7 Marvel Villains Superman Couldn’t Beat

Superman is the go-to guy in the DC Multiverse. Basically, every major event in the publisher’s history has had Superman punching the bad guy a lot. He’s not the most powerful character in the multiverse, but his entire purpose is to win and keep hope alive. The Man of Steel does lose, but he’s also the ultimate winner, when it comes right down to it. Over the years, readers have seen the hero battle the most powerful threats in existence, winning when he needs to and losing when the story calls for it. Superman always wins, but he also loses an awful lot.

Going by the tale of the tape, taking Superman’s weaknesses into account, there are lots of villains out there who can defeat him, even villains that aren’t as powerful as he is. In fact, there are a lot of Marvel villains that could take advantage of Kal-El’s weaknesses and defeat him (well, at least in the part of the story where he’s supposed to lose). These seven Marvel villains could beat Superman, taking down the hero who always wins (except when he’s losing).

7) Galactus

Superman vs. Galactus is a fight that has been talked about a lot, and it’s one that Galactus could win. Galactus is one of Marvel’s most powerful villains, and has complete control of the Power Cosmic. The World-Devourer could drain the yellow sun energy from the Man of Steel with a thought, completely taking away his superpowers and just crush him like a bug. It would really be that simple; the only reason this would be an actual fight is if Galactus wanted it to be for some reason.

6) Dark Phoenix

“The Dark Phoenix Saga” is a Marvel classic, and it introduced readers to one of the most powerful villains ever. Dark Phoenix is often thought of as Jean Grey, but anyone who uses the Phoenix Force can become a Dark Phoenix, like Cyclops in Avengers vs. X-Men. The Phoenix Force gives its bearer beyond Omega-level mental powers of all kinds, so every form of telepathy, telekinesis, psychokinesis, psionic energy manipulation, all of that, as wall as matter manipulation and energy control. A Dark Phoenix can read Superman like a book, and use one of its many powers to take him down. The Man of Steel is ridiculously powerful, but the Phoenix Force is beyond gods and a cosmic force of creation. Superman could win the fight conceivably in other ways, but if Dark Phoenix wants to destroy him, there would be nothing he could do.

5) Doctor Doom

Superman is stronger and faster than Doom. If he was “bloodlusted” or whatever the power scalers say, he would destroy Doom. However, the same can be said of any fight that Superman loses; he can beat most of the people he fights by punching them at light speed. Doom does have the ability to defeat Superman, though. First, there’s the magic, which is one of Superman’s main weaknesses and something that the good doctor is very good at. Then there’s Doom’s armor; the Latverian monarch’s armor has long has the ability to drain energy and supercharge the villain; we’ve seen him do it to the Beyonder and Aron the Rogue Watcher. He would be able to do it to Superman as well, and that would allow him to win.

4) The High Evolutionary

The High Evolutionary is a master of genetics, and that would hold the key to defeating Superman. The villain isn’t a dummy; he’ll study the Kryptonian first, and figure out a way either to create a copy of him, give himself those powers, and/or take away his powers. He’d also have an army of beast-men, and maybe Luminous, his powerful blend of the Maximoff twins, there to fight him the Man of Steel, so he could perfect his strategies. He’s not going to go off half-cocked against Superman, and that’s going to allow him to get the victory.

3) The Celestials

So, the Celestials could do several things to defeat Superman. Like nearly everyone on this list, they would be able to take away Superman’s powers with a thought, but they could also just vastly overpower him. I think given enough time the Man of Steel would be able to break through one of their shells, but it’s highly doubtful that he would get that kind of time. Celestials are one of the few beings in the Marvel Universe who could overpower him without some kind of buff or trick; their cosmic power is greater than gods and their strength is incalculable. They threw planets around for fun (it’s how they attacked Thanos in Infinity Gauntlet #5). Superman could certainly figure out a way to win on a long enough timeline, but the Celestials could end the fight anytime they want to.

2) Ultron

The Avengers face some deadly villains, but most of them would get destroyed by Superman. Several of them could take him, though, and Ultron certainly is in that number. The main reason is, of course, the adamantium. It’s unbreakable, which would allow the robotic terror to survive the Man of Steel’s onslaught long enough to figure out a way to win. He’d probably change the frequency of his energy blasts to red sun energy, which would not only drain the Kryptonia’s powern, but burn through him as he gets weaker if the blasts are intense enough. It’s all a matter of surviving; Ultron is strong, but he’s not on Superman’s level, and he’ll need the time to adapt. Once he has it, though, things aren’t going to look good for Metropolis’s marvel.

1) Kang the Conqueror

Kang is another smart customer, so he’s going to send some feelers out to face off against Superman while he familiarizes himself with him through time. He’ll learn his strengths and weaknesses, probably kill him in a bunch of universes in different ways using all of that as practice (Kang has canonically killed everyone in the Marvel Universe at some point, just alternate universe versions). He could use time tech to reset Superman’s cells to what they were when he got to Earth, taking away his powers. He could fire entire chunks of Krypton at him as they hurtle through space using time portals. There are numerous ways he could use red sun energy against him. Kang would have a million ways of fighting him, and could take him out if he needed to at any time.

What Marvel villains do you think can beat Superman? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

10 Greatest Marvel Stories of the 2020s