"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. 
Superman protects Earth, America and Metropolis from a number of threats. The mad scientist Lex Luthor, later reimagined as a narcissistic businessman, is his deadliest and greatest 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:[1] 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 outer space to Apokolips.
- Bruno Mannheim:[2] Bruno Mannheim, nicknamed "Ugly", is arguably the second most-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 him in his operations, and now becoming a cannibal, eating anyone he kills who refuses to join Intergang. Some time later, Mannheim returns as a giant wielding alien technology, claiming that someone other than Darkseid is behind Intergang's current activities.
- Morgan Edge:[3] Morgan Edge was the former president of the Galaxy Broadcasting System, a prominent media corporation that owned the 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, Vincent Edge, took over GBS/WGBS and Brono Mannheim temporarily took control of 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:[4] Bruno Mannheim'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 super-powers. Afterwards, Moxie used Vincent Edge to set up a meeting with all of Metropolis' 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, he retained Moxie as a figurehead. Moxie and his lieutenants were later captured by Superman himself. There is some suggestion that maybe Superboy-Prime killed Moxie by snapping his neck during the second Crisis.
- Vincent Edge:[5] Morgan Edge's father, who took control of GBS/WGBS temporarily until Boss Moxie gained prominence. Morgan soon lost both the company and Intergang when he was exposed. Vincent's current whereabouts and activities, however, are unknown.
- Frank Sixty:[6] A criminal cyberneticist who gained control of Intergang after Morgan Edge until 52, when Bruno Mannheim regained control.
- Kyle Abbot:
- Whisper A'Daire:
- Professor Killgrave:
- Emil Hamilton:
The Invisible Mafia:[7] The Invisible Mafia is the major metahuman crime organization of Metropolis. It gets its distinct name from the fact that not even Superman himself could find it.
- Marisol Leone:[8] Marisol Leone is a mysterious woman who not only ended up owning the Daily Planet out of nowhere, but is also the head of the Invisible Mafia, an organization that managed to escape the suspicions of even Superman.
- Red Cloud:[9] Red Cloud is an enforcer for the metahuman crime syndicate the Invisible Mafia and an enemy of Superman.
SKULL:[10] SKULL is a Metropolis-based criminal organization that attacked Superman numerous times. Later, they acquired a nationwide scope of operation.
- Atomic Skull:[11] The Atomic Skull is a super-criminal with the power to release energy blasts. As the leader of SKULL, he is an enemy of Superman.
The 100/The 1000:[12] The 100, formerly known as El Ciento (the one hundred), was founded by 71 men and women from all over Europe who came together in Aragon, Spain in the year 1462, and named themselves El Ciento in order to honor their 29 dead allies. The surviving members of El Ciento combined various scientific, arcane and alchemical methods of life extension in order to make themselves immortal. At a later point in time, they were driven out of Aragon by the Spanish Inquisition, but by then they had granted themselves vastly extended lifespans. They later discovered that the only way they could stay alive was to own the lands that they lived on and to feed off the despair and negative emotions of the human tenants on their lands; they also learned how to become immaterial and possess human bodies. Though most members of El Ciento feed off of human suffering, some few have been able to survive by feeding on positive emotions. The immortal known as Ra's al Ghul considers El Ciento to be a threat to his plans for world domination.
A member of El Ciento later established himself in Metropolis's Southside, an area which would later be known as Suicide Slum. When Clark Kent came to Metropolis, there was a small organization connected to Intergang called the 10. Over the years the 10 grew, and became known as the 100. It kept a firm grip on Metropolis's criminal underground for years by indulging in drug trafficking and racketeering. They began to spread throughout the United States with branches in many other cities. Senator Henry Ballard rose to be the the Director of the 100. Under Senator Ballard, the 100 became the 1000 while attempting to expand their reach to the Oval Office, with Director Ballard as the Presidential candidate at the time.
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:[13] 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 Superman's arch-enemy. A shrewd powerful businessman hellbent on world domination, Luthor has no special powers, except maybe his exceptional genius-level 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:[14] After assassinating his own mother, Uxas became ruler of Apokolips for thousands of years. A sadistic despot, Darkseid is determined to make sure that he is 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:[15] Originally from the planet Colu, the scientist Vril Dox was merged with his own creation, the Brain InterActive Construct, a machine created by the Computer Tyrants who ruled Colu in order to obtain all of the information in the universe. Brainiac thus broke away from his superiors and has a goal of ultimately obtaining all of the information in the universe for himself and destroying all of the planets that said information came from. Brainiac's rampage has made him enemies with Superman, the only humanoid who can stop him. Brainiac has been responsible for shrinking the Kryptonian city of Kandor, inhabiting the body of a human being, gaining a new cybernetic body, plotting to gain control of Superman's body, and almost dominating the universe in his 13th incarnation. Currently, Brainiac and Superman continue to be enemies. With no capacity for good, Brainiac continues to complete his functioning program of obtaining all of the information in the universe until he has destroyed everything in it.
- General Zod:[16] Dru-Zod was one of Krypton's most efficient military commanders. That all changed when he heard that his friends, the renowned scientists Jor-El and Non, had predicted Krypton's imminent destruction. When the Kryptonian Science Council lobotomized Non, who was not only a friend of Zod but also of Zod's lover, Ursa, for leading a separatist movement in order to break away from the Kryptonian government, Zod became disillusioned with the Kryptonian societal norms. Zod, with the aid of Ursa and Non, launched an open insurrection plot in order to overthrow the Kryptonian government and establish a new order on the planet. Zod's main motivation applied to his megalomania and his insatiable need to control everything. Zod tried to get Jor-El to join their insurrection, but he refused. Eventually, the Science Council thwarted the insurrection plot and sentenced Zod and his co-conspirators to eternal imprisonment in the Phantom Zone. Jor-El himself was the one who personally condemned them to their imprisonment, prompting Zod to swear vengeance on both him and his heirs. Zod, Ursa and Non have since both escaped the Phantom Zone and terrorized Jor-El's son, Kal-El, several times, just as Zod had promised.
Zod has two accomplices that have helped him in his quest for power:
- Ursa:[17] A former member of the Kryptonian Guard, Ursa is Zod's lover and most loyal accomplice. When she heard that the renowned scientists Jor-El and Non had predicted Krypton's imminent destruction, she and Zod believed them and Non led a separatist movement in order to break away from the Kryptonian government. The Kryptonian Science Council retaliated by lobotomizing Non and, in turn, Zod, Ursa and Non launched an open insurrection plot. She hated Jor-El for surrendering to the Science Council and not supporting their cause; when the trio were arrested, the Science Council sentenced them to eternal imprisonment in the Phantom Zone, with Jor-El himself personally condemning them to their imprisonment. Ursa has since sworn vengeance on the House of El along with Zod and Non. Ursa has since escaped with her two accomplices from the Zone several times and terrorized Jor-El's son, Kal-El, in order to gain custody of her son, who is also the son of Zod.
- Non:[17] A renowned scientist and a member of the Kryptonian Science Council, Non predicted Krypton's imminent destruction with Jor-El and his friends, Zod and Ursa, believed their claim. Soon afterward, Non led a separatist movement in order to break away from the Kryptonian government; the Science Council retaliated by lobotomizing 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 to all three of them launching an open insurrection plot and subsequently being sentenced by the Science Council to eternal imprisonment in the Phantom Zone, with Jor-El himself personally condemning them to their imprisonment. After escaping from the Zone, Non has helped his friends in their failed attempts to invade Earth with the help of other Kryptonian criminals who have escaped from the Zone as well.
- The Elite:[18] A group of individuals that take extreme measures to eliminate crime. Led by the villain Manchester Black.
- Manchester Black:[18] The sinister telepathic leader of the Elite. He has made it his personal mission to make Superman think that 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 both the super-hero community and the world.
- Doomsday:[19] Born on Krypton in the distant past as an evolved artificial life form, The Ultimate was created by a mysterious alien scientist named Bertron. After many years of dying and coming back alive in Bertron'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 eventually led him to Earth, where his plan for destroying the planet was thwarted by Superman. Doomsday and Superman engaged in a fight that led 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 into beings like him.
- Parasite:[20] A menial slacker and janitor of a Pittsburgh S.T.A.R. Labs facility, Rudy Jones came in contact with hazardous chemicals that changed him into a purple-skinned 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' defeat, Superman has had to battle other versions of the Parasite, such as Dr. Torval Freeman and Alex and Alexandra Allston.
- Bizarro:[21] An imperfect duplicate of Superman, Bizarro is the opposite of the Kryptonian hero in many ways. His warped sense of morality makes Bizarro think that evil is good, and some of his powers are inversions of Superman's (instead of heat vision and ice breath, Bizarro has Arctic vision and flame breath). Occasionally, he serves as Superman's ally.
- Cyborg Superman:[22] 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 sending his mind into Kal-El's Kryptonian Birthing Matrix. Zor-El, who upon his death had his mind placed into a mechanical body by Brainiac, became the second Cyborg Superman before Henshaw took over the identity again.
- Metallo:[23] John Corben is a cyborg whose robotic body runs on a heart made of Green Kryptonite, thus giving him a natural advantage over Superman.
- Toyman:[24] A sociopathic mechanical genius, Winslow Schott likes to create violent, destructive, and dangerous toys. He has also created several human-like robots which have also assumed the identity of the Toyman. In some versions, he seeks vengeance on Mannheim, who framed his father for money laundering.
- Denny Swan:[25] A madman made of energy who believed that he was Superman. He was killed when the energy in his body exploded, taking the Prime Earth Superman with him.
Extraterrestrial Villains
- Hfuhruhurr:[26] Also known as the 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-Prime:[27] Essentially the embodiment of entropy, Imperiex-Prime sought out to destroy all galaxies in order to "stop the imperfection" present in them. 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 super-hero 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 that the "imperfection" in all of the galaxies was actually himself.
- Queen Maxima of Almerac:[28] Obsessed with becoming the Man of Steel's mate in order to bear strong children, Maxima has alternated between enemy and ally through the years.
- Lobo:[29] After massacring all of the other people of his home planet of Czarnia, Lobo became an ultra-violent motorcycle-riding intergalactic bounty hunter. His wicked ways cause him to occasionally clash with Superman,[30][31][32][33] but often he opts to help various super-heroes.
- Mongul:[34] The devious ruler of Warworld, Mongul is a warlord and despot who has clashed with Superman on several occasions.
- Mister Mxyzptlk:[35] A reality-manipulating imp from the Fifth Dimension, Mister Mxyzptlk constantly antagonizes Superman, seeking to pester the Man of Steel and prove that he is smarter than the hero is.
- Rogol Zaar:[36] 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:[37] An evil version of Superman from Earth-3. Like the rest of the Justice League and the Crime Syndicate, Superman and Ultraman fight each other whenever they meet.
- Superboy-Prime:[38] A psychotic, sadistic and sociopathic version of Superman from Earth-Prime; after his world was destroyed, he went insane and tried to reboot the Multiverse in order to restore his world. In this quest he killed many people, including Superboy, and massacred many Teen Titans and Lanterns without remorse.
- Super-Man Zero:[39] An evil clone of Superman created by Doctor Omen.
- Overman: A Nazi-affiliated version of Superman. He helped the Nazis take over his world.
Intercontinental
- Doctor Omen: The mother of the Super-Man of Hong Kong. She created the villain Super-Man Zero.
Minor Villains
- Adversary: A construct wished from the imagination of a psychic child; he was 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 of Robin Hood, he 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.
- 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 crime syndicate SKULL 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 his 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 SKULL 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 cannot.
- Auctioneer: An extraterrestrial visitor with a knack 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 who were, to his knowledge, the two last surviving Kryptonians, only to be shocked when his scanners registered the presence of a third one.
- Baron Sunday
- Barrage: A small-time metacriminal with an arm cannon capable of firing high-energy projectiles; also a member of the Superman Revenge Squad.
- Baud
- Black Adam: The arch-enemy 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's CEO Sam Tanner, who wanted an eye-catching super-hero 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 first Tanner and then Tanner's nephew, Les Vegas, into adopting the identity before taking it up himself, tempted by the allure of using the Powerstone for criminal gains. 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 Infinite Crisis, Lex Luthor's impostor 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.
- Blaze: A demon-lady of Hell, the daughter of the wizard Shazam and the sister of the demon-lord Satanus, who is no less bitter, manipulative and hateful than her brother is and disguises herself as a human nightclub owner named Angelica Blaze in order to further her mission in the corruption and damnation of souls. Blaze often competes with Satanus for both power and status in the hierarchy of Hell.
- Blockhouse and Jolt
- 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.
- 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 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 one year.[40][41][42][43][44][45]
- Colonel Future: On Earth-One, Colonel Future was not an enemy, but an ally, of its 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 who was active in the early 1950s and whose gimmick was the utilization of futuristic technological gimmicks in his heists. It was on behalf of Colonel Future that the Injustice Society's member the 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 and with connections to Intergang. From a certain perspective, Donovan can be seen as the arch-enemy of both the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion.
- Dev-Em: A survivor of 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 the Phantom Zone who have harassed not only Superman, but also his cousin, Supergirl.
- 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 the Demon: 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 man Jason Blood.[46][47][48][49]
- 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 a creation of Lex Luthor, and was nearly mindless in his first appearance,[50] although he gained human-level intelligence by the time of his second appearance.[51] Another Galactic Golem, several stories taller than the original, was unleashed upon Earth by the xenophobic High Priests of Daxam.[52]
- 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.[53][54][55]
- Hellgrammite: A grasshopper-like villain who has crossed paths with Superman.[56][57][58][59][60][61]
- Helspont
- Hi-Tech: A female hi-tech mercenary/assassin who has worked under the employ of both Bloodthirst and Manchester Black; not really a match for Superman by any stretch of the imagination.
- 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 99% of Mister Mxyzptlk's magical powers and used them to remake Earth in his own twisted image.
- Insect Queen: An extraterrestrial insectoid intelligence that influenced Lana Lang's actions during her brief tenure as CEO of Lexcorp and eventually took over her 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 to steal the identity and gimmicks of the Toyman; Nimball was killed by the original Toyman, Winslow Schott, before long for his impudence, though subsequent revelations indicate that Nimball may actually 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.[62][63][64][65]
- 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.[66][67]
- 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 naïve Superboy.
- 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 K. Russell Abernathy in radiation that was 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 Kryptonite radiation from his eyes and hands, in addition to a degree of super-strength and invulnerability that is not to be scoffed at.
- Kryptonoid
- 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 real thing.
- Lelia
- Livewire: A former radio DJ who developed electrical powers after being struck by lightning.
- Loophole
- Lord Satanis: A powerful sorcerer 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' wife and arch-enemy, who constantly struggles with him in their own far-flung future time period for total domination of 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' ambitions of controlling a complete and fully-powered Man of Steel.
- Lyla
- Maaldor the Darklord: An eternal being who conquered worlds in his own dimension until he grew tiresome and contacted Superman, Power Girl, Starman, and the Green Lantern Corps in his search for an enemy 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 was foiled by the intercession of Madame Xanadu. On a third 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.
- Medini
- Microwave Man
- Mister 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.
- Mole
- Mongal: The villainous daughter of Mongul and the sister Mongul II; she was often an enemy of Green Lantern, but has crossed paths with Superman as well.[68][69]
- Moon-Man
- Nam-Ek: A Kryptonian mad scientist, imprisoned in the Phantom Zone for rondor-poaching. Nam-Ek was transformed into an indigo-skinned, ugly-looking and foul-smelling Kryptonian/rondor hybrid creature after consuming a serum of his own creation made from rondor horns, which emitted a healing form of energy, in order to become immortal.
- Neutron: A former henchman of Lex Luthor and a member of the TNT Trio, a 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 that was 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 that he had become.
- N.R.G.-X
- Nzykmulk
- Obsession: A mentally unbalanced and 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 member the 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 "the 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 team with the 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 memories 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 as well.
- 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 demon-lord of Hell, the son of the wizard Shazam and the brother of the demon-lady Blaze, who disguises himself as a human tabloid publisher named Collin Thornton while furtively seeking both the corruption and damnation of souls and the downfall of humanity's greatest inspiration in Superman. Satanus often competes with Blaze for both power and status in the hierarchy of Hell.
- 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-lady Blaze into a monster. Skyhook has mainly found himself in conflict with Superman.[70][71][72][73]
- Slug Kelly
- Snare: Carla Draper is the daughter of Carl Draper, a.k.a. the Master Jailer.
- Sodom and Gomorrah
- Solomon Grundy: Solomon Grundy is a deceased gangster named Cyrus Gold who came back from the dead as a zombie. He has been a semi-recurring enemy of the Man of Steel.[74][75][76][77] [78][79]
- 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[80] 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 into the body of actress Dolores Winters, then into a giant insect, and finally into 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.
- Volcana: A petty crook with fire powers that Superman has tried to redeem a few times.
- 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, the Harbinger, and Lady Quark in defeating the villain.
- 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
- Action Comics
- Crisis on Infinite Earths
- Infinite Crisis
- 52
- Superman: Brainiac
- Final Crisis
- Our Worlds at War
- Superman: Ending Battle
- Superman: Who Took the Super out of Superman!
- Lex Luthor: Man of Steel
- The Death of Superman
- Superman: Funeral for a Friend
- Reign of the Supermen
- Superman: Up, Up and Away!
- Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
Related Articles
Trivia
- The first villain that Superman fought was Bea Carroll in his debut appearance in Action Comics #1; and the first recurring Superman villain was the Ultra-Humanite, who originally appeared in Action Comics #13.
See Also
- Gallery of Superman Villains
- List of Superman Villains (Alphabetical Order)
Links and References
- ↑ First Appearance: Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #133
- ↑ First Appearance: Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #139
- ↑ First Appearance: Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #133
- ↑ First Appearance: Guardians of Metropolis #1
- ↑ First Appearance: Superman (Volume 2) #35
- ↑ First Appearance: Action Comics #758
- ↑ First Appearance: Action Comics (Volume 3) #1001
- ↑ First Appearance: Action Comics #1006
- ↑ First Appearance: DC Nation 0 (Volume 2) #
- ↑ First Appearance: Superman 301 #
- ↑ First Appearance: Superman 303 #
- ↑ First Appearance: Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane 105 #
- ↑ First Appearance: Action Comics #23
- ↑ First Appearance: Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #134
- ↑ First Appearance: Action Comics #242
- ↑ First Appearance: Adventure Comics #283
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Action Comics #845
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Action Comics #775
- ↑ First Appearance: Superman: The Man of Steel #17
- ↑ First Appearance: Action Comics #340
- ↑ First Appearance: Superboy #68
- ↑ First Appearance: Adventures of Superman #500
- ↑ First Appearance: Action Comics #252
- ↑ First Appearance: Action Comics #64
- ↑ First Appearance: Superman (Volume 3) #51
- ↑ First Appearance: Adventures of Superman Annual #1
- ↑ First Appearance: Superman (Volume 2) #153
- ↑ First Appearance: Action Comics #645
- ↑ First Appearance: Omega Men #3
- ↑ Adventures of Superman #464
- ↑ Adventures of Superman Annual #2
- ↑ Superman: The Man of Steel #30
- ↑ DC First: Superman/Lobo #1
- ↑ First Appearance: DC Comics Presents #27
- ↑ First Appearance: Superman #30
- ↑ First Appearance: Action Comics #1000
- ↑ First Appearance: Justice League of America #29
- ↑ First Appearance: DC Comics Presents #87
- ↑ First Appearance: Superman (Volume 3) #51
- ↑ DC Comics Presents #4
- ↑ Superman #342
- ↑ Superman #370
- ↑ Action Comics #590
- ↑ Adventures of Superman #593
- ↑ Adventures of Superman #648
- ↑ Action Comics #587
- ↑ The Demon (Volume 3) #28
- ↑ Action Comics #762
- ↑ Blood of the Demon #5
- ↑ Superman #248
- ↑ Superman #258
- ↑ Superman #675
- ↑ Harley Quinn #17
- ↑ Harley Quinn #18
- ↑ Harley Quinn #19
- ↑ Action Comics #673
- ↑ Action Comics #674
- ↑ Adventures of Superman #530
- ↑ Adventures of Superman #608
- ↑ Superman: Day of Doom #2
- ↑ Superman #652
- ↑ Action Comics Annual #3
- ↑ Adventures of Superman Annual #7
- ↑ Action Comics #814
- ↑ Death of the New Gods #5
- ↑ DC Comics Presents Annual #2
- ↑ Superman Annual #10
- ↑ Superman: the Man of Steel #115
- ↑ World's Finest: Our Worlds at War #1
- ↑ Superman (Volume 2) #15
- ↑ Superman (Volume 2) #34
- ↑ Superman (Volume 2) #47
- ↑ Superman: The Man of Steel #49
- ↑ Superman #301
- ↑ Superman #319
- ↑ Superman #320
- ↑ DC Comics Presents #8
- ↑ Superman (Volume 2) #182
- ↑ Superman/Batman #3
- ↑ Action Comics Annual #10