Who Are the Biggest Threats to Superman’s Power?

How do you take down a solar-fueled, morally sound powerhouse like Superman? Actually, there are a number of tried and true methods to do it. While the Last Son of Krypton is definitely one of DC’s mightiest super heroes, he also has a set of opponents who know how to turn his cape inside out.

In the upcoming Superman film, we’ll see Kal-El face Lex Luthor and other adversaries. But who are the biggest threats to the Man of Steel? Dodge those punches and call Krypto. This is gonna be a bumpy flight.

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Doomsday Killed Superman

Some enemies are sent to you from other universes and others are borne out of jealousy. But the truly terrible ones are genetically engineered to match your every weakness. Enter Doomsday, the Kryptonian genetic chimera nightmare. Say that five times fast. By the time you do, it will definitely be too late to escape this monster’s wrath.

While confined to top-secret labs on Krypton, Doomsday endured tortuous experimentation. According to Kryptonian lore, a devious scientist manipulated a cloned infant to die again and again until it could adapt to its own death in every resurrection. Over time, death became encoded in the creature’s DNA. This hellish beast defies captivity, constantly escaping the Phantom Zone to torment Superman. In their most infamous battle, Kal-El lost to Doomsday. Since then, Doomsday has committed further atrocities such as mass murder and spreading the Doomsday Virus. But the sting of death will always echo in Superman’s heart every time Doomsday returns.

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Mr. Mxyzptlk Causes Chaos for Clark

Have you ever tried to fend off a mischievous, interdimensional imp with reality warping powers? Well, Superman has and, by the looks of it, it’s not a good time. Mr. Mxyzptlk is just as tricky as his name is to pronounce. Hailing from the Fifth Dimension, this bowler hat-wearing nuisance usually doesn’t mean to be so difficult — but even the most well-meaning pranks can have world-ending consequences.

Every time Mr. Mxyzptlk, or Mxy for short, visits Superman, the rules for his banishment change. Sometimes it’s a race against The Flash and other times it’s scholastic trickery involving how to spell his name backwards or forwards. Exhausted yet? Consider how Superman felt the time that Mxy kidnapped his son Jon Kent or when the imp rewrote history over and over again to try to make Clark Kent and Lois Lane reunite. The worst was probably when Mxyzptlk gave his power to The Joker. That kind of chaos is too dangerous to even kid around about. For the sheer unpredictability of this guy’s existence, Mr. Mxyzptlk will always be a tiny thorn in the Man of Steel’s side.

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Black Adam’s Magic Hurts Kal-El

Aside from Kryptonite, and the lack of a yellow sun, Superman’s greatest physical weakness is magic. And perhaps that’s because magic is hardly physical at all, but rather an intangible force of nature. For a hero who greatly relies on superhuman strength, slippery spells and paranormal power are just beyond Kal-El’s grasp. After all, Krypton was a planet of science.

For this reason, magically powered beings like Shazam and Black Adam have a distinct advantage over Superman. In many ways, Teth-Adam is an antithesis to Superman. Both men boast impossible strength, but they also strive to be the protectors of their people. The glaring difference, however, is that Black Adam has no qualms about hurting others for the sake of his own loved ones. Superman would never give in to such a moral compromise. That’s why these two will forever oppose each other, a titanic clash between alien thunder and mystical lightning.

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Batman Has a Plan for Superman

Surprised to see Batman here? You shouldn’t be. These two heroes are night and day, in more ways than one. Though they have forged the deepest of bonds over the years, Batman will always distrust others. Even among the close friends and allies of the Justice League, Batman has a contingency plan for each of his fellow heroes should they be compromised — and that includes Superman.

With his endless wealth and access to unfathomable levels of technology, Batman is capable of creating a variety of weapons to defeat Superman. Some are energized by different types of Kryptonite while others have utilized the power of literal stars to match Kal-El’s strength. Yet there are also other ways that Batman can hurt Clark, and that’s because these two men do know each other so well. If the world or universe were at stake, Batman wouldn’t hesitate to play dirty against Superman. The very fact that Batman compromised the trust of Superman and other heroes by creating these contingency plans shows how dangerous distrust can be among friends.

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Lex Luthor Is Superman’s Biggest Hater

While Batman is perhaps the most capable of truly incapacitating Superman, at the end of the day that’s not the Dark Knight’s goal. The same cannot be said for Lex Luthor. This man truly, deeply hates Superman. And as we all know, sadly too well, hatred is a near-inexhaustible fuel for destruction.

Both Lex and Clark call Smallville, Kansas their home. However, Lex has never fully accepted Superman’s presence on Earth. Sure, it’s true they’ve begrudgingly worked together at times but those alliances were short-lived and flimsy at best. Lex has instead made it his life’s mission to tarnish the image of Superman. It would seem that Lex’s hatred for Superman stems from jealousy. Perhaps Lex feels incompetent in the shadow of a super hero like Superman. Or maybe it’s a simple intolerance of the different, the other that an alien like Kal-El represents. Either way, the genius-level LexCorp founder devises ways to get under the Man of Steel’s skin, whether it’s constructing Warsuits or assembling the Legion of Doom. As long as hate sits inside him, Superman will always have an arch-enemy in Lex Luthor.

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There’s always another super-villain waiting to stand in the way of a better tomorrow. Which Superman enemy do you think is his biggest threat?

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