List of Superman enemies
This is a list of supervillains appearing in DC Comics who are or have been enemies of the superhero Superman. Several of Superman's opponents are or have been foes of the Justice League as well. Due to his long publication history and broad scope of activities, Superman's adversaries exist in every known capacity: humans, metahumans, androids, sorcerers, empowered animals, other aliens, mythical/supernatural creatures, corrupt doppelgängers of himself, interdimensional beings, and even deities.
Central rogues gallery
In alphabetical order :| Villain | First appearance | Description |
| Anti-Monitor | Crisis on Infinite Earths #2 | The villain behind Crisis on Infinite Earths, an event that rebooted the DC Multiverse. The Anti-Monitor is one of the most powerful beings in the DC Multiverse. This character has a strong metafictional nature. |
| Atomic Skull | Superman #323 | Albert Michaels was given radiation treatments that gave him atomic eye-blasts and worked his way up from an agent of SKULL to becoming its leader. |
| Atomic Skull | The Adventures of [Superman (comic book)|The Adventures of Superman] #483 | Joseph Martin's superhuman powers manifested after exposure to the Dominators' gene-bomb; the film buff began to hallucinate that he was a 1930s movie hero called the Atomic Skull and that Superman was his nemesis. |
| Bizarro | Superboy #68 | Bizarro was created when Superboy was exposed to a "duplicating ray" and was later destroyed in the same story. |
| Bizarro | Action Comics #254 | Lex Luthor exposed Kal-El, now Superman, to another duplicating ray, this time creating an adult Bizarro. This Bizarro later created a Bizarro Lois Lane and left with her into space. In accordance with the science fiction concepts of Superman stories of the era, Bizarro relocated to "the Bizarro World," a cubical planet called Htrae which operated under "Bizarro logic" and which Bizarro populated with duplicates of himself and Bizarro Lois Lane, as well as Bizarro versions of Superman's supporting cast and the other DC heroes and villains. |
| Bizarro | Man of Steel (comics)|The Man of Steel] #5 | Bizarro was a flawed clone created by Lex Luthor's staff of scientists. |
| Bizarro | Superman #160 | Post-Crisis, another Bizarro was created when the Joker conned Mr. Mxyzptlk out of 99% of his powers and created a Bizarro World. |
| Bloodsport I | Superman #4 | A gun-toting mercenary with Kryptonite bullets. |
| Brainiac | Action Comics #242 | Most incarnations depict Brainiac as an alien cyborg or android from the planet Colu and one of the most dangerous villains in the DC Universe, capable of possessing others, inventing extremely advanced weaponry, physically matching or overpowering Superman, creating and manipulating computer systems and exerting some control over time and space. |
| Bruno Mannheim | Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #139 | Mannheim is one of Metropolis' most powerful gangsters, the leader of Intergang. |
| Cyborg Superman | The Adventures of Superman #466 | Hank Henshaw is an astronaut who died as a result of a doomed mission on board the space shuttle Excalibur. Because Superman failed to save him, Hank Henshaw blames him for the loss of his original body, as well as the death of his wife. Reduced to a formless entity that inhabits mechanical bodies, the Cyborg desires to cause Superman equal pain. He masqueraded as a resurrected Superman after the hero's apparent death, claiming to be the result of Superman's remains being reconstructed into cybernetic form. The ruse was a tremendous success, even earning the Cyborg an endorsement from the U.S. president as the "true" Superman. Hank Henshaw betrayed those whose lives he was entrusted with when he obliterated Coast City with the help of Mongul; this event led to Green Lantern Hal Jordan's mental breakdown and later transformation into Parallax. Later, he became a member of the Sinestro Corps, continuing to bear Superman's insignia. |
| Cyborg Superman | Action Comics #252 | Zor-El was introduced as the new Cyborg Superman following The New 52, a relaunch of the DC Universe. Zor-El was rescued from Krypton's destruction by Brainiac and was reconfigured as a cyborg to be his scout for looking for stronger species in the universe. |
| Darkseid | Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 | Uxas, son of Heggra, alien dictator of the planet Apokolips. As with gods in other mythologies, Darkseid is incredibly powerful, but cannot escape his ultimate destiny. It has been foretold that Darkseid will meet his final defeat at the hands of his son, Orion, in a cataclysmic battle. According to writer Mark Evanier, Jack Kirby modeled Darkseid on actor Jack Palance. |
| Doomsday | Superman: The Man of Steel #18 | The creature who killed Superman in a titanic battle that also resulted in Doomsday's death, although Doomsday comes back to life every time he dies, and even more powerful. Created by an ancient genetic experiment on Krypton. |
| Eradicator | Action Comics Annual #2 | A powerful artificial intelligence from Krypton, the Eradicator program initially sought to transform and terraform Earth into a new Krypton. Since then, it has merged with human scientist David Conner, serving as a replacement Superman after his apparent death and later as an ally to Superman himself. |
| Faora | Action Comics #471 | A Kryptonian martial artist and man-hater who was sent to the Phantom Zone for murdering several men, she is able to beat Superman using her knowledge of Horo-kanu, a Kryptonian martial art enabling the user to immobilize an opponent via pressure points. |
| General Zod | Adventure Comics #283 | General Dru-Zod is one of Superman's more prominent enemies. Once the Military Director of the Kryptonian Space Center, Zod had personally known Jor-El when he was an aspiring scientist. Zod attempted to take over Krypton using a machine that produced Bizarro-like duplicates during a period of turmoil caused by the termination of the space program; he was sentenced to the Phantom Zone for 40 years for his crimes. Zod was first released by Kal-El when his term of imprisonment was up. However, he attempted to conquer Earth with powers gained under its yellow sun. Zod was then sent back into the Phantom Zone, occasionally escaping to target Superman. |
| General Zod | The Adventures of Superman #444 | A General Zod based on the previous version created by the Time Trapper in a pocket dimension. |
| General Zod | Superman #166 | Head of the Kryptonian military in an alternate reality created by Brainiac 13. |
| General Zod | Action Comics #779 | A Russian child who developed powers similar to Superman during an experiment. Zod gains power from red sunlight and becomes weak in yellow, the opposite of Superman. |
| General Zod | Superman #204 | Created from the artificial Metropia constructed by Superman that claimed to be from Krypton. |
| General Zod | Action Comics #845 | Following Jor-El's belief that Krypton was doomed and attempting to usurp the ruling council, Zod and his compatriots Non and Ursa were captured and sentenced to the Phantom Zone with Jor-El, their jailer. Having escaped the Phantom Zone with his allies, Zod's new objective is to reclaim his son, Lor-Zod, who was adopted by Superman and Lois Lane and named Chris Kent. |
| Intergang | Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #133 | A nationwide organized crime syndicate armed with weapons supplied in part by Darkseid, led by Bruno Mannheim. |
| Jax-Ur | Adventure Comics #289 | Jax-Ur was an amoral and criminally deviant scientist on the planet Krypton. He was imprisoned in the Phantom Zone for destroying Wegthor, a populated moon of Krypton with a population of 500, while experimenting with a nuclear warhead-equipped rocket. Jax-Ur's intention was to launch and test-fire it against a passing space rock. If this test proved successful, Jax-Ur would then commence the build-up of a massive personal nuclear arsenal with which he would overthrow the Kryptonian government and place the entire planet under his dominion. Because of this, space travel was forbidden. He calls himself "the worst criminal in the Phantom Zone". His sentence for his act of mass murder is life imprisonment. In his first appearance, he managed to escape from the Phantom Zone and posed as a super-powered version of Jonathan Kent. Superboy eventually sent Jax-Ur back to the Phantom Zone. Most of his later Silver Age appearances show him in his ghostly Phantom Zone form. Jax-Ur did not appear after the Crisis on Infinite Earths for some time, as DC instated a rule that no surviving Kryptonians could appear besides Superman. |
| Jax-Ur | Action Comics #846 | He is one of the criminals unleashed from the Phantom Zone by Zod. In the current continuity, Jax-Ur destroyed Krypton's moon during an attempt at interstellar space travel. When the moon was destroyed, Brainiac became aware of Krypton and attacked Kandor, killing millions and shrinking the city, then placing it into a bottle. Jax-Ur subsequently became the first prisoner banished to the Phantom Zone. Jax-Ur is shown to be of the Science Guild; he is bald and has one eye. He is part of General Zod's sleeper agents on Earth, where he is employed by S.T.A.R. Labs. |
| Lex Luthor | Action Comics #23 | Superman's archenemy, and the consummate evil genius. He continues to play different roles in various Superman comics and media. The version of Luthor who debuted in Action Comics #23 during the Golden Age was called Alexei Luthor and was a dangerous mad scientist who antagonized Superman and plotted to take over the world. In his classic Silver Age incarnation that debuted in Adventure Comics #271, Lex Luthor and Superman were once friends, but a lab accident indirectly caused by Superman caused Lex's hair to fall out completely. This event causes Luthor to snap and become a dangerous criminal and mad scientist who plots the destruction of Superman. At one point, Lex Luthor collaborated with Alexei Luthor of Earth-Two and Ultraman of Earth-Three. In the modern Post-Crisis era, Lex Luthor was re-envisioned as a wealthy CEO/scientist of LexCorp who hides his sociopathic tendencies behind a mask of philanthropy. Although beloved by the people of Metropolis for his many public works, Superman knows the truth. In the mainstream comic series, Luthor eventually manipulates his way to the U.S. Presidency, but is forcibly unseated from office by Superman and the Justice League. |
| Livewire | Superman Adventures #5 | Leslie Willis was once a popular and controversial Metropolis radio shock jock. No one was immune to her venomous words, not even Superman. She took cynical joy in attacking him during her broadcasts. Among her audience, Lex Luthor enjoyed listening to her. Her career as a shock jock was cut short when the owner of the station, Miguel, decided to turn the station into a country station. Miguel was also quite pleased that she was fired because his wife was saved by Superman. Leslie was born with the gift of controlling electricity. Enraged at the loss of her job, she went to the top of the station where she was struck by lightning. Absorbing a large amount of energy from the lightning bolt, her appearance changed to a chalk-white skin with blue hair. With that change, she decided that she would now take her revenge out on Superman. |
| Lobo | Omega Men #3 | A bounty hunter and the last member of the alien Czarnians. |
| Manchester Black | Action Comics #775 | A British telepath and antihero, he dislikes what he perceives as Superman's simplistic view of the world and becomes obsessed with twisting and destroying Superman's morality. He later learns Superman's true identity and manipulates a large group of supervillains to attack Superman and his known family/friends/associates. When even this manipulation, climaxed with tricking Superman into thinking he has killed Lois Lane, fails to break Superman's spirit, he retreats completely and ends his life over the anguish of his failure. |
| Mercy Graves | Superman Adventures #1 | Lex Luthor's personal assistant, who manages LexCorp during his absence. |
| Metallo | Action Comics #252 | Former mercenary John Corben was transformed into a powerful cyborg with a heart made out of kryptonite. He seeks to use this power source as the instrument of Superman's downfall. |
| Metallo | Superman #310 | Roger Corben, John Corben's brother, had his brain transferred into a similar robotic body as his brother by SKULL. |
| Mongul | DC Comics Presents #27 | Ruler of the gladiatorial planet Warworld, Mongul's strength rivals that of Superman and he has often attempted to break him. |
| Mongul | Showcase '95 #8 Superman #151 | Mongul's son who has since taken up the mantle, as has his daughter Mongal. |
| Morgan Edge | Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #133 | A corrupt corporate executive, he tried to take control of Intergang and organized the post-Crisis iteration of the Superman Revenge Squad. |
| Mister Mxyzptlk | Superman #30 | An imp from the Fifth Dimension, Mr. Mxyzptlk possesses nigh-limitless reality-bending powers, which he often uses to pose challenges to Superman for his own amusement. |
| Parasite | Action Comics #340 | Raymond Maxwell Jensen is a worker at a research plant who stumbles upon waste collected by Superman and is transformed into a purple-skinned monster that lives off the energy of others. |
| Parasite | Firestorm #58 | Rudy Jones, a S.T.A.R. Labs janitor, is manipulated by Darkseid into a similar situation that created the original Parasite, becoming green-skinned. |
| Prankster | Action Comics #51 | The Prankster was a criminal; his particular gimmick was the use of various practical jokes and gags in committing his crimes. In the early 2000s, he began using high-tech weaponry. |
| Professor Hamilton | The Adventures of Superman #424 | Emil Hamilton, a mad scientist from S.T.A.R. Labs; he spent years as Superman's ally, but he later turned to evil and joined the Secret Society of Super Villains. |
| Silver Banshee | Action Comics #595 | A Gaelic woman trapped in a version of Limbo for decades by magic after she was double-crossed by a clan chief, then emerged with magic powers and vowed to track down his descendants for revenge. Her scream drains the life out of others. |
| Superboy-Prime | DC Comics Presents #87 | Clark Kent was born on a parallel world that was destroyed during Crisis on Infinite Earths, Superboy-Prime was trapped outside time for decades. However, his faith in Earth's heroes was destroyed by decades of their mistakes, and he emerged from a pocket dimension to try to replace Superman. This character has a strong metafictional nature. |
| Titano the Super-Ape | Superman #127 | A colossal chimpanzee with kryptonite vision. Post-Crisis, he was a test monkey transformed by a genetic experiment gone awry. |
| Toyman | Action Comics #64 | The Toyman uses toy-based or toy-themed devices and gimmicks in his various crimes. The Toyman's weapons, while sometimes comical, are also very dangerous. The Toyman first appeared in animated form on Challenge of the Super Friends, as part of the archvillain supergroup the Legion of Doom, where he donned a jester's outfit. The Toyman was a recurring villain in Superman: The Animated Series, where he wore an overgrown fiberglass child's head with a creepy, blank expression on it over his own head. The Toyman also appears in seasons 8 and 9 of Smallville as an overweight techno-geek trying to destroy Luthorcorp and the Daily Planet in attempts to kill Oliver Queen, who had fired Winslow from Queen Industries. |
| Ultra-Humanite | Action Comics #13 | Ultra-Humanite is the first supervillain ever faced by Superman and one of the first of the Golden Age of Comics. He was designed to be the polar opposite of Superman: while Superman is a hero with superhuman strength, Ultra-Humanite is a criminal mastermind who has a crippled body but a highly advanced intellect. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster retired Ultra-Humanite as Superman's arch-enemy when Lex Luthor was introduced. Ultra-Humanite was thus retired for several decades, only to return as an enemy of the Superman of Earth-Two and the Justice Society of America. Ultra-Humanite has developed a process of transplanting his mind into different bodies, first doing this with actress Delores Winters when he was nearly killed, most famously with an albino ape, and also with Johnny Thunder. |
| Ultraman | Justice League of America #29 | An evil counterpart of Superman from an alternate Earth, Ultraman possesses powers similar to Superman's. Ultraman's power source is through exposure to kryptonite, while the Earth's yellow sun weakens him. Ultraman is the leader of the Crime Syndicate of America, a villainous version of the Justice League native to his universe. His power levels are equal to or greater than Superman's as long as his exposure to kryptonite is maintained; if he does not regularly consume it, his strength will decrease. If he is exposed to yellow sunlight for too long, his powers will fade away altogether. |
Foes of lesser renown
In alphabetical order :| Villain | First appearance | Description |
| Aarbur-Z | Action Comics #383 | Disembodied intelligence inhabiting super-powered costume, pursued by similar entity Enforcer NZ-2, attempted to possess Superman. |
| Acid Master | Action Comics #348 | Philip Master is a chemist and saboteur who allied with forces behind the Iron Curtain. |
| Aethyr | The Phantom Zone #3 | A godlike entity from the Phantom Zone who was created from the fusion of millions of souls. |
| Adversary | The Adventures of Superman #579 | Cary Richards is a young child neighbor of Clark and Lois who uses a wheelchair. He made a deal with the demon Lord Satanus to gain psionic powers, subconsciously becoming a stereotypical macho 1990s supervillain named the Adversary that wanted to develop a reputation defeating Superman in a similar fashion to Doomsday. |
| Alex Evell | Superman #5 | Corrupt politician who forces publisher Zachary Collum to sell the Morning Pictorial to him to help him take over the city. He uses it to lie about his enemies, and when Daily Planet publisher Burt Mason refuses to stop a story by Clark Kent about his lies and will not sell the paper he declares war against the Planet. His men attack delivery trucks, steal papers and attack those selling them, but Superman helps the Planet and stops the thugs. Knowing Superman is fond of Lois, he calls her to say Clark has been badly injured and is calling for Lois at Bentley Hospital. When she gets to the hospital she is kidnapped, although Superman follows. Bentley sets the place on fire, despite two of his gang members being in there, but Superman escapes, rescues the gangsters and stops Evel's car. Bentley says that he will not talk, but the thugs say that they will get even with him. Superman leaves them at a police station, Collum gets his paper back and Evell goes to prison. |
| Amalak | Superman #190 | Alien bounty hunter whose planet was once conquered by Krypton during an imperial phase of its history. |
| Amalak | Superman #669 | His people wiped out by Admiral Zod, Amalak dedicated his life to eradicating all Kryptonian life from existence. |
| Amazing Grace | Superman #3 | A servant of Darkseid, she uses her powers of persuasion to maintain his control of Apokolips. |
| Amazo | The Brave and the Bold #30 | An android with powers similar to those of the Parasite, except that he duplicates their abilities instead of absorbing them. |
| Amok | Superman: The 10¢ Adventure | It is known that he was born in Iceland, but how he achieved his metahuman super-strength and energy powers is not yet known. |
| Amphi-Bandits | Action Comics #90 | Inventor-turned-criminal Horace Rikker led this gang who evaded police pursuit via a secret submersible vehicle in a Metropolis river. |
| Andrar | Superboy #164 | Superboy enemy; led the Crab Nebulan attempt to invade Earth with android duplicates. |
| Annihilator and Annihilator Jr. | Action Comics #355-357 | Defecting scientist from the Iron Curtain, he utilized Kryptonian explosives, briefly ruled the U.S. As the madness of his condition faded, his adopted son took a drink of the explosives and gained similar powers. |
| Anomaly | The Adventures of Superman #539 | Created by Project Cadmus, a clone of a felon. However, he was altered to have the power to mimic the substance of his surroundings. |
| Archer | Superman #13 | Quigley, first name unrevealed. Extortionist and archer who targets millionaires, shooting them with a bow and arrow if they do not pay. Superman starts to pursue him and prevents him from shooting Lois and Jimmy. He is revealed to be a hunter who decided to hunt humans instead of animals. |
| Atlas | 1st Issue Special #1 | A former one-shot Jack Kirby character who was later revamped as a morally ambiguous anti-hero. Atlas wields a crystal that gives him strength comparable to Superman's. |
| Atom Man | World's Finest #271 | Heinrich Melch is a Nazi super-soldier on Earth-Two who gained his powers through his father's experiments with Green Kryptonite. After a fight with Superman, Melch was somehow transported to Earth-One where he gained new powers and assumed the alias of Henry Miller. He was defeated by Superman and Batman who managed to send him back to Earth-Two where his Earth-One powers faded and he was apprehended by Earth-Two's Superman and Robin. |
| Auctioneer | Action Comics #841 | A gigantic alien who uses advanced technology to collect valuable items and beings to auction to the highest bidder. |
| Baron Sunday | Superman #26 | A villain who uses Voodoo magic against Superman. |
| Barrage | Superman Annual #2 | Karnowsky is an armored criminal who came into conflict with Superman when he attacked Maggie Sawyer and would go on to join the Superman Revenge Squad. |
| Baud | Superman: The Man of Steel #71 | A female energy being who worked for Mainframe as a spy and fought Superman as part of the Superman Revenge Squad. |
| Big Dome | Batman #307 | Large-headed purple-skinned being, possible extraterrestrial, planned planetary conquest from Earth base, defeated by Superman with civilian assistance. |
| Blackie Sarto | New York World's Fair Comics #2 | A jewel thief who enters the World Fair in an attempt to steal the Madras Emerald, one of the world's biggest jewels which is being delivered from India. Clark Kent recognises him and tells Lois Lane, and when she tells him Pinkerton checks on criminals and will not let them on, Clark says he covered a story four years ago in London where he was a suspect, but released on lack of evidence. With his super-hearing Clark hears him talking about stealing the Madras Emerald to a thug and tells Lois he has a hunch. Lois evades him and follows Sarto, who realises she is following and kidnaps her by seizing her and threatening to shoot her. He takes her to a car where two accomplices are waiting. Clark realises she tried following Sarto and changes into Superman. Meanwhile, Lois is taken to Sarto's riverfront hideaway. Sarto says they will decide how to get rid of her when they get back and Lois is left bound and gagged. Sarto's gang throws deadly gas bombs at the armoured car delivering the Emerald while wearing gas masks, but Superman stops them despite Sarto trying to kill them all with a gas bomb. Superman saves the crooks and takes them unconscious to the police. He then flies to the building and frees Lois, then takes her to the fair and delivers the gem. He then wires the story to the editor as Clark Kent. |
| Blackrock | Action Comics #458 | A man equipped with an alien rock which gives him energy-manipulation powers. |
| Blaze and Satanus | Action Comics #655 | Lady Blaze is the half-demon daughter of the wizard Shazam. |
| Blaze and Satanus | The Adventures of Superman #493 | Lord Satanus, the half-demon son of the wizard Shazam, resembled a traditional demon, save that he wore a heavy Roman-style helmet and either had black skin or else the helmet buried his face in shadow. He and his sister Lady Blaze fought for possession of Lady Blaze's domain, using Superman as a pawn. At the end of the story, it was revealed that Lord Satanus was disguised as "Collin Thornton", the publisher of Newstime magazine, who had first appeared in Adventures of Superman #460 and had previously hired Clark Kent as editor. |
| Black Zero | Superman #205 | The original Black Zero was a space saboteur who destroyed planets for pay and was the man responsible for destroying Krypton. He was erased from existence following Crisis on Infinite Earths. |
| Black Zero | Superboy #61 | In an alternate reality in which Superman never returned from the dead, Superboy became the new Black Zero and took control of Earth by force. |
| Bloodsport II (Alex Trent) | The Adventures of Superman #506 | A white supremacist, Alex Trent uses similar technology to the first Bloodsport. |
| Bloodthirst | Superman: The Man of Steel #29 | A massive alien creature with multiple holes on his skin that emit a green gas. His weapon appeared to be a circular device like a clock without hands that he could use to slow down or even to stop time. Bloodthirst bragged throughout his first and only appearance that he was the cause of every major war and was there at every assassination. Bloodthirst was easily defeated by Superman and left Earth. Bloodthirst has not been seen or mentioned since. His storyline is similar to Cerberus who was mentioned in Superman: The Man of Steel #1, then was finally seen in #4 and not seen afterward. |
| Borden Moseley | Superman #5 | A financier who is in league with Lex Luthor. Luthor places narcotics around some of the country's most powerful men, taking control of their minds and allowing him to throw the country into depression. Moseley gets business tips from Luthor, although Luthor gets 75% of his profits. Superman finds out about Moseley and gets a list from his safe of those under Luthor's control, despite Moseley trying to lock him in the safe. Moseley tries to commit suicide by leaping from the window, but Superman saves him. He disguises himself as Moseley by contorting his face, a power which he used to use, and infiltrates Luthor's meeting. Luthor realises Superman is there and threatens to shoot those under his control, but Superman stops him and he apparently dies after a plane crash, although he returns later. Those under his control are freed and Moseley is presumably arrested, although it is possible he committed suicide after Superman left. |
| Calvin Denby | Superman #12 | After a series of explosions at American defense industries, Superman rounds up members of the Grotak Bund, an organization that has orders to destroy certain American factories to seriously slow down U.S. defence operations. Lois Lane goes to one factory but is seized by a criminal and prevented from speaking. The criminals bind her hand and foot and gag her next to dynamite, hoping her remains will be found and she will be blamed. However, Superman stops the bomb in time. Lois goes to see Calvin Denby, who claims to be a patriotic American and is about to give his view on the attacks. Superman realises he is the Leader of the Grotak Bund and when Denby fires at Lois he deflects the bullet, stunning Calvin, who is jailed. |
| Chameleon | Action Comics #126 | A master of disguise. |
| Chandu | Adventure Comics #219 | Superboy enemy; giant gorilla who gained x-ray/heat vision from drinking powdered kryptonite, employed by Doc Baird and his gang for crimes. |
| Chemo | Showcase #39 | A giant, semi-intelligent, humanoid and artificial being with superhuman strength, durability and regenerative capabilities and the ability to produce and expel numerous chemical solutions. |
| Colonel Future | Action Comics #484 | Edmund H. Future uses his gang to steal the most advanced technology and employ its use in his crimes. |
| Colonel Future | Superman #378 | Edmund Hamilton is a NASA scientist who, through a freak accident, developed the ability to glimpse into the future by surviving near-death experiences. He uses this knowledge to develop an arsenal to steal components to prevent an event that would destroy the Earth. He reappears in a later story trying to save Superman from an assassination attempt, only to find out that he himself would be the victim, and is saved by Superman performing CPR. The character and his alter ego are a homage to science fiction author Edmond Hamilton and his most famous work, Captain Future. |
| Composite Superman | World's Finest Comics #142 | An out-of-work diver, Joseph Meach gained the combined powers of the Legion of Super-Heroes after being struck by the energy discharge of their statues. He then desired to defeat Superman and Batman. However, the effects eventually wore off. Later, they are given back by an alien whose father was imprisoned by the two heroes, but when he turned back, he sacrificed himself to save Superman and Batman from the Magna-Gun that the alien had shot at them. |
| Conduit | Superman: The Man of Steel #0 | A bully and rival of Clark Kent's while growing up, Kenny Braverman was exposed to kryptonite radiation as a baby and so became a living kryptonite battery. After years of coming in second to Clark, Braverman becomes determined to kill him and Superman. |
| Count X | Action Comics #301 | Master spy. |
| Crime Professor | Superboy #30 | Superboy enemy; Mr. Oates, criminal strategist. |
| Cyclotronic Man | Black Lightning #3 | A Batman villain formerly called Bag O' Bones, Ned Creegan adopted the identity of the Cyclotronic Man and fought Superman and Black Lightning at the time when he was hired by Tobias Whale of the 100 to kill them. |
| Dabney Donovan | Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #142 | A "mad scientist" and expert at genetic manipulation and cloning, former employee of Project Cadmus. |
| Carl Draper/the Master Jailer | Superman #331 | Carl Draper, a master trapmaker, was hired to build a trap to contain the Parasite. However, when his daughter Carla challenged him to trap Superman, he wholeheartedly accepted it. He would appear to Superman as a hologram and challenge him to escape the traps he created. Post-Crisis, his powers and skills were enhanced and he was part of an Anti-Kryptonian Brigade with Bizarro, Mongul and the Silver Banshee. He eventually reformed and was employed by Checkmate. |
| Dev-Em | Adventure Comics #287 | A surviving Kryptonian juvenile delinquent, he kidnapped Superboy and took his place. Years later he time-traveled to the future and became a law-enforcement agent. |
| Doctor Chaos | The New Adventures of Superboy #25 | Superboy enemy; Burt Belker, Professor Lewis Lang's assistant, empowered and possessed by a Lord of Chaos via the Chaos Helmet from the Valley of Ur. |
| Dominus | Action Comics #747 | An alien priest who sought the powers of Kismet and brainwashed Superman into conquering Earth. |
| Duke Duvvil | Adventure Comics #199 | Superboy enemy; traitorous nobleman in subterranean kingdom of Subbania, sought to overthrow Queen Lya. |
| Duplicate Man | World's Finest #106 | An enemy of Superman and Batman. Capable of splitting himself into two separate bodies. |
| Duran | Superman Annual #12 | Created as part of the Planet DC Annuals event, Duran is a Mexican wizard who is a member of the fictional "Oto tribe". Disturbed by the practices of capitalist, anti-environment developers, Duran becomes their sworn enemy and embarks on a career of eco-terrorism. He devises a plan to summon and set loose an army of monsters against the Mexican people to punish them for the pollution they produce. Duran abducts a young girl and takes her to his base under the Plaza de la Constitución in Mexico City, with the intention of using her as the focus of a magical ritual to summon the power of the Aztec god Ometeotl. His plans were foiled by Superman with the assistance of the Mexican heroes Iman, Acrata and El Muerto. |
| Dyna-Mind | The New Adventures of Superboy #42 | Superboy enemy; Johnny Webber, granted telekinetic powers by meteor, able to create and animate giant figures. |
| Eclipso | The House of Secrets #61 | The immortal incarnation of the Wrath of God and the Angel of Vengeance who is able to possess people and has a huge variety of magical powers. |
| Effron the Sorcerer | World's Finest Comics #210 | A sorcerer who came from the magic kingdom of Veliathan and controlled a faceless puppet army. |
| Elias Orr | Superman Vol. 2 #205 | A mercenary who is Equus' partner. |
| Emperor of America | Action Comics #52 | Power-mad individual who creates a device which emits rays that take away the will of people to resist. He blankets the nation in the rays, then with just a few henchmen wearing helmets that make them resistant to the ray, he marches into the White House and declares himself the Emperor of America. He takes vast amounts of wealth and even replaces the Supreme Court with his henchmen. Only Superman remains immune and he is finally able to stop the Emperor's plan. The character should not be confused with the Atom (Al Pratt)'s enemy of the same name from All-American Comics #21. |
| Equus | Superman #206 | A villainous cyborg, working under the direction of Mr. Orr as a mercenary. |
| La Encantadora | Secret Origins of Super-Villains 80-Page Giant | Gaining magic powers from the mystical Mists of Ibella, Lourdes Lucero first encountered Superman while hypnotizing him to react adversely to fake kryptonite. |
| Erik Drekken | Action Comics #6 | In search of the secrets of Captain Comet, Erik somehow got himself mutated; becoming a giant ape that attacked Superman only to be defeated. Afterwards, he managed to gain full control over his own DNA allowing him to either evolve or devolve at will whereupon he was recruited into the Anti-Superman Army. |
| Evolution King | Superman #15 | An evil scientist who has "learned how to advance or revert a human being’s age" by means of special pills. Aided by gangster Joe Glower and his henchmen, the Evolution King kidnaps prominent athletes, transforms them into helpless old men, and threatens to leave them in their decrepit condition unless they meet his extortion demands. He then starts turning people into infants. Clark realises an old man is a missing athlete due to his fingerprints. Lois Lane is with one of the athletes so is kidnapped with him, blindfolded, and driven to the base. Clark is also captured. Both he and Lois are soon tied to chairs and in the presence of the Evolution King. Goaded finally by Clark Kent into demonstrating the effects of his old-age pills by swallowing one himself, the Evolution King ages, causing Lois to faint. Clark then breaks his bonds and forces the Evolution King to reveal how people can be turned back. The Evolution King perishes when, moments later, he accidentally swallows some additional aging pills instead of the intended antidote. |
| Faustus Coven | Superboy #175 | Superboy enemy; patriarch of the Coven family, used combination of sorcery and science to separate Superboy's soul from his body and enslave it. |
| Ferlin Nyxly | Superman #235 | Former curator of the Metropolis Music Museum who, on some occasions, has attacked Superman with the help of magical objects or alien technology he found or stole. |
| Futuremen | Superman #128 | Two criminals, Vard and Boka, from the year 2000 travel back in time, and claim to an incredibly gullible FBI chief that Superman is a criminal from their time. They capture him using red kryptonite, and reveal an atomic experiment has dried up Earth's water supply and they want Superman to restore it with ice from Saturn, hoping to get billions from Earth. Superman escapes them, has them jailed by the authorities of the year 2000 and then returns to 1959. |
| Gaff Lomar | Superboy #27 | Superboy enemy; "pied piper" who mesmerized Smallville's children into following him. |
| Gog | The Kingdom #1 | In a possible future timeline, a boy called William was the sole survivor of the destruction of Kansas in a nuclear blast. Saved by Superman, he came to view Superman as a savior and became a minister of a church devoted to him. When Superman tried to correct this misguided view, William came to see him instead as a demon whose failure had led to Kansas' destruction. Empowered by the cosmic beings known as the Quintessence, Gog has traveled across the dimensions of Hypertime, slaying versions of Superman wherever he finds them. |
| Galactic Golem | Superman #248 | An artificial construct created by Lex Luthor that was used by him twice to fight Superman. It was erased from history after Crisis on Infinite Earths. |
| Gambler | Superboy #140 | Superboy enemy; "Lucky" Lucifer Chancel, gangster and obsessive gambler, engineered crises for Superboy to face, then accepted bets on the results. |
| Gem | Superboy #19 | Superboy enemy; a.k.a. the Crystalloid, crystalline life-form that consumes all in its path. |
| Glowman | Superboy #157 ; New Adventures of Superboy #30 | Superboy enemy; Bradley "Bash" Bashford, Smallville High bully transformed into a monstrous fiery form. |
| Goldie Gates | Superman #27 | The notorious Goldie Gates convinces Randall Rocksell that if he will invest huge sums of money with him, Rocksell will make half a million dollars a day on his investment. However, Superman discovers that Rocksell is being paid dividends with his own money and Gates is perilously close to gaining the power of attorney over Rocksell's money and property. When Randall fully believes that Gates will make him money, he gives him access to his vault, after which Goldie takes the money. Superman sees the crooks and recognizes one as Bucktooth Burger, one of Goldie Gates' mob. Later, Gates' crooks get into Randall's house, where he and Lois are talking. Bucktooth points a gun at Lois and Goldie says that she will be shot unless Randall signs a document giving him control over his property. Despite Lois telling him not to, Randall signs. Bucktooth then crams a cloth into Lois's mouth to gag her and Randall is knocked out. He comes to in an underground room with Lois next to him. Both of them are tied to a log. Goldie plans for them both to be killed by dynamite. However, Superman gets to the room and stops the dynamite from exploding. Meanwhile, the crooks think that they will be unable to get out of the tunnel in time. They are relieved to see Superman, who then takes them off to jail. Randall, meanwhile, becomes a better person. |
| Grax | Action Comics #342 | Brainiac's blue-skinned, four-armed rival featuring a 20th-level intellect whose plots are also foiled by Superman and who seeks vengeance. He also appeared in the Super Friends comic book. |
| Harkon | Superboy #194 | Superboy enemy; renegade Atlantean/merman scientist, temporarily transformed Superboy into a merboy. |
| Hellgrammite | The Brave and the Bold #80 | Roderick Rose transforms himself into a large insectoid creature and has battled Superman several times since. |
| The Host | Superman #6 | A construct containing the souls of a long-lost prehuman race. |
| Illena | Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #52 | Alien woman, romanced Superman with intent to turn him into stone. |
| Ignition | The Adventures of Superman #582 | Created by the Joker after he stole the powers of Mr. Mxyzptlk. Later became ally/underling of the Russian General Zod, guarding Pokolistan. |
| Insect Queen | Superboy #124 Superman Family #213 Superman #671 | Pre-Crisis, the Earth-One Lana Lang saves an alien that gives her a ring that offered her the powers of any insect or arachnid and becomes a superhero. Post-Crisis, Earth-Two Lana Lang receives a magical scarab from her archaeological father that possesses her and offers the power to enlarge and control insects, becoming a supervillain. Also post-Crisis, the Insect Queen is an alien who assists Lex Luthor in return for his assistance into colonizing Earth. She uses Lana Lang's DNA to make a new body mixed with her own genetic material. She would later return, possessing Lana's body. |
| J. Wilbur Wolfingham | Superman #26 | A notorious confidence man whose elaborate schemes are interfered with by Superman to profit his victim while he is left with nothing. On one occasion he placed oil in a well to con the Eden Farming Community, an area recently hit by a tornado. He then bought the land and claimed that there was an oil well on it, after which the locals paid in cash for shares in it. Lois and Clark told them who Wilbur really was and they started searching the area for him. Lois found him in a barn and told him to give himself up, but he seized her, covering her mouth to prevent her from speaking. He then bound and gagged her and lowered her into the well. He said she would probably be found before she starved, but by then he would be gone. He then hid in a haystack, but a match dropped by him set the oil alight. The flames then started burning through the rope holding Lois up. Clark saw where she was with his X-ray vision, changed into Superman and saved her just as the rope snapped. He then burrowed underground to escape the explosion from the layer of oil, freed Lois, then found a genuine oil well which he diverted to the town. After this he captures Wilbur, who was stuck in the burning haystack, and makes him return the money to the people, who will now become rich due to the oil. |
| J. E. Curtis | Superman #4 | An agent paid by a foreign power to stop the nation's return to prosperity, which is happening after the Great Depression. His men cause incidents in industry to cause strikes. Superman investigates and stops the attacks. He gets to the boss, who tries to poison him, then when Superman is not killed, he tells Superman about Curtis. Curtis is about to make a call to agents in the stock market to cause the worst depression in American history, but Superman enters with the other crook. Curtis kills the man with a device that fires electrical bolts and tries to kill Superman after Superman refuses his offer to join him. But Superman is unharmed and touches Curtis, electrocuting and killing him. |
| Imperiex | Superman #153 | An all-powerful force of nature whose purpose is destroying galaxies, planning to create a new universe. Eventually, Superman, Steel, and Darkseid stopped Imperiex by using Doomsday as an ally, along with a powerful weapon called the Entropy Aegis. |
| Kalibak | New Gods #1 | The son of Darkseid. |
| Kancer | Action Comics #777 | Created from a sliver of kryptonite-induced cancer at the behest of the Russian Zod. |
| Khyber | Superman #657 | Hassan-I-Sabbah, leader of the Hashshashin assassins, is a shadowy figure behind world politics, steering humanity to fall under his rule in the future. Arion reveals to Superman that his presence on Earth has weakened humanity against future threats and in the future, after Superman falls to the cybernetically enhanced Khyber, humanity will die out because of this weakness. |
| King Kosmos | DC Comics Presents Annual #2 | A time-traveling despot from the future who comes to the present to conquer it. His efforts are halted by Superman and the mysterious Superwoman, who also makes her premiere appearance and is, in reality, time traveler Kristin Wells. |
| Klaxxu | The Superman Family #197 | Superboy enemy; extraterrestrial exiled to Earth for attempting to overthrow his planet's government, posed as teacher at Smallville High, used mind-melder device in attempt to convince Superboy he was Klaxxu's fellow subversive. |
| Kokra | The New Adventures of Superboy #2 | Superboy enemy; Middle Eastern demon who possessed Prof. Lewis Lang. |
| Kosmon the Hunter | Adventure Comics #266 | Superboy enemy; alien hunter, captured Krypto and used shapechanging protoplasm creature to lure Superboy into battle. |
| Kronn | Adventure Comics #308 | Superboy enemy; criminal Atlantean scientist, allied with Luthor to transmit mass hypnotic illusions to Smallville. |
| Kru-El | Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #62 | In most settings, Superman's villainous cousin. |
| Superboy #83 | A teenage delinquent who passed through a cloud of kryptonite and gained superpowers. Originally known as the Kryptonite Kid, he changed his name to the Kryptonite Man after reaching adulthood. | |
| Superman #43 | A clone of Superman mutated by kryptonite exposure created by Simyan and Mokkari. | |
| Superman/Batman #20 | An energy being formed from the latent energy of Major Force combining with the energy from the kryptonite meteor that Captain Atom sacrificed himself to keep it from destroying Earth. This being could hop between bodies, taking a body over and emanate kryptonite radiation. | |
| Superman #650 | A scientist looking for a way to turn kryptonite into a fuel source; he arrogantly ignores any dangers and is turned into the Kryptonite Man. | |
| Kryptonoid | Superman #328 | A protoplasmic entity who sought revenge against Jor-El by seeking out his son and merging with a Superman Robot and General D. W. Derwent. |
| Kuku and Nardu | Superboy #167 | Superboy enemies; circus performers and criminals, used robot elephant to commit crimes. |
| Kyack | Superman #13 | Warrior of subterranean kingdom descended from a pre-Ice Age civilization, sought to conquer surface world, destroyed buildings in prelude to invasion. |
| Lady Lunar | World's Finest Comics #266 | Stacy Macklin was exposed to the same radiation as the Moonman to become Lady Lunar and troubled Metropolis. It would take the efforts of Superman and Batman to stop her. |
| Lashina | Mister Miracle #6 | A member of Darkseid's Female Furies. |
| Laughing Gas Bandits | Adventure Comics #484 | Three men, used nitrous oxide laced with kryptonite in effort to immobilize Metropolis. |
| Leader | Adventure Comics #277 | Superboy enemy; with two fellow aliens, fought a duel with Superboy, with potential invasion of Earth as the stakes. |
| Lelia | Superman #13 | An agent of a foreign power. Scientist Charle Pierson invents a weapon, but is captured by agents of a foreign power, tortured and killed. His wife Clara leaves their baby with Clark Kent so the agents will not capture him and get the plans from her, along with a note saying she will get the baby soon. Superman stops the first kidnap attempt, but Lelia then appears claiming to be the mother and takes the baby. The mother turns up soon after and tells Clark what has happened. She gets a phone call telling her to come to a location, which Superman follows her to. She is held prisoner by the villains and tells them the plans are hidden inside the baby's rattle, which is still in the flat. When the agents leave, Superman leaps in, overpowers Lelia, and after binding and gagging her, waits for the agents. The agents return to the apartment and seize Lois Lane, preventing her from speaking. However, they are captured and the plans are given to the government. Lelia and the other agents are probably jailed. |
| Leopard | Superman #20 | Sam Kennedy, publicity manager for Cosmo's Circus, wore a leopard head mask during a crime spree in which he and his gang used packs of big cats to commit crimes. |
| Lightning Master | Superman #14 | A villain who learns how to control lightning and tries to ransom Metropolis for $300,000. He captures Lois Lane twice, first when she goes to hear his ransom demand. She tries to unmask him, but is captured by him and bound hand and foot to a chair. He tries to send electrical bolts at the house to kill her, but Superman rescues her. The second time, he straps her into an electric chair as he prepares to attack Metropolis for not paying the ransom. However, Superman stops this and in the fight the Lightning Master is electrocuted and killed. |
| Loophole | The Adventures of Superman #505 | Deke Dickson, a former S.T.A.R. Labs employee; uses technology to open up portals that act as a tunnel through matter. |
| Lorac-K7 | Adventure Comics #250 | Superboy enemy, criminal descendant of Lana Lang, traveled back in time from 2958 to steal cobalt for a cobalt bomb, impersonating Lana while doing so. |
| Lord Satanis and Syrene | Action Comics #527 | Living in a time millions of years from now where magic has taken the place of science, Lord Satanis led a revolt of sorcerers against the powerful Queen Ambra and killed her. However, he was denied the right to possess her runestone of Merlin when she cast it into the past, out of his reach. Satanis would marry Ambra's daughter Syrene, who also sought possession of the runestone. Both of them would eventually find the spells necessary to follow the runestone through time and face Superman, who was needed as a component to use it. The couple would attempt to get the runestone several times before finally returning to their own time period. |
| Lumberjack | Wonder Woman #268 | |
| Lyla | Action Comics #812 | A telepath who pulled Superman into Kandor and stole his powers to escape in hopes of making the people of Earth worship her as a god. |
| Maaldor the Darklord | DC Comics Presents #56 | An other-dimensional being of incalculable power who wanted to test his strength against Superman and Power Girl. When it became clear Maaldor was too powerful, Superman tricked him into destroying himself, but he instead became a cosmic intelligence. Maaldor would return repeatedly, often seemingly resurrecting from destruction, to face Superman two more times and then the Green Lantern Corps. He finally perished for good in Crisis on Infinite Earths #10 and has not been seen since. |
| Magpie | The Man of Steel #3 | A female master jewel thief named Margaret Pye, who targets gems named after birds and replaces them with booby-trapped replicas. |
| Malleable Man | Plastic Man #17 DC Comics Presents #93 | A criminal present when Plastic Man gained his powers, "Skizzle" Shanks later recreated the process to make himself malleable. He manipulated Plastic Man, the Elongated Man and Elastic Lad to battle Superman. |
| Mask | World's Finest Comics #66 | Harry "King" Sapphire, crime czar who wore a lead mask as part of an elaborate scheme to frame Superman for his crimes. |
| The Masked Stuntman | Adventure Comics #165 | Superboy enemy; Flip Wilson, acrobatic criminal using a stuntman school as a front. |
| Massacre | The Adventures of Superman #509 | An alien warrior who traveled space as energy seeking a worthy opponent; he died during the Our Worlds at War crossover. |
| Mechanical Master | The Superman Family #193 | Superboy enemy; able to animate machines to do his bidding. |
| Medini | Action Comics #25 | An Asian hypnotist who performs crimes, using his hypnotism to make people forget them. When he meets Superman, he is weakened by Medini's hypnotic power and is unable to control his powers properly, while Medini leaves with a captive hypnotized Lois Lane, planning to rob a gold shipment to Kentucky from a plane. Superman leaps through the stratosphere, then suddenly down again, the swift descent and sudden atmospheric change restoring his mind to normal. He then stops the plane Medini has robbed from crashing and tells the police where the loot is hidden. It is unknown what happened to Medini, as he is not mentioned to have been arrested or escaped, although Superman is shown throwing the emptied plane onto some of his henchmen, so possibly Medini was also killed. |
| Microwave Man | Action Comics #487 | Lewis Padgett was a supervillain named the Microwave Man in the 1930s who traveled with aliens through space for 40 years, returning to Earth as an old man. Padgett convinced the aliens to return his youth, although it meant he only had hours to live. His final wish was to defeat Superman, which the hero granted so that Padgett could die happy. |
| Mighto | Superboy #108 | Superboy enemy; a.k.a. Tim Tates, superpowered alien youth briefly adopted by the Kents prior to their adoption of Kal-El, became spacefaring criminal, returned years later to battle Superboy. |
| Mind's-Eye | The New Adventures of Superboy | Superboy enemy; seized mental control of Smallville High student body and channeled their energies to empower himself to fight Superboy. |
| Mister Cipher | Superboy #150 | Superboy enemies; lookalike robots, equipped with explosives, attempted to take over Smallville on behalf of the alien Cybor. |
| Mister Electronics | Superboy #73 | Superboy enemy; criminal scientist, employed mind-reading device. |
| Mister Migraine | More Fun Comics #106 | Superboy enemy; racketeer. |
| Mister Ohm | Superman #51 | Used electromagnetic plane to draw armored cars into air and take them to his gang's hideout to loot at leisure. |
| Mister Sinister | Superman #16 | Real name Lylo, he is a purple-skinned denizen of the Fourth Dimension, would-be conqueror and failed poet who used advanced technology to abduct buildings with inhabitants to hold for ransom. Not to be confused with the Marvel Comics character of the same name. |
| Mister Z | Superman #51 | A mysterious immortal who seeks to trap famous people from history in a mystical crystal. He attempts to entrap Superman, but the Man of Steel manages to destroy the crystal. |
| Momentus | Superman #355 | Asa Ezaak was a noted author who could transform into a water-like being capable of controlling gravity after injecting himself with his created potion "Ezaakis". Kidnapping Ezaak-fan Jimmy Olsen because he erroneously thought he was being investigated by the reporter, Momentus died in battle with Superman. |
| Mongal | Showcase '95 #8 Superman #170 | The daughter of the interstellar tyrant Mongul. |
| Moonman | World's Finest Comics #98 | Superman assists the military by launching astronaut Brice Rogers to travel around the Moon. When Rogers returns to Earth, under the rays of the Moon, he transforms into the supervillain called the Moonman and menaces Superman, Batman and Robin. |
| Mummer | Adventure Comics #148 | Superboy enemy; costumed criminal, ex-vaudevillian, committed crimes with three "robot dummies". |
| Nam-Ek | Superman #282 | A Kryptonian who illegally killed two beasts called rondors to develop an elixir for immortality. While it worked, Nam-Ek was transformed into a rondor-like monster and sentenced to the Phantom Zone for his crime. He would escape years later and battle Superman. |
| Negative Superboy | Superboy #168 | A negative-energy duplicate of Superboy created in a cosmic accident. |
| Neutron | Action Comics #525 | Nathaniel Tryon was a petty thug and a member of the TNT Trio before an accident transformed him into living nuclear energy. |
| Nick O'Teen | Superman vs. Nick O'Teen | A villain who tries to get children to smoke cigarettes. |
| Nimrod the Hunter | Action Comics #6 | A gamesman of uncanny skill, Maxim Zarov gained a deserved reputation as the finest big game hunter on Earth. As his skill and reputation grew, so did his pride, and he believed he had reached the logical end of his career, until one of his beaters convinced him to try to kill the alien Superman. Intrigued, Nimrod took the challenge. |
| Njllnans | The New Adventures of Superboy #40 | Superboy enemies; N’ll, Vrt and others attempted to make Superboy into a "living robot" as their pawn in conquering Earth. |
| N.R.G.-X | Superman #339 ; Superman/Batman #68 | Pre-Crisis: Grant Haskill was transformed into a living robot by an explosion. At one point, he accidentally turned the Man of Steel into actual steel. Post-Crisis: Miguel Diaz and Ray Ryker were two physicists until a nuclear experiment goes wrong. Diaz is caught in an explosion that transfers his essence into the mechanical being, N.R.G.-X. Confused and trying to escape, he confronts Superman encasing him in a steel shell. N.R.G.-X attempts to go after Ryker. Breaking free, Superman once again confronts N.R.G.-X, who self-destructs in the process. He reverts to his human form and is rendered comatose. |
| Nylor Truggs | The New Adventures of Superboy #50 | Superboy enemy; 30th century criminal, stole the Dial H for Hero dial from a museum and traveled back in time to ally with teen Lex Luthor; used dial-created super-identities Cyclone, Landslide, Smasher and High-Roller. |
| Nzykmulk | Superman #421 | Mr. Mxyzptlk's deranged cousin from the Fifth Dimension with magical powers surpassing even Mr. Mxyzptlk's own. Although to human eyes he looks identical to Mxyzptlk, according to Mxyzptlk nothing could be further from the truth. Escaping from the Fifth Dimension's mental institution equivalent of a madhouse, Nzykmulk's greater Fifth Dimensional powers stems from several more years of experience in comparison to his cousin, 42 joljos difference with his greater age. Appeared only once during the last of the Pre-Crisis era days to cause Superman and Mxyzptlk problems, while trapping them both within the Fifth Dimension itself. |
| Obsession | The Adventures of Superman #532 | A disturbed fan of Superman, Dana Dearden stole magical objects to gain powers to be Superman's partner and lover, beating Jimmy Olsen until he gave her his signal watch. Dubbing herself Superwoman, Olsen instead called her Obsession and she would eventually give her life to save Superman. |
| Orbitrons | Batman #312 | Floating globe-like aliens residing "somewhere in the outermost galaxy", used magnetic rays to plunder gold and abduct Earth scientists until dissuaded by Superman. |
| Othar | Superboy #101 | Superboy enemy; abducted Superboy and other superheroes to the planet Thrann. |
| Pee Wee Ragan | Superboy #110 | Superboy enemy; scrawny criminal, received duplicate Superboy powers from Professor Sardon. |
| Planeteer | Superman #387 | a.k.a. King Alexander. Alexander Mason was a child prodigy who became the world's leading magnetism expert at a very young age; however, he was also a megalomaniac who believed that he was the reincarnation of Alexander the Great and that it was his destiny to conquer the world. As the Planeteer, he used advanced magnetic field technology to abduct world leaders. When Superman rescued them, he destroyed the magnetic machines, unaware that by doing so, he was channeling their power directly into the Planeteer, who thus gained superhuman magnetic abilities. He later teamed up with Zazzala the Queen Bee. |
| Povra | The New Adventures of Superboy #20 | Superboy enemy; beautiful woman from planet Ulmara, abducted Superboy and brainwashed him to be a tourist attraction on Ulmara. |
| Predators | Superman vs. Predator, DC Comics/Dark Horse Comics crossover miniseries | A space hunter from the 1987 horror film Predator directed by John McTiernan. The Predators are depicted as large, sapient and sentient humanoid creatures who possess advanced technology, such as active camouflage and energy weapons, and are capable of interstellar travel. |
| Preus | Superman #202 | Formerly a law enforcement officer from the bottle city of Kandor, he escaped the city and hunted Superman. |
| Professor Amos Weldon | Superboy #53 | Superboy enemy; criminal scientist, his time-ray inadvertently caused Superboy to change places in time with Superman. |
| Professor Sands | Action Comics #178 | a.k.a. the Sandman of Crime; proprietor of the Dreamorama, a theater which, via what today might be considered virtual reality technology, allowed demoralized criminals to live out their greatest criminal fantasies in "dream films". |
| Professor X | Superboy #69 | Superboy enemies; two criminals using a single identity as a mob boss. |
| Professor Zee | Superman #8 | An evil scientist who creates a formula that turns people into giants. He causes chaos around the country, kidnapping a powerful figure and threatening to turn his daughter into a giant. However, he is killed in an accident caused by the giants. He is not to be confused with the Professor Zee who created the time machine used by Per Degaton. |
| Psiphon and the Dreadnought | Superman #19 | Psiphon drained Superman's powers and gave them to the Dreadnought. |
| Pulsar | The New Adventures of Superboy #31 | Superboy enemy; Robert Altus Jr., empowered by obsessed scientist father to supplant Superboy. |
| Puzzler | Action Comics #49 | A criminal obsessed with games and puzzles, he fought Superman after he tried to start a protection racket. |
| Puzzler | Superman #187 | Valerie Van Haften is made up of living puzzle pieces, able to move and reconstruct herself at will. |
| Quarmer | Superman #233 | Originally a non-corporeal being from a realm called the Quarrm Dimension, it entered the main dimension where it built itself a body of sand and, over time, drained Superman's powers, transforming into a sand doppelganger of Superman. |
| Quex-Ul | Superman #157 | A Kryptonian criminal and inmate of the Phantom Zone. Usually a henchman of General Zod. |
| R24 | Superman #71 | Leader of a uranium-smuggling ring. |
| Rainbow Raider | Superboy #84 | Superboy enemy; the Rainbow Raider identity was originally used by Jonathan Kent to impersonate a supervillain as part of an elaborate scheme for Superboy to capture gangster Vic Munster and his henchmen; later, Munster himself used the Rainbow Raider identity, but was again defeated. Not to be confused with the later member of the Rogues, a supervillain group made up of various enemies of the Flash. |
| Rainmaker | World's Best Comics #1 | Used a rain-making machine to destroy dams and flood valleys as part of an extortion scheme, briefly weakened Superman with a "radical new paralysis gas". |
| Ralph Cowan | Action Comics #41 | A respectable figure who has been paid to cause sabotage around the nation. One of his agents, Steve Grant, places a bomb inside a plant. He is one of three employees who took the day off and is tracked down by Superman. Cowan tries to kill him to stop him from talking, but Superman foils the attempts. He hears of a wave of sabotage across the nation. Cowan, angry at the Daily Planet writing down stories of the sabotage, gets into the Planet, and when Lois meets him, he claims to be an electrician. She sees him planting a bomb, so he ties her up and gags her. He leaves, hoping she will be killed in the bomb blast. However, Superman rescues her in time and stops the bomb from destroying the Planet. He then captures Cowan. |
| Razkal | Superman #15 | The dictator of Oxnalia who is based on Adolf Hitler and attacks the democratic nation of Numark. Superman stops an assassination attempt on Numark's King Boris, then saves Numark's young Prince Michael after he is kidnapped and taken to the castle of the treacherous Lord Murgot, who is killed. Superman then stops an attacking army, as well as bringing about peace between the two nations. Razkal tries to escape, but is shot and killed by one of his own men. |
| Rebello | Superboy #72 | Superboy enemy; renegade Superboy robot, considered itself more "perfect" than Superboy and sought to supplant him. |
| Red Cloud | DC Nation #0 | Robinson Goode an enforcer for the "Invisible Mafia", a clandestine criminal organization based out of Metropolis. She also works as a reporter for the Daily Planet, although this is just to ensure the secretive nature of her organization is upheld. Robinson possesses the metahuman gene, providing her with the power to transform into red mist. The mist is toxic to other people, including Kryptonians. |
| Redemption | Action Comics #848 | Jarod Dale is able to draw power from his congregation's faith and prayer to become an immensely powerful superhuman. However, Pastor Matthews Hightower was the catalyst behind the power and subverted Redemption into killing soldiers in Africa. |
| Remnant | Superman: Day of Doom miniseries | A villain whose identity is still a mystery. He holds Superman responsible for the tragedies that resulted from his first battle with Doomsday. Even though he looks like a supernatural wraith, Superman deduced the villain is an ordinary human with such advanced illusionary technology that even Superman had difficulty discerning, despite his enhanced senses. |
| Ringmaster | Adventure Comics #120 | Superboy enemy; led a "Crime Circus" including Grillo, Musculo, Loop and Swoop. |
| Riot | Superman: The Man of Steel #61 | Scientist Frederick Legion worked with machinery and discovered a way to duplicate himself at the cost of his ability to sleep. Driven mad by insomnia, he began a criminal career. |
| Rock | Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #8 | An astronaut who, after an experiment, becomes a rock-like behemoth, blaming Lex Luthor for the development and clashing with Superman while trying to enact revenge. |
| Ron-Avon | Superboy #141 | Superboy enemy; superhuman youth from the planet Belgor, forced to fight Superboy in gladiatorial combat. |
| Savior | Action Comics #705 | Ramsey Murdoch believes that Superman is a fake and that the real Superman never recovered from his death at the hands of Doomsday. He has the ability to create or become anything he imagines. |
| Seal Gang | Action Comics #231 | Modern-day pirates whose use of a subterranean base on the supposedly deserted island Vumania was inadvertently exposed by Jimmy Olsen when he inherited the island. |
| Seeker | The Superman Family #191 | Superboy enemy; sentient Kryptonian spacecraft, sent prior to Krypton's destruction to locate a suitable planet for relocation, attempted to terraform Earth to fit the specifications. |
| Shadowdragon | Superman #97 | A quasi-techno-ninja, Savitar Bandu is the prince of Bhutan who worked briefly for Conduit before learning his true nature and turning on him. |
| Shockwave | Blue Devil #2 | A short, armored criminal. |
| Simyan and Mokkari | Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #135 | Products of the twisted genius of Dabney Donovan; they ran from him and became servants of Darkseid. |
| SKULL | Superman #301 | Criminal organization of geniuses and scientists formed by the original Atomic Skull that often comes into conflict with Kobra. |
| Skyhook | Superman #15 | Aleister Hook is a Fagin-like corrupter of children who was turned into a winged demon by Blaze. His egg-like cocoons can mutate children into winged beings under his control. |
| Sleez | Action Comics #592 | An evil schemer from Apokolips with psychic abilities, able to feed on and manipulate the emotions of others. |
| Slug Kelly | Superman #5 | A racketeer who places rigged slot machines in stores to tempt money from schoolchildren, threatening some store owners. When Lois and Clark confront him and refuse bribes, he holds Clark hostage and forces Lois to sign an allegation that her editor George Taylor is a partner in the racket, hoping to discredit any news story against him. Subsequently, Superman destroys his hideout, captures his secret ledgers, and systematically clears the slot machines from Metropolis. Slug kidnaps Lois, but Superman captures Slug and dangles him over a school building until he confesses the truth of his racket. This spurs hundreds of schoolchildren to rush to the police testifying against him, sealing his arrest and clearing Taylor. |
| Socrates | Adventure Comics #225 | Superboy enemy; mynah bird who acquired superpowers and criminal human-level intelligence from drinking kryptonite-tainted water. |
| Sodom and Gomorrah | Action Comics #819 | A husband-and-wife team who have the ability to fire blasts when touching each other's hand. The blast on impact turns whatever it hits into salt. |
| Solar Boy | Adventure Comics #269 | Superboy enemy; superpowered alien youth who captured and sadistically mistreated Krypto the Superdog, until Superboy rescued him. |
| Solomon Grundy | Superman #319 | Created by the Parasite from slime into which the original Earth-Two Grundy came into contact. |
| Space-Boy | Adventure Comics #264 | Superboy enemy; Zall-Dix, alien youth who attempted to force Superboy to exchange bodies with him. |
| Srakka | Superman #398 | An alien dybbuk who can possess the bodies of others. |
| Stasis | The Superman Family #192 | Superboy enemy; able to halt biological functions in victims' bodies, led a gang in an attempted takeover of Smallville. |
| Subjekt-17 | Superman #655 | An alien family crashes in Kazakhstan, the father dead and the pregnant mother taken by Russian scientists for testing. However, the alien female would die during this time and all that was left was the alien infant. Dubbed Subjekt-17, the infant would spend largely his entire life imprisoned. Upon his escape, unable to blend into human culture because of his appearance and angry at his treatment by the Russian scientists, he seeks revenge against the humans of Earth, the similarly alien Superman becoming the focus of his ire. |
| Strongarm Bandit | Action Comics #27 | A masked criminal with enormous strength who starts committing crimes around the city after a circus comes to town. Though strongman Herculo is suspected, the bandit is in reality the circus' clown, an ex-strongman who is caught 'red-handed' after robbing money that Clark Kent had secretly marked with red powder. |
| Superwoman | Justice League of America #29 | A villainous version of Wonder Woman from a reversed version of Earth. |
| Susan "Suzie" Thompkins | Action Comics #59 | The niece of Lois Lane. Her preferred pastime seems to be making her Aunt Lois' life complicated with her overactive imagination. In the New 52 timeline, Captain Comet reveals her as a member of a race of post-humans known as Neo-Sapiens or Nutants. |
| Talon | Superman #17 | Albert Caldwell, the president of Metropolis Subway Inc. and Axis fifth columnist who attempted to sabotage Metropolis's transportation system. |
| Tara Cobol | Mystery in Space #114 | With assistant Fortran, used the S.T.A.R. Labs computer to seize control of weather satellites. |
| Terra-Man | Superman #249 | An interstellar outlaw; Tobias "Toby" Manning commits crimes to carry the legend of the Wild West outlaw across the stars. Terra-Man was noted for using futuristic weapons modeled after those used in the Old West as well as riding a pegasus-like alien named Nova. Terra-Man spoke in an exaggerated "cowboy" drawl with liberal use of Old West slang and colloquialisms, lending a humorous air to his deadly activities. |
| Thaddeus Killgrave | Superman #19 | Mad scientist and ally to Intergang. |
| Thing from 40,000 A.D. | Superman #87 | Shape-changing mass of "primeval matter" banished from the year A.D. 40,000, impersonated Superman and others during an attempt to return to its home era and conquer it. |
| Thought Explorers | Adventure Comics #456 | Superboy enemies; two alien researchers, used illusory attacks on Smallville to test Superboy. |
| Tolos | Superman #107 | An alien wizard who added alien beings to the bottle city of Kandor with the ability to possess the bodies of its inhabitants. |
| Turlock the Berserker | The New Adventures of Superboy #49 | Superboy enemy; extradimensional barbarian warrior, wielded burning sword, rode in chariot drawn by two two-headed half-dog/half-rat creatures. |
| Tweeds | Action Comics #26 | Clark arrives for a date with Lois, who is making a donation to the Brentwood Rehabilitation Home. Clark tells her that the place is more interested in money than their young charges. Lois decides they should visit the home so that she can disprove Clark. After a pleasant visit, Lois and Clark are stopped by a charge, Davey Merrill, who cut his hands climbing the wall just to ask for something to eat. Once they feed him, he tells them all about the horrible conditions at the home. They return, but the barking of the guard dog Black Satan wakes up Mrs. Tweed. Superman saves them from the dog, but when Davey enters the Tweeds find him and seeing his cut hands, they realize he has been over the fence and lock him in a cupboard downstairs. Lois goes back to investigate and finds records which prove the Tweeds are not spending the money on the children, but she is seized by the Tweeds. They tie her up, gag her and leave her in a barred cell. Lois then hears a noise from Davey. She rubs her face against the iron bars of her cell and removes her gag, then talks to Davey. Assuming Lois has gotten into trouble, Superman rushes to the home to save her and Davey. He saves them both and the Tweeds are arrested. |
| Untouchables | DC Comics Presents #58 | Originally called the Intangibles, they are a trio of criminals who use technology that make themselves intangible and fought Superman, Robin and the Elongated Man. They would return, modelling themselves after John Dillinger, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, and battle the Hawk and the Dove. |
| Vakox | Superboy #104 | A Phantom Zone prisoner. |
| Varx | Superboy #192 | Superboy enemy; sole survivor of subterranean Atlantean civilization, attempted to screen Smallville from the sun, which he superstitiously feared. |
| Vyndktvx | Action Comics #1 | An impish supervillain who is an enemy of Superman and Superman's enemy Mr. Mxyzptlk. |
| Wraith | The New Adventures of Superboy #21 | Superboy enemy; a spectral menace from outer space. |
| Xa-Du | Adventure Comics #283 | A Kryptonian researcher, interested in improving research into suspended animation. However, the unethical nature of his studies led to the Kryptonian Science Council suspending his research and choosing him as the first inmate of the Phantom Zone. A sociopath, Xa-Du swore revenge on the family of the Phantom Zone's discoverer, Jor-El. Over the course of his incarceration in the Phantom Zone, Xa-Du built an "ecto-suit" to allow him to walk freely outside of it. |
| Xasnu | Action Comics #278 | Alien plant-being, planned Earth invasion, empowered and mind-controlled Perry White as "Masterman" to battle Superman. |
| Xenomorphs | Alien | A parasitic species that is the primary antagonist of the Alien film series. They have battled Superman in Superman/Aliens and Superman and Batman versus Aliens and Predator. |
| Xnorians | Adventure Comics #294 | Superboy enemies; teleported Smallville students to Xnor and Xnor students to Earth in involuntary "student exchange program," threatened to destroy Earth if Xnorian students were mistreated. |
| Zaora | The Adventures of Superman #444 | A Kryptonian criminal and inmate of the Phantom Zone, usually connected to General Zod. She may be a post-Crisis variant of Faora Hu-Ul. |
| Zha-Vam | Action Comics #351 | Only appearing in Action Comics #351-353, created by the gods to defeat Superman with their powers, like Hercules' strength, and possessing a belt that gives him other powers, like transforming into a Gorgon. |
| Zozz | Superboy #81 | Superboy enemy; tyrant of planet Xenon, where most inhabitants have superhuman powers and those who do not are persecuted and exiled. |
Antiheroes and reformed, semi-reformed, or occasionally reformed supervillains
The following is a list of Superman enemies who have reformed and are more often depicted as allies than enemies.Allies in conflict
Some characters originally conceived as heroes have come into conflict with Superman.| Enemy | First appearance | Description |
| Batman | Detective Comics #27 | As a child, Bruce Wayne watched his parents get murdered by mugger Joe Chill. Driven by this, he worked to make himself into the perfect crime fighter. He has fought Superman on occasion, most notably in the 1986 miniseries Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. |
| Vartox | Superman #281 | An alien superhero who sometimes fights Superman. His powers are equivalent to Superman's and he was once a boyfriend of Lana Lang. |
Enemies created for other media
These are Superman villains created in other media, with no appearances in previous comics.| Villain | Media | Actor/Actress | Description |
| Nigel St. John | Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman | Tony Jay | The butler and confidante of Lex Luthor, who later betrays him to Intergang and attempts to blackmail Superman with knowledge of his identity. |
| Tempus | Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman | Lane Davies | Using the alias "John Doe", Tempus is time-traveler from the future who despises the peaceful society Superman created and wants to change time by killing or disposing of him beforehand. |
| Warlock | The [New Adventures of Superman (TV series)|The New Adventures of Superman] | Ray Owens | A male witch who appeared in six episodes of Filmation's The New Adventures of Superman animated TV series. His power is derived from a red jewel fitted to his cane that casts magical energy beams. |
| Lionel Luthor | Smallville | John Glover | The father of Lex Luthor and a classic corrupt businessman. |
| Tina Greer | Smallville | Lizzy Caplan | A shapeshifter obsessed with Lana Lang. |
| Baern | Smallville | Bow Wow | A wraith that escaped from the Phantom Zone and could absorb and project nuclear energy. |
| Aldar | Smallville | Dave Bautista | A hulking man-eating humanoid. |
| Titan | Smallville | Kane | A bloodthirsty alien warrior looking for the ultimate opponent. |
| Margaret Thoreaux | Smallville | Kristin Kreuk | Lana Lang's ancestor and a witch. |
| Spider Lady | Superman (1948 serial) | Carol Forman | |
| Luke Benson | Superman and the Mole Men | Jeff Corey | |
| Blinky | Stamp Day for Superman | Billy Nelson | |
| Dollmaker | Super Friends Batman vs. Robin | Frank Welker "Weird Al" Yankovic | Not to be confused with Barton Mathis, a Batman villain who also calls himself "the Dollmaker", Anton Schott is the son of the Toyman who kidnaps children and turns them into doll-like slaves. The character was originally created for the animated series Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show as a stand-in for the Toyman, but would later go on to appear in the comic books. The character, with elements of Barton Mathis, also appeared in the animated film Batman vs. Robin. |
| Big Susan and Lizzie | Superman: The Animated Series | Valri Bromfield Laurie Fraser | Small-time robbers. |
| Kurt Bowman | Superman: The Animated Series | Eddie Barth | A corrupt detective. He ironically realized that Clark Kent is Superman moments before his execution. |
| Earl Garver | Superman: The Animated Series | Brian Cox | A mad scientist who held Metropolis for ransom with a lead-covered bomb. |
| Livewire | Superman: The Animated Series | Lori Petty | A Superman-criticizing shock jock named Leslie Willis who received the power to manipulate and turn into electricity from a bolt of lightning. |
| Livewire | Justice League | Maria Canals-Barrera | |
| Luminus | Superman: The Animated Series | Robert Hays | Edward Lytener, former LexCorp scientist armed with light-based weaponry and hard-light constructs. |
| Mercy Graves | Superman: The Animated Series | Lisa Edelstein | Lex Luthor's faithful henchwoman, an experienced hand-to-hand combatant. |
| Mercy Graves | Justice League | Lisa Edelstein | Lex Luthor's faithful henchwoman, an experienced hand-to-hand combatant. |
| Mercy Graves | The Batman | Gwendoline Yeo | Lex Luthor's faithful henchwoman, an experienced hand-to-hand combatant. |
| Prometheon Creature | Superman: The Animated Series | Frank Welker | A large humanoid alien with minimal intelligence that was created for simple labor and absorbs heat to fuel itself. |
| Corey Mills | Superman: The Animated Series | Xander Berkeley | An outstanding officer who was selected to don a battle suit controlled by his neural systems, but is driven insane by its effects. |
| Unity | Superman: The Animated Series | Stephen Root | A slimy alien that converts humans into mindless drones. |
| Volcana | Superman: The Animated Series | Peri Gilpin | Claire Selton, a pyrokinetic imprisoned by the government as a secret weapon. She is rescued by Superman, but later returns to being a villain. |
| Volcana | Justice League | Peri Gilpin | Claire Selton, a pyrokinetic imprisoned by the government as a secret weapon. She is rescued by Superman, but later returns to being a villain. |
| Otis | Superman Superman II | Ned Beatty | Lex Luthor's bumbling henchman. |
| Non | Superman Superman II | Jack O'Halloran | The mute henchman of General Zod. He has the same superpowers as Superman and Zod and sports a mustache and thicker beard than that of Zod. Non later crossed into the comics. |
| Ursa | Superman Superman II | Sarah Douglas | The female companion of General Zod. She has the same superpowers as Superman and Zod and sports short hair. She has a fascination with authoritative-appearing badges and is driven by "perversions and unreasoning hatred of all mankind". |
| Ross Webster | Superman III | Robert Vaughn | An industrialist trying to gain a monopoly by destroying his rivals, who turns Superman evil with tainted kryptonite. |
| Nuclear Man | Superman IV: The Quest for Peace | Mark Pillow Gene Hackman | A solar-powered menace born by detonating a nuclear bomb attached with Superman's genetic material in the sun. |
| Lenny Luthor | Superman IV: The Quest for Peace | Jon Cryer | Lex Luthor's nephew. |
| John Henry Irons / “Captain Luthor” / The Stranger | Superman & Lois | Wole Parks | A survivor from an alternate Earth which was destroyed and somehow crash landed on Earth-Prime where he vows revenge against Superman for supposedly killing those he loved. |