Action Comics #587
  30. The Demon (Volume 3) #28
  31. Action Comics #762
  32. Blood of the Demon #5
  33. Harley Quinn #17
  34. Harley Quinn #18
  35. Harley Quinn #19
  36. Action Comics #673
  37. Action Comics #674
  38. Adventures of Superman #530
  39. Adventures of Superman #608
  40. Superman: Day of Doom #2
  41. Superman #652
  42. Action Comics Annual #3
  43. Adventures of Superman Annual #7
  44. Action Comics #814
  45. Death of the New Gods #5
  46. DC Comics Presents Annual #2
  47. Superman Annual #10
  48. Superman: The Man of Steel #115
  49. World's Finest: Our Worlds at War #1
  50. Superman (Volume 2) #15
  51. Superman (Volume 2) #34
  52. Superman (Volume 2) #47
  53. Superman: The Man of Steel #49
  54. Superman #301
  55. Superman #319
  56. Superman #320
  57. DC Comics Presents #8
  58. Superman (Volume 2) #182
  59. Superman/Batman #3
  60. Action Comics Annual #10

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