Superman Originally Had An EVIL Twin (Yes, Really)

When it comes to villains, DC Comics is absolutely notorious for creating opposite counterparts to their villains. The Flash has his Reverse Flash, the Atlantean king Aquaman has his dark brother Orm, and Superman has Bizarro Superman. But what if Bizarro wasn’t actually Superman’s only reverse enemy?

In fact, another evil Superman has been on Earth since the very same day Kal-El crash landed in Smallville. That tale first told in the pages of Superman #137 introduced readers to the other Kryptonian refugee, a clone of Superman who lived a different life on Earth… becoming the infamous Super-Menace.

Every comic book or superhero movie fan knows the origin story of Superman, last survivor of the doomed planet Krypton. But Superman Vol 1 #137 adds to this origin by providing more insight into Superman’s original escape pod arrival. The issue shows that on his way to the planet Earth, Kal-El’s ship collided with a satellite. This satellite featured technology for a duplication ray, and crashing into it causes it to activate… thus duplicating the Kryptonian baby and his ship.

While Superman is found and raised by the loving Kents, his duplicate is found by mobsters “Wolf” Derrek and his wife Bonnie. Named Super-Brat, this duplicate is raised in a way completely the opposite of the boy who becomes Superman, and is taught to hate the law. The Derreks use their new child’s wild powers to their advantage, using him to assist in their criminal acts, but also require him and his powers to stay completely secret. With age, Super-Brat outgrows his name and eventually dawns the title Super-Bully. As Super-Bully he was still required to keep his existence a secret, but that didn’t stop him from going out and causing disasters just for his opposite, Superman (known at the time as Superboy), to have to solve.

It’s during this time that a kryptonite meteor crashes near the Derrek home, revealing that unlike his counterpart, Super-Bully has no issues with kryptonite. He spends most of his teenage years dreaming of the day he will grow up into Super-Menace and will finally be able to take down his rival, but in the meantime uses his powers to torment Superboy as much as possible. When Super-Bully eventually discovers the secret identity of Superboy, he tries to use it to his advantage, disguising himself as Superboy on numerous occasions only for each plan to completely backfire on him.

Jealous of the love and respect Superman has received his whole life, Super-Menace finally grows up and is able to confront his lifelong rival. It’s in this battle that both Superman and Super-Menace discover the truth of the duplication, pushing Super-Menace into a deeper fit of jealousy now knowing not even his body is real. Using his lack of weakness to kryptonite to his advantage, Super-Menace is able to gain the upperhand, almost entirely killing Superman. However, in this final moment, Super-Menace has a grand realization. It finally hits him that destroying Superman will not make him happy as Superman isn’t the true cause of his misery.

Instead, he comes to terms with the fact that his anger comes from the envy of Superman having everything he’s ever wanted: a loving family, and an adoring public that respects him. Super-Menace gives up his battle with Superman, denouncing his evil ways, and heads home to the Derreks. Once home, Super-Menace converts his body back to its pure energy form, releasing a wave of energy that destroys both himself and the evil Derrek family that raised him.

The idea of an evil Superman isn’t necessarily a unique one as this isn’t the first time we’ve seen someone with Superman’s powers take on the world, but this is definitely a nice twist on the origin of Superman. Providing a lifelong reflection to the question of nature vs. nurture, Super-Menace serves as an insightful juxtaposition to the man of steel.