Superman has the worst villains, or so the haters say.

[Robanker]

Screenrant. Ah, the final piece of the puzzle falls into place.

[Powerboy]

Dr. Doom is a great villain, but he is not an icon.
In the comic the visual part is very important, Lex is a bald man, his appearance does not stand out much, even less if you compare him with someone like Dr. Doom, but if you go out to the street you look for people who have not read a comic in their life, you show them a picture of a bald man, you tell them he is a villain, who is he?
Everyone will call you Lex.
You show them a picture of Dr. Doom, they won't know who he is.
There is no comparison.

Obviously, among people who read comics or people who grew up reading comics (getting to be a much older group), Doom is iconic, the most iconic villain at Marvel. But he suffers in movies because every live action movie he's been in has sucked and never hit big. That will probably change drastically when he is introduced into the MCU, assuming the MCU keeps most of its momentum.

But Lex Luther has Gene Hackman. Granted, for the young crowd, many if not most have not seen that version. But they've seen Smallville and recent movies.

[Prime]

They know who Brainiac, Bizarro, Doomsday, and Bloodsport are.

Um not really sure. Maybe

[marhawkman]

Obviously, among people who read comics or people who grew up reading comics (getting to be a much older group), Doom is iconic, the most iconic villain at Marvel. But he suffers in movies because every live action movie he's been in has sucked and never hit big. That will probably change drastically when he is introduced into the MCU, assuming the MCU keeps most of its momentum.

But Lex Luther has Gene Hackman. Granted, for the young crowd, many if not most have not seen that version. But they've seen Smallville and recent movies.

And DCAU... like all of the DCAU....

[JBatmanFan05]

Superman has some great rogues. I think what has hurt some of those rogues are all the messy continuity and reboots Superman has experienced since and including COIE. Some of the villain incarnations are just so all over the place and different from incarnations before and after.

So, I think it's not so much the villains themselves, but rather Superman's continuity troubles that have left a mess and hurt villains in the process.

It's always possible of course that any critics out there consider media other the than comics, where you have different versions of Lex (and I know friends of mine that aren't so big on, for example, Hackman Lex) and other underwhelming or poorly used villains, or just villains not used at all.

[Hoodj]

Comics Doom is great, but he’s never been anywhere near the same level as Lex outside of comics. All of his live action adaptions have sucked and none of the animated Marvel stuff features him or is remembered as fondly as DCAU Lex.

You'd be wrong.

There's no question that Dr. Doom is Marvel's most iconic villain. On a Superman forum, you're not likely to have him perceived as equal to Lex, but that is partly because his main opponents (or those perceived as his main opponents, the FF) just aren't as iconic as Luthor's opponent, Superman, and partly because Doom just has never had a movie or live action television appearance that even came close to doing the comic version justice while Luthor has had Hackman, Rosenbaum and Cryer.

Dr. Doom is a great villain, but he is not an icon.
In the comic the visual part is very important, Lex is a bald man, his appearance does not stand out much, even less if you compare him with someone like Dr. Doom, but if you go out to the street you look for people who have not read a comic in their life, you show them a picture of a bald man, you tell them he is a villain, who is he?
Everyone will call you Lex.
You show them a picture of Dr. Doom, they won't know who he is.
There is no comparison.

When Lex is written right, he is Doom's superior. By far.

Doom just seems more popular with fanboys and communities in my eyes and when he appeaes in the mcu, his status will increase and will.most likely take the the title of greatest villian from Lex or rival him and Joker in pop culture like Thanos. Thats just me.

[godisawesome]

Superman has some great rogues. I think what has hurt some of those rogues are all the messy continuity and reboots Superman has experienced since and including COIE. Some of the villain incarnations are just so all over the place and different from incarnations before and after.

So, I think it's not so much the villains themselves, but rather Superman's continuity troubles that have left a mess and hurt villains in the process.

It's always possible of course that any critics out there consider media other the than comics, where you have different versions of Lex (and I know friends of mine that aren't so big on, for example, Hackman Lex) and other underwhelming or poorly used villains, or just villains not used at all.

We were talking about the DCAU over on another board, and a consensus arose that, all things considered, the rogues gallery from Superman: The Animated Series was startlingly strong, and maybe even elevated the series above a mostly just okay Superman himself.

That likely reflects how the lack of consistency is a much bigger bane than actual villain quality; something similar likely emerges with how Smallville did a great job with Lex and Zoe (twice).

[marhawkman]

We were talking about the DCAU over on another board, and a consensus arose that, all things considered, the rogues gallery from Superman: The Animated Series was startlingly strong, and maybe even elevated the series above a mostly just okay Superman himself.

That likely reflects how the lack of consistency is a much bigger bane than actual villain quality; something similar likely emerges with how Smallville did a great job with Lex and Zoe (twice).

DCAU had such a strong villain roster that some of them were adapted into the comics.... Well this is where Harley Quinn came from too. Harley and Livewire both originated in DCAU.

[Nero]

I finally got around to reading the article and it was as nonsensical as I had initially expected. Superman has plenty of credible rogues outside of Lex Luthor and General Zod, it's on present and future writers to fully capitalize on that.

[Will Evans]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s6YvbaB-LL4&t=70s

I wish writers gave focus on updating more of his Bronze Age villains like Amalak, Blackrock, Terra-Man, Master Jailer, Krytonite Man and Neutron

[chamber-music]

Superman has some great villains but Superman doesn't have a really deep bench of villains given how long he has been around and his status as one of the biggest name superheroes. Even C-List villains for characters like Batman or The Flash are pretty good while I don't think that is necessarily true of Superman.

A lot of Batman's writers have really delved into his foes to make them compelling and interesting characters. Older villains have been revamped and updated. Newer created foes have had compelling stories with solid backstories and motivations to bring them into conflict with Batman or the inhabitants of his city.

Some of Superman's older foes have not been used much. They have not been updated or revamped for modern readers. Other newer foes have either not caught on or not used in a interesting way.

Supes also has Toyman. A guy with no powers, and a fondness for toy themed weapons that aren't usually even super-tech.

The best version of Toyman for me is the one from the Superman Animated series. He was like a doll mask wearing version of Jigsaw from the Saw franchise. A genuinely creepy villain with some compelling motivations.

[Ascended]

I want to know why we haven't gotten a Titano story lately.

Seriously, who doesn't love a big kaiju fight? And Clark's got one right here.

[Zagre]

I want to know why we haven't gotten a Titano story lately.

Seriously, who doesn't love a big kaiju fight? And Clark's got one right here.

I think ever since King Kong, apes always feel more like "tragic animal" than giant monster. That being, I'm all for Superman facing more Kaiju.

[Will Evans]

I want to know why we haven't gotten a Titano story lately.

Seriously, who doesn't love a big kaiju fight? And Clark's got one right here.

I’m surprised more villains haven’t tried to control him.
Or release him unto Metropolis as a diversion for Superman.

[Thor-Ul]

Screenrant. Ah, the final piece of the puzzle falls into place.

That explains a lot

Obviously, among people who read comics or people who grew up reading comics (getting to be a much older group), Doom is iconic, the most iconic villain at Marvel. But he suffers in movies because every live action movie he's been in has sucked and never hit big. That will probably change drastically when he is introduced into the MCU, assuming the MCU keeps most of its momentum.

We will see. Doom has made honor to his name when it had deal with movie adaptations. Maybe the most acuratted version was the Roger Corman Fantastic Four than nobody ever will see... unless Disney+ is really desperated by content.

But Lex Luther has Gene Hackman. Granted, for the young crowd, many if not most have not seen that version. But they've seen Smallville and recent movies.

Gene Hackman, Clancy Brown, Michael Rosembaum, Jon Cryer.