Superman: Ranking His Movie Villains, From Weakest To Strongest

With the exception of Batman, if you count the movie based on his ’60s TV show, there is no superhero with a longer history in cinemas than Superman. He started his career on the big screen in 1980 and enjoyed four movies with Christopher Reeve in the lead before it went away for almost two decades.

It returned with Brandon Routh as Superman and then stored the cape again for several years before Henry Cavil took on the role of the Man of Steel. Through that all, there have been six solo Superman movies, one team-up film and a team effort in Justice League for a total of eight movies with Superman. Looking just at those movies, here is a look at the villains, ranked by their power.

10 ROSS WEBSTER (SUPERMAN III)

Superman III was a critical flop, with Richard Pryor joining the cast as Gus Gorman. The plot saw Gus as a computer programmer. He was able to use his computer knowledge to hack into systems, which made him a perfect patsy.

However, Gus was not the real villain of Superman III. The bad guy in the movie was Ross Webster, played by the always slimy Robert Vaughn. He blackmailed Gus into working for him and then takes it on himself to try to destroy Superman. He failed, and no one remembers him.

9 LEX LUTHOR (SUPERMAN RETURNS)

There have been three Lex Luthor’s in Superman movies. When Kevin Spacey took on the role in Superman Returns, it was great casting. One of cinema’s best actors shaved his head and took on the role of the devious businessman from DC Comics.

While Spacey was brilliant as Luthor, as expected, and Brandon Routh was better than anyone gave him credit for, Superman Returns was a flop. This film was too much about Superman and Lois Lane’s relationship, and Lex was just another bad guy in the movie.

8 LEX LUTHOR (SUPERMAN)

Just to be clear, this is about how powerful the Superman villains are, and it has nothing to do with how great the characters are. Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor was nothing like the DC Comics character for several reasons. Not least of which was the fact Hackman would not shave his head for the movie.

However, while Lex was not the same as the comics, Hackman made him an iconic fan favorite. With that said, he was a basic criminal with a scheme and plan, and he was never really that powerful or that much of a danger to Superman.

7 NUCLEAR MAN (SUPERMAN IV)

If this list ranked the Superman movie villains based on how great they are, Nuclear Man would sit dead last behind everyone that Superman ever faced. But, this is about power levels, and when it comes to powers, he is one of the most dangerous villains the Man of Steel ever battled.

Christopher Reeve had a hand in the script for Superman IV, and he wanted to say something about the nuclear arms race. It was a mistake, and the movie ended the Superman franchise for a long time. Nuclear Man had pretty much the same powers as Superman, with the one weakness being that he had to remain in the sun to stay powered.

6 LEX LUTHOR (BATMAN VS SUPERMAN)

The third Lex Luthor in Superman movies showed up in Batman V Superman, and it was a polarizing choice. Zack Snyder chose to cast Jesse Eisenberg, entirely against character, to portray Lex. While Spacey was a perfect match for the Lex Luthor from the comics, who one day became president, Eisenberg was nothing like Luthor in any way.

A madman who used his power and arrogance to get anything he wanted, he was still more powerful than Spacey’s Luthor. He manipulated Superman in doing what he wanted and almost led Batman into killing Superman. He then created Doomsday and Superman died — meaning Lex Luthor went to jail (temporarily) but still won in the end.

5 GENERAL ZOD (SUPERMAN II)

In the Superman movies, he faced General Zod twice, with only Lex Luthor showing up in more iterations. Both versions of Zod were easily a challenge for Superman. They both possessed the same powers as Kal-El on Earth but had one thing that Superman never learned or possessed — military training.

See, Zod was a military leader on Krypton before being banished to the Phantom Zone while Clark Kent was raised as a farm boy. The Zod in Superman II had enough power to bring the Earth to its knees and Superman as well, as he demanded that all kneel before Zod. However, Clark was able to trick Zod into defeat, knocking him below his later counterpart.

4 BATMAN (BATMAN V SUPERMAN)

Batman is not a villain. However, in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, he played the role of a villain to Superman perfectly. In the DCEU, Superman was a beacon of hope and represented truth, justice, and the American way. Sure, Man of Steel had some questionable moments, but Superman was never anything but a good man.

Batman wanted nothing more than to kill Superman. That alone made him the bad guy until he pulled his head out of his butt. What makes Batman more powerful than superpowered villains on this list? While he has no powers, Batman can beat anyone with planning. He had Superman on the brink of death until the name Martha caused him to smarten up.

3 GENERAL ZOD (SUPERMAN RETURNS)

The General Zod in Man of Steel is one step above the Zod from Superman II for one main reason. Both Superman movie villains were powerful military geniuses who had Superman’s number. However, unlike the Zod from the classic movie, General Zod in Man of Steel was just one step smarter.

He didn’t want to take over; he wanted to conquer the planet. When the final battle came between Superman and Zod, the Kryptonian warrior was too powerful to stop as collateral damage piled up. Superman couldn’t stop him and knew that there was only one way to stop Zod, and that is when Superman killed him to end the reign of terror. That shows how powerful this villain was.

2 STEPPENWOLF (JUSTICE LEAGUE)

The one time that Superman teamed up with a group, it was to battle one villain that was too powerful for any one man to defeat — Steppenwolf. In Justice League, there were some very powerful warriors on the side of good. An Amazonian Warrior. The Lord of the Seas. The Man of Steel. A cyborg who could tap into any computer system. The Fastest Man Alive. Batman.

However, alone, no one could stop Steppenwolf. With Aquaman and Wonder Woman fighting side-by-side, they were only able to slow him down, and he still came out on top. It wasn’t until Superman returned to full-strength that the Justice League finally took this warrior down.

1 DOOMSDAY (BATMAN VS SUPERMAN)

Doomsday is a fascinating creature. Sure, the version from Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was different from the one from the comic books, but it was still the same idea. In the comics, Doomsday was created to be an unstoppable monster. It was killed and resurrected over and over to teach it how to survive anything.

In the movie, Lex Luthor used the Kryptonian technology and General Zod’s dead body to bring Doomsday to life, and it rampaged through the city. It took Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman to slow it down and it took Superman sacrificing his own life to stop it. Doomsday killed Superman, making it number one on this list.

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