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Superman is not a typical superhero; he is THE superhero. The Man of Steel embodies everything great about the medium and represents superheroes at their best. Superman is a symbol of hope and the standard all comic characters are measured against. Countless Superman stories are incredibly iconic and intrinsic to comic books as a whole.
So, it is only natural that a character of Superman’s stature would have some rivals and villains of the highest caliber, with a few of them being all-time classics of comic books and highly instrumental to the DC Universe. To be blunt, you can never fully understand Superman’s world without some of these villains.
In order to determine who the best arch nemesis in Superman’s life is, today we will analyze his rogue’s gallery and see who stands out the most.
General Zod
Perhaps General Zod is one of the most famous Superman villains due to his appearance in the second Christopher Reeve film, Superman II. He is one of the most interesting cases in the Man of Steel’s rogue gallery simply because Zod reflects what Clark could have been with a different origin.
Zod is a Kryptonian, like Clark, so he has all his powers when entering the Earth’s yellow sun radiation. But unfortunately, he has none of Superman’s compassion and love for humanity, making him a terrifying opponent.
The best stories involving General Zod, whether in the comics or the adaptations, are always based on contrasting both characters. This forces Superman to come to terms with his eternal dichotomy regarding his alien heritage and his time on Earth, which is an excellent way to interpret where the Man of Steel is standing regarding that particular topic.
Plus, you often get some great battles between these characters.
Brainiac
Brainiac is one of the biggest casualties of DC editorial throughout the years, as he has been changed multiple times. As a result, many different versions of the character can lead to fans having varied opinions of where he stands as a Superman villain. Still, no one can deny that he is one of the most important in the Man of Steel’s rich history.
Based on what we have stated, it is worth pointing out that Brainiac’s most accepted story is that he is a collector of cities and travels across the universe to find and collect them. This is how he managed to steal and shrink the Lost City of Kandor before Kal-El could even get to Earth.
One of the reasons that he is highly regarded among Superman villains is his unnerving appearance. Also, his darker way of being, along with the army he uses to collect cities, often linked with Kal’s origins in Krypton, makes him stand out. They even go as far as stating that Brainiac was responsible for the destruction of Krypton in the Superman animated series of the 90s.
Doomsday
There is a straightforward reason that Doomsday is here: he is the only main Superman villain that has managed to kill the Man of Steel.
Created in the early 90s for the event The Death of Superman, Doomsday is a very simple villain: he is an extremely powerful antagonist on a physical level, and he can come back from death, adapting to the very cause that killed him. The simple fact that he managed to beat the entire Justice League in his first appearance shows how powerful he is.
And even though Superman beat him in that event, it was at the cost of his own life. He is a very powerful villain and Clark, once he came back to life during the Reign of the Supermen event, had to live with the trauma of having died at the hands of Doomsday. That version of Superman faced the creature again during the Rebirth era, and the trauma was still quite notorious, with Clark fearing that he would die again.
Just for sheer physical power and the achievement of having killed Superman, he deserves to be on this list.
Lex Luthor
There are no ways around it: Lex Luthor is Superman’s greatest arch-nemesis, and the reasons are all there to see.
Luthor is a perfect contrast to the Man of Steel on so many levels, and those very differences make their rivalry and battles all the more fascinating.
On the one hand, Clark is kind, noble, and honest, often willing to do his best for humanity. Meanwhile, Lex is vindictive, selfish, bitter, and driven by his ego to do awful things. He doesn’t care about humanity, while Superman goes to great lengths to protect them. It is a clear example of how an alien cares a lot more for humans than Lex, who is a human himself.
Superman is, on a physical level, a force of nature, and Lex, made out of flesh and bones, is an ordinary man but very intelligent. This is not to say that Superman is not intelligent (he is, and even a genius in some versions), but to emphasize how Lex has to rely on his brain to defeat the Man of Steel.
Lex is a very wealthy man, while Superman grew up on a farm, which molded their characters. While Lex lived in a world of cutthroat approaches to things, Clark was taught to be kind and loving to everybody in Smallville, which was an essential aspect of his character.
They work so well together because they are total opposites, and one says a lot about the other, thus making Lex Luthor a perfect arch-nemesis for Superman. So who do you think ranks as one of Superman’s best arch-nemesis?
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