Foes of Lesser Renown
In alphabetical order (with issue and date of first appearance):
| Villain | First appearance | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Aarbur-Z | Action Comics #383 (December 1969) | Disembodied intelligence inhabiting super-powered costume, pursued by similar entity Enforcer NZ-2, attempted to possess Superman. |
| Adversary | Adventures of Superman #579 (June 2000) | Wheelchair-bound Cary Richards is a young child neighbor of Clark and Lois who made a deal with the demon Lord Satanis to gain psionic powers, subconsciously becoming a stereotypical macho 90's supervillain (musclebound, wearing leather with metal spikes, spouting profanities, chewing a cigar) named Adversary that wanted to develop a reputation defeating Superman in similar fashion as Doomsday. |
| Alex Evell | Superman #5 (Summer 1940) | 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 won't 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 being in there, but Superman escapes, rescues the gangsters and stops Evel's car. Bentley says he won't talk, but the thugs say they will to get even with him. Superman leaves them at a Police Station, Collum gets his paper back, and Evell goes to prison. |
| Amalak | Superman #190 (October 1966) | Alien bounty hunter whose planet was once conquered by Krypton during an imperial phase |
| Superman #669 (December 2007) | His people wiped out by Admiral Zod, Amalak dedicated his life to eradicating all Kryptonian life from existence. | |
| Amazing Grace | Superman vol. 2, #3 (March 1987) | A servant of Darkseid, she uses her powers of persuasion to maintain his control of Apokolips |
| Amok | Superman: The 10¢ Adventure (2003) | It is known that he was born in Iceland, but how he achieved his metahuman super-strength and energy powers is not yet known |
| the Amphi-Bandits | Action Comics #90 (November 1945) | Inventor-turned-criminal Horace Rikker led this gang who evaded police pursuit via a secret submersible vehicle in a Metropolis river. |
| Andrar | Superboy #164 (April 1970) | Superboy enemy, led 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 US. As the madness of his condition faded, his adopted son took a drink of the explosives and gained similar powers. |
| Anomaly | Adventures of Superman #539 (October 1996) | Created by Project Cadmus, a clone of a felon. However, he was altered to have the power to mimic the substance of his surroundings |
| the Archer | Superman #13 (December 1941) | Quigley, first name unrevealed. Extortionist archer who targets millionaires, shooting them with a bow and arrow if they do not pay. Superman starts to pursue him and prevents him shooting Lois and Jimmy. He is revealed to be a hunter who decided to hunt humans instead of animals. |
| Auctioneer | Action Comics #841 (September 2006) | A gigantic alien that uses advanced technology to collect valuable items and beings to auction to the highest bidder. |
| Baron Sunday | Superman vol. 2, #26 (December 1988) | A villain who uses Voodoo magic against the Man of Steel. |
| Barrage | Superman Annual vol. 2, #2 (1988) | Karnowsky is an armored criminal that came into conflict with Superman when he attacked Maggie Sawyer and would go on to join the Superman Revenge Squad. |
| Baud | Superman: Man of Steel #71 (September 1997) | A female energy being that worked for Mainframe as a spy and fought Superman as part of the Superman Revenge Squad. |
| Big Dome | Batman #307 (January 1979) | 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 (1940) | 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 check on criminals and won't 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 River-Front 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 (April 1976) | A man equipped with an alien rock which gives him energy-manipulation powers |
| Blaze and Satanus | Action Comics #655 (July 1990) | Blaze is the half-demon daughter of the wizard Shazam. |
| Adventures of Superman #493 (August 1992) | Lord Satanus also resembled a traditional demon, save that he wore a heavy Roman-style helmet, and either had black skin or the helmet buried his face in shadow. They fought for possession of Blaze's domain, using Superman as a pawn. At the end of the story it was revealed that Satanus was disguised as 'Colin Thornton', the publisher of Newstime magazine, who first appeared in Nov 1989, and had previously hired Clark Kent as editor. | |
| Bloodthirst | Superman: The Man of Steel #29 (January 1994) | Bloodthirst is a very minor villain who is 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 stop time. Bloodthirst bragged throughout his first and (to date) 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 Cereberus who was mentioned in Superman: The Man of Steel #1 and was finally seen in #4 and not seen again. |
| Borden Moseley | Superman #5 (Summer 1940) | A financer who is in league with Lex Luthor. Luthor places narcotics around some of the Countries 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 ocmmit 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 returns later. Those under his control are freed and Moseley is preseumbly arrested, although it is possible he committed suicide after Superman left. |
| Calvin Denby | Superman #12 (September–October 1941) | After a series of explosions at American defence 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. |
| Chandu | Adventure Comics #219 (December 1955) | Superboy enemy, giant gorilla who gained x-ray/heat vision from drinking powdered kryptonite, employed by Doc Baird and his gang for crimes. |
| Colonel Future | Action Comics #484 (June 1978) | Edmund H. Future uses his gang to steal the most advanced technology and employ its use in his crimes. |
| Superman #378 (December 1982) | 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. | |
| Count X | Action Comics #301 (June 1963) | Master spy. |
| the Crime Professor | Superboy #30 (January 1954) | Superboy enemy, Mr. Oates, criminal strategist. |
| Dabney Donovan | Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #142 (October 1971) | A "mad scientist" expert at genetic manipulation and cloning, former employee of Project Cadmus |
| Deathtrap/Master Jailer | Superman #331 (January 1979) | Carl Draper, a master trapmaker, was hired to build a trap to contain the Parasite. However, when his daughter challenges 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 (A post-Crisis version of Master Jailer). As Master Jailer, Manchester Black manipulates Draper into assembling the Anti-Kryptonian Brigade with Bizarro, Mongul, and Silver Banshee. Currently works for Checkmate. |
| Dev-Em | Adventure Comics #287 (June 1961) | 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 |
| Dr. Chaos | New Adventures of Superboy #25 (January 1982) | Superboy enemy, Burt Belker, Prof. 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 (August 1998) | An alien priest that sought the powers of Kismet and brainwashed Superman into conquering Earth. |
| Duke Duvvil | Adventure Comics #199 (April 1954) | Superboy enemy, traitorous nobleman in subterranean kingdom Subbania, sought to overthrow Queen Lya. |
| Dyna-Mind | New Adventures of Superboy #42 (June 1983) | Superboy enemy, Johnny Webber, granted telekinetic powers by meteor, able to create and animate giant figures. |
| Effron the Sorcerer | World's Finest Comics #210 (March 1972) | A sorcerer who came from the magic kingdom of Veliathan and controlled a faceless puppet army. |
| the Emperor of America | Action Comics #52 (September 1942) | 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 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 (December 1940). |
| Equus | Superman #206 (August 2004) | A villainous cyborg, working under the direction of Mr Orr as a mercenary (sometimes for covert elements of the American government) |
| La Encantadora | Secret Origins of Super-Villains 80-Page Giant (December 1999) | Gaining magic powers from the mystical Mists of Ibella, Lourdes Lucero first encountered Superman while hypnotizing him to react adversely to fake kryptonite. |
| Evolution King | Superman vol 1 #15 Mar/Apr 1942 | 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 (June 1971) | Superboy enemy, patriarch of Coven family, used combination of sorcery and science to separate Superboy's soul from his body and enslave it. |
| Futuremen | Superman #128 (April 1959) | 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 1952. |
| Gaff Lomar | Superboy #27 (August–September 1953) | Superboy enemy, "pied piper" who mesmerized Smallville's children into following him. |
| the Galactic Golem | Superman #248 (February 1972) | A construct that sometimes is placed to fight Superman. |
| the Gambler | Superboy #140 (July 1967) | Superboy enemy, "Lucky" Lucifer Chancel, gangster and obsessive gambler, engineered crises for Superboy to face, then accepted bets on results. |
| the Gem | Superboy #19 (April–May 1952) | Superboy enemy, AKA the Crystalloid, crystalline life-form that consumes all in its path. |
| Glowman | (as Bashford) Superboy #157 (June 1969); (as Glowman) New Adventures of Superboy #30 (June 1982) | Superboy enemy, Bradley "Bash" Bashford, Smallville High bully transformed into monstrous fiery form. |
| Goldie Gates | Superman #27 (March–April 1944 ) | The notorious Goldie Gates convinces Randall Rocksell that if he will invest huge sums of money with him, that Rocksell will make a half-million a day on his investment. However, Superman discovers that Rocksell is being paid dividends with his own money and Gates it 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 recognises one as Bucktooth Burger, one of Goldie Gate's mob. Later Gate's crooks get into Randall's house, where he and Lois are talking. Bucktooth points a gun at Lois, and Goldie says 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 cram 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. Meanwhile the crooks think that they will be unable to get out of the tunnel in time. They are relived to see Superman, who then takes them of to jail. Randall meanwhile becomes a better person. |
| Grax | Action Comics #342 (October 1966) | Brainiac's blue-skinned, four-armed rival featuring a 20th-level intellect (opposed to Brainiac's 12th-level intellect) whose plots are also foiled by Superman and seeks vengeance. He also appeared in the Super Friends comic book. |
| Harkon | Superboy #194 (April 1973) | Superboy enemy, renegade Atlantean/merman scientist, temporarily transformed Superboy into a merboy. |
| the Hellgrammite | The Brave and the Bold #80 (October–November 1968) | Roderick Rose transforms himself into a large insect and has battled Superman several times since. |
| the Host | Superman #6 (June 1987) | A construct containing the souls of a long-lost prehuman race |
| Illena | Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #52 (October 1964) | Alien woman, romanced Superman with intent to turn him into stone. |
| Ignition | Adventures of Superman #582 (September 2000) | Created by the Joker after he stole the powers of Mr Mxyzptlk. |
| Insect Queen | (Pre-Crisis, Earth-One) Superboy #124 (October 1965) (Pre-Crisis, Earth-Two) Superman Family #213 (December 1981) (Post-Crisis) Superman #671 (February 2008) |
Pre-Crisis, 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. Post-Crisis, Insect Queen is an alien that 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. |
| the Invisible Empire | Superboy #153 (January 1969) | Superboy enemies, alien invaders able to disassemble their atomic structure to enter and control any objects or people, sought to possess Earth's leaders. |
| J. Wilbur Wolfingham | Superman #26 (January/February 1944) | 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 then, 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 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 (Spring 1940) | An agent paid by a foreign power to stop the Nation's return to prosperity, which is happening after the 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 agentsi n 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. |
| Kalibak | New Gods #1 (February 1971) | The son of Darkseid, a born villain. |
| Kancer | Action Comics #777 (May 2001) | Created from a sliver of kryptonite-induced cancer at the behest of the Russian Zod |
| Khyber | Superman #657 (December 2006) | 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 (1983) | A time-traveling despot from the future who comes to the present in order to conquer it. His efforts are halted by Superman and the mysterious Superwoman, who also makes her premier appearance and is, in reality, time-traveler Kristin Wells. |
| Klaxxu | Superman Family #197 (September–October 1979) | Superboy enemy, extraterrestrial exiled to Earth for attempting to overthrow his planet's government, posed as teacher at Smallville High, used mild-melder device in attempt to convince Superboy he was Klaxxu's fellow subversive. |
| Kokra | New Adventures of Superboy #2 (February 1980) | Superboy enemy, Middle Eastern demon who possessed Prof. Lewis Lang (Lana's father). |
| Kosmon the Hunter | Adventure Comics #266 (November 1959) | Superboy enemy, alien hunter, captured Krypto and used shapechanging protoplasm creature to lure Superboy into battle. |
| Kronn | Adventure Comics #308 (May 1963) | Superboy enemy, criminal Atlantean scientist, allied with Luthor transmit mass hypnotic illusions to Smallville. |
| Kru-El | Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #62 (July 1962) | In most settings, Superman's villainous cousin. |
| the Kryptonoid | Superman #328 (October 1978) | A protoplasmic entity that sought revenge against Jor-El by seeking out his son and merging with a Superman Robot and General D.W. Derwent (who blamed Superman for the loss of his arm). |
| Kuku and Nardu | Superboy #167 (July 1970) | Superboy enemies, circus performers and criminals, used robot elephant to commit crimes. |
| Kyack | Superman #13 (November–December 1941) | Warrior of subterranean kingdom descended from pre-Ice Age civilization, sought to conquer surface world, destroyed buildings in prelude to invasion. |
| Lady Lunar | World's Finest Comics #266 (January 1981) | 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 (January 1972) | A member of Darkseid's Female Furies |
| the Laughing Gas Bandits | Adventure Comics #484 (August 1981) | Three men, used nitrous oxide laced with kryptonite in effort to immobilize Metropolis. |
| the Leader | Adventure Comics #277 (October 1960) | Superboy enemy, with two fellow aliens, fought duel with Superboy, with potential invasion of Earth as the stakes. |
| Lelia | Superman #13 (December 1941) | 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 won't 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. |
| the Leopard | Superman #20 (January–February 1943) | Sam Kennedy, publicity manager for Cosmos Circus, wore leopard's-head mask during crime spree in which he and his gang used packs of big cats to commit crimes. |
| the Lightning Master | Superman #14 (January–February 1942) | 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 | Adventures of Superman #505 (October 1993) | 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 (July 1958) | 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 (January 1982) | 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 (whom she had with Merlin), who also sought possession of the runestone. Both would eventually find the spells necessary to follow the item and both face Superman who was needed as a component to use it. The couple would struggle over the item until finally returning to their time period. |
| Lyla | Action Comics #812 (April 2004) | A telepath that 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 (April 1983) | An other-dimensional being of incalculable power that wanted to test his strength against Superman and Power Girl. When it became clear Maaldor was too powerful, Superman tricked him into destroying himself. Maaldor would return repeatedly, ofttimes seemingly resurrecting from destruction, to face Superman and later the Green Lantern Corps. He finally perished for good in Crisis on Infinite Earths and has not been seen since. |
| Magpie | The Man of Steel #3 (November 1986) | A master jewel thief who targets gems named after birds and replaces them with booby-trapped replicas |
| Malleable Man | (as Skizzle Shanks) Plastic Man #17 (April/May 1977) (as Malleable Man) DC Comics Presents #93 (May 1986) |
A criminal present when Plastic Man gained his powers, Skizzle Shanks later recreated the process to make himself malleable. He manipulated Plastic Man, Elongated Man, and Elastic Lad to battle Superman. |
| Manchester Black | Action Comics #775 (March 2001) | A British telepath and antihero, he dislikes what he perceives as Superman's simplistic view of the world. |
| Martin | Action Comics #29 (October 1940) | Clark and Lois investigates the Fullerton Insurance Company, which is selling small valued policies to poor people, who end up dying under mysterious circumstances. Lois investigates, but as she climbs through the widow she is seized by one of two thugs. One, called Tom Bruce, orders the other to tie her to a chair, which happens, and Lois is also gagged. The criminals decide to eliminate her as she can recognise them. But before the criminals eliminate her, Superman gets in and saves her, though the crooks are jailed they are bailed out. Fullerton goes to Martin, who shoots him, revealing he was causing the events. But Superman then gets Martin and he is jailed. |
| the Mask | World's Finest Comics #66 (September–October 1953) | Harry "King" Saphire, 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 (June 1951) | Superboy enemy, Flip Wilson, acrobatic criminal using stuntman school as a front. |
| Massacre | Adventures of Superman #509 (February 1994) | An alien warrior who traveled space as energy seeking a worthy opponent, he died during the Our Worlds at War crossover. |
| the Mechanical Master | Superman Family #193 (January–February 1979) | Superboy enemy, able to animate machines to do his bidding. |
| Medini | Action Comics #25 (June 1940) | A great Asian hypnotist who performs crimes using his hypnotism to make people forget of them. When he meets Superman, the Man of Steel is weakened by his 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 (September 1978) | Lewis Padgett was a supervillain named Microwave Man in the 1930s that 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 (October 1963) | Superboy enemy, AKA Tim Tates, super-powered alien youth briefly adopted by Kents prior to their adoption of Kal-El, became spacefaring criminal, returned years later to battle Superboy. |
| Mind's-Eye | New Adventures of Superboy (December 1982) | Superboy enemy, seized mental control of Smallville High student body and channeled their energies to empower himself to fight Superboy. |
| Mr. Cipher(s) | Superboy #150 (September 1968) | Superboy enemies, lookalike robots, equipped with explosives, attempted to take over Smallville on behalf of alien Cybor. |
| Mr. Electronics | Superboy #73 (June 1959) | Superboy enemy, criminal scientist, employed mind-reading device. |
| Mr. Migraine | More Fun Comics #106 (November–December 1945) | Superboy enemy, racketeer. |
| Mr. Ohm | Superman #51 (March–April 1948) | Used electromagnetic plane to draw armored cars into air and take them to gang's hideout to loot at leisure. |
| Mr. Sinister | Superman #16 (May–June 1942) | Real name Lylo. Purple-skinned denizen of the Fourth Dimension, would-be conqueror and failed poet, used advanced technology to abduct buildings with inhabitants to hold for ransom. |
| Mr. Z | Superman vol. 2, #51 (January 1991) | 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, vol. 1, #355 (January 1981) | Asa Ezaak was a noted author (based on legendary science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov) 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 investigatied by him, Momentus died in battle with Superman. |
| Mongal | (unnamed) Showcase '95 #8 (September 1995) (as Mongal) Superman vol. 2, #170 (July 2001) |
The daughter of the interstellar tyrant Mongul |
| Moon-Man/Moonman | World's Finest Comics #98 (December 1958) | 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 Moonman and menaces Superman, Batman, and Robin. |
| the Mummer | Adventure Comics #148 (January 1950) | Superboy enemy, costumed criminal, ex-vaudevillian, committed crimes with three "robot dummies." |
| Nam-Ek | Superman #282 (December 1974) | A Kryptonian that murdered a sacred Rondor to develop an elixir for immortality. While it worked, Nam-Ek was transformed into a foul purple behemoth with a horn protruding from his forehead and was sentenced to the Phantom Zone for his crime. He would escape and battle Superman. |
| the Negative Superboy | Superboy #168 (September 1970) | Superboy enemy, negative-energy duplicate of Superboy created in cosmic accident. |
| Neutron | Action Comics #525 (November 1981) | Nathaniel Tryon was a petty thug and a member of the TNT trio before an accident transformed him into living nuclear energy. |
| the Njllnans | New Adventures of Superboy #40 (April 1983) | 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 | (Pre-Crisis) Superman #339 (September 1979); (Post-Crisis) Superman/Batman #68 (March 2010) | 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 (Nuclear Radiation Generator Experimental). 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, reverting to a comatose Daiz. |
| Nylor Truggs | New Adventures of Superboy #50 (February 1984) | Superboy enemy, 30th century criminal, stole "Dial H for Hero" dial from 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 (July 1986) | Mr Mxyzptlk's deranged cousin from the same fifth dimension with magical powers surpassing even Mr Mxyzptlk's own. Although through human eyes looks identical to Mr Mxyzptlk, according to Mxyzptlk that's far from the truth. Escaping from the fifth dimension's mental institution equivalent of a madhouse (Gooloogog), Nzykmulk's greater 5th dimension powers stems from several more years of experience in comparison to his cousin, 42-Joljo's (years?) difference with his greater age. Appeared only once during the last pre-Crisis era days to cause Superman and Mxyzptlk problems while trapping them both within the fifth dimension itself. |
| Obsession | Adventures of Superman #532 (February 1996) | 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. |
| the Orbitrons | Batman #312 (June 1979) | 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 (December 1962) | Superboy enemy, abducted Superboy and other super-heroes to planet Thrann. |
| Pee Wee Ragan | Superboy #110 (January 1964) | Superboy enemy, scrawny criminal, received duplicate Superboy powers from Prof. Sardon. |
| Phantom Zone criminals | Adventure Comics #283 (April 1961) | Pre-Crisis, these were Kryptonian criminals imprisoned in a dimension called the "Phantom Zone", in which they only existed in a ghostlike form; this allowed them to survive the destruction of Krypton. Various such criminals would sometimes escape and attack Superman. |
| the Planeteer | Superman #387 (September 1983) | AKA 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 | New Adventures of Superboy #20 (August 1981) | Superboy enemy, beautiful woman from planet Ulmara, abducted Superboy and brainwashed him to be a tourist attraction on Ulmara. |
| Preus | Superman vol. 2, #202 (April 2004) | Formerly a law enforcement officer from the bottle city of Kandor, he escaped the city and hunts Superman. |
| Prof. Amos Weldon | Superboy #53 (December 1956) | Superboy enemy, criminal scientist, his time-ray inadvertently caused Superboy to change places in time with Superman. |
| Professor Sands | Action Comics #178 (March 1953) | AKA the Sandman of Crime; proprietor of the Dreamorama, a theater which, via what might today be considered virtual reality technology, allowed demoralized criminals to live out their greatest criminal fantasies in "dream films." |
| Professor X | Superboy #69 (December 1958) | Superboy enemies, two criminals using single identity as mob boss. |
| Professor Zee | Superman #8 (January–February 1941) | An evil sicentist 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. |
| Psi-Phon and Dreadnaught | Superman vol. 2, #19 (July 1988) | Psi-Phon drained Superman's powers and gave them to Dreadnaught. |
| Pulsar | New Adventures of Superboy #31 (July 1982) | Superboy enemy, Robert Altus Jr., empowered by obsessed scientist father to supplant Superboy. |
| The Puzzler | Action Comics #49 (June 1942) | A criminal obsessed with games and puzzles, he fought Superman after he tried to start a protection racket. |
| Superman #187 (December 2002) | Valerie Van Haften is made-up of living puzzle pieces, able to move and reconstruct herself at will. | |
| Quex-Ul | Superman #157 (November 1962) | A Kryptonian criminal and inmate of the Phantom Zone. Usually a henchman of General Zod. |
| R24 | Superman #71 (July–August 1951) | Leader of a uranium-smuggling ring. |
| the Rainbow Raider | Superboy #84 (October 1960) | Superboy enemy; the Rainbow Raider identity was originally used by Jonathan Kent to impersonate a super-villain 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. |
| the Rainmaker | World's Best Comics #1 (Spring 1941) | Used rain-machine to destroy dam and flood valley as part of extortion scheme, briefly weakened Superman with "radical new paralysis gas." |
| Ralph Cowan | Action Comics #41 (October 1941) | A respectable figure who has been paid to case 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 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 intime and stops the bomb destroying the planet. He then captures Cowan. |
| Razkal | Superman vol 1 #15 Mar/Apr 1942 | The Dictator of Oxnalia who is based on Adolf Hitler, who attacks the democratic nation of Numark. Superman stops an assassination attempt on Numark's King Boris, then saves Numark's young Prince Micheal 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 hs own men. |
| Rebello | Superboy #72 (April 1959) | Superboy enemy, renegade Superboy robot, considered self more "perfect" than Superboy and sought to supplant him. |
| Redemption | Action Comics #848 (May 2007) | 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 (2003) | 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 advanced illusionary technologies, that even the Man of Steel had difficulty determining whether it was real or illusions, despite his enhanced senses of sight and hearing. |
| the Ringmaster | Adventure Comics #120 (September 1947) | Superboy enemy, led "Crime Circus" including Grillo, Musculo, Loop and Swoop. |
| Riot | Superman: The Man of Steel #61 (October 1996) | 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: Man of Tomorrow #8 (Spring 1997) | An astronaut where after an experiment becomes a rock-like behemoth, blaming Lex Luthor for the development and coming into conflict with Superman while trying to enact revenge. |
| Ron-Avon | Superboy #141 (September 1967) | Superboy enemy, superhuman youth from planet Belgor, forced to fight Superboy in gladiatorial combat. |
| Savior | Action Comics #705 (December 1994) | Ramsey Murdoch believes Superman is a fake and the real Superman never recovered from his death at the hands of Doomsday. He has the ability to create any object he imagines. |
| the Seal Gang | Action Comics #231 (August 1957) | 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. |
| the Seeker | Superman Family #191 (September–October 1978) | Superboy enemy, sentient Kryptonian spacecraft, sent prior to Krypton's destruction to locate suitable planet for relocation, attempted to terraform Earth to fit specifications. |
| Shadowdragon | Superman #97 (February 1995) | A quasi-techno ninja, Savitar Bandu is the prince of Bhutan who worked briefly for Conduit before learning what kind of person he was and turning on him. |
| Shockwave | Blue Devil #2 (July 1984) | A short armored criminal. |
| Simyan and Mokkari | Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #135 (January 1971) | Products of the twisted genius of Dabney Donovan, they ran from him and became servants of Darkseid |
| SKULL | Superman #301 (July 1976) | Criminal organization of geniuses and scientists formed by the original Atomic Skull that often comes into conflict with Kobra. |
| Skyhook | Superman vol. 2, #15 (March 1988) | 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 (September 1987) | An evil schemer from Apokolips. |
| Slug Kelly | Superman #5 (Summer 1940) | A criminal who places rigged Slot Machines in stores to make schoolchildren lose their money, threatening some store owners. When Lois and Clark enter his hideout and won't be bribed, he threatens to kill Clark unless Lois signs a paper saying her Editor George Taylor is Slug's partner in the slot-machine racket, meaning nothing he printed against him would believe. He then has it taken to the Morning Pictorial. Clark becomes Superman and wrecks the building, which is set alight, but Superman escapes with the unconscious Lois and the ledger books. Taylor is angry at the false story, but Superman uses his photographic memory to remember the addresses from Slug's secret records, after which he starts clearing Metropolis of the Slot Machines. Slug kidnaps Lois, but Superman captures Slug and dangles him overt a school building till he tells the children about the Slot Machines. Although the men confess, the police say they can't hold them without witnesses, but hundreds of schoolchildren then pour into the station as witnesses. The connection between Taylor and Slug is disapproved during the trial. This story was a message to children to not use slot machines. |
| Socrates | Adventure Comics #225 (June 1956) | Superboy enemy, mynah bird who acquired super-powers and criminal human-level intelligence from drinking kryptonite-tainted water. |
| Sodom and Gomorrah | Action Comics #819 (November 2004) | A husband-and-wife team that 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 (February 1960) | Superboy enemy, super-powered alien youth who captured and sadistically mistreated Krypto until Superboy rescued him. |
| Space-Boy | Adventure Comics #264 (September 1959) | Superboy enemy, Zall-Dix, alien youth who attempted to force Superboy to exchange bodies with him. |
| Srakka | Superman #398 (January 1984) | An alien dybbuk who can possess the bodies of others. |
| Stasis | Superman Family #192 (November–December 1978) | Superboy enemy, able to halt biological functions in victims' bodies, led gang in attempted takeover of Smallville. |
| Subjekt-17 | Superman #655 (October 2006) | An alien family crashes in Kazakhstan, the father dead and pregnant mother taken by Russian scientists for testing. However, the female would die during this time and all that was left was the alien infant. Dubbed Subjekt-17, the infant would spend largely its entirely life imprisoned. Upon escape, unable to blend into human culture because of his appearance and angry at his treatment, he seeks revenge against Earth's people, the similarly alien Superman becoming the focus of his ire. |
| the Strongarm Bandit | Action Comics #27 (August 1940) | A masked criminal with enormous strength who starts committing crimes around the city after a circus comes to town. Herculo the circus strongman is suspected and Superman competes with him, easily defeating him. Clark is earlier robbed at the circus after buying multiple tickets for orphans, but has sprinkled a red powder on the money, meaning the criminal is caught 'red-handed', and is revealed to be a clown who was the former strongman, and who is arrested. |
| Superman Revenge Squad | Action Comics #286 (March 1962) | After Superboy foiled the plans of several blue-skinned criminals from the planet Wexr II, the Wexrans banded together as the Superboy Revenge Squad and plotted against him; the group's name changed when Superboy reached adulthood as Superman. Over the years, their membership expanded to include villains from several planets, all seeking vengeance against Superman for curtailing their criminal activities. Named members include leader Rava and Scout 627 (from Action Comics #287); Dixo and Vagu (Action Comics #295); Dorx and Krit (Action Comics #380); Dramx-One, Fwom, Jumrox, Klakok, and Nryana (Superman #366); Nakox (Superman #367); and Tydru (Superman #368). |
| Adventures of Superman #543 (February 1997) | A group of villains, brought together with the intention of killing Superman | |
| Superwoman | Justice League of America #29 (August 1964) | A villainous version of Wonder Woman from a reversed version of Earth |
| the Talon | Superman #17 (July–August 1942) | Albert Caldwell, president of Metropolis Subway Inc. and Axis fifth columnist who attempted to sabotage Metropolis's transportation system. |
| Tara Cobol | Mystery in Space #114 (December 1980) | With assistant Fortran, used S.T.A.R. computer to seize control of weather satellites. |
| Thaddeus Killgrave | Superman #19 (July 1988) | Mad scientist. |
| the Thing from 40,000 AD | Superman #87 (February 1954) | Shape-changing mass of "primeval matter" banished from the year 40,000 AD, impersonated Superman and others during attempt to return to home era and conquer it. |
| the Thought Explorers | Adventure Comics #456 (March–April 1978) | Superboy enemies, two alien researchers, used illusory attacks on Smallville to test Superboy. |
| Tolos | Superman vol. 2, #107 (December 1995) | An alien wizard that added alien beings to the Bottle City of Kandor with the ability to possess the bodies of its inhabitants. |
| Turlock the Berserker | New Adventures of Superboy #49 (January 1984) | Superboy enemy, extradimensional barbarian warrior, wielded burning sword, rode in chariot drawn by two two-headed dog/rat creatures. |
| Tweeds | Action Comics #26 (July 1940) | 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 realise 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 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. She 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 (June 1983) | Originally called the Intangibles, a trio of criminals that use technology that make themselves intangible who fought Superman, Robin, and Elongated Man. They would return modelling themselves after John Dillinger, Clyde Barrow, and Bonnie Parker and battle Hawk and Dove. |
| Vakox | Superboy #104 (April 1963) | A Phantom Zone prisoner |
| Varx | Superboy #192 (December 1972) | Superboy enemy, sole survivor of subterranean Atlantean civilization, attempted to screen Smallville from the sun, which he superstitiously feared. |
| the Wraith | New Adventures of Superboy #21 (September 1981) | Superboy enemy, spectral menace from outer space. |
| Xasnu | Action Comics #278 (July 1961) | Alien plant-being, planned Earth invasion, empowered and mind-controlled Perry White as "Masterman" to battle Superman. |
| the Xnorians | Adventure Comics #294 (March 1962) | 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 | Adventures of Superman #444 (September 1988) | 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 (see above). |
| Zha-Vam | Action Comics #351 (June 1967) | 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 (June 1960) | Superboy enemy, tyrant of planet Xenon, where most inhabitants have superhuman powers and those who do not are persecuted and exiled. |
- In addition, Superman has fought many aliens.
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Famous quotes containing the words foes, lesser and/or renown:
“Within his crib is surest ward,
This little babe will be thy guard,
If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy,
Then flit not from this heavenly boy.”
—Robert Southwell (1561?–1595)
“So hills and valleys into singing break;
And though poor stones have neither speech nor tongue,
While active winds and streams both run and speak,
Yet stones are deep in admiration.
Thus praise and prayer here beneath the Sun
Make lesser mornings when the great are done.”
—Henry Vaughan (1622–1695)
“If any ambitious man have a fancy to revolutionize, at one effort, the universal world of human thought, human opinion, and human sentiment, the opportunity is his own—the road to immortal renown lies straight, open, and unencumbered before him. All that he has to do is to write and publish a very little book. Its title should be simple—a few plain words—”My Heart Laid Bare.” But—this little book must be true to its title.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1845)