New Look at Superman Movie Villains Revealed (But Are They From the Comics?)

Superman movies have pit the Man of Steel against a menagerie of villains — the genius sociopath Lex Luthor, the Kryptonian General Zod, even a nuclear-powered mutate made from Superman’s genetic material — but few foes from the comics have made their way to the big screen. Ever since Superman faced his first supervillain, the Ultra-Humanite, in the pages of 1939’s Action Comics #13, he’s protected Metropolis and saved the world from the likes of Brainiac, the Eradicator, Metallo, Parasite, Mongul, and the backwards Bizarro.

But in the rebooted DC Universe, Superman’s rogue gallery gets some new additions. Not only is Superman archvillain and LuthorCorp CEO Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) scheming to get the Last Son of Krypton out of his hair (so to speak) in James Gunn’s Superman, but the film’s trailers have hinted at Stagg Industries CEO and Metamorpho foe Simon Stagg, the liquid nanite-bodied Engineer of the Authority (María Gabriela de Faría), a freakin’ kaiju, the hulking Hammer of Boravia, and a black-clad mystery man trading blows with Superman in a baseball stadium (who is believed to be Superman’s evil counterpart: the villainous Ultraman).

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Two upcoming children’s books slated to release in June reveal fresh looks at the armored Boravian villain and the little-seen but much-rumored Ultraman, whose identity seems to be confirmed by the U-shaped emblem resembling that of his comic counterpart (above).

The Hammer of Boravia has no exact counterpart in the comics, but his name and golden armor resembles lesser-known Super-foes Jackhammer and the armored Barrage (below).

Gunn addressed the Ultraman clone rumors last April, writing in a post on Threads, “The primary protagonist of Superman is, shockingly, Superman. The main villain of Superman is, shockingly, Lex Luthor.”

“I don’t know where all the stuff is coming from that it’s something other than this,” Gunn’s post continued. “There are so many stories coming out every day it’s difficult to deal with and every time I strike something down I’m giving it attention.” He added: “So, I’ll say again, don’t believe anything unless you see it HERE (& why would you want to know everything before the movie comes out anyway?)”

The official logline: “In his signature style, James Gunn takes on the original superhero in the newly imagined DC universe with a singular blend of epic action, humor and heart, delivering a Superman who’s driven by compassion and an inherent belief in the goodness of humankind.”

David Corenswet (Twisters) stars as Clark Kent/Superman opposite Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult (the X-Men movies) as Lex Luthor. The film also features Edi Gathegi (For All Mankind) as Mister Terrific, Anthony Carrigan (Gotham) as Metamorpho, Nathan Fillion (The Suicide Squad) as Green Lantern Guy Gardner, Isabela Merced (The Last of Us) as Hawkgirl, María Gabriela de Faría (The Moodys) as The Engineer, Skyler Gisondo (The Amazing Spider-Man) as Jimmy Olsen, with Alan Tudyk (Andor) as Robot 4, Wendell Pierce (The Wire) as Perry White, and Frank Grillo (Creature Commandos) as Rick Flag Sr.

You can pick up Superman: Friends and Foes! and Superman: The Official Activity Book on June 3 before DC Studios’ Superman soars into theaters July 11.