Superman is often seen as the ultimate paragon of compassion and virtue. Even though he has god-like abilities, the Man of Tomorrow only ever uses them to help others. However, across the infinite DC Multiverse, there are worlds where this is not the case. Evil alternate versions of Superman are a dime a dozen in DC Comics. They often help to present the theme of how absolute power corrupts absolutely, and someone with Superman’s power could use them to commit horrific atrocities. With their overwhelming power, these twisted versions of Superman have used their gifts to conquer and kill indiscriminately, knowing no one has the strength to stop them.
Videos by ComicBook.com
From genocide to global takeovers, these are the Supermen from across the DC Multiverse that have committed the worst acts out of misguided morals or pure sadism.
10) Red Son Superman
The Superman of Earth-30 is proof that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Superman landed in Ukraine in 1938, where he was raised to be an agent of Soviet Russia. Although Superman tried his best to be a just hero, when he was appointed the leader of the Soviet Union after Stalin’s death, the power began to corrupt the Man of Tomorrow. Thanks in part to Brainiac’s manipulation, Superman began spreading Russia’s influence worldwide and squashing resistance movements. Superman also used Brainiac’s technology to lobotomize criminals. Ultimately, Superman learned the error of his ways and gave up his quest to conquer Earth by faking his death. Still, countless people lost their free will because of him.
9) Tangent Superman
On the strange Earth-9, Superman is a man named Harvey Dent who, after being used as a test subject in a government super-soldier experiment, gained telepathic and telekinetic abilities. Although he acted as a hero for many years, after several cataclysmic disasters left the world in tatters, Superman decided to take the opportunity to make himself Earth’s new ruler. With his newfound position, Superman used his potent abilities and superpowered minions to quell anyone who could resist his regime. Numerous heroes and civilians were arrested, tortured, and killed during Superman’s reign. He also tried and failed to conquer the main DC Universe. It took multiple heroes from the main universe and from Earth-9 to overthrow the authoritarian Superman.
8) Justice Lord Superman
On Earth-50, President Lex Luthor murdered the Flash, which motivated Superman to use his heat vision to put his nemesis down for good. Afterward, Superman and the rest of the Justice League took over the planet and implemented an authoritarian regime. Renamed the Justice Lords, the heroes ruled their world with an iron fist and were feared by all. Superman would use his heat vision to lobotomize any villains who defied him. Beyond that, Superman led the Justice Lords in several attempts to conquer Earth-12, and even tried to kill that world’s Flash – proving just how far he has fallen from the idealistic hero he once was.
7) Superdoom
The world of Earth-45 is driven by corporate power and greed, which led its inhabitants to create one of the most monstrous versions of Superman in the multiverse. A fusion of Superman and Doomsday, Superdoom was created by a machine that can bring ideas to life. As the living embodiment of corporate greed and ambition, Superdoom was used by the company Overcorp to seize control of the world and establish a fascist dictatorship. But Superdoom didn’t stop there — he began a multiversal crusade to eliminate his “competitors” by killing every other Superman in the multiverse. Numerous Supermen were killed and even eaten by the deranged monster. From aiding a fascist regime to robbing multiple Earths of their strongest heroes, Superdoom stands as a clear multiversal threat.
6) Injustice Superman
Much like Justice Lord Superman, one death caused the Man of Steel to devolve into a ruthless tyrant. On Earth-49, the Joker tricks Superman into killing Lois and their unborn child and detonates a nuclear bomb that annihilates Metropolis. Mad with a desire for revenge, Superman brutally murders the Joker and institutes a fascist authoritarian regime to keep people “safe.” The people of Earth were forced to bend to Superman’s will out of fear of what he would do to them. During his reign, Superman killed thousands of innocent people, many of his former friends, including Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, and even Shazam, who was only a kid.
5) Overman
On Earth-10, the Nazi’s won World War II, thanks to Overman. Landing in Nazi-occupied Sudetenland, Overman was raised by the Third Reich to be their ultimate weapon. With Overman leading the charge, the Nazis conquered the United States by 1956. Throughout the war he killed countless innocent people. However, despite his many atrocities, he somehow had no knowledge of the Holocaust. When Overman discovered the global ethnic cleansing the Nazis committed, he was horrified that he inadvertently aided it. To make amends, he leaked information to the rebel group known as the Freedom Fighters, who then destroyed the Nazi-controlled Metropolis to incite a revolution. While Overman tried to atone for his actions, nothing he could ever do can wash away the tens of millions of deaths on his hands.
4) Dark Multiverse Superman
The Dark Multiverse is a place where the worst universes are allowed to fester and rot into nightmarish worlds. On Earth -1, the Man of Steel suddenly starts slaughtering people indiscriminately and without mercy. It turns out that the Superman of this world was only ever pretending to be a hero, while secretly hiding his sadistic urges until now. He kills countless heroes and civilians. To stop Superman’s rampage, Batman infected himself with the Doomsday virus. The virus turns the Dark Knight into a hulking monster that easily kills the evil Man of Tomorrow. While his time as a fully-fledged mass murderer was brief, this version of Superman still successfully murdered numerous people, including his own wife Lois, without a shred of remorse.
3) Ultraman
There are few Supermen in the multiverse more sadistic and crueler than Earth-3’s Ultraman. Even when he first crash-landed in Kansas as a child, he used his powers to hold the Kents hostage, forcing them to raise him, until he got bored and incinerated them. Alongside the Crime Syndicate, Ultraman conquered Earth while leaving tens of millions of people dead in his wake. Even though they have complete control over their world, they still slaughter and torture countless people for fun. During the Forever Evil story arc, the Crime Syndicate successfully took over the main DC Universe. Only the combined might of the world’s heroes and villains managed to overthrow the Syndicate. Ultraman also committed a multiversal killing spree by killing the Supermen of different universes.
2) Last Sun
When the twisted Batman Who Laughs gains the power to create his own multiverse, dubbed the “Last 52 Multiverse,” he makes one of the most dangerous versions of Superman. In this nightmarish universe, when the baby Kal-El is sent in a rocket ship to escape Krypton’s destruction, his ship takes a detour before arriving on Earth. Kal’s ship flies through thousands of suns on its way to Earth. The vast amount of solar energy absorbed by Kal turned him into a living star and twisted his mind. By the time Kal arrived on Earth, he only desired to feed on energy and kill everything in his path. He destroyed his Earth and became one of the Batman Who Laughs’ most powerful minions in the final battle for the multiverse.
1) Superboy-Prime
Superboy-Prime of Earth-33, aka Earth-Prime, grew up in a world where superheroes only existed in comic books. That all changed when, during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, his latent Kryptonian abilities manifested, and he joined the heroes of DC Comics in defeating the multiversal threat known as the Anti-Monitor. However, after the DC Multiverse reboot and the destruction of his home universe, Superboy-Prime went insane from the trauma and loss he endured. Superboy-Prime went on a multiversal rampage, destroying multiple Earths, slaughtering hundreds of Green Lanterns, killing the central universe Superboy, and beating Earth-2 Superman to death. Although in recent years Superboy-Prime has undergone a redemption arc, it doesn’t excuse the billions, if not trillions, of deaths on his hands.
What do you think? Leave a Comment below and join the conversation in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image courtesy of Paramount+ -
A closeup of a PlayStation 5 with a controller on top.
