Title Character
Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman
Supporting Cast
Lois Lane | Jimmy Olsen | Ambush Bug | Steel
Villains
Central Rogues Gallery (Alexander "Lex" Luthor, Bizarro, Vril Dox/Brainiac, Cyborg-Superman, Darkseid, Doomsday, Lobo, Mister Mxyzptlk, Mongul, Phantom Zone Criminals [General Zod]) | A-L | M-Z (Superboy-Prime)
Spin-Offs
Supergirl (Kara Zor-El/Linda Danvers/Supergirl, Supporting Cast, Rogues Gallery) | Power Girl | Superboy (Conner Kent/Kon-El, Jonathan "Jon" Samuel Kent, Supporting Cast, Rogues Gallery) | Legion Of Superheroes (The Founders, Silver Age, Bronze Age, Five Years Later, Postboot, Threeboot, Retroboot, Rebirth, Other Heroes, The Fatal Five, The Legion of Supervillains, Other Villains, Supporting Cast)
- "You've made a mistake, Superman. A big mistake. A potentially fatal mistake. I run this town, Superman. Metropolis belongs to me. The people are mine, to nurture, or destroy, as I see fit. And they've forgotten that. They've looked at you, with your costume, and your flashy superhuman powers... and they've forgotten who their master is. Who is number one! And I intend to remind them, Superman. I'm going to show them you're nothing, Superman. A card-board cut-out. One day, very soon now, you're going to die, Superman. You're going to be destroyed and you'll know who's doing it. Everyone in Metropolis will know. But no one will ever be able to prove it. I'll not be arrested, Superman. Not ever again. Remember, Superman. You're a dead man. It's just a question of how soon!"
The Supervillain and Superman's Arch-Enemy. Alexander "Lex" Luthor is easily the smartest human being in the world (a "10th-level intelligence", according to Brainiac), and uses his incredible brainpower to match the Man of Steel's physical might. In The Silver Age of Comic Books he was a Mad Scientist who spent most of his time behind bars (to the point that his "costume" was a gray prison suit), later adopting a suit of Powered Armor to fight Supes mano a mano. In The Dark Age of Comic Books, he was re-envisioned as a Corrupt Corporate Executive who sold the patents for his fantastic inventions to become not only incredibly rich, but the most powerful man in Metropolis, prior to the arrival of a certain hero.
He has since gone back and forth in terms of characterization, at times the CEO of LexCorp, at times a Mad Scientist, at times a classic Diabolical Mastermind, and sometimes a combination of all three. He has faked his own death, impersonated his supposed son, revealed himself as one of Superboy's genetic donors, and met Death. He has been the leader of the Secret Society of Supervillains and the Injustice Gang, the mastermind of numerous plots against the heroes of Earth, a participant in General Lane's genocide of New Krypton, and briefly, President of the United States of America. He's even starred in his own spinoffs, serving as the Villain Protagonist in Lex Luthor: Man of Steel, and of the "Black Ring" story arc in Action Comics. In any incarnation, Luthor is driven by his burning hatred of Superman, which is frequently put down to envy over the fact that, no matter how rich Luthor becomes, no matter how much political power he attains, and no matter how hard he schemes, he will never, ever be Superman.
Luthor has appeared frequently in other media, featuring in video games, the original Superman films, Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League, Superman Returns, and the television series Smallville. He has also appeared in the animated films Superman: Doomsday, and Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. He is easily the most recognisable, and best known member of Superman's Rogues Gallery, and was rated IGN's "4th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time." Comic book critic Peter Sanderson has described Luthor as one of the few genuine megavillains, whose adventures cross genres, putting him a league alongside Professor Moriarty, Count Dracula, Hannibal Lecter, Doctor Doom, and Darth Vader.
Has his own page where tropes relating to him should go.
Atomic Skull I
A scientist with S.T.A.R. Labs with a rare seizure-inducing nervous disorder, Albert Michaels turned to a criminal syndicate who implanted him with a radioactive device that turned his nervous shorts into atomic blasts. Donning a costume and skull mask, Michaels became a super-villain and took over the syndicate, flying a skull-shaped hovercraft.
- Energy Blasts: He can attack with blasts of energy.
- Evil Genius: S.T.A.R. Labs scientist turned evil.
- Retcon: Post-Crisis, his powers were the result of seeking immortality and mutated himself. It is not known if his Bronze Age encounters with Superman are still canon as his first Post-Crisis appearance was in Captain Atom, yet his history with S.T.A.R. Labs and SKULL remained as established in The DC Comics Encyclopedia.
Atomic Skull II
Joseph Martin was an ordinary college student until he was caught in the blast radius of an alien "gene-bomb" that awakened his latent metagene, granting him super-strength and the ability to fire energy blasts, but also causing brain damage, turning his body's soft tissues invisible, and wreathing him head in green flame. Due to his brain injury, Martin believed he was the old 12-episode movie hero "the Atomic Skull" and that Superman was his archenemy, "Doctor Electron".
- Boom, Headshot!: He can survive being shot in the head, but it tends to blow his head apart.
- Corrupted Character Copy: Villain Atomic Skull is an evil riff on Ghost Rider being a Blessed with Suck burning Skull for a Head guy but the supernatural origins replaced with science based-ones. Also unlike Johnny Blaze Atomic Skull has killed innocent people. Harm to innocents was the one thing Johnny Blaze and Zarathos hated more than being bound together as a spirit of vengeance.
- Deadpan Snarker: He can get some good ones in by Lampshade Hanging.
- Heel–Face Turn: During the Superwoman storyline, he starts working for Maggie Sawyer in the MPD.
- Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: The serial Atomic Skull's girlfriend Zelda Wentworth is the daughter of his nemesis Doctor Electron.
- Mythology Gag: The Atomic Skull from the old serial wears a costume resembling the Silver Age Atomic Skull.
- Super-Strength: He's strong enough to fight Superman.
- Touched by Vorlons: He got his superpowers by being exposed to an alien bomb.
Bizarro
- "Me am Bizarro."
Bizarro has had many origins over the decades, but one thing remains consistent: he is an imperfect copy of Superman created by science gone awry. Bizarro has powers similar to Superman but lacks his sense of justice and has difficulty telling right from wrong, often reveling in destruction for its own sake. Still, his deformed features combined with his childlike lack of guile sometimes makes him a sympathetic figure—sort of a modern-day Frankenstein's Monster.
A gun-toting killer who can pull all kinds of weapons out of his pocket thanks to advanced technology. There have been three of these guys so far.
- BFG: All the Bloodsport's have featured these in their arsenals.
- Dark Age Of Super Names: Bloodsport is very dark age.
- Depleted Phlebotinum Shells: Both Bloodsports have used Kryptonite bullets as a part of their arsenal.
- Distaff Counterpart: Oneshot character Demolitia was a killer vigilante who had acquired the Bloodsport weapon-teleporter for her vendetta against Lexcorp. The cover of her only appearance is an exact homage to DuBois's debut.
- Evil Versus Evil: The boxing match between the two of them—though given Trent's racism it's hard not to cheer for DuBois, who was sick rather than outright evil.
- Killed Off for Real: Trent. Dubois as well for a time, but he returned to comic continuity alongside the release of The Suicide Squad.
- No Name Given: The identity of the third Bloodsport is unknown.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The unnamed third Bloodsport is essentially a carbon copy of the original Bloodsport Robert DuBois, even sharing his ethnicity.
Bloodsport I
The first one, Robert DuBois was an African-American man who dodged the draft during Vietnam. When his brother went in his place and was crippled, DuBois developed symptoms of PTSD and was in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years, before going on a rampage that was halted by Superman.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: To coincide with The Suicide Squad, DC Rebirth overhauled DuBois' story. In the new continuity, he did serve alongside his brother. But his brother was KIA and he went off the deep end, eventually ending up in Belle Reve as part of the new Suicide Squad lineup.
- Bald of Evil: DuBois.
- Cool Helmet: The one he gets in Rebirth is based off the one worn in the movie, only in the comics, it serves to protect his mind from the side effects of hopping around the multiverse.
- The Gunslinger
- Hyperspace Arsenal: Pulls any weapon he needs to out of thin air.
- Legacy Character: DuBois wore the outfit first, then Trent, and following both of their deaths, an unknown mercenary adopted the costume. But in the current continuity, it when back to DuBois.
- The Mentally Disturbed: DuBois suffered from PTSD like symptoms, talked constantly of a non-existent past, and had a history of institutionalisation that Luthor used to twist him to his beck and call.
- Phony Veteran: DuBois claimed to be a veteran in order to assuage his sense of guilt.
- Saying Too Much: During his initial rampage, he ranted about about he "didn't get [his] can blown off in 'Nam" so the people of Metropolis could squander their freedom. Jimmy Olsen, who was present for that, quickly realized that DuBois was in far too good a condition for him to have gotten his "can" blown off anywhere, and deduced that he was lying. Piecing together the truth, Jimmy contacted DuBois's brother, who convinced his guilt-ridden sibling to stand down.
- Scary Black Man: DuBois was a physically intimidating African-American man, who could pull weapons out of a literal Hyperspace Arsenal and posed a challenge to Superman. Yeah, he qualifies.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Robert DuBois adopted the persona of one, after discovering that his brother had become a quadruple amputee, developing an obsession with the Vietnam War and evidencing symptoms of PTSD. He would later claim that he and his brother both served, and that the people of Metropolis were wasting the freedoms that they had been hurt protecting.
- Shooting Superman: He actually did, as his guns tend to be very powerful and/or use Kryptonite ammo.
- Survivor's Guilt: DuBois suffered from a horrible case of this after his brother was crippled in his place in Vietnam.
- Unwitting Pawn: DuBois was a pawn of Luthor's, who equipped him with most of his gear.
- Written-In Absence: Where has he been in the Rebirth continuity having only recently appeared? Hopping around the Multiverse for Amanda Waller.
Bloodsport II
Following his imprisonment, the Bloodsport identity was adopted by Alex Trent, a member of the Aryan Brotherhood. When Trent was defeated and jailed, he and DuBois got into a boxing match, which Trent won by teleporting in his weapons. DuBois was killed in the subsequent riot and Trent was later burned to death by his Aryan Brotherhood "friends" for needing weapons to defeat a black man. The identity of Bloodsport and the technology associated with it have since been adopted by a third, unnamed, criminal mercenary.
- Affirmative-Action Legacy: Inverted - he's a white supremacist using an identity previously held by an African-American.
- Cheaters Never Prosper: Trent was killed by his own allies for cheating in his fight with DuBois, thus showing weakness to an "inferior race".
- Chest Insignia: Featured an Iron Cross on his chest.
- Motive Rant: During his first encounter with Superman, Trent goes on one of these to justify why he does what he does, including a bit where he claims that he and Superman are similar. It only serves to underline how sociopathic he actually is.Trent: You never lost a job because of a quota! Your son never idolized a basketball player instead of you! You're almost white, Superman—you'd do the same things in my place!
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Trent was a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, and held all the beliefs you would expect somebody like that to hold.
- Spree Killer: Trent was a bitter, racist, hate filled sociopath. Approached by Bloodthirst with the offer of getting revenge on the minorities Trent irrationally hated, he happily agreed to become an agent of chaos. He went on a rampage throughout Hob's Heights, his only goal being to kill as many blacks, Hispanics, Jews, aliens and "race traitors" as possible, his rampage slaughtered thirty people before Superman arrived. As such Bloodsport set fire to the heights and distracted Superman by launching two missiles one at Jimmy Olson, one at Ron Troupe. Seeming killing himself in an explosion, Trent survived and returned after most of Metropolis was destroyed to go on another spree killing, killing dozens more before being defeated.
- Those Wacky Nazis: Trent was a fairly hardcore Neo-Nazi.
One of Superman's longest-running and most enduring adversaries, Brainiac has taken a number of incarnations over the decades. Initially a Coluan super scientist named Vril Dox, he was executed for crimes on his homeworld, but not before managing to transfer his disembodied mind into a swarm of nanites. His consciousness took various bodies from then on, including a series of robots, a human mentalist named Milton Fine, a techno-organic nanoswarm, and a holographic energy being from the future. Eventually, these were all revealed to be probes sent by the real (non-disembodied) Coluan Brainiac (who had turned himself into a cyborg) in search of the last Kryptonian. In most guises, Brainiac is a collector and cataloger who takes samples of things, sometimes destroying what remains. Some of his samples include shrunken cities he keeps in bottles, most notably, the shrunken city of Kandor from Superman's home world. During the 1960s he often acted in concert with fellow Evil Genius, Lex Luthor; Post-Crisis, the two of them have usually been positioned as rivals, both with one another, and for the title of Superman's archenemy.
Brainiac's powers and abilities have changed as often as his origins and personality. During the 1960s he possessed no genuine superpowers, but utilized advanced technology, such as his iconic force-shield, shrink ray, flying saucer, telekinetic devices, and a headpiece that shot powerful beams belt to fluster the Man of Steel. In the Bronze Age, when he was first reimagined as a robot, he became a Walking Armoury, equipped with a wide variety of alien weaponry, technopathy, and superhuman physical attributes, while following the Crisis on Infinite Earths and his possession of Milton Fine he became a powerful psychic. Subsequent media portrayed him as a technopathic intelligence, capable of possessing almost any technology, a series of robotic bodies (including Brainiac 2.5, Brainiac 6, and Nanoswarm Brainiac) capable of fighting the Man of Steel in addition to being technopathic, a mechanical giant called Brainiac 13 who overrode Metropolis' entire power grid and could smack around Superman with no effort, and finally as a Coluan cyborg, with the ability to match Superman blow-for-blow and even overpowering him, on top of possessing more minor versions of all his previous abilities such as technopathy and telepathy. His bodies have been even more numerous; in addition to Milton Fine and countless robots, he has possessed Lex Luthor, Lena Luthor, Doomsday, and even, thanks to time travel, himself. One thing that has remained consistent about Brainiac is his status as both one of the smartest beings in the galaxy (a "12th Level Intelligence"), and one of the worst members of Superman's Rogues Gallery, with a death toll numbering in the billions.
One of the few Superman adversaries not named Luthor to have actual name recognition in the general public, Brainiac and his various future selves and alternate universe counterparts have played major roles in numerous Superman stories over the years, including Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, JLA: Earth-2, Panic in the Sky!, Superman: Y2K, Our Worlds at War, the self-titled Superman: Brainiac arc, and New Krypton, to name just a few. He has appeared frequently in other media, including television shows Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League, Smallville, and the animated film Superman Unbound, as well as video games and novels, most notably as the Big Bad of Injustice 2. He's also the source of the term "brainiac", a portmanteau of "brain" and "maniac". In 2009, IGN rated Brainiac the 17th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.
Now has his own page onto which tropes about him should go.
Hank Henshaw and three other astronauts were accidentally exposed to cosmic radiation and given superpowers. Hank was the only one stable enough to survive, as an energy being capable of inhabiting machinery. He initially lacked control over his energy form, accidentally wreaking havoc on all machines around his host; he decided to leave Earth by hijacking a small portion of Superman's Kryptonian birthing matrix/starship. Combining the Kryptonian technology with traces of Superman's DNA from the rocket, he made a Cyborg-Superman body. Over time in space, he went mad and blamed Superman for "exiling" him, developing the delusion that Superman had trapped Henshaw in his own birthing matrix and sent it into space believing the machinery too complex for Henshaw to manipulate. He returned to Earth and posed as Superman during his death long enough to prepare for an invasion. His destruction of Coast City was the last straw that drove Hal Jordan mad, making him effectively a nemesis for both heroes. He has since become Grandmaster of the Manhunters, and served in the Sinestro Corps, making life miserable for Superman and Green Lantern alike.
For more information regarding Hank, see his character page here.
Despotic ruler of the planet Apokolips. This evil god of tyranny often comes in conflict with Superman and other superheroes. You can find out more about him in his own article.
A monster who showed up on Earth one day and started trashing everything for no reason. After tangling with a number of outclassed heroes, he found his match in Superman, with the two battling to the death (giving Superman his only canonical death). Doomsday is incredibly fast, strong, and invulnerable. He is cunning but not intelligent. More importantly, he has the ability to regenerate from any injury, even death, and adapts new defenses in the process so he can't be killed the same way twice. Eventually, it was revealed that Doomsday was engineered on Krypton and meant to be the ultimate life form. In spite of this, Doomsday has suffered Villain Decay. Even though he should be getting more powerful with each fight, Superman has been more and more successful in each rematch.
During the events of Reign of Doomsday, an attempt was made to undo this villain decay, by unleashing four clones of Doomsday, each of which effortlessly defeated one of Steel, the Eradicator, the Cyborg-Superman and Supergirl, and Superboy. The mastermind of this plot was Lex Luthor, but his plan was hijacked by the Doomslayer, a sentient Doomsday clone who aimed to destroy himself, the other Doomsdays, and anybody else who had knowledge of them, all in the name of saving the universe from Doomsday.
In the New 52, Doomsday returned as a Walking Wasteland, whose mere presence causes everything around him to die. Attacking Krypton decades ago, he was exiled to the Phantom Zone, but inadvertently freed in the present day. Superman makes numerous efforts to halt, and finally kill, the rampaging monster, but all of them fail, with one even seeing Superman possessed by Doomsday.
For more information about Doomsday and related characters, see here.
A vast criminal syndicate created by Darkseid to carry out his plans on Earth, Intergang supplies criminals with Apokoliptan weaponry and seeks to undermine humanity. They are a dominant force in the Metropolis underworld, and their various incarnations have regularly clashed with Superman.
- Depending on the Writer: Whether they are all about serving Darkseid, or if they also hope to make a profit as professional criminals. Granted, some of this is also dependent on who is running the group.
- Elite Mooks: During the Morgan Edge, Vincent Edge, and early Bruno Mannheim years, Intergang employed a small army of highly-trained, well-equipped, and disciplined soldiers, including elite Shock-Troopers, faceless Gassers, and gravity-defying Wall-Crawlers. Collectively, they could occasionally slow Superman down for a couple of minutes, more than your average variety street thug could ever hope to.
- Double Meaning: For reasons that should be obvious, they tend to be fairly vague about what they're 'inter', leading most people to assume they're just international (like an Evil Counterpart of Interpol) rather than interplanetary.
- Joker Immunity: A variant that's justified in-universe. Incarnations of Intergang collapse, various leaders are killed or imprisoned, but the organization itself will always recover and bedevil Superman again. Since it's organised, equipped, and funded by the alien gods of Apokolips, all of its Earthly assets are expendable and replaceable, and its supernatural durability as a criminal organisation gives it an excellent reputation in the underworld that greatly helps with hiring new recruits. Who doesn't want to be part of Earth's only Superman-proof crime syndicate?
- The Quisling: Selling Earth out to Darkseid, one soul at a time!
- Religion of Evil: Not originally, but under Bruno Mannheim's leadership, Intergang began to subscribe to one, worshiping criminality.
- The Syndicate: The most powerful one in Metropolis.
Morgan Edge (Post-Crisis)
A slick Metropolis businessman, president of Galaxy Broadcasting. The Pre-Crisis Edge was insufferably arrogant but not really evil; that version is listed on the Supporting Cast page. The Post-Crisis Morgan Edge was Intergang's initial leader, and a willing servant of Darkseid.
- Adaptational Villainy: Pre-Crisis, he could be ruthless as a businessman, but he wasn't evil and was a Benevolent Boss; it was a short-lived evil clone who had ties to Darkseid and Intergang. Post-Crisis and every version since has seen him as a Corrupt Corporate Executive with legitimate ties to Intergang.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Post-Crisis and onward.
- Depending on the Writer: It's a little fuzzy, but the implication seems to be that Jack Kirby created Edge intending him to turn out to be a villain, but not everybody around the DC office got the memo, so other writers had him arrogant but basically decent. The inconsistency was eventually explained via the evil clone, mentioned above. Post-Crisis, Edge has been depicted as an unrepentent S.O.B. as Kirby intended, despite the arguably more complex semi-benevolent version having been around as a major character for fifteen years before the Crisis.
- The Mole: For Intergang.
- Pompous Political Pundit: In "New Krypton", he's an Expy of Glenn Beck. He's hired by General Lane to spread populist anti-Kryptonian propaganda on his news show.
Vincent Edge
Morgan Edge's equally evil father, Vincent Edge took over his son's role as head of Intergang after Morgan was forced to step down due to stress.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: In his role as the head of Galaxy Broadcasting.
- Dirty Old Man: He isn't above making inappropriate remarks around younger women.
- Evil Old Folks: In his seventies, and still a gangster.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Once used the death of Cat Grant's son to try and hit on her.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: For his son, Morgan Edge.
Bruno "Ugly" Mannheim
A truly wicked mob boss, "Ugly" Mannheim is Intergang's fourth leader and Darkseid's chosen apostle on Earth. Mannheim was touched by Darkseid himself and is as close to pure evil as a human can be.
- Bad Boss: To say the least!
- Big Bad Duumvirate: For a while he played this role alongside Vincent Edge, heading up the criminal side of Intergang, while Vincent oversaw the legitimate part of Morgan Edge's businesses.
- Card-Carrying Villain: It goes with the faith.
- Generation Xerox: His father, Boss Moxie, was also a mobster, and member of Intergang, back in the 1940s.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Had a face marred by the evil variety when he first appeared; hence the nickname.
- I'm a Humanitarian: He cooks and eats underlings who fail him.
- The Leader: Probably the most iconic and recognizable of Intergang's leaders.
- Religion of Evil: He worships the Crime Bible, and his beliefs are Exactly What It Says on the Tin. He even sees Cain as his icon.
"Boss" Moxie Mannheim
Intergang's original leader in the 1920-40s, he was cloned by Cadmus Labs, and with help from clones of several of his key subordinates, murdered Vincent Edge and took over Intergang while his son, Bruno, was in exile on Apokolips.
- The Don: A classic forties gangster in the Al Capone mold, right down to the pinstripe suit.
- Neck Snap: Died when Superboy-Prime broke his neck during Infinite Crisis.
Ginny "Torcher" McCree
Boss Moxie's moll, Ginny McCree was cloned back to life by Cadmus Labs and granted pyrokintetic abilities.
- Dark Action Girl: Whose control over flame made her highly dangerous.
- Playing with Fire: It's right there in her nickname, even.
- Unholy Matrimony: With Boss Moxie.
Mike "Machine" Gunn
Boss Moxie's right-hand man and enforcer, Mike Gunn was one of the original Intergang members who were cloned by Cadmus. Outfitted with cybernetic arms that could convert into automatic weapons, he resumed his old role as the new Boss Moxie's buttonman.
- Arm Cannon: Arm machine gun, anyway.
- Bottomless Magazines: An actual ability. His guns are equipped with self-replicating ammo.
- Cyborg: One of the many half-man/half-machine villains whom Superman has clashed with.
- The Dragon: To Boss Moxie.
Noose
A killer with a penchant for strangulation, Noose was kept on Boss Moxie's payroll to eliminate competition. He was one of the original Intergang members to be cloned at Cadmus Labs, and was given elongated, super-strong fingers to better help him do his job.
- Combat Tentacles: He can stretch his fingers and use them in combat like tentacles.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The odds of a guy named "Noose" being a good person are somewhat limited.
- Professional Killer: A "professional strangler" if you want to get technical.
- Rubber Man: He can stretch his fingers and use them in combat like tentacles.
An arrogant radio host whose boss fired her for criticising Superman. She gained powers over electricity and decided to take her anger out on the hero, who she blamed for the loss of her job.
- Adaptational Heroism: Unlike her animated counterpart, she eventually makes a Heel–Face Turn.
- Attention Whore: Somewhat subverted in the comics. She didn't end up that way until the station she was a Shock Jock at was converted into a country station and her manager fired her for bashing Superman (who had saved his wife once before). The accident that turned her into Livewire was what really pushed her over the edge.
- Canon Immigrant: She originated as a villain created for Superman: The Animated Series and was eventually integrated into the mainline comics in an issue of Action Comics written by Gail Simone.
- Dumbass DJ: Before gaining her powers, she was a popular DJ who spent all her time insulting Superman in order to boost her ratings.
- Energy Absorption: She feeds on electricity and can absorb the energy of anything electric, including thunder, into her body to discharge it back in lightning bolts.
- Evil Counterpart: To Strange Visitor, as another blue-haired, blue-skinned woman with electrical powers. After Livewire's Heel–Face Turn, she inherits the late Strange Visitor's "containment suit" costume to help her control her powers.
- Heel–Face Turn: After the events of Superman: Back In Action, where she helped save earth from "The Auctioneer", she agreed to get help, and was taken to S.T.A.R. Labs for treatment. It finally stuck after a minor relapse (Superman #711, July 2011), when she was placed in Superman's old containment suit (Superman Blue), which helped to clear her head by regulating her body's energy, bringing her back to her senses. Seeing she was truly sorry for what she had done, Superman vouched for her testimony and she was re-admitted to the S.T.A.R. Labs reform program under Dr. Sterling Roquette (former member of Project Cadmus). Superman, impressed by her progress, later inducted Leslie into the second incarnation of the Supermen of America.
- My Suit Is Also Super: After her Heel–Face Turn, she was given the late Strange Visitor's outfit (itself based on one briefly worn by Superman) which helped Leslie control her electrical powers.
- Navel-Deep Neckline: She has a large lightning bolt-shaped slit that goes down to her belly button, although no cleavage is actually drawn.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Her comic-book origins are a Shout-Out to Howard Stern, who also lost his job as a DJ in a similar fashion to Leslie.
- Psycho Electro: Her powers affected her brain, kicking her natural Attention Whore tendencies Up to Eleven. Superman eventually fixed this by giving her one of his old containment suits from that time he was an Energy Being, facilitating a Heel–Face Turn.
- Psychopathic Manchild: She has a tendency to lash out when she doesn't get her way, with Superman even outright comparing her behavior to a child throwing a tantrum during her appearance in Superman: Grounded.Superman: She's acting like a child throwing a tantrum. A child who can move at the speed of lighting and is just as deadly.
- Shock and Awe: She has the ability to absorb, generate and project volumes of electrical energy of an extremely high voltage. She also has the ability to transform into living energy.
- Shock Jock: Her pre-power career was that of a radio DJ who often trash-talked Superman.
- Vapor Wear: Her supervillain outfit is a one-piece with no undergarments.
- Villainous Crush: Albeit a minor one. During a story arc in Action Comics (Superman: Back In Action), she had to team up with a group of metahumans to take down a god-like extraterrestrial named "The Auctioneer," one of them being Nightwing. During this partnership, we find out that she finds him very attractive.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Getting her wet shorts her out. Counts as
Fridge Brilliance when you remember that her abilities are electrically-based. - With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Because of her ability to become, discharge, and absorb pure energy, her body's own energy levels were in a state of constant flux, affecting her brain chemistry as well. The more energy she absorbed, the harder it was for her to think straight. This, in combination with environmental stressors, was what led to her unstable personality. Thankfully, Superman was able to rectify this by placing her in his old containment suit, returning her to normal.
This intergalactic bounty hunter crosses paths with Superman every once in a while. Following no code but his own, he is sometimes an enemy, and sometimes a reluctant ally. You can find out more about him in his own article.
A snobby Brit with advanced telekinesis and telepathy. He led The Elite, a Captain Ersatz of The Authority. The team went on a crusade, savagely beating and murdering criminals instead of arresting them. They mocked Superman, calling him naive and obsolete for holding on to his morals and refusing to kill. Knowing that their bad example couldn't go on, Superman challenged them to a fight and humiliated them, exposing them as hypocrites in front of the whole world when Black called him out on seemingly murdering his teammates.
Desiring revenge, Black discovered Superman was Clark Kent. He engineered a mass attack on anyone in the entire world who had ever shown Clark Kent one iota of kindness. Superman beat back all the assassins, but Black caught Lois Lane and seemingly murdered her. Despite his rage, the Man of Steel decided not to kill him, shocking him and allowing him to realize that Superman is a true hero. He dispelled the illusion, revealing that Lois was still alive. He erased the knowledge of Clark's secret from everyone's minds, then killed himself. In the New 52, Manchester Black is a high-ranking S.T.A.R. Labs executive.
- Abusive Parents: One of the reasons why he was so cynical was that he was implied to have been both physically and sexually abused by his parents.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Pre-Flashpoint. After seeing that Superman won't kill him, Black reminisces about his own past and how he tried to be a hero himself, just to have his dreams crushed. He hated Superman for reminding of his past, but after realizing Superman truly was a hero, Black realized that he was fighting a good man, making him a villain. He took his own life afterwards.
- Antagonist Abilities: While the rest of his team had powers that could go either way, telepathy is something typically seen as a "villainous" power. He also has access to a teleporter, which he openly uses to Troll the Man of Steel.
- Anti-Hero: During his first outing he was an Unscrupulous Hero, executing criminals, terrorists and anyone who gets in his way. Once in every blue moon, he still manages do be this when the situation favors him (such as when he was a member of the Suicide Squad).
- Anti-Villain: After being defeated by Superman, he became a much more obsessed character noted for his willingness to get his hands dirty in the name of (his own warped view of) justice.
- Ax-Crazy: He delights in violence. He won't even limit his violent acts to the perpetrators and will extend it to their families.
- Black-and-White Insanity: If you ask him, you're either a righteous man or you deserve to die by his hand. There's no middle ground.Manchester Black: Black is black, white is white, there is the innocent and the guilty...
- Brains Evil, Brawn Good: Played with. Manchester's telepathy and telekinesis are obviously mind-based, but Superman's powers are largely physical and rely on muscle. But in action, Manchester is an uneducated thug who uses his powers for brute force. Superman is much more intelligent and beats Manchester through strategy.
- Breakout Villain: Intended as just a One-Shot Character meant to critique The Authority. The popularity of the story however made him a recurring member of Superman's Rogues Gallery instead.
- The Bus Came Back: Twice. First, when he was suddenly reintroduced in the New 52 Teen Titans run, before being put on a bus. Then, in Superman (Rebirth), he makes another return in order to groom Jon into being the Superman he wants Clark to be.
- Cain and Abel: Black's ghost takes on this role towards his reformed sister, Vera.
- Captain Ersatz: He's basically Jenny Sparks from Wild Storm's StormWatch and The Authority; English flag motif on an otherwise Civvie Spandex costume and being the leader of murderous anti-villains/anti-heroes who have a gigantic ship from which they pass down judgement. This was intentional, as the Elite were Joe Kelly's way of deconstructing Stormwatch and The Authority to begin with.
- Catchphrase: "Black is black, white is white", in DC Rebirth, signifying his Black-and-White Insanity (Plus being a play of words on his name).
- The Corrupter: In New 52 continuity he tried to play this way to Teen Titans and in DC Rebirth he switched to Jonathan Kent.
- The Cynic: His main point of contention with Superman, who played The Idealist. Black thinks he's a hero who's not afraid to do bad, even deplorable things if it'll help the world in the long run. But as long as Superman's around, being utterly perfect and saving the world every day, Black is just another bad guy.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Implied by his reminiscing about his past when he's Driven to Suicide. He notes he used to have dreams as a boy and his dreams were crushed. We don't see much more than that.
- Demonic Possession: A part of Manchester Black seemingly survived his suicide, and proceeded to bodyjack his sister, Vera, trying to force her to destroy London (in reality, this was just Vera's latent multiple personality disorder amplified by her exposure to the Whorlogog). During Rebirth, his mind gets expelled from his body and now seems to inhabit a cow.
- Driven to Suicide: Following his Heel Realization.
- Evil Brit: Other than his thick English accent, omnipresent Union Jack tattoo, and a few snippets he told about his life, very little is known about his background, although he is most likely from the city of Manchester, England.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Was determined to drive Superman over the edge to kill him in order to prove that if driven far enough, Superman will throw his ideals out the window and show he is no better than Manchester. The fact that Superman won't give into the desire for revenge causes Manchester to realize that Superman truly was a hero, and he was a villain. Has gotten over this by Rebirth, mocking Superman with the knowledge he won't kill him.
- Evil Is Petty: Manchester is a rather petty and vindictive man. His hatred for Superman is equal parts ideological divide and sheer hatred due Superman humiliating him.
- Expy Coexistence: He was created for a group called The Elite that was based on The Authority. In Superman and the Authority he ends up in The Authority where it's said that The Elite were imitating them in-universe.
- Finger Gun: One of his trademark attacks, borrowed from Superman vs. the Elite. He makes a finger gun and "fires", releasing an extremely powerful kinetic blast. It's often his Coup de Grace.
- Glass Cannon: Possess formidable and high destructive Psychic Powers, and is very creative in their use, allowing him to even hurt Superman by attacking his body from the inside. But aside from that he's physically just a normal human.
- Heel Realization: Black try to force Superman into a position where he would have to kill a man, but his plan failed despite all the lengths Black went to. Distraught at the revelation that he had become a villain himself, Black made the supervillains forget that Superman is really Clark Kent, and then used his telekinetic powers to take his own life.
- He's Back!: Makes quite a dramatic return during Rebirth.Superman: MANCHESTER BLACK!?(Superman fires heat beams at him)(Black casually stops the beams mid-air and lights his cigarette with them)Manchester Black: Yeah, mate. Me.(proceeds to hurl Superman like a ragdoll with his mind)
- Humiliation Conga: After he was defeated in "Rebirth" he is trapped inside the body of cow, and his powers are too weak to fight off some kids trying to push him over.
- Hypocrite: Freaks out when he believes Superman has crossed the line and killed his teammates.
- He boasted that he and the Elite were the heroes that world wanted. He also boasted the Might Makes Right, and that if anybody defied the Elite, they would be killed. Despite his claims, he doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks.
- Jerkass: Even at his greatest, he is still rude, obnoxious, violent, hypocritical, racist and disrespectful.
- Knight of Cerebus: Not in the initial story, but after it he started threatening Superman with cruel and hard to uncover schemes and his powers with lack of moral restraints make him a credible threat, meaning his return usually is a sign things are going to turn dark.
- Knight Templar: Views himself as the sole arbiter of justice and anyone against him, an enemy.
- Man of Kryptonite: Psychic Powers are one of Superman's most notable weaknesses, and Black is a very powerful psychic.
- Manipulative Bastard: Black is very emotionally manipulative. He had actually had some success convincing Superboy of his views.
- Might Makes Right: His belief that he's doing the right thing is based entirely on the fact that he's the strongest super-human around.
- Mind Rape: Became quite adept at this in Superman (Rebirth), successfully breaking Superboy.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Despite his claims of fighting for justice, it does seem like his ethos is little more than a facade for his narcissism and sadism.
- One-Hit Kill: He can use his telekinesis to pinch a target's blood vessels together, causing them to have a stroke. Or snap someone's neck.
- Oral Fixation: Often chews an unlit match.
- Pet the Dog: After he fails to drive Superman to kill him, he acknowledges that Superman truly is a hero before removing all knowledge of his identity from his enemies.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: In the comics, he's disparaged people of African and Korean descent; calls Superman in a debilitated state in Superman vs. the Elite "spastic"; and in both versions, his reaction to Superman revealing his ruse, how he beat the Elite, and reinforcing his beliefs was to call Superman a "poncy (a homophobic slur in the UK) twit" .
- Psychic Powers:
- Master of Illusion: He was also able to create very detailed illusions on a vast scale. Even Superman can't see through them.
- Mind over Matter: Manchester Black is an incredibly gifted telekinetic, and was capable of amazingly precise use of his telekinesis. He was able to give Superman the equivalent of a stroke, for example, by pinching blood vessels in Superman's brain.
- Mind Manipulation: He also managed to control entire groups of supervillains with immediate ease.
- Telepathy: He can read and manipulate the minds of others and even higher order animals. He was skilled enough to block the mental probes of Martian Manhunter's mental probes cause mass individuals to forget information.
- Self-Made Orphan: Used his telepathy to dish out a heart attack to his abusive father. It's implied this is one of the first things he did when he found out about his powers.
- Small Name, Big Ego: In his debut. While certainly powerful, his arrogance far outstrips his ability. Best demonstrated in his debut, he was convinced that his team would not only be to kill Superman, but any other hero who disagreed with them. note By Rebith he is still arrogant but he has an understanding of his limits.
- Smug Snake: Very smug about his position and powers.
- Smug Super: Has no problem reminding everyone how powerful he is and that he has no qualms whatsoever about using lethal force. Has even fewer problems running the planet, for no other reason than nobody being strong enough to stop him.
- Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred!: Attempts this on Superman by fooling him into think Lois was dead, and then intended for Superman to realize Lois was alive and he throw out his ethics for nothing. It didn't work.
- Took a Level in Badass: When he returns in Superman (Rebirth), he's a far greater threat than he originally was. He's now a successful Manipulative Bastard who breaks Superboy and turns him against Superman.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: Is a "hero" who proudly ditches the concept, making himself into a target for Superman.
- The Unfettered: Manchester Black will eagerily resort to lethal force against any threat he sees. That includes anyone or anything who dares to disagree with him.
- Unreliable Narrator: When telling his origin to Superman, chooses to omit various... unsavory portions.
- Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Has a Union Jack tattooed on his chest.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Assumed he and The Elite were the protagonists in their debut, anything they were doing was in the right and anybody who opposed them was in the wrong. He would be right if he were in The Authority, but as he was in a Superman comic, his violent ways made him a villain.
Created for Superman: The Animated Series, Mercy Graves is Lex Luthor's hired muscle, right-hand woman, and bodyguard. Much like Harley Quinn, she immigrated to the comics during the events of Batman: No Man's Land, but unlike in the DC Animated Universe, Mercy was reimagined as an Amazon.
- Adaptational Badass: DCAU Mercy was a Badass Normal street urchin whom Luthor took off the street to make his bodyguard. When introduced in the comics, Mercy was changed into an Amazon.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: A brunette in the DCAU, in pre-Flashpoint comics (as well as Superman: Brainiac Attacks and Superman: Doomsday) Mercy was a blonde.
- Adaptation Species Change: In the DCAU, she was a normal human. In the comics, she's an Amazon.
- Bodyguard Babes: In addition to acting as muscle for Luthor, she's also his bodyguard.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: Downplayed. While Luthor is certainly capable in both combat and intelligence, Mercy is no slouch in fighting either.
- Canon Immigrant: She was originally created for Superman: The Animated Series.
- Dark Action Girl: Outside of Superman: Doomsday and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Mercy is usually presented as very good in a fight and in the comics, she is an Amazon.
- The Dragon: She's Lex Luthor's right hand woman.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: She was briefly a member of Infinity Inc. before resuming being a villain.
- Race Lift: Originally white, The Batman, the New 52, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice made her Asian.
- Subordinate Excuse: It's not uncommon for her deep loyalty to her boss to be depicted as at least partially romantic, although the odds on someone as self-absorbed as Luthor noticing (let alone reciprocating) are vastly lower.
The Six Million Dollar Man, if he was a petty criminal and his robotic body was powered by Kryptonite. Left horribly injured by a tragic accident, John Corben was rebuilt as a robot, with a chunk of Green Kryptonite powering his heart. Regardless of continuity, he inevitably starts off trying to return to his old life, but circumstance force him into villainy and he never goes back, his use of Green K making him a natural adversary for Superman as he attempts to resume his criminal career. Courtesy of a series of upgrades from Luthor, Brainiac, and Neron he is able to easily trade blows with Superman, yet his low-IQ means that he is rarely more than a single-issue villain, or The Dragon to the actual Arc Villain. He was revamped as a former soldier during the New Krypton storyline, where he, Superwoman, and Reactron serve as the muscle for General Lane's anti-Kryptonian conspiracy.
- Abhorrent Admirer: Superman: Secret Origin has him retconned into a guy who thinks he's Lois Lane's ex-boyfriend, but she states they had one date and she's avoided him and thrown away flowers he keep sending ever since. Lois despises how much he wants to impress her father, namely thinking she's wasting her time with her career and should just settle down and have kids with him.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: In the Silver Age, he was a reporter turned criminal upon his accident. Post-Crisis, he was a criminal from the start. In Secret Origin, he was a U.S. soldier serving under General Lane.
- Alternate Company Equivalent: Secret Origin and New Krypton made him into one for Hulk adversary Glenn Talbot—a romantic rival for the hero's girlfriend, who also acts as muscle for said hero's General Ripper father-in-law, and whom said father-in-law views as the son (and son-in-law) he'd rather have.
- Attack Its Weak Point: His greatest source of power, the exposed Kryptonite heart in the center of his chest, that makes him a walking Man of Kryptonite is also his greatest weakness paradoxically. The key to defeating Metallo for Superman is to target his Kryptonite heart in some way, whether it's hitting Metallo with something hard from behind to knock it out, grab some hard shield-like item to slam it into Metallo's chest to cover it up, or in Superman: Secret Origin, fling a sewer lid at Metallo's chest, melt it into burning hot magma mid-air, and make that magma splat all over Metallo's chest to cover up the Kryptonite and dispatch him from there.
- Boisterous Bruiser: Usually loves to boast and taunt his enemies.
- Buried Alive: Does this to Superman and Batman in one crossover.
- Catchphrase:
- Whenever Metallo appears in non-comic media, you can expect that he'll make an Obligatory Joke about Superman "looking green at the gills" while exposing him to kryptonite.
- It's also common for other characters to react to his appearance with a surprised utterance of his name, to which he'll pretty much always respond with "In the flesh."
- Chest Blaster: His most consistent weapon is his ability to project rays from his Green Kryptonite heart.
- Colonel Badass: In New Krypton where Lane has him enlisted as Colonel Corben.
- Colonel Kilgore: Definitely displays this attitude in New Krypton, where he's far too eager to get into action, and has been promoted by Lane to hold the rank of colonel.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: He wears green and has a Green K heart. Reactron wears gold and has a Gold K heart.
- Cool Helmet/Cool Mask: In New Krypton he wears a skull mask over his human face in order to evoke his old mechanical appearance.
- Cranial Processing Unit: It varies, but Metallo is frequently portrayed as being able to survive so long as his metal skull remains intact.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: He wasn't really a nice person before becoming a cyborg, but being trapped in an unfeeling cybernetic shell pushed him into rampant psychopathy. Especially notable in the Rebirth continuity, where Brainiac possesses Corben through his Metal Zero armor and his body is ravaged after Superman frees him. He's rebuilt with a Kryptonite heart and when he wakes up, he goes right off the deep end.
- Deal with the Devil: Has made deals with Neron, Brainiac 13, Lex Luthor, and General Lane in exchange for upgrades.
- Depending on the Artist: Whether he's depicted as fully mechanical or hides his cyborg status beneath a coating of flesh. Also whether his mechanical parts are integrated into him, or worn as part of an exoskeleton or suit of Powered Armor, and whether he is human size or larger.
- Depending on the Writer:
- What sort of life Corben had before becoming Metallo, and if he wants to go back to it. Also how smart and how strong he is, and how much of him is mechanical.
- Like Parasite, he can be presented differently under different writers or time eras. Sometimes he'll be presented as nothing but a vile, rotten person with no redeeming qualities. But in other stories, he can be given more sympathetic qualities or have a sister he wants to protect.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: After the accident that robbed him of his humanity, Corben was unsure of what to do with his new life. He soon settled on destroying Superman and generally serving as a walking weapon for more ambitious villains like Luthor and Brainiac.
- The Dragon: He usually ends up being this to other, more recognizable supervillains, like Luthor or Brainiac. In these scenarios, he’s usually The Brute - whenever a bigger villain needs to keep the Man of Steel busy while they plot behind the scenes, they’ll typically send Metallo.
- Dumb Muscle: When written by anybody other than Geoff Johns, who makes him a far more calculating ex-soldier. Under most other writers, Corben remains an uneducated rube who is fairly easily manipulated by other villains.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Philip Kennedy Johnson's run on Action Comics revealed the existence of John's sister, Tracy, who often visits him in prison and still cares deeply for her brother.
- Evil Mentor: Reactron was already far more evil than Metallo, but it's Metallo who gives him lessons on how to be an effective supervillain during New Krypton.
- Evil Versus Evil/Eviler than Thou: In Last Son and New Krypton where he faces down General Zod's forces.
- Eye Beams: Frequently projects Kryptonite rays from his vision ports.
- Fantastic Racism: Displays some of this attitude towards Kryptonians during New Krypton, though it's nowhere near as extreme as Lane or Reactron's.
- Feel No Pain: Metallo's cyborg bodies are rarely equipped with pain sensors. While there are certainly advantages to be had in this, the sensory deprivation has at times driven him even crazier.
- Freudian Excuse: He grew up with an abusive father who murdered his uncle in front of him and forced him to cover it up. John later shot his father himself to protect his sister Tracy. Understandably, John was traumatized by this and grew up to become a dysfunctional Sociopathic Soldier, and then Braniac took over his body, forcing him to be transformed into a cyborg, which drove him insane.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: John Corben was a petty criminal who became a supervillain overnight thanks to some fancy surgery and a conversion into a cyborg. Secret Origin tries to avert this by making him one of the U.S. Army's most highly decorated soldiers before he received his injuries.
- Full-Conversion Cyborg: His brain was placed into his robotic, Kryptonite-powered body after a freak accident.
- Genius Bruiser: Metallo isn't one to get a Phd, but he's proven quite adept for technology and robotics thanks to being a machine himself. After his first upgrade he could use his tech assimilating powers to adapt in more creative ways.
- Gone Horribly Right: Metallo's creator Professor Vale aimed to make Corben into a superhuman weapon. Unfortunately for everyone, he succeeded.
- Healing Factor: His robotic bodies sometimes include a self-repair function that causes him to stitch himself back together.
- Heart Light: His heart always glows green from the Kryptonite.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Metallo's sadistic executions of several of Zod's soldiers likely qualify as such. He himself has frequently been on the receiving end of this, with everyone from Luthor to Ultraman having, at some point, torn out his heart for the Kryptonite.
- Hollywood Cyborg: A living brain powered by a Kryptonite heart, encased in a steel body, and in turn encased in vat-grown flesh? It doesn't get much more Hollywood than that.
- Humongous Mecha: Depending on the body he inhabits, he can become a skyscraper sized behemoth.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Goes through bouts of this, but always comes back to being a supervillain.
- Implacable Man: Is sometimes played this way, with his nigh-indestructible body, and ability to weaken Superman making him virtually impossible to stop. He'll just keep on advancing, no matter what Superman (or anybody else) throws at him.
- Jerkass: Not really as bad as say, Mongul or Luthor, but he's still a violent, arrogant asshole who wants to beat and kill Superman just to stroke his ego.
- Just Following Orders: In New Krypton, where in contrast to Reactron, who gloats about how much he loves to kill, Corben and Superwoman both use this as their excuse for their actions.
- Laughably Evil: Mostly in the 80s to 90s, where he's characterized as a hammy Boisterous Bruiser who can't stop quipping. His bug eyed design helps.
- Legacy Character: Pre-Crisis, John Corben eventually died and his brother Roger had himself converted into a cyborg so he could get revenge on Superman as the second Metallo.
- Man of Kryptonite: Metallo's Green K heart does bad things to Kryptonians, and he's often able to project its energies in the form of Eye Beams and other weapons. During the Last Son arc, Lex Luthor upgraded him to carry Red K, Blue K, and Gold K as well, though he's lost these extras by the time of New Krypton. Of all the Kryptonite-powered villains Superman has faced, he is easily the most popular and most enduring, in a large part thanks to the fact that he can back up his Flaw Exploitation with actual physical power. (Surprisingly, however, he is not the Trope Namer for this concept - that honor goes to the much lesser-known villain, Kryptonite Man.)
- Made of Indestructium: Metallo's shell is forged of "Metal 0", a nearly indestructible alloy that, in modern continuity at least, was made by Luthor.
- Mighty Glacier: Compared to anybody else on Earth he's a Lightning Bruiser. Compared to most Superman adversaries, his Implacable Man status makes him more of this.
- Muggle Power: As part of General Lane's forces.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: Metallo's bodies are almost impossible to destroy in the first place, and sometimes include a self-repair function.
- Only Sane Man: Of the forces arrayed against New Krypton, Corben seems to be the only one who is even remotely sane. He lacks Lane's obsessions and paranoia, Luthor's narcissism, Superwoman's need to prove herself, and Reactron and Codename: Assassin's bloodlust. All he wants is to do his job, get paid, and go home.
- Parent-Preferred Suitor: In Secret Origin; General Lane is very supportive of the idea of Corben marrying Lois (despite Lois' disgust for him), seeing in Corben the son he always wanted.
- Power Palms: Sometimes houses lasers or Kryptonite dischargers in them.
- The Quisling: Sells out Earth to Brainiac 13 when the futuristic robot conquers Metropolis.
- Retcon: During Secret Origin and New Krypton, Metallo's origins were altered to make him a former soldier reinstated by General Lane, and granted the rank of Colonel.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: During Last Son and New Krypton where, his heart aside, he looks completely human. In a Shout-Out to the T-800, he's revealed to have vat grown clone flesh over his mechanical exoskeleton.
- Secondary Color Nemesis: Wore green in both Secret Origin and New Krypton.
- Shapeshifter Weapon: After his upgrades from Brainiac 13 and Neron. He seems to have lost these abilities by New Krypton though.
- SkeleBot 9000: Post-Crisis, as a direct Shout-Out to the T-800.
- Skull for a Head: His mechanical head always resembles a skull. In New Krypton, he wears a skull mask over his face in a Shout-Out to this.
- Sociopathic Soldier: In his most recent Post-Crisis incarnation, he was revealed to have once been one of these. Promoted to Colonel Kilgore by General Lane during New Krypton.
- Strong as They Need to Be: Whether he can give Superman a lot of trouble as a Man of Kryptonite or Superman can dispatch him quickly and efficiently will vary depending on the needs of the story or Depending on the Writer.
- Super-Speed: It's rarely elaborated on, but he can keep up with Superman. That said, he's usually just enough slower to do the classic Implacable Man routine of slowly gaining on your enemies until you catch up.
- Super-Strength: Metallo's strong enough to seriously injure Superman, which even with the Kryptonite takes some doing.
- Technopath: Post-Neron upgrades, which allowed him to fuse any piece of technology or metal into his shell.
- Terminator Impersonator: Some portrayals incorporate various similarities to a Terminator, such has the Skelebot 9000 look, Glowing Mechanical Eyes, and on occasion, an external human disguise. In particular, his appearance on Smallville had Lois Lane refer to him as "a Real Life Terminator".
- Took a Level in Badass: Repeatedly. Interestingly, while his New Krypton/Secret Origin incarnation is significantly weaker than its immediate predecessors, it is also a lot smarter, allowing it to be the most dangerous version of Metallo yet.
- Tragic Villain: His most recent iteration is one. He grew up with an abusive father who he was forced to kill to protect his sister, and then was forcibly transformed into a cyborg to save his life, which drove him insane. John himself acknowledges he was a terrible person even before his transformation, but that given his background there wasn't really a chance of him ending up as anything else.
- Ungrateful Bastard: In his original Post-Crisis origin, he killed the scientist who saved his life by putting his brain in his metal body.
- Villain Team-Up: Has worked with Luthor, Brainiac, General Lane, and several incarnations of the Superman Revenge Squad.
- Villainous Crush: Sometimes he can be written as having a one-sided crush on Lois Lane, which is, of course, not reciprocated in the least.
- Walking Armory: Metallo's robotic shell contains a veritable arsenal of high-tech weaponry.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Even when he looks human, Metallo disdains shirts, exposing his chest (and Kryptonite heart) for the world to see.
- Was Once a Man: Was once either a petty criminal or American soldier named John Corben.
- We Can Rebuild Him: Who rebuilt him and why varies, but this is always the source of Metallo's augmentation.
- Working for a Body Upgrade: Metallo usually works for whoever gives him the best upgrades to his robotic body.
- "...is yours truly, Mxyztplk the Magnificent, with an exclusive look at how I made a sap out of Superman—as usual!"
A magical imp from the land of Zrfff in the 5th Dimension. Mxyzptlk often gets bored in his home dimension and comes to our universe looking for excitement, usually fixating on Superman. With his powers, he could easily defeat Superman in any number of novel and imaginative ways, but that would be too easy. So he sets rules for their encounters that he rigidly adheres to, the most well-known being that if Superman can get him to say, spell, write, or otherwise communicate his own name backward, he leaves and can't return for 90 days. Also has the ability to break the 4th wall (and the 5th).For more about Mxyzptlk, see his character page, see here.
A Galactic Conqueror who is more than a physical match for the Man of Steel, Mongul I was a major foe of Superman's during the Bronze Age, serving as the main antagonist of For the Man Who Has Everything, widely regarded as one of the greatest Superman stories ever written. Post-Crisis, he allied with Cyborg-Superman to destroy Coast City, and was eventually slain by the demon lord Neron. The New 52 has recently returned him to life as the villain of a Superman/Batman crossover; where he will go from here remains to be seen. In all three continuities, he is characterized as a brutal despot who enjoys watching others fight and die for his amusement, feels that the universe owes him its fealty, and runs every planet he rules into the ground with his limitless ambition and cruelty.
For more information about Mongul, see his character page here.
Rudy Jones was once an ordinary janitor working at a research facility, until one fateful day, when he was exposed to a barrel of radioactive waste/experimental chemicals/alien bio-weapons/etc. (The exact nature of what, exactly, happened to Rudy varies with the telling.) Regardless, the end results are all the same - Rudy was mutated into a horrific monster with a need to drain the life-force of other living beings to survive. Since then, he’s been a recurring foe of the Man of Steel, and has tried many times to make a sufficient meal out of the Kryptonian.
- Alas, Poor Villain. Some of Rudy’s more recent appearances play into the tragedy of his existence - once just a regular human being with a job and a family, now turned against his will into a monstrous creature that needs to drain the life-force of living beings to survive. With all that in mind, it’s hard not to feel at least a little sorry for him.
- Amplifier Artifact: On occasion Raymond Jensen would use stolen intelligence from scientists to engineer a chest mounted crystal that amplified and refined his powers for longer retention. It even gave him the ability to remotely leech or charge the abilities of Superman.
- Bald of Evil: Lost all of his hair upon gaining his powers.
- Bed Trick: In the Til Death Do Us Part storyline, Parasite took on the form of Lois to impersonate her and sleeps with an unwitting Lex Luthor who had no idea it was really Parasite.
- Body Horror: Sometimes depicted as this, such as in All-Star Superman.
- Depending on the Artist: The only real consistent detail about him is that he's purple (and even then, he's sometimes colored green). Everything else—his size, if he looks monstrous or more human-like—fluctuates between artists.
- Depending on the Writer: How sympathetic of a villain he is will vary according to different writers and incarnations. Sometimes he'll simply be presented as a greedy, self-centered Jerkass whose sole focus is himself and draining as much power from Superman as he can. Other times, he'll be portrayed more sympathetically, either as Rudy or the Parasite, and Superman will go out of his way to try to help Parasite and/or redeem him.
- Dumb Muscle: Usually portrayed as fairly dim. Rudy Jones at one point absorbed the consciousness of an amoral scientist named Dr. Torval Freeman. Torval would often act as an advisor for Rudy, giving him some intelligence to go with his power.
- Enemy Mine: He and the rest of the Superman Revenge Squad allied themselves with Superman during the events of Last Son. Parasite proved very effective against General Zod's army as they, unlike Superman, did not understand the dangers inherent in closing with him.
- Energy Absorption: Rudy Jones can absorb all forms of energy, not just from living things. He's drained power plants and has been used as a sponge for kryptonite radiation.
- Evil Is Bigger: Depending on the Artist. When he's not portrayed as being around Superman's size, he can be portrayed as being monstrously bigger than Superman, similar to Darkseid or Doomsday. In some cases, he can even be kaiju-sized.
- Facial Horror: The Raymond Jensen Parasite had no discernible face, because the same radiation that mutated him made it a mass of scar tissue. Think All For One.
- Fat Bastard: Superman: Secret Origin depicts Rudy Jones as overweight, greedy and manipulative. Even after becoming the Parasite, he has a noticeable gut.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Janitor to deadly, sadistic supervillain.
- Genius Bruiser: Raymond Jensen was notably quite a bit smarter than his successor, as he schemed ways to impersonate people and steal powers. Torval Freeman became this after being absorbed by Rudy, since his consciousness could control Parasite's form and increase his cunning and rationality.
- Greed: Fittingly for a power-stealing parasite, he's often depicted as being a greedy bastard even before his transformation. The Maxwell Jenson and Rudy Jones versions' origins had them get exposed to the materials that mutated them because they thought there was something valuable in the containers that held them.
- Heel–Face Turn: In Joshua Williamson's run, Rudy was put on a rehab program and given a collar that takes away his Horror Hunger. He's currently working as a janitor at Supercorp and is content with his new position, even adopting a botched clone of himself - who he named Spot - as a pet.
- Horror Hunger: Rudy’s life-force-draining abilities aren’t just a compulsion - they’re an imperative. His condition requires that he constantly drain power from others in order to stay alive.
- I'm a Humanitarian: A variation - Rudy feeds on human life-force, not necessarily their flesh - but it still counts.
- It's All About Me: Written at his worst, he's basically a self-centered prick who doesn't care about anything but himself and stealing as much of Superman's powers as possible to make himself feel like a god who can do anything he wants.
- Lamprey Mouth: After mutating further thanks to absorbing a massive burst of heat vision from Superman (who at the time was suffering from a power overload), Rudy's mouth developed a ring of sharp fangs.
- Legacy Character: There have been so far six versions of the Parasite, with Rudy Jones actually being the second after the pre-crisis one, Raymond Jensen. Interestingly, Torval Freeman/Doc Parasite shares the same body as Rudy after being absorbed, while Alex and Alexandra Allston are twins who were granted Parasite powers by Emil Hamilton.
- Lazy Bum / The Slacker: Varies. Modern stories show him as a metaphorical parasite (e.g., crashing at people's houses a bit too long or bumming lunches from coworkers) before he gains his abilities and becomes the Parasite.
- Logical Weakness: Taking Superman's powers means he also gains his weaknesses, creating one of the few times kryptonite is actually helpful to Superman.
- Mirror Boss: He is this for anyone he fights. This made him an ideal Superman villain for fighting Spider-Man in their second crossover, since many of Supey's other enemies would have been out of Spidey's league.
- Personality Powers: Pre-transformation Parasite is often depicted as being greedy and/or a figurative leech who mooches off others.
- Power Copying: Can copy the powers of others temporarily after absorbing energy from them. In Up, Up, And Away, he implies that he could get Superman's powers permanently if he had a few days with him.
- Power Incontinence: Raymond Jensen's powers prevented him from hugging his own wife and children.
- Power Parasite: It comes with a time limit, so he has to continuously drain a person's power to have it. In keeping with the "doesn't necessarily make them winners" aspect of this trope, he's not that dangerous (being defeatable by simply staying away from him does that) unless paired with other villains to back him up.
- Powers as Programs: Draining Superman's powers leaves him open to being taken down by kryptonite.
- Required Secondary Powers: Whenever writers remember to explain why he doesn't immediately develop Power Incontinence, it's typically indicated that he absorbs his victim's experience, as well.
- Ret-Gone: The Silver Age Parasite, replaced by the first Post-Crisis version who shares the same origin. Darkseid, who still has memories of the Pre-Crisis version, manipulated things to allow a new version to be created.
- Rogues' Gallery Transplant: The Rudy Jones version started out as an enemy of Firestorm, but quickly began focusing his efforts on Superman instead.
- Secondary Color Nemesis: His skin turned purple after exposure to the chemicals.
- Snap Back: In the years following his introduction, the Rudy Jones version went through several changes, his appearance switching from green to purple, taking on a hulking, more monstrous form, absorbing the minds of several victims, and even gaining Voluntary Shapeshifting powers from one unknown victim. But when he makes his first appearance following the events of Infinite Crisis, he's shown to have lost all of these traits save for the purple skin.
- Touch of Death: If he holds on to people too long, his draining of their energy will end up fatal.
- Unexplained Recovery: Rudy perished after absorbing Superman's life-force while (unbeknownst to either of them) he was suffering from Kryptonite poisoning. But after the events of Infinite Crisis, he was shown to be alive and well, with no reason ever given for it.
- Vampiric Draining: Typically drains his opponents by touch.
- Villain Team-Up: As a part of the Superman Revenge Squad, among others.
- Villainous Glutton: Secret Origin depicts Rudy Jones as a schlubby glutton, his Establishing Character Moment having him manipulate Clark into giving him his lunch by presumably lying about skipping breakfast. He ultimately ends up becoming the Parasite from eating a donut that he dropped on the ground after it came into contact with chemical waste, with his insatiable appetite being warped into constantly craving people's life energy.
- Was Once a Man: He used to be an ordinary human janitor, until he was accidentally exposed to experimental radiation, which transformed him into… well, the thing you see on the page image.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- The Alex and Alexandra Allston Parasites vanished after joining the Secret Society prior to Infinite Crisis
- The Joshua Michael Allen Parasite vanished after DC Rebirth.
See their personal page.
Winslow Schott is a toymaker gone mad. He makes toys now as innocent facades that house dangerous weapons and gadgets. One incarnation of the Toyman was himself a doll, vaguely of the Howdy-Doody variety. In The Dark Age of Comic Books, the idea of a dangerous toyman wasn't taken seriously by readers, so Toyman was recast as a dangerous child-obsessed creep with strong Psychopathic Man Child tendencies. In The Modern Age of Comic Books, though, this Darker and Edgier incarnation doesn't fly, so it was revealed that the psycho-pedophile Toyman was really a defective android created by the real Schott, a former toymaker-turned-vigilante who will do anything to protect children—including murder.
- Actually a Doombot: The Reset Button variant of this was done to his Darker and Edgier incarnation, by revealing to be a malfunctioning robot duplicate.
- Beware the Silly Ones: The Toyman looks silly what with his huge bowtie and 19th century children's haircut, but back in the 90´s he became a much more sinister figure and killed Cat Grant's child.
- Child Hater: During his paedophile years, when he would do anything to hurt children.
- Deadly Remote Control Toy: A standard part of the Toyman's arsenal: ranging from exploding toy planes and flying action figures to toy tanks which fire live rounds.
- Gadgeteer Genius: His gimmick focuses mostly around building a large arsenal of toy-like gadgets.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Just prior to Infinite Crisis, Zatanna revealed that she had tried to "fix" Toyman by magically altering his personality. This led to Toyman kidnapping homeless kids, under the delusion that he was helping them.
- Hearing Voices: The Darker and Edgier version would often hear the voice of "Mother" in his head. The same story that revealed this version was Actually a Doombot explained that "Mother" was actually the real Toyman, trying desperately to regain control over the malfunctioning machine.
- Knight Templar: Following the disposal of the paedophile Toyman robot, he was recast as a hardcore vigilante who would kill to protect children.
- My God, What Have I Done?: When Zatanna undid her spell, Toyman was horrified at what he had done to the innocent children he'd kidnapped, to the point where he made no attempt to escape as his hideout collapsed on top of him.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: He is a regular human with a silly Bat-villain-like gimmick going against one of the most powerful superheroes on the planet, so you would not expect him to be be remotely a credible threat, especially compared to villains like Luthor or Darkseid. While he never really was a Big Bad, he did show every now and then that he could be genuinely creepy and dangerous.
- Robot Master: He is really fond of creating various toy-like robots as his personal army and vehicles. He's perfectly capable of making full-fledged lifelike androids, and will do so if a scheme calls for it, but he just seems to find it less interesting.
- Same Character, But Different: Toyman is one of the Superman villains to have been reimagined the most, both in the comic and everywhere else. Even to date, he doesn't have an established iconic design and personality known to everyone, to the point almost all his appearances in media portrayed him as a completely different character. In his Pre-Crisis days, he could verge on being a Harmless Villain (though even then, he wasn't above murder), but he hasn't been portrayed that way in a long time.
- Vigilante Man: In the modern age, he was reimagined as a Knight Templar ready to anything in order to protect children.
- Villain Team-Up:
- With The Prankster and Robin villain The General among others.
- He was part of arguably the first supervillain team-up, when he, the Prankster, and Luthor briefly became the Terrible Trio back in the early Golden Age.
- Wicked Toymaker: Quite possibly the Trope Maker in comics.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: All he really wants is to try and protect innocent children from the injustices inflicted upon them by society. It's just that his methods of doing so often end up being more destructive to innocent lives than the very injustices he's trying to fight against.
- Would Hurt a Child: Cat Grant's son Adam Morgan is first kidnapped by Toyman (alongside other children), then is stabbed to death when he attempted to escape from him. Ultimately subverted, however, as it was actually an android imposter of the real Toyman that killed Cat Grant's child.
- Would Not Hurt A Child: The real Winslow Schott considers himself a Friend to All Children (warped as his perceptions of such a term might be), and would never willingly endanger a child in his schemes. When the robot doppelganger he created murdered Cat Grant's son, he was appropriately horrified.
- AKA: Jack Nimball
In the 1970s, a man named Jack Nimball assumes the identity of the second Toyman during a period in which Schott retires from his criminal career. Nimball wore a jester costume and used a similar modus operandi to the original Toyman. However, this version of Toyman proved short-lived. Schott killed Nimball with a mechanical toy bird and resumed his criminal career.
This was the version of the Toyman who appeared in Challenge of the Superfriends.
- Deadly Remote Control Toy: A standard part of the Toyman's arsenal.
- Killed Off for Real: Was murdered by Schott when he reclaimed the Toyman name.
- Legacy Character: Nimball adopted the Toyman identity during Schott's brief retirement.
- Villainous Harlequin: Wore a jester's costume.
- Wicked Toymaker: Like the original, Nimball constructed lethal toys to use in committing his crimes.
Superman's first Arch-Enemy, before Luthor, was another bald scientist called the Ultra-Humanite. Arguably the first comic book villain with super-powers (in his case, super-intelligence), he eventually gained a gimmick where he surgically transferred his brain into other people's bodies, most notably actress Dolores Winters. Starting with The Bronze Age of Comic Books, the Ultra-Humanite has exclusively been a villain for the Justice Society of America, and almost never locks horns with the Man of Steel alone. See the JSA Villains page for more info.
