10 Most Powerful Characters Killed By Superman

WhatCulture

These DC heavyweights met their untimely ends at the Man of Steel's hands.

Transcript

00:00For most of his 84-year history in various media, Superman has been defined by the restraint he employs,

00:06while using his incredible abilities in combat.

00:09But there have been some instances where good old Supes has taken some lives in the heat of battle.

00:15So, with this in mind, I'm Dan from WhatCulture, and these are the 10 most powerful characters killed by Superman.

00:22Number 10, Doomsday, the death of Superman.

00:26Following his escape from his underground tomb, Doomsday went on a destructive rampage throughout the country,

00:32that eventually attracted the Justice League's attention.

00:35After a brief but violent encounter with the Behemoth, only Clark was left standing to face the new and powerful threat.

00:42Doomsday's animalistic rage and sheer might forced the hero to tap into the reserves of power he had previously held back,

00:49just to keep up with his opponent.

00:51And naturally, this display of strength proved to be dangerous for both combatants,

00:56as well as the various environments they clashed in.

00:59While the Man of Steel was able to put down the threat before it escalated any further,

01:03it came at the expense of his own life.

01:06Subsequent encounters with the monster have seen the hero win by the skin of his teeth,

01:10due to Doomsday's terrifying regenerative abilities.

01:14Number 9, General Zod, Superman number 22.

01:18Not too long after his origin, abilities and nature were rebooted in Crisis on Infinite Earths,

01:23Superman was placed in the uncomfortable position of having to kill to save countless lives.

01:29Through the machinations of the Time Trapper, the mainstream Superman encountered a younger version of himself,

01:35from a pocket universe that was similar to the pre-crisis timeline.

01:38This meant that Superboy and all Kryptonians from this time were significantly more powerful than Clark,

01:45and the latter got first-hand experience of this when he encountered that time's General Zod.

01:50The villain went on a destructive rampage throughout the alternate timeline,

01:54and Superman was forced to intervene after his counterpart had died earlier on.

01:59Ultimately, the hero depowered and killed the rogue alien,

02:02using a combination of gold and green kryptonite respectively.

02:06While the pocket universe was spared, this execution weighed heavily on the hero,

02:10who, up to this point, had never taken a life.

02:13Number 8, The Flash, Deceased

02:16In 2019's Deceased, the Earth is infected by a techno-organic virus

02:21that was born out of Darkseid's interference with Cyborg's body.

02:25The virus quickly spreads over the planet and infects many civilians and heroes alike,

02:30including The Flash.

02:32A zombified Barry then zips around the planet, infecting countless people in the process.

02:37Realising that he is the only one who can keep up with this hero,

02:40Superman flies around the world and collides into his former teammate, instantly killing him.

02:45Unfortunately, some of The Flash's remains get lodged into Superman's side,

02:49infecting him in the process.

02:51Then, the zombified Kryptonian goes on a frenzied path of his own

02:55that culminates in him absorbing the sun itself to wipe out the entire solar system.

03:00Number 7, Wonder Woman, Superman-Batman, Absolute Power

03:05In this timeline, Superman and Batman were raised by the futuristic legion of supervillains

03:10to be global dictators and, fitting with the territory,

03:13this new version of the beloved heroes were vicious murderers

03:17who held nothing back while dealing with any opposition they came across.

03:21During a clash with Wonder Woman, Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters,

03:25Diana kills this version of Bruce Wayne and this Angus Clarke

03:29who viciously beats the heroine into submission

03:31before strangling her with her own lasso of truth.

03:34Fortunately, after much time hopping and multiple deaths for the titular heroes,

03:39the timeline was reset and the damage done by the legion of supervillains was undone,

03:44ensuring that the world's finest followed their intended paths in the timeline.

03:49Number 6, Shazam, Injustice, Gods Among Us, Year One

03:53The Injustice comics and games have seen Superman commit countless atrocities

03:58throughout his five-year reign over the planet.

04:00From killing Green Arrow, the Joker and untold numbers of innocents,

04:04there was no line that Kal-El would not cross

04:07in his quest for his version of global order.

04:10Towards the end of his reign, the former hero began to lose the trust of his allies.

04:14One such hero was Billy Batson who became disillusioned with his teammates' decision

04:19to raise Gotham and whatever remained of Metropolis to the ground.

04:23The young hero made the mistake of invoking the late Lois Lane's name

04:27to call out the cruelty of Superman's plan.

04:30This enraged the unstable Kryptonian

04:32and before Shazam could use his eponymous phrase to defend himself,

04:36Superman sealed Billy's mouth shut with his freeze breath

04:40and used his heat vision to burn through his head, killing him in the process.

04:45Number 5, Mogo and Gantet, Injustice, Gods Among Us, Year Two

04:50A sentient planet, Mogo at some point joined the Green Lantern Corps

04:54but was not known for being the most outgoing being out there,

04:58what with being a living planet and all.

05:00That said, he is one of the most powerful Green Lanterns alive and it's easy to see why.

05:05This made his death at the hands of the Yellow Lantern Superman

05:08all the more shocking in the Injustice comic series.

05:11Before encountering the now tyrannical Man of Steel,

05:14Mogo proved instrumental in wiping out a significant number of the Sinestro Corps members

05:20and was a key component in confronting the fallen hero and his villainous allies.

05:25But unfortunately for them, Superman possessed a Yellow Lantern ring

05:29and this boosted his already considerable power

05:32and made him even more of a threat to Mogo himself.

05:35Then, Supes used his newfound power to push Mogo into the sun,

05:39killing both him and Gantet in the process.

05:43Number 4, A Rogue Sun Eater, Action Comics number 847

05:47Worried about her son's well-being in the Phantom Zone,

05:50Martha Kent expresses concern to Jonathan

05:52about the impending invasion from Zod and his allies.

05:55Jonathan attempts to alleviate his wife's woes

05:58by sharing a tale about their son's indomitable will in the face of adversity.

06:02A while back, the father and son embarked on an interstellar trip

06:06that saw Clark and an alien civilization defeat a Rogue Sun Eater.

06:10While the superhero didn't use his powers in battle,

06:13he was instrumental in its defeat by transporting a powerful explosive

06:17known as an Entropy Bomb to the entity's core.

06:20In addition to this entry being one-of-a-kind

06:23due to the Sun Eaters not being sentient beings,

06:26it's not every day that Superman's parents are involved in his adventures.

06:30Number 3, Imperiex, Our Worlds at War

06:34The Our Worlds at War saga is one of DC's most underrated crossover events.

06:39In it, the god-like being Imperiex felt that the current universe was flawed

06:44and sought to remake it as he saw fit.

06:47Using Mongols' War World as a conduit for his power,

06:50the cosmic entity began his galactic rampage.

06:53A massive battle ensued and, in the process,

06:56the villainous Brainiac 13 took advantage of the situation

07:00and absorbed Imperiex's apocalyptic energies for himself.

07:04This unexpected team-up forced Superman to increase his power

07:07by diving into the Sun and pushing War World through a boom tube

07:11that the other heroes had created.

07:13Before this cosmic phenomenon wiped out Imperiex and Brainiac 13,

07:17the former found out that the flaw in the universe he discovered was, in fact, himself.

07:23Number 2, Mr. Mitzel Spitlik, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?

07:28Normally, the fifth dimensional imp is no more than a nuisance in Superman's life,

07:32but this was far from the case in the seminal

07:35Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow storyline.

07:38This 1986 comic served as a coda for the pre-crisis Superman

07:43and pitted him against his foes who had become more dangerous than ever before.

07:47In addition to this, Superman's secret identity was exposed to the world,

07:52placing his loved ones at risk.

07:53After several dangerous encounters, which left most of his friends and foes dead,

07:58the titular hero realized that he had not encountered the omnipotent imp at any point.

08:04This is where Mixey revealed himself as the instigator behind Clark's current woes.

08:09To prevent further annihilation through the imp's deranged influence,

08:13Superman traps Mitzel Spitlik between his home dimension and the Phantom Zone,

08:18literally tearing the imp in two.

08:20Dejected by his actions, Superman strips himself of his abilities

08:23and goes into hiding in order to live a normal life.

08:31Final Crisis saw the Earth turn to ground zero

08:34for Darkseid's ultimate plan to wipe out the cosmos before his demise.

08:39Naturally, the universe's various heroes sought to stop this plan,

08:43even as they were being fallen prey to Darkseid's destructive nature.

08:47Before the villain's essence could wipe out the entirety of the DC universe,

08:52Superman noted that it operated on a very specific frequency

08:55that he could counter with a powerful note of his own.

08:58This high-pitched sound was able to dissipate the new god's essence and wipe him out for good.

09:04And while the idea of Superman defeating Darkseid with a high-pitched note,

09:08of all things, might sound ridiculous and anticlimactic to some,

09:12it showcases the hero's ingenuity and his ability to overcome threats

09:16without having to resort to simple blows.

09:19And that's our list.

09:20You can find more lists like this on screen now.

09:22But for now though, I've been Dan and I'll catch you in the next one.

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