10 Most Powerful Characters Killed By Superman

WhatCulture

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

Transcript

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

00:06 while using his incredible abilities in combat.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:49 just to keep up with his opponent.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

01:29 Through the machinations of the Time Trapper, the mainstream Superman,

01:32 encountered a younger version of himself from a pocket universe that was similar to the pre-Crisis timeline.

01:39 This meant that Superboy and all Kryptonians from this time were significantly more powerful than Clark,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

02:13 Number 8, The Flash, Deceased

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

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

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

02:30 including The Flash.

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

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

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

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

02:49 infecting him in the process.

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

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

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

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

03:10 to be global dictators.

03:12 And, fitting with the territory, this new version of the beloved heroes were vicious murderers

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

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

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

03:29 who viciously beats the heroine into submission before strangling her with her own lasso of truth.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

04:30 This enraged the unstable Kryptonian.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

05:00 That said, he is one of the most powerful Green Lanterns alive,

05:03 and it's easy to see why.

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

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

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

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

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

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

05:29 and this boosted his already considerable power

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

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

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

05:42 Number 4, A Rogue Sun Eater, Action Comics #847,

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

05:50 Martha Kent expresses concern to Jonathan about the impending invasion from Zod and his allies.

05:55 Jonathan attempts to alleviate his wife's woes by sharing a tale about their son's

06:00 indomitable will in the face of adversity.

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

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

06:10 While the superhero didn't use his powers in battle, he was instrumental in its defeat

06:15 by transporting a powerful explosive known as an Entropy Bomb to the entity's core.

06:20 In addition to this entry being one of a kind due to the Sun Eaters not being sentient beings,

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

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

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

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

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

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

06:50 the cosmic entity began his galactic rampage.

06:53 A massive battle ensued and, in the process, the villainous Brainiac 13

06:58 took advantage of the situation and absorbed Imperiex's apocalyptic energies for himself.

07:04 This unexpected team-up forced Superman to increase his power by diving into the Sun

07:09 and pushing War World through a boom tube that the other heroes had created.

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

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

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

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

07:32 but this was far from the case in the seminal Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow storyline.

07:38 This 1986 comic served as a coda for the pre-crisis Superman and pitted him against his foes,

07:44 who had become more dangerous than ever before.

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

07:52 placing his loved ones at risk.

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

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

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

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

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

08:18 literally tearing the imp in two.

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

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

08:27 Number 1 - Darkseid - Final Crisis

08:31 Final Crisis saw the Earth turn to ground zero for Darkseid's ultimate plan

08:36 to wipe out the cosmos before his demise.

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

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

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

08:51 Superman noted that it operated on a very specific frequency

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

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

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

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

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

09:16 without having to resort to simple blows.

09:18 And that's our list.

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

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

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