Posted : December
2013
Author : KJ Stewart
As I specified in a
recent article (about heroic characters who are more powerful than Superman),
I’m a huge Superman fan and a huge fan of comics in general, so this is in no
way an attempt to sully the character – it is merely another attempt to deal in
facts and shed some light on a myth, particularly as the last article of this
nature went down very well and it’s generally an interesting topic…
The myth in
question is the one about Superman being nigh unkillable – because it simply
isn’t true – so I’m going to point out a few characters from DC Comics who,
utilising consistent feats of power and/or standard usage of their abilities as
actual evidence, could outright kill the man of steel using their standard
powers (i.e. without any preparation, outside interference or objects of
power/inventions) in the right circumstances, despite the fact that they aren’t
actually as powerful as him overall.
Now, I am
absolutely not trying to say that these characters would beat Superman in a
straight fight – this would require the characters catching Superman by
surprise or Superman not fighting back (due to being restrained, for example) –
but I absolutely am saying that these characters could potentially kill
Superman without having to use anything other than their standard powers and/or
equipment. I’m prepared for
the fact that there will be a lot of disagreement from hardcore fans of the
character who simply don’t like the fact that their hero isn’t as invulnerable
as they’d like him to be, but part of being a fan of the character is knowing
everything about him or her – including their limitations – so do be open-minded
please!
On that note, using
actual evidence from comic books i.e. mentioning actual ways in which said
characters could kill the man of steel by way of feats of power that they’ve
actually demonstrated, here are ten DC Comics characters who are weaker than
Superman, but who could (in theory) kill him without prep (not that some of
these characters would ever want to do that, it’s just speaking
hypothetically)…
10. Kryptonite Man
Let’s get the
obvious one out of the way first… “Superman’s
weakness is Kryptonite… therefore let’s make a villain for him who emits
Kryptonite radiation!” It’s such a lame, boring concept. Several villains have
shared this moniker, but for this point we’ll be focusing on K. Russell
Abernathy.
K. Russell
Abernathy was a scientist who was on the verge of something big. Whilst he was
working out of a research laboratory on the Avenue of Tomorrow in Metropolis,
he developed a Kryptonite isotope enhancer, which would enable Abernathy to
harness Kryptonite radiation and convert it into energy. Unfortunately for him,
the isotope enhancer overloaded, which caused a massive explosion of Kryptonite
radiation in his laboratory. Not protected by lead shielding, Abernathy took
the full brunt of the blast. However, instead of killing him, the massive blast
of green radiation mutated him into a living Kryptonite Man. As mad scientists
tend to do in such a situation, he immediately went on rampage through the
city, firing blasts of green energy from his eyes, causing Superman to
intervene (but, obviously, he struggled thanks to the fact that he found the
culprit to be made of his weakness). That said, given
that he only gained a slight increase in strength and endurance, his
durability, speed and strength aren’t even close to Superman’s level – and nor
does he possess the ability to fly or the power output of Superman’s heat
vision. However, given that he can fire energy blasts made up of Superman’s
inherent weakness, he could – theoretically – kill the man of steel given
enough time, by completely bombarding him with such blasts.
9. Manchester Black
Manchester Black
represents the psionically-powered characters who could, in theory, kill
Superman. Anyone with enough
telepathy to destroy the man of steel’s mind could potentially kill him and
Manchester Black certainly has telepathy in abundance, but it is his
telekinesis that could really finish him off emphatically. Manchester Black
is, overall, nowhere near as powerful as Superman. He possesses no
superstrength, no superspeed and no increased durability and the offensive
power of his telekinesis – while extremely potent – isn’t as devastating as the
damage that Superman’s physical strength and heat vision could potentially
cause. However, Manchester
Black has been shown capable of casually inducing a stroke in the man of steel.
By telekinetically squeezing the capillaries in Superman’s brain (which Black
said were tough, like concrete tubes), he caused Superman to “twitch like a
spastic” (Black’s words, not mine!). It stands to
reason, therefore, that if Black was to have put everything he had in to such
an attack, he could kill Superman outright – and, again, this is without going
in to the numerous ways he could kill him with a telepathic attack on
Superman’s mind (Black is capable of mind-controlling the entirety of
Superman’s rogues gallery at once with his mind, including the likes of
Doomsday).
8. Zatanna
People often say
that Superman’s second major weakness is magic – that’s wrong. It’s not a
specific weakness of his, it’s just that he’s no more invulnerable to it than
the average person i.e. in the same way a shotgun blast to the face would kill
me, magic can kill Superman – it doesn’t mean shotguns are specifically a
“weakness” of mine. That said, the fact
that he isn’t specifically invulnerable to it means that someone who possesses
enough of it could indeed kill him. Zatanna is a
character whose magic is pretty potent and the specific nature of her spells
mean that she could quite easily kill the man of steel. She is a member of
the Homo Magi race (DC’s name for magically empowered humans) and as such is
genetically gifted with great magical talent. She has a vast
number of spells at her disposal, which she usually casts by speaking backwards
(so, for example, if she wants to put someone to sleep using magic, she would
say “peels”). However, the backwards-speaking is not always necessary for her
to cast spells. With that in mind,
being so powerful, simply saying “eid” (“die” backwards) to Superman should
cause him to collapse dead on the spot (or “edicius timmoc”, which is “commit
suicide” backwards, or any derivation of such a spell). Of course, Zatanna
is one of many magic users in the DC universe who could, in theory, kill Superman,
but in this instance we’re using her as the poster-girl. Of course,
physically, she doesn’t even come close to Superman and at base level the man
of steel is considerably more powerful than her, but she definitely has it in
her to finish him off.
7. Doctor Light
The Doctor Light
pictured here is Arthur Light, but this entry could well apply to Kimiyo Hoshi
as well. Doctor Light has
the ability to control and manipulate all forms of light for a variety of
purposes. For example, he could bend the light around him to become invisible,
generate blasts of energy, create force fields and even fly. By mentally
repulsing photons, Light could create areas of complete darkness. Light could
even “power up” by draining the ambient light in the area. As a result of his
powers, Light could, for example, drain the ambient sunlight from Superman to
drain him of his powers and, ultimately, his life force. Or he could replace
the yellow sunlight in Superman’s body, which powers him, with red sunlight,
which weakens him and would ultimately kill him. Light has also
shown the ability to take control of a Kryptonian’s heat vision, which he could
potentially use against the man of steel. Essentially, Light
has complete control over the very source of Superman’s powers – and that could
be used to cause fatal results – but he doesn’t have the physical abilities to
rival Superman in any way, shape or form.
6. Parasite
Parasite is another
moniker that has been utilised by several individuals in the comic books but,
as a general rule, they all have the same powers. The character has
the ability to temporarily absorb the energy, knowledge and super-powers of
another being by touch and has utilised this ability against Superman on
numerous occasions quite effectively and, in theory, if he was given the chance
to absorb all of Superman’s energies and powers, he could drain him of his life
force entirely and, ultimately, kill the Kryptonian. Again, however, he
is another character whom Superman should really not have had any trouble with. At base level,
Parasite possesses no enhanced physical statistics – no superspeed, no
superstrength, no real durability to speak of etc – and he can’t fly, so
Superman should be able to defeat him from afar with ease. But that’s not to
say that Parasite doesn’t have the means to kill him in the right
circumstances, because he certainly does.
5. Johnny Sorrow
Johnny Sorrow (who
is an awesome character, incidentally) has a very simple way of killing
Superman – if Superman looks at his exposed face, he’d die. Sorrow is by no
means a low-powered character in general – he’s a high-end energy manipulator
who, by default, is actually completely intangible in his base form (and
therefore pretty much invulnerable to all physical attacks). Having previously
been a silent film actor, an accident with a teleportation device shredded his
body and transported his remains to another dimension. An entity called the
King of Tears restored Sorrow’s consciousness, which now inhabits a floating
suit and mask.
When he takes off
the mask to expose his face, he becomes tangible, but anyone looking upon his
gaze and whom sees his grotesque features will almost certainly die. Indeed, it
is so grotesque that it has even effected blind characters and indeed Johnny
himself (when he saw a recorded image of himself he was paralysed). Given that his face
has caused magical beings as powerful as the wizard Shazam to turn to stone,
there is no justifiable reason why it wouldn’t kill Superman outright (despite
the fact that Superman has a far bigger array of superpowers than Johnny, who
has no other enhanced attributes).
4. Phantom Girl
Phantom Girl is
a native of the planet Bgztl and, like everyone else from there, has
the ability to turn intangible and phase through solid objects (in all of
her incarnations). As a result,
theoretically, she could phase a solid object (let’s say a rock) in to
Superman’s heart or brain, then turn tangible again, which would surely kill
him. Aside from her
phasing abilities, Phantom Girl can also fly but, other than that, she has
absolutely no mentionable superpowers whatsoever. Superman is much faster, much
stronger, much more durable and has a tonne of other esoteric abilities that
Phantom Girl doesn’t. However, in the right circumstances, she still has the
ability to kill him if she wants to (as do any other characters with the
ability to phase).
3. Sun Boy
Sun Boy is a
superhero from the future in DC Comics but who, through the wonders of
time-travel, has indeed encountered the heroes of the present on numerous
occasions – including Kryptonians like Superboy. He has the ability
to tap into internalised solar power, allowing him to project luminance and
heat to whatever degree he desires, as well as manipulate it however he wishes.
As a result, there’s no reason why he couldn’t rip the solar power out of
Superman, in the right circumstances, and sap his energy until he was dead. He is also able to
project light bright enough to lead to permanent blindness and that could be
seen from miles away in space. He can concoct heat within seconds that can melt
through steel or be tossed as fireballs. In the postboot reality, Dirk also had
infrared vision and could detect heat patterns. That said, none of those powers
would do much to Superman in battle and he has no real physical strength, speed
or durability to speak of, so all in all he is nowhere near as powerful as the
man of steel.
2. Jesse Custer
Part of the Vertigo
imprint of DC Comics, Jesse Custer is the protagonist of the comic book
series Preacher.
Fused with a
powerful entity named Genesis, Custer was gifted with the ability to order
people to do whatever he commands using a power known as the “Word of God”. That said, apart
from this power, he is an otherwise ordinary human without any enhanced
physical statistics and who is nothing more than a relatively proficient
hand-to-hand combatant. However, by simply
saying to Superman “kill yourself” or “rip your own heart out”, he could kill
the man of steel with relative ease. One of Jesse’s more
memorable scenes involved him saying “go f**k yourself” to a guy he had beef
with… which the man promptly did, quite literally. Nice huh?
1. Doomsday
This isn’t just “in
theory”, of course, because it has actually happened, but the fact is Doomsday
has proven that Superman can be killed by a simple physical beating. That said, the fact
that Superman allowed this to happen was nothing short of stupidity –
plot-induced stupidity, of course – because he is actually far more powerful
than his monstrous counterpart. In terms of basic
physical strength and durability, the pair are relatively equal, but when you
consider that Superman has consistently demonstrated a much higher level of
superspeed than Doomsday, can fly and has ranged attacks such as heat vision and
freeze breath, you have to wonder why he resorted to the tactic of a
close-ranged, non-superspeed slugfest with the behemoth. Had Superman fought
tactically, he should have worn down Doomsday with relative ease or taken the
fight to space and dumped the non-flying Doomsday at the wrong end of the
universe. But no, they fought out a fist fight which killed the Kryptonian
hero. So there you have
it; ten DC Comics characters who are weaker than Superman but who could (in
theory) kill him without prep. What do you think of this list? Which other
characters who are weaker than Superman could theoretically kill him? Let us
know in the comments box below.
~Blog Admin~
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