Summary
- Superman’s vast array of powers includes flight, heat vision, frost breath, and invulnerability, making him a formidable force in the DC Universe.
- Characters like Maxwell Lord, Lex Luthor, and Alfred Pennyworth have found ways to defeat Superman through cunning and strategy.
- Even powerful beings like Godzilla, Brainiac, Darkseid, and Wonder Woman have proven capable of besting Superman in battle.
There are few characters in DC as powerful as Superman. He’s more than capable of taking on the majority of characters in the DC Universe with ease due to the absurd strength and variety of powers he has. But over the years, several heroes and villains have managed to get the advantage and defeat the Man of Steel.
Superman has a huge variety of powers. He has super speed, strength, flight, heat vision, frost breath, and near invulnerability. There are few characters who can match the same range of abilities that Superman has. But despite this, Superman has been beaten several times by both powered and non-powered characters. While Superman has an impressive winning streak, these are 10 characters who unequivocally beat Superman.
10 Maxwell Lord Defeated Superman Like No One Else
Wonder Woman #219 by Greg Rucka, Rags Morales, David Lopez, Tom Derenick, Georges Jeanty, Karl Kerschl, Mark Propst, Bit, Dexter Vines, Bob Petrecca, Nelson, Richard Horie and Tanya Horie, Todd Klein.
Maxwell Lord only beat Superman once, but he beat him in a way that almost no one else has. Using his telepathic powers, Maxwell Lord defeated Superman better than Lex ever had. It took Max several months of planning, but he eventually managed to brainwash Superman so thoroughly, that removing the brainwashing would likely cause Superman to die.
Because of this, the only solution was for Wonder Woman to kill Max, ending her control over Superman. While Max didn’t defeat Superman in a direct fight, he managed to take complete and utter control of Superman’s mind to such a degree that even Martian Manhunter said it simply couldn’t be undone. It’s a terrifying situation that Max was able to bring down one of the most powerful heroes in the DC Universe without throwing a single punch.
9 Lex Luthor Has Defeated Superman Several Times
Batman: Last Knight on Earth #2 by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia, & Tom Napolitano
Lex Luthor is Superman’s oldest enemy, and as such, has had the most chances to defeat him. From ingenious deathtraps to giant robots and kryptonite gadgets, Lex has spent almost his entire time in comics looking for ways to kill or injure Superman. Perhaps the most heartbreaking version if this though was in Batman: Last Knight on Earth where Lex Luthor finally invites Superman to a debate to end their rivalry once and for all.
Lex Luthor uses Starro to link every mind on Earth so that humanity can collectively decide if they side with Superman or Lex, and the loser would be executed. Despite Lex’s impassioned speech about how humanity should side with doom, Lex was ultimately convinced by Superman’s speech. Unfortunately, humanity sided with Lex and Superman was suddenly and brutally executed on the spot.
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8 Godzilla Defeated Superman With One Attack
Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #4 by Brian Buccellato and Christian Duce
While most people might assume that Superman would beat Godzilla in a fight, that actually wasn’t the case. When the two fought, Godzilla didn’t just beat Superman, he outright killed him. Godzilla’s atomic breath was so powerful that it seemingly killed Superman, as it removed his regeneration and left him with no pulse. While this isn’t likely how most people would have assumed this confrontation would go, there’s actually history for it. Superman has never done particularly well with radiation.
This was first seen way back in Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. In this storyline, Superman takes the full force of an atomic bomb. The blast leaves him practically powerless and on the verge of death, only able to survive by sucking the sunlight out of a nearby flower field. If a simple atomic bomb could do this, it’s no surprise that Godzilla’s atomic breath could defeat Superman in a single blow.
7 Failsafe Defeated Superman Twice
Batman #128 by Chip Zdarsky, Jorge Jimenez, and Leonardo Romero
Batman is infamous for creating contingency plans to defeat both his friends and villains. This took a drastic turn in the creation of the android Failsafe. Superman went up against Failsafe twice and lost both times. The first time had Failsafe using kryptonite blades stored in his body to easily and quickly take Superman down. The second the two fought, Superman came prepared. He arrived in a containment suit that made him immune to Kryptonite, and yet this didn’t matter in the slightest.
Failsafe used pressure points on Superman’s body to cause Superman’s heat vision to go out of control. This is one of the few occasions where Superman was defeated by the same opponent in two different ways. It’s very likely that Failsafe would have other options to bring down the Man of Steel again if he ever had to.
6 Brainiac Has Shown He’s More Than Capable Of Beating Superman
Justice League: No Justice #1 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson, Francis Manapul, Hi-fi, and AndWorld Design.
Brainiac is one of the smartest beings in the universe, and he’s proved this time and time again by taking on Superman and the League in interesting ways. One of the best examples of Brainiac’s ability to defeat Superman was first seen back in Justice League: No Justice #1. In this story, Brainiac defeats the entire Justice League, Superman included, after invading Earth. He does this absurd feat with absolute ease as well, and he even manages to capture Superman with no problem.
The only reason Earth survives is that it’s revealed that Brainiac was simply demonstrating how unprepared the Justice League and Earth’s other heroes were for the coming threat. So, while Brainiac wasn’t really taking this fight seriously, he still demonstrated that he could absolutely destroy not just Superman, but every single other hero on Earth, anytime he wanted.
5 Darkseid Beat Superman In A More Indirect Way
Superman: Up in the Sky #5 by Tom King, Andy Kubert, Sandra Hope, Brad Anderson, and Clayton Cowles.
Darkseid is a terrifying enemy and he’s encountered Superman several times. While Darkseid definitely has the phyiscal power to defeat Superman, that usually only happens in Elseworlds stories. But one example of Darkseid defeating Superman absolutely happened in canon, and it was a much better victory than a physical one. While traveling through the universe to find a young girl that’s been kidnapped, Superman ends up coming to Darkseid to ask him for information.
Darkseid promises to provide the information, but only if Superman kills someone for Darkseid. Naturally, Superman agrees to do it, and ends up lying to Darkseid about it. When Darkseid calls him out on this, Superman remarks that there’s only two options. Either Superman killed the alien, or he lied about it and broke his word. Either way, Darkseid gains a moral victory over Superman, which Darkseid is all too happy to agree with.
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4 Alfred Pennyworth Beat Superman in An Iconic Scene
Injustice: Gods Among Us #36 by Tom Taylor, Mike S. Miller, David Lopez, and Santi Casas.
One of the most surprising entries on this list is Alfred Pennyworth. While it seems completely impossible that Alfred would defeat Superman, that’s exactly what happened in the Injustice universe. After Superman finally has enough of Batman and his resistance, Superman enters the Batcave and breaks Batman’s back over his knee. Infuriated by this, Alfred takes a pill that grants him strength to the level of Superman. Alfred then beats Superman within an inch of his life. It’s an absolutely brutal moment, and it takes Superman completely by surprise.
This is the first time in the Injustice series where Superman was completely and utterly physically defeated. If Alfred had decided to finish the job, he could’ve saved everyone a lot of trouble right then and there. This moment pushed Superman to become a lot more cautious when dealing with Batman, as he could no longer rely on his superior strength to win any encounter.
3 Wonder Woman Has Proven Herself Stronger Than Superman
Injustice: Gods Among Us Year Four #9 by Brian Buccellato, Wes Abbott, Bruno Redondo, Juan Albarran, and Rex Lokus.
Superman and Wonder Woman rarely have a reason to fight, but when they do, Wonder Woman almost always wins. This was shown off in brutal fashion during Injustice Gods Among Us: Year Four, where Wonder Woman is forced to represent Batman’s resistance against Superman’s regime. While Wonder Woman initially tries to avoid doing this, ultimately, she’s given no choice. Forced to fight for a faction she hates, Wonder Woman still absolutely demolishes Superman, and she does it with ease.
This isn’t the first time Wonder Woman has beaten Superman either, as she did the same in Wonder Woman: Dead Earth and JLA: A League of One. In both comics, she takes on Superman and wins handedly. This is likely attributed to her absolute absurd strength and the fact she’s actually been trained as a warrior, unlike Superman who often just relies on his strength to get by.
2 Batman Has Defeated Superman Dozens Of Times
Dark Nights: The Batman Who Laughs #1 by James Tynion IV, Riley Rossmo, Ivan Plascencia, and Tom Napolitano
Batman has defeated Superman in so many different worlds and so many different times, it’s hard to name just one single example. Superman is an absolute master of creating contingency plans for people, and he excels at defeating people with a predefined weakness. Superman is weak to Kryptonite, this allows Batman to come up with hundreds of ingenious ways to win. In Tower of Babel, Batman synthasizes a form of Red Kryptonite that turns Superman’s skin translucent, causing his powers to overload his senses.
In Batman: Hush, Batman uses a Kryptonite ring to take down a brainwashed Superman. In Dark Nights: The Batman Who Laughs, an evil version of Batman uses black Kryptonite to kill both Superman and his son Jonathan. There’s simply too many ways to count that Batman has taken down Superman over the decades, but Bruce has proven time and time again that he’s more than capable of taking Superman down.
1 Doomsday Made His Name By Defeating Superman
Superman #75 by Dan Jurgens, Brett Breeding, Glenn Whitmore, and John Costanza
By far, the most famous example of someone who has defeated Superman was the monster Doomsday. Doomsday made his name and reputation on the fact he was the first villain in DC Comics to physically beat Superman to death. While Doomsday has never killed Superman again, he left his mark on both Superman and history. Superman has even stated that Doomsday is the one villain he fears.
Doomsday is a terrifying monster who has an absolute hatred of all living things, but hates Kryptonians more than anything else. Because of this, he has consistently reappeared and attacked Superman over and over. While it’s unlikely that Doomsday will ever get to kill Superman again, he’s still remembered as the one character who first defeated Superman in the history of DC.
Superman
The icon who launched the entire world of superheroes, the last son of Krypton escaped his dying world to crash land on Earth and be raised as Clark Kent. The world knows him better as Superman, the Man of Steel, the leader of the Justice League, and the most well-known hero in the DC Comics Universe. Blessed with the powers of a demigod, Kal-El of Krypton fights enemies both small and cosmic in his endless pursuit of truth, justice, and a better tomorrow.
