Favorite "evil Superman"

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

Superboy Prime and Earth 3 Ultraman, because I think they’re both hilarious.

[superduperman]

Injustice Superman is too much of a cartoon to be taken seriously. Justice Lords Superman seems to fit the bill better. At least in the cartoon. In the Beyond comics he turned into the Injustice Superman. Never saw Gods and Monsters so don't know anything about it. The Superman from that one episode of TAS when he teamed up with Luthor after Lois' death is a sympathetic figure. One that stands out to me is Overman on the Nazi Earth. In his later years he seemed genuinely remorseful about the holocaust.

[Vordan]

Never watched Gods and Monsters but I'm getting a bit of a Dragon Reborn vibe from this guy.

I could be down with that.

Anyway for me, my favorite "evil" Superman is probably Justice Lord Superman, but if it counts I actually prefer the main canon version from the Dominus era where Clark basically took over the world for a while. I feel like that was headed in the same direction the Justice Lords wanted to go in, but it wasn't so heavy handed and Clark didn't spiral completely out of control before.

Gods and Monsters is great. Instead of Kal-El you’ve got Lor-Zod who was raised by Mexican immigrant field workers, and so you get this guy who lacks Clark’s optimism and idealism, but still has Superman’s compassion and determination. Bizarre as it sounds, Timm finally managed to make a Superman I like when he made a Superman he liked. What makes Guerra work is he’s not edgy in the sense that he reveals in slaughter. He’s just a cynical guy who makes what he thinks are the “tough calls” and he wants to be the hero Kal is. I totally recommend checking out that clip, it pretty perfectly encapsulates what his deal is.

[Celgress]

I know a lot of people here hate the concept, but Injustice Superman from the games (not so much the comics) gets my vote.

Although my favorite "dark Superman" who isn't technically Superman is (by far) Cyborg Superman or Hank Henshaw. Henshaw's character is a great inverse of Clark's.

[Ascended]

Injustice Superman is too much of a cartoon to be taken seriously. Justice Lords Superman seems to fit the bill better. At least in the cartoon. In the Beyond comics he turned into the Injustice Superman. Never saw Gods and Monsters so don't know anything about it. The Superman from that one episode of TAS when he teamed up with Luthor after Lois' death is a sympathetic figure. One that stands out to me is Overman on the Nazi Earth. In his later years he seemed genuinely remorseful about the holocaust.

Speaking of Overman, did you read the last Freedom Fighters mini? That was f**king fantastic, easily the best thing I've ever read from Venditti. It's got a great Overman I think you might like, once you read through the series.

Gods and Monsters is great. Instead of Kal-El you’ve got Lor-Zod who was raised by Mexican immigrant field workers, and so you get this guy who lacks Clark’s optimism and idealism, but still has Superman’s compassion and determination. Bizarre as it sounds, Timm finally managed to make a Superman I like when he made a Superman he liked. What makes Guerra work is he’s not edgy in the sense that he reveals in slaughter. He’s just a cynical guy who makes what he thinks are the “tough calls” and he wants to be the hero Kal is. I totally recommend checking out that clip, it pretty perfectly encapsulates what his deal is.

Maybe when the semester is over (I should be taking a final right now) I'll have the time to check it out.

Oh, and I'd agree with whoever said Injustice. At least from the first game. There, you could see that Clark was still struggling a little, and had maybe taken things further than he wanted to but couldn't see a way back. Never read the comics so I can't speak for that. And by the second game.....no. Just no. But Superman in the first game still had enough of a soul left for me to feel for his plight.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

Speaking of Overman, did you read the last Freedom Fighters mini? That was f**king fantastic, easily the best thing I've ever read from Venditti. It's got a great Overman I think you might like, once you read through the series.



Maybe when the semester is over (I should be taking a final right now) I'll have the time to check it out.

Oh, and I'd agree with whoever said Injustice. At least from the first game. There, you could see that Clark was still struggling a little, and had maybe taken things further than he wanted to but couldn't see a way back. Never read the comics so I can't speak for that. And by the second game.....no. Just no. But Superman in the first game still had enough of a soul left for me to feel for his plight.

Interesting, I think it’s very much the opposite. Regime Superman from the first game was a blood thirsty lunatic, who went down for trying to wipe out entire cities for lols. Superman from the second game mellowed a bit behind bars, had regained some sanity and rationality. And ultimately went down (depending on the ending) for understandably wanting to put down brainiac. Still a monster but much less of a dangerous lunatic as before.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I think Superboy-Prime is a lot of fun. I love how much of a dumb thug Ultraman is. I think the entire Injustice series is based upon a crappy premise, but I gotta admit that Tom Taylor did a great job fleshing out that version of the "evil" Superman. Waid's Plutonian was also a pretty well done version, but I lost interest in that series pretty quickly.

[superduperman]

Speaking of Overman, did you read the last Freedom Fighters mini? That was f**king fantastic, easily the best thing I've ever read from Venditti. It's got a great Overman I think you might like, once you read through the series.

I have not. I may have to look for that now.

[mrjames21]

I think Superboy-Prime is a lot of fun. I love how much of a dumb thug Ultraman is. I think the entire Injustice series is based upon a crappy premise, but I gotta admit that Tom Taylor did a great job fleshing out that version of the "evil" Superman. Waid's Plutonian was also a pretty well done version, but I lost interest in that series pretty quickly.

I like the Earth 2 “Bizzaro”

[Ascended]

Interesting, I think it’s very much the opposite. Regime Superman from the first game was a blood thirsty lunatic, who went down for trying to wipe out entire cities for lols. Superman from the second game mellowed a bit behind bars, had regained some sanity and rationality. And ultimately went down (depending on the ending) for understandably wanting to put down brainiac. Still a monster but much less of a dangerous lunatic as before.

Maybe I've got my games mixed up then. Been a long time since I played either.....

I have not. I may have to look for that now.

I thought it was one of DC's best books from last year (or was it the year before?). YMMV of course. Oh, it's also set on earth 10 (X), I dunno if you like multiverse stories or not, but this has no connections at all to the main DCU.

[TheBlackTerror]

For real, probably Red Son or the Tangent Universe Superman
But gotta give some love to the “Evil” Superman in the classic Superfriends episode “Universe of Evil”. He doesn’t kill anyone of course, it was 70s Saturday morning TV, but manages to make the rest of the JL pretty useless by comparison

[Jim Kelly]

I liked the Composite Superman, who is one of the first Superman villains I encountered, when I picked up at the drugstore WORLD'S FINEST COMICS 168 (August 1967), "The Return of the Composite Superman," by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and George Klein. That was a sequel to "The Composite Superman" by Edmond Hamilton, Swan and Klein, in WORLD'S FINEST COMICS 142 (June 1964).

Joe Meach was the Composite Superman endowed with all the powers of the Legion of Super-Heroes. After his defeat by Superman, Batman and Robin in WFC 142, the heroes got him a job as a janitor at the Superman Museum. I liked when this happened where Superman would find work for his former enemies, he didn't just abandon them. However, because of the alien Xan, Joe is returned to his life as the Composite Superman, but he sacrifices himself for the Word's Finest by the end of the story.

After that Xan took over the role of the villain, but he changed his name and his look to that of Amalgamax, and after that came Composite and then Composite Man. But I prefer the Joe Meach Composite Superman. Not really evil but a tragic figure.

If he were revived, I don't think modern artists could pull off his half and half look--it would probably be too silly for modern readers. But I think someone could design a good composite of Superman and Batman.

[stargazer01]

Evil, drunk Superman from 3? lol

He was fun to watch.

[williamtheday]

Major Man, from The Powerpuff Girls.

[williamtheday]

Major Man, from The Powerpuff Girls.

Sorry, that belongs on the parody thread.