Superman Is Ridiculously Easy to Turn Evil Thanks to One Unavoidable Fact

One of the most powerful and righteous characters in DC Comics, Superman, is actually frighteningly easy to turn evil. While Clark Kent would never knowingly use his powers for evil, if a villain tricks him into using them, they can have a devastating effect. Unfortunately for the DC Universe, it is easier to pull this off than one might expect.

Ever since his creation, Superman has been one of the most powerful beings in DC Comics. His superhuman physical abilities combined with his invulnerability, heat vision, and freezing breath all make him a formidable foe to face. Due to his immense power, some other heroes like Batman have even put countermeasures in place to stop him if he ever went rogue. On one occasion, Superman went amok and conquered the planet in the Injustice: Gods Among Us series by Tom Taylor and Brian Buccellato. In the first issue of the series, The Joker used mind warping gas to convince Superman that Lois Lane was in fact Doomsday. Approaching her as if she was a powered being like Doomsday, Superman mistakenly killed her. This then led Superman to conquer the world to prevent anything like that from happening again. While the events of Injustice: Gods Among Us are not canon to the mainstream DC Universe, there is precedent for this sort of thing in the main continuity as well.

In the 2005 crossover event Sacrifice, spanning Adventures of Superman #642 by Greg Rucka and Karl Kerschl, Action Comics #829 by Gail Simone and John Byrne, and Superman #219 by Mark Verheiden and Ed Benes, Maxwell Lord telepathically convinces Superman that his various allies are supervillains threatening his loved ones. Thinking that he sees invariably powerful threats like Brainiac and Darkseid, Superman uses his full strength against them. Lord uses this trick to get Superman to beat Batman to within an inch of his life. He then asserts his control over Superman to have him neutralize much of the Justice League. Wonder Woman only barely manages to stop Superman’s rampage by killing Lord, thus letting Superman see the reality of the situation. If she hadn’t managed to do this none of the heroes may have survived.

The scariest thing about all of this is that there is no good way to prevent it from happening again. Lord’s psychic grip on Superman was so strong that not even Martian Manhunter could break it, meaning that it is likely that anyone with Lord’s level of psychic abilities could get around any psychic safeguards that J’onn set up in Superman’s mind. Additionally, Superman couldn’t have pulled his punches against the enemies he saw in his visions, because he had no way of knowing that they weren’t real. Performing less than his best could have cost the lives of Superman’s most cherished loved ones. And given the incredible power of a villain like Darkseid, weak punches would do nothing to stop him.

While psychics as powerful as Maxwell Lord are few and far between, if any of them are able to do what Lord did to Superman again, the whole DC Universe could be in a lot of trouble. Especially if they hide themselves from the Justice League as they enact their plan, thus preventing any heroes from killing them. So, despite being one of the most powerful forces of good in the DC Universe, it would be incredibly easy for a villain to turn Superman into a terrifying tool for evil.