Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a… giant, alien, spaceship terraforming the earth? You’re not mistaken, that’s the work of certified supervillain and Superman’s uncle, General Zod. A hero is nothing without their villains, and the Man of Steel is no exception. Still, if you take a moment to think back on past superhero flicks through the current boom of the comic book blockbuster, Superman surprisingly doesn’t have many entries. And if Superman doesn’t have much silver screen presence, then his rogues gallery certainly doesn’t either. Sure we all know Lex Luthor, General Zod, and maybe Doomsday if you’re a Dawn of Justice fan, but the list likely ends there.

Superman is one of the world’s most famous superheroes, the gold standard, and prototype for all that followed. So, why is it that in a world where we couldn’t even begin to count all the Batman and Spider-Man villains, we struggle to name even a couple of Superman’s? It turns out that Superman does have a great rogues gallery of his own, they just have yet to receive the blockbuster treatment they deserve and therefore remain unknown among general audiences. Hopefully, that will change in the next couple of years as the DCU rolls out and a new Superman story begins with Superman: Legacy. But until then, here are some of the villains who have gone head-to-head with the Man of Steel and deserve a rematch on the big screen.

RELATED: Best Superman Portrayals in Movies and TV, Ranked

Brainiac

Image via DC Comics

Classified as a Twelfth Level Intellect, the extraterrestrial android Braniac more than lives up to his name. With his lime-green skin, larger-than-life persona, and skull-shaped spaceship, Brainiac was made to make the leap from comics to the silver screen. Brainiac is devious and his endless hunt for knowledge usually puts him in the crosshairs of Superman. Brainiac could also be considered a collector, but his hobby is a little more dangerous than stamps or coins. He is notorious for shrinking and collecting entire cities across the galaxy, including Kandor, the capital city of Superman’s home planet Krypton.

Brainiac’s quest for knowledge, city-collecting habits, and hunt for knowledge lead him to compile wildly devious schemes that not many heroes would dare interfere with. Unfortunately for Brainiac, Superman is no ordinary crime-fighter. Though Superman may not be able to match wits with the Twelfth-Level Intellect, he has the strength and patience to put a stop to his plots.

Image via DC Comics

Though he was once just a man, John Corben found himself facing off against the Man of Steel with a metallic cyborg body and a heart made of Kryptonite. If his inhuman strength weren’t already deadly enough, what makes Metallo such a dangerous threat to Superman is his kryptonite core. Superman can’t get close to the cyborg without entirely compromising his health and safety, meaning he can’t do much to stop Metallo without some distance between them.

Metallo’s attacks are typically ambushes, where he disguises himself as a civilian to get close to the Man of Steel. By the time Superman realizes something is off and begins to feel the effect of the kryptonite, it’s too late. However, Metallo doesn’t usually work alone and often needs to seek the help of someone like Lex Luthor to tune up his mechanical body after he takes damage. Despite how terrifying and epic his appearance is, Metallo isn’t the big-scheme or evil monologue-type villain, so if he were to appear in Superman movies he’d be best as a side villain or precursor to the larger threat.

Parasite

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Exposed to radiation while working as a janitor at S.T.A.R. Labs, Rudy Jones transformed into an energy-absorbing monster. A meta-human with the ability to drain and acquire the powers of his adversaries, Parasite is a serious threat to Superman and everyone he comes in contact with.

The living epitome of the phrase “absolute power corrupts absolutely,” if Parasite manages to gain ahold of Superman he immediately has access to his powers, a terrifying thought that not only fuels his evil ambitions but spells doom for all of Metropolis and beyond. Even though Parasite may not have massive plans for his abilities beyond a couple of robberies, his volatile nature and dangerous powers are disastrous nonetheless. A power-hungry Parasite with an axe to grind with Superman would make for quite the spectacle on the big screen.

Mr. Mxyzptlk

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Mr. Mxyzptlk (Mxy for short) is a magical Imp from the 5th dimension with a penchant for mischief. Based on his frame and stature alone, he certainly does not appear as a threat to the Man of Steel, but looks can be deceiving. Taking into consideration Mxy’s wide range of abilities and Superman’s weakness against magic, Mxy established himself as a force to be reckoned with.

But Mxy doesn’t have any world-dominating plans or evil intentions, he is simply a magical being seeking a thrill to escape his otherwise mundane existence. His main reason for pestering Superman is simply to get a rise out of him, to get him to react in a way that differs from his usual hopeful nature. With the ability to warp reality, it isn’t difficult for Mxy to stir up trouble and make Superman’s life a living hell. As we know from characters like The Joker, sometimes villains with aimless intentions can be the very worst. To make matters worse, there is only one surefire way to stop Mr. Mxyzptlk — you have to trick him into saying his name backwards.

Mongul

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Ruler of a satellite moon known as Warworld, Mongul ruled with an iron fist. He was infamous for the gladiator-like battles he hosted, where he sought out and pitted the best warriors in the galaxy against each other.

One of these warriors happened to be Superman, taken against his will and forced to fight for Mongul’s enjoyment. Superman would have easily become Warworld’s newest champion, but he refused to kill his opponent, infuriating and confounding Mongul. The warlord decided to take matters into his own hands and the two faced off with Superman eventually emerging victorious. Superman escaped Warworld but was left with a ruthless new enemy in Mongul.

Powerful, determined, and pure evil, Mongul is someone you do not want on your bad side, and with an axe to grind against the Man of Steel, it’s only a matter of time before Mongul exacts his sweet revenge.

Cyborg Superman

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A villain with a raging vendetta against the Man of Steel, Cyborg Superman was originally a man named Hank Henshaw. He was a LexCorp employee and part of a space shuttle mission known as Excalibur. As you might have guessed, the mission went terribly wrong and exposed the entire crew to radiation, including Henshaw’s wife. The Excalibur crew, despite their best efforts and the help of Superman, ultimately all died grisly deaths, including Henshaw.

Long, long, story short, Henshaw hadn’t entirely died as he was still able to transfer his consciousness to a mainframe where he eventually put himself into Superman’s Kryptonian Birthing Matrix and remade himself in Superman’s image. Still mourning the loss of his wife and crew, Henshaw became increasingly more deluded and vengeful, a feeling he channeled toward Superman whom he had come to blame for everything that happened.

Cyborg Superman has posed a serious threat to the Man of Steel through the years due to their near-identical skillset, but I’d also wager Cyborg Superman gets a few more points for his jarring appearance — it can’t be easy having to fight a robot version of yourself. Cyborg Superman has also been known to align himself with Mongul and other villains, creating even more danger for Superman. A Superman movie where Clark must defend himself and the earth from the combined forces of Mongul and Cyborg Superman would certainly be intriguing, to say the least.

Bizarro

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Rounding out the list we have Bizarro, the classic Superman dopplegänger. Bizarro has chalky, cracked grey-white skin and bears a backward ‘S’ crest on his blue and purple Superman costume. Essentially, Bizarro is backwards Superman, but it is a little more complicated than that.

The origins of Bizarro are a little blurry. In some iterations, he is created by Luthor, while in others, he is the result of an experiment gone wrong, but however he manifests, he always finds himself at odds with his perfect “brother,” Superman. Though he isn’t the brightest of Superman’s foes and is often set off by anger, rage, confusion, or a genuine misunderstanding, Bizarro is still too dangerous to be discounted as harmless.

While the classic Superman villains never fail to impress, these rogues would make for an excellent spectacle and a genuine challenge for the Man of Steel. The history behind all these supervillains is also extensive enough to weave a fantastic story across a saga of films if utilized correctly. With Superman: Legacy scheduled to hit theaters in 2025, written by DC maestro, James Gunn, who knows who we’ll see face off against Superman next? (Read up on everything we know about Superman: Legacy here.)

In the meantime, the first episode of Superman & Lois Season 3 will drop on March 14 on the CW with new episodes premiering every Tuesday. Check out the trailer below.