A
hero is only as great as adversity they
overcome. And many heroes are measured
in this way. Whether it be Perseus
defeating the Medusa or John Henry
defeating the steam-engine, heroes are
defined by their ability to save the
day.
Superman's list of enemies is only
surpassed by the murderous villains who
haunt Batman and Dick Tracy. Whether
it's a super-genius, a flawed clone of
Superman, a super-sentient computer, a
magical imp from another dimension, or a
world-conqueror bent domination of the
Universe, Superman has fought them
all. What's more, he's won. Or, at
least fought them to a draw. And each
time, he's shown us that, with each
threat, more than all his super-powers
combined, it was just plain ol'
super-smart thinking and common sense
that won out every time. To a certain
degree, that's always been the message
that Superman brought us; "Crime doesn't
pay", "Right over might", "Brains over
brawn".
In
his very first adventure, as shown in
Action Comics #1, the first person to
feel the wrath of Superman's style of
justice was a man beating his wife.
Many of the enemies Superman faced in
those early years were like that. More
a social commentary or statement for the
down-trodden than some fantastic story
about mad scientists. Other times,
Superman investigated and stopped
corrupt politicians, a revolution in
South / Central America, and murder.
Murder seemed to be a very popular crime
in those days. Not so much at the
commission of such as a plot vehicle in
adventure stories. However, as time
went by, Superman's abilities were
wasted on such threats. There were mad
scientists and ghastly monsters out
there to protect the world from.
Lex Luthor
Above
most, Luthor is Superman's
arch-nemesis. He was first introduced
in April 1940 in the pages of Action
Comics #23. Clark and Lois are
assigned to cover the War in Europe.
There, they come face to face with a
thin, red-haired man known only as
Luthor. As time went by, Luthor's red
hair went away and he became the bald
villain we are all familiar with.
Stories of Lex's attempts at destroying
Superman continued for the next five
decades. Variations of Lex's origins
changed over that time. At first, he
was just a super-genius whose primary
goal was the domination of the planet.
Then, with the introduction of Superboy,
another twist was put to the story where
Lex and Superboy, who were at first best
friends, came at odds when Superboy
destroyed one of Lex's most important
experiments: the creation of life.
Although Lex was successful in his
experiment, an accidental fire in the
lab resulted the destruction of the
experiment. Fumes from the fire made
all of Lex's hair fall out. While it
could be attributed to his vanity, Lex
blamed Superboy for making his
hair
fall out and destroying the experiment
which would have won Lex world-wide
acclaim as a scientist. He became
consumed with his hatred for Superboy
(and later Superman) vowing to destroy
the Man of Steel. In an imaginary
story, Luthor succeeds in "The Death of
Superman", published in Superman
#149, 1961, Luthor hatches a despicable
plot wherein he gains Superman's
confidence by performing deeds which
help mankind (namely the cure for
cancer). Superman, believing that
Luthor is finally reformed, falls into
the trap set by Luthor and is bombarded
with kryptonite rays. Superman finally
dies. However, Luthor's vengeance is
short-lived when he is arrested by
Supergirl and tried for his crime by the
last remaining civilization of Krypton,
the citizens of the bottle city Kandor
(see below). When Luthor is found
guilty, he is banished to the Phantom
Zone forever. Of course, this was an
"imaginary tale" (aren't they all?) and
didn't really happen. The next month,
Superman was back to battle evil.
In
later years, Lex developed a series of
"power-suits" which provided him with
the physical power and resources to
battle Superman.
Finally,
when Superman's legend was retold in the
pages of the Man of Steel series, Luthor
is also changed. He is no longer the
super-genius that he had been for nearly
fifty years. Instead, he becomes a
super-business man who controls
Metropolis in nearly every aspect both
legal and illegal. He is the most
powerful man in Metropolis. Or, at
least, he is until Superman comes on the
scene. Superman arrests Luthor for
reckless endangerment when he allows his
yacht to be taken over by terrorists
while a party for Metropolis' rich and
famous are attending. Lex's whole
reasoning was to draw out the Man of
Steel to see what he could do and to put
him on the Luthor payroll. Superman
refuses Lex's offer and takes him to the
authorities as a duly deputized law
enforcement agent of Metropolis. Lex,
of course, is out in no time, but
promises Superman that he will one day
have his revenge.
It
remains to be seen how the story will
develop on "Smallville" to cause a rift
between Clark and Lex. From what we've
seen thus far, there are a number of
possibilities already. It could be the
revelation when Lex learns that his best
friend has been lying to him all this
time about his true nature. It could be
when Lex learns that Clark is
responsible for his baldness. It could
be that there is never a rift between
Clark and Lex and, instead, Lex finds
reason to hate Superman and still
remain friends with Clark. Whatever way
it goes, you can bet it will be an
interesting story to watch as Lex sinks
further into the world of evil.
Ultra-Humanite
The
first continuing villain to face
Superman was a character known as the
Ultra-Humanite (or Ultra as he was also
known). The Ultra-Humanite was created
by Jerry Siegel. Originally, Ultra was
a bald, handicapped super-scientist who
discovered a way to transfer his mind
into the bodies of others. The argument
has been made that from Ultra, Lex
Luthor was born from Joe Shuster's love
of drawing villains with bald heads.
And, through a mistake, Lex Luthor
became bald as well. Whether this is
truly the case is lost in the history of
comics. Siegel himself told this story
later in his life. But, Ultra did stop
appearing for a number of years. In
later years, it was explained that Ultra
transferred his brain to the body of
actress Delores Winters. In that guise,
it was explained that he/she led a
number of attacks on the Justice Society
of America (DC Comics first gathering of
heroes back during the 1940's). Even
later still, Ultra transferred his brain
to the body of an albino ape. This
transference led to Ultra gaining
super-mental powers. In recent years,
with the resurgence of the JSA, the
Ultra-Humanite has also returned to take
on the group.
Brainiac
Another
of Superman's more infamous foes was
Brainiac. When Brainiac first appeared
in Action Comics #242, 1958, he
was an alien invader from the planet
Colu. It later became known that he was
an android. In that adventure, Brainiac
had captured several cities from Earth
as well as other planets. He shrank
them to microscopic size and placed them
in bottles. One city, Superman
discovered, was the Kryptonian city of
Kandor which held a population millions
of Kryptonians. Superman saved the
cities and returned them to their home
planets with the exception of Kandor
which remained shrunken because the
energy batteries of Brainiac's ship were
depleted and the enlarging ray would not
work. Superman placed the city in his
Fortress of Solitude, vowing to one day
return it to it's original size one
day. Brainiac's super-intellect and
super-scientific weaponry proved to be a
challenge for Superman each time the two
faced off.
When the Superman legend was retooled,
like many of his foes, Brainiac was also
revamped. He became super-genius Vril
Dox from the planet Colu. Colu was a
planet enslaved by computerized tyrants
with it's human population serving as
slaves. Dox attempted to overthrow the
planet and was vaporized for his
rebellion. However, Dox's mind survived
and he came to Earth where he combined
his mental prowess with a circus
mentalist Milton Fine. The combined
villain took up where Dox had left off
only this time attempting to take over
Earth. Superman stopped him but his
mind was permanently transferred to a
robotic body. Through a series of
events, Brainiac was sent to the
beginning of time where he remains.
The Imp, The Toys, and the Clone
Some
of Superman's foes could be considered
more of a nuisance than a criminal
element since they seemed to cause
Superman more problems than actual
threats. One of those would be Mr.
Mxyzptlk (pronounced mix-yez-pittle-ick).
Mxyzptlk was a being from the Fifth
Dimension. Using super-science from his
home dimension, Mxyzptlk's feats seemed
magical. His confrontations with
Superman were more comical than
anything. But either way, it meant that
Superman had to find a way to outfox him
in order to make the imp return home.
Upon his return, nearly all of his
"magical" deeds returned to normal.
Mxyzptlk created Red Kryptonite. It had
strange effects on Superman, but could
only be used once.
Another
annoyance for Superman was The Toyman.
The Toyman was Winlow Schott. When he
was first introduced, he used his
ability to create incredibly devious
toys to threaten Superman. Then, when
the Superman legend was retooled, The
Toyman became more of a villain for Lex
Luthor than Superman. Schott was a
superb craftsman of toys who was put out
of business by Luthor. Not only was he
put out of business, but he was
ridiculed for creating toys which were
too simplistic for today's children.
Enraged, Schott took up a crusade to
destroy Luthor and anyone who got in his
way. One of those caught in the middle
was Superman's friend Cat Grant. Her
son was kidnapped by Schott. Superman
saved the children and eventually set up
Schott in a rehabilitation center making
toys for deprived children.
And
then, there was Bizarro. Originally,
the first Bizarro was an enemy of
Superboy. It wasn't long, though before
he came into Superman's life as well.
Like the first one, Bizarro was an
imperfect duplicate of Superman created
by a duplicator ray built by Lex
Luthor. His imperfections led to a
quirky, backward life where everything
was considered in a backward manner.
Whatever Bizarro would say could
normally mean the exact opposite. He is
perhaps the most sympathetic of
Superman's foes. He fought Superman
because he was considered a threat.
But, in reality, he was just wanting to
fit in. However, due to his grotesque
looks, Bizarro was forever an outcast.
That is, until Superman used the
duplicator ray to create a Bizarro-Lois
and introduced them to the planet Htrae.
There, this bizarre Adam and Eve started
a civilization. Bizarro announced to
Superman "Me am unhappy!" and that was
where he and Bizarro-Lois lived
"unhappily ever after". When the
Superman legend was retooled, Bizarro
became an imperfect clone of Superman.
Commissioned by Lex Luthor, Bizarro was
created to perform super-acts of evil.
However, the cloning process could not
account for certain aspects of
Superman's alien DNA and thus, created
an imperfect duplicate. The clone
escapes and comes to Metropolis where it
creates havoc. Superman stops the clone
when he discovers Bizarro is not made of
living matter. Smashing the clone to
powder, the creature is destroyed. In
the process, the powdery residue returns
sight to Lois' sister, Lucy, who was
blinded when chemicals were thrown in
her eyes. Recently, a new Bizarro came
into being thanks to Mxyzptlk. This
Bizarro was far deadlier than previous
incarnations. Superman defeated him but
was unable to capture him. He remains
at large to this day.
The Death of Superman
One
of the most powerful of Superman's foes
is Doomsday. Doomsday came out of
nowhere in the pages of Man of Steel
#17, 1992, and started a murderous path
toward Metropolis defeating the Justice
League along the way. Only Superman was
powerful enough to stop him, but
Superman, upon dealing the killing blow
to Doomsday, "died" in the process.
Both Superman and Doomsday survived,
though. Superman discovered that
Doomsday was a product of Kryptonian
genetic experimentation which explained
his awesome power. Doomsday fought
Superman and the Justice League again
and was only stopped when he was placed
in a Justice League teleportation device
and kept in a infinite teleportation
loop. Recently, Doomsday was released
again when a galactic threat came at
Earth. In the process, Doomsday became
a sentient being. He fought alongside
Superman to stop the threat but was
destroyed in the process. His body was
turned over to the evil Darkseid whose
use for it still remains to be seen.
Conclusion
In
nearly seventy years, Superman has
fought nearly every one of the villains
in the DC Universe. Other villains
include Mongul, the evil conqueror of
countless worlds, Intergang, the
insidious gang of criminals imbued with
super-weaponry, Metallo, the cybernetic
being with the heart of Kryptonite,
alien invaders, wizards from various
points in time, giant apes, and infamous
historical figures like Stalin and
Hitler. Even villains who normally take
on other heroes tried to match wits with
Superman. The Joker came to Metropolis
more than once to try his hand at
defeating Superman. Darkseid, evil
ruler of the planet Apokolips, and his
minions caused the Man of Steel numerous
problems. But each time, whether they
were world dominators or simple
non-powered thugs, Superman came out the
winner.
