Does Superman not have very many good villains?

[Master Moron]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but today I was reading this article about Superman Returns in Wizard magazine and it said that Superman lacked a strong rogues gallery, stating that the only villain Superman has is really Lex Luthor. I couldn't believe my eyes when I read the article. I mean, what about Darkseid, Metallo, and Brainiac? I mean, Bizarro got his own Seinfeld episode?

I'm not planning on seeing the new Superman movie in part because it seems like they're only going to have Lex Luthor as a villain again. I get sick of seeing Lex Luthor used over and over again as a Superman villain. I really want to see some other Superman villains on the big screen. Is the attitude of the mainstream public really that Lex Luthor is the only important Superman villain?

[langden alger]

i don't think it's him lacking a rouges gallery more than it it just not having the colorful more well-known to the general public bad guys that batman has in his 'gallery'. everyone is pretty much more familiar with riddler, joker catwoman, penguin and mr.freeze than metallo, darkseid and parasite. with superman everyone pretty much just thinks lex luthor and bizzaro off the cuff, so it looks like superman has only a few to work with, but in reality he's evenly matched on the rogues list.

[Sharklady]

It's not really fair to contend that Superman has a poor Rogues Gallery just because Batman has a better one- Batman's is the Gold Standard.

Though Lex Luthor is clearly the main nemesis, Supes does have some other decent opponents. In addition to the ones mentioned, there's General Zod, Volcana, Live Wire, Vandal Savage, Doomsday, the Ultra-Humanite, and (my personal favorite) Mr. Mxyzptlk.

[Scirel]

Having brainiac or Darkseid in the superman movie would be better than Luthor for the Bazillionth time.

[Mike Spartz]

Though Lex Luthor is clearly the main nemesis, Supes has also got some decent opponents. In addition to the ones mentioned, there's General Zod, Volcana, Live Wire, Vandal Savage, Doomsday, the Ultra-Humanite, and (my personal favorite) Mr. Mxyzptik.

There's also Bizzaro, Brainiac, Metallo, Parasite, and my personal favorite Darkseid!

[JabarR]

This is why Spider-Man is more popular than Superman. Spidey has more villans up front than any other superhero.

[sdp]

Well I beleive they are trying to go more 'realistic' in the movies so they don't go for someone like Darkseid,

[dc_gothamite]

Well I beleive they are trying to go more 'realistic' in the movies so they don't go for someone like Darkseid,

i wouldn't say "realistic"... more like "down-to-earth".

im sure for future sequels, they will use villains such as Darkseid and Brainiac (most likely Brainiac, i imagine)... im not notgonna watch a movie based on the presence or lack of presence of certain characters... if that was the case, i never would've watched the X-Men movies... (sigh... Gambit).

[langden alger]

It's not really fair to contend that Superman has a poor Rogues Gallery just because Batman has a better one- Batman's is the Gold Standard.

Though Lex Luthor is clearly the main nemesis, Supes does have some other decent opponents. In addition to the ones mentioned, there's General Zod, Volcana, Live Wire, Vandal Savage, Doomsday, the Ultra-Humanite, and (my personal favorite) Mr. Mxyzptlk.

exactly what i was trying to say. sure superman does have alot of good villans no denying that, and not saying at all that his gallery is poor or people think it so, just most people and casual fans only think of lex luthor since he's stood out so much in superman lore. and of course, whenever a superman topic is brought up, batman usually manages to become a part of it in some way...they're just naturally compared no matter what anyhow.

[Mr.Penguin]

I think they could fit in Braniac into one the movies (providing Returns gets sequels), if done right.

[Squall]

I'm not planning on seeing the new Superman movie in part because it seems like they're only going to have Lex Luthor as a villain again. I get sick of seeing Lex Luthor used over and over again as a Superman villain. I really want to see some other Superman villains on the big screen...

Me too! I'm going to go see Superman Returns, without a doubt, but I'm hoping that if more live-action Superman movies get made, that Lex Luthor is reduced to a cameo role from that point on.

Superman doesn't have as strong a cast of villians as Batman does, but Lex Luthor, Metallo, and especially Brainiac and Darkseid are awesome villians. Personally, I hope the next two movies after Superman Returns features Brainiac and Darkseid as villians.

[Peter Paltridge]

Historically the major villains have been shut out of filmed Superman stories. In the original TV series he only went after common thugs, and in later live-action shows the best we could get would be Prankster....Timm pretty much had a lock on the small-screen debut of guys like Darkseid (which I guess is a good thing, since it sets a high standard).

I remember reading Disney Adventures back in 1995 and seeing "Look this summer for Superman Reborn. Rumor has it Jim Carrey is heading for the role of Brainiac...."

Of course, he was in everything back then, but Carrey as Brainiac would have been.....unique.

[Master Moron]

Historically the major villains have been shut out of filmed Superman stories. In the original TV series he only went after common thugs, and in later live-action shows the best we could get would be Prankster....Timm pretty much had a lock on the small-screen debut of guys like Darkseid (which I guess is a good thing, since it sets a high standard).

Well, Brainiac was in Smallville. That of course, was after Bruce Timm used him, but Superfriends used Brainiac before Bruce Timm used him.

[Link1130]

Can Darkseid really be counted as part of Superman's rogues gallery? I mean, yeah, he's a pretty big villain in the cartoon, but was he ever really set against Superman specifically in the comics?

I mean, he and the whole Fourth World thing were initially created as something separate from the main DCU right? I don't know a whole lot, but I've always gotten the impression that putting Darkseid against Superman as a main villain was Timm and Co.'s idea...

[Nobuyuki sama]

but I've always gotten the impression that putting Darkseid against Superman as a main villain was Timm and Co.'s idea...

But we've got a whole season of Superfriends vs. Darkseid made 15 years before S:TAS.

[AdamYJ]

Superman has a good Rogues Gallery. The problem is that most people think they stink because they're going up against Superman. Anyone going up against Superman is going to look like a weakling.

Still, there's:

Lex Luthor, Braniac, Metallo, Bizarro, Parasite, Toyman, Prankster, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Titano, Mongul, Terra-Man, Master Jailer, Kryptonite Man, Silver Banshee, Livewire, Hellgramite, Bloodsport, Riot, Puzzler, Neutron, Radion, Blackrock, Doomsday, various Phantom Zone criminals, etc.

And characters created for the cartoon who haven't crossed over into comics yet like Volcana and Luminus.

I have to agree with Link1130 about Darkseid, though. He's always been marginally connected to the Superman mythos (he first appeared in an issue of Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olsen, actually). However, Kirby's idea was to have this grand battle between two planets full of gods, with mortals just being bystanders who occasionally got drawn in. Darkseid's real archenemy would probably be his son Orion. However, he's often used as a villian for anyone in the DCU. John Byrne used him for his run on Wonder Woman. Also, he played a considerable part in the stuff that went down at the end of Young Justice. Those are just two examples.

[Knight]

Superman is Darkseid's main Earth nemesis so I think he can be counted as one of his rouges. Just becuase Darkseid doesnt fight "only" Superman shouldnt mean anything.

[AdamYJ]

Superman is Darkseid's main Earth nemesis so I think he can be counted as one of his rouges. Just becuase Darkseid doesnt fight "only" Superman shouldnt mean anything.

I suppose.

However, I also don't like to count Darkseid as a Superman villian because . . . I don't like him as a Superman villian. Darkseid has this annoying tendency of taking over entire franchises if he gets the chance. By season three of S:TAS, the show practically seemed like it should be called "Superman and Darkseid: The Animated Series". He kind of made the other villians seem unimportant, especially since he always got the biggest, most dramatic episodes. That's why I sometimes prefer for him to stick to the Fourth World, where he's supposed to have taken over the franchise.

[Rahxepy]

Superman has good villains but not that many that are popular like Batmans main villians. Supermans well Knowns are; Lex, DarkSeid, Brainiac, and Bizarro. I think since Singer is doing the movies, we might see Brianiac in the second with another another villian, followed by Darkseid in the third.

[Knight]

I think the question really comes down to does Superman have any good "movie level" villains other than Lex? I dont think most people want to see a Superman movie that revolves around him fighting the Toyman or Bloodsport. I think most people want to see him take on the heavy hitters in his rouges gallary.Luthor as always works but whos after that? Who are the interesting villains that can actually challenge Superman. Brainiac, Darkseid , Mongul and Zod would all make for good movie villains. But who else?