In 1939, Superman debuted and, with his introduction, launched the entire superhero genre. With his incredible superpowers, colorful costume, and moral righteousness, Superman’s impact on not only comic books but global culture can’t be overstated. With his power to lift buildings and outpace bullets, it quickly became clear that regular mobsters weren’t going to be significant enough threats to the Man of Steel. So, DC Comics began creating supervillains to challenge Superman both physically and mentally. Many of these recurring villains became staples of DC Comics’ ever-expanding rogues’ gallery, and their legacy and impact can still be seen today. Some, not so much.
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From mad scientists to alien tyrants, these recurring Superman enemies have helped shape what it means to be a supervillain, and many of them are as popular as ever.
10) Titano
One of the strangest and most obscure Superman villains of all time, Titano is basically King Kong if he could shoot Kryptonite lasers from his eyes. Debuting in 1959, Toto was a chimp who was launched into space in a rocket. During the trip, Toto was bathed in the radiation of Kryptonite and Uranium meteors. Once he returned to Earth, he grew to gigantic proportions and went on a rampage. Since Lois Lane is the only human ever to treat him with kindness, Titano often seeks her out. With his incredible strength and deadly Kryptonite lasers, the giant ape is a threat to Superman. However, despite his enormous size and power, Titano is a minor villain who doesn’t have any significant storylines.
9) Prankster
After the incredible success of the Joker, DC tried to create another comedic villain in 1942, but he just didn’t have the Joker’s wild charisma. Oswald Loomis, aka the Prankster, was a TV host until his show was cancelled. Enraged over the cancellation, he began setting up elaborate and dangerous pranks to distract people while he committed crimes such as robbing banks. Like the Joker, the Prankster uses a wide assortment of gag-based gadgets to fight the Man of Steel. Still, the Prankster is neither as funny nor as intimidating as the Clown Prince of Crime nor poses a significant threat to Superman. Nowadays, when he does appear, the Prankster is treated as a third-rate joke villain.
8) Toyman
Debuting in 1943, Winslow Schott, aka Toyman, is a more successful and deranged version of the Prankster. After his wife died and his designs for toys were bought and used to create weapons, Toyman went insane and began a life of crime. A brilliant inventor, Toyman creates various toy-based weapons and robots to aid his criminal endeavors, including exploding teddy bears and building-sized mechas. Toyman has also built androids so life-like that they have fooled Superman. Many people have taken on the Toyman moniker over the years, from a founding member of the Legion of Doom to a heroic Japanese child prodigy who’s an ally of Superman.
7) Ultra-Humanite
First introduced in 1939, Ultra-Humanite was the very first recurring villain in DC Comics history. Ultra-Humanite was initially introduced as a bald mad scientist who wanted to take over the world and had a habit of transplanting his brain into new bodies. However, after falling into obscurity for several decades, Ultra-Humanite reemerged in the 80s with a much more distinct design. The mad scientist had transplanted his brain into the body of an albino gorilla, enabling him to increase his strength dramatically. Unfortunately, despite his role as the first major enemy of the Man of Steel, Ultra-Humanite has been underutilized because Lex Luthor took over his role as Superman’s genius archenemy.
6) Metallo
Kryptonite is Superman’s most iconic weakness, and John Corben, aka Metallo, has a heart made of the irradiated space rock. Since Metallo’s introduction in 1959, the most famous version of his origin is that after a fatal accident, he was saved and rebuilt as a killer cyborg powered by Kryptonite. Blaming Superman for his transformation, Metallo uses his mechanical body’s ability to generate weapons as well as his Kryptonite heart to their full extent. Almost every time he faces off against Superman, he brings the hero to his knees. Metallo is the second-most-popular villain to wield Kryptonite in DC Comics, ranking only behind Lex Luthor. Over the years, Metallo has been one of Superman’s most consistent and deadly adversaries.
5) Mr. Mxyzptlk
In 1944, the Man of Tomorrow met his first foe of alien origin. The Fifth-Dimensional Imp Mr. Mxyzptlk is easily one of the most powerful characters in DC Comics. He is basically an omnipotent god. Yet this wacky character mainly uses his power to play pranks and be more a nuisance than a serious threat to Superman. Still, Mr. Mxyzptlk’s games often quickly get out of hand, and Superman can only beat him by tricking the Imp into saying or writing his own name backwards. On top of being one of the only villains Superman can’t overpower, Mr. Mxyzptlk began the trend of giving other DC heroes Fifth-Dimensional Imp foes, like Batman’s Bat-Mite.
4) Bizarro
Arguably one of the first iterations of the evil Superman trope, Bizarro debuted in 1958 and is the Man of Tomorrow’s polar opposite. Either originating from another world or the product of a cloning mishap, Bizarro is an imperfect duplicate of Superman. While he has all the hero’s strengths, he lacks his intelligence and oftentimes speaks in opposites. Bizarro also has flame breath and ice vision, instead of freeze breath and heat vision. He tries to be a hero, but his literal backward thinking often creates chaos, making him one of Superman’s most sympathetic enemies. In the years that followed his origin, DC introduced a whole planet of Bizarro duplicates living on the cube-shaped Htrae, with Bizarro as their primary protector.
3) General Zod
For decades, DC Comics only presented benevolent Kryptonians like Superman and Supergirl. However, in 1961, DC Comics introduced the dark side of Krypton: General Dru-Zod. This ruthless Kryptonian survived the destruction of his people because he had been imprisoned in the interdimensional prison known as the Phantom Zone alongside his followers. Zod has all of Superman’s powers in addition to decades of combat training. Zod has been featured as the villain in two Superman movies because of what he represents. Zod forces Superman to confront his alien heritage while also showing how the hero’s power can be used to dominate rather than save people. Over the years, there have been many other Kryptonian villains. Still, none can compare to Zod’s might.
2) Brainiac
In 1958, Superman met the collector of cities and destroyer of worlds: Brainiac. One of the most intelligent beings in the universe, Brainiac is from the planet Colu. His insatiable desire to be the sole possessor of all knowledge, Brainiac uses his starship to shrink and abduct cities before destroying their homeworlds. His debut also introduced the city of Kandor, the shrunken city from Krypton that houses some of the last Kryptonians in existence, including Supergirl’s parents. And where Brainiac is a genocidal madman, his descendant, Brainiac 5, became one of the most iconic members of the Legion of Superheroes. With his twelfth-level intellect and a starship capable of destroying planets, Brainiac is one of the major big bads not just for Superman but for the entire DC Universe.
1) Lex Luthor
When people think of Superman villains, their first thought is immediately Lex Luthor. First debuting in 1940, Luthor quickly cemented himself as the Man of Steel’s true opposite: a powerless human who uses his vast intellect in his never-ending quest to destroy Superman. While he was initially depicted as a standard mad scientist, over the years, DC has added layers and nuance to his character, making him one of the wealthiest people on Earth who wants to kill the Man of Tomorrow to satiate his ego. Almost every major comic storyline, movie, and TV show involving Superman in some way or another incorporates Luthor because of how integral he is to the hero’s mythos. Where Superman represents humanity’s compassion, even though he’s an alien, Luthor represents humanity’s cruelty.
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