In the DC universe, Superman can be treated more like a god than a superhero, but when it comes down to it, there are plenty of ways to beat Superman. Superman has a number of weaknesses that make him susceptible to a variety of different strikes. Powerful magic users, telepaths, and anyone with a chunk of Kryptonite stand a reasonable chance to take down Kal-El. While a number of heroes and villains in DC’s multiverse have defeated the Man of Steel, the better question may be who can beat Superman in Marvel?
Comic fans generally recognize Marvel as a company that tells stories about heroes who are real people and DC as a company that tells stories about borderline deities. Still, there are plenty of overpowered Marvel characters that could stack up to Superman in a fight.
9. Hulk Could Pummel Superman Into Submission If He Was Angry Enough
Superman is generally considered the strongest character at DC, and Hulk is generally considered Marvel’s strongest. So, their matchup is practically written in the stars. While Superman is a worthy foe for any competitor across any publishing company, he’s simply no match for peak Hulk.
Hulk’s main strength is, well, his strength. Everyone knows Hulk is strong, but everyone may not know that his strength is limitless. The strength of the Hulk is directly tied with how angry he gets, and since there’s no upper limit to rage, there’s no upper limit to his strength. Hulk simply needs to stay conscious long enough in the fight to get mad enough to overpower his foe.
For a display of Hulk’s top-level strength, look no further than World War Hulk. In this event, Hulk returned to Earth to seek revenge on the heroes who had sent him away. Hulk’s rage continued to grow while on Earth, and he reached the point where each step he took released so much energy that he almost destroyed all of North America.
8. Cloak Could Cut Superman Off From The Source Of His Strength
If a hero isn’t strong enough to take Superman down, then that hero needs to figure out a way to remove Superman from the fight in order to defeat him. Luckily, Cloak’s whole thing is removing people from places. Cloak’s body acts as a portal to the Darkforce Dimension, and since Superman’s powers come from the sun, it’s not hard to theorize how Cloak could beat Superman in a fight.
Superman’s only chance against Cloak would be landing a hit. This would be especially hard against Cloak because Cloak is usually completely intangible. So, Cloak is a being that Superman can’t punch, and he has the power to transport Superman to a place that will render him powerless. Easy fight.
7. Black Bolt Has A Voice That Could Stop A Kryptonian In His Tracks
Black Bolt is the leader of the Inhumans and a man of few words for good reason. Black Bolt’s power is rather unique. For fans of DC, think of it as something of a suped-up Canary Cry. Basically, Black Bolt releases an incredible amount of force whenever he speaks. The slightest whisper and Black Bolt would decimate anything standing in front of him, so he generally remains silent, leaving all to wonder what would happen if he were to scream.
Were Black Bolt to scream, as he did once when fighting Thanos, he would destroy everything in his radius and leave his enemy, at the very least, incapacitated. At full strength, Bolt’s scream is as powerful as a nuclear blast, if not even more so. Superman is powerful, that’s no doubt, but Black Bolt’s ability to consistently deliver nuclear-level blows puts him on the level of Doomsday, and everyone knows how that went.
Black Bolt’s powers can crumble planets. So, his biggest problem when fighting (like in his throwdown with Thanos in Infinity #4) is that he needs to find a way to take down his enemy without taking innocent life. If Black Bolt was on a planet where he could use his full force, he would make short work of Superman.
6. Rogue Could Take Superman’s Own Powers And Use Them Against Him
Captain Marvel is one of Marvel’s closest Superman analogs, and Rogue put her out of commission and stole her powers for years. The only possibility of Superman defeating Rogue is if he went all out with his first punch and eliminated Rogue in cold blood. But that’s not really Superman’s style, and it would only take Rogue laying one hand on Superman to knock him out cold and take his powers.
From there, the contest would be easy to win, seeing as Rogue would have the powers of Superman, and Superman wouldn’t.
5. Radioactive Man Can Generate Kryptonite Radiation From Nowhere
Kryptonite doesn’t magically make Superman weak just by touching him. Instead, Kryptonite emits a certain kind of radiation that adversely affects Superman’s Kryptonian physiology. Thus, a being with the power to manipulate radiation could technically weaken Superman in the same way Kryptonite does. Enter Radioactive Man.
Radioactive Man is a Chinese nuclear physicist who was exposed to a large amount of radiation and gained the power to absorb and manipulate it. Thus, in a faceoff with Superman, Radioactive Man could win by conjuring up the specific type of radiation emitted by Kryptonite. Radioactive Man could then fire these Kryptonite blasts at Kal-El and easily win the day.
4. Legion Has At Least One Personality Strong Enough To Wipe Superman From Existence
Legion is the son of Charles Xavier and one of the most powerful mutants of all time. Legion has dissociative identity disorder, and each one of his personalities has a different mutation and power. Legion has often been described as being a mutant with hundreds of different Omega-level mutations. And, let’s face it, one of these personalities is bound to best Superman.
In Legion’s most powerful form, he can warp both reality and time. He is described by others as a god mutant, and his power makes him more than fitting for that title. Legion’s own time-traveling changed the entire course of the world and led to a reality in which Apocalypse was the ruler.
But, for the sake of variety, Legion also has a personality that gives him the power to turn anything he touches into salt. And, well, Superman couldn’t do a lot of fighting if he was turned into salt.
3. Professor X Has A Stronger Brain Than Superman
Superman is vulnerable to telepaths, and Professor X is the most powerful telepath on Earth-616. Professor X became even more powerful since helping found the mutant nation of Krakoa after redesigning Cerebro to take a portable form that constantly amplifies his abilities.
Superman has been shown to fall prey to mind control on many occasions. In one example, Poison Ivy was able to control his mind (and the minds of the rest of the world) through the infection of all plant-based food on Earth. If Ivy is capable of mind-controlling Superman, then Professor X certainly is. This fight would be over before it began; Superman wouldn’t have time to land a single punch before the total mental takeover would begin.
2. Doctor Strange’s Magic Exploits Superman’s Biggest Vulnerability
Superman’s primary (and most famous) weakness will always be Kryptonite. But the Man of Steel is also quite vulnerable to magic. It makes sense for a hero who solves most problems with his physical abilities to have very little knowledge of magic in general. So, Superman would be totally exposed when facing a magic-user of Doctor Strange‘s caliber.
So, how would Doctor Strange defeat a foe like Superman? Well, there are infinite uses of magic, so, to be quite honest, there are an infinite amount of magical strategies Strange could employ to best Supes. The easiest way would be to take a page out of Superman’s Phantom Zone banishment and banish Superman into a dimension he couldn’t escape from. Thanks to the aforementioned Phantom Zone, readers already know that Kryptonians, like Zod, have no real way to escape from dimensions they’re sent into, so a simple banishment should hold of Superman for a good, long time.
1. Scarlet Witch Controls Forces Of Reality That Even Superman Can’t Touch
Fans of Superman will know that he’s always struggled against chaotic magic wielders capable of altering reality – we’re looking at you, Mister Mxyzptlk. And, unlike the fifth-dimensional imp, Scarlet Witch won’t be banished into another dimension if she has to spell her name backward.
Scarlet Witch can alter reality in any way she sees fit. This was shown in House Of M, wherein Wanda altered the entire world and brainwashed its inhabitants to think the world had always been how she had rearranged things. So, in a fight with Superman, what’s stopping her from altering reality around Superman to put him in a room full of Kryptonite or changing the Sun from yellow (which gives him power) to red. Scarlet Witch has the reality-altering powers of a god, and it’s by her own goodwill that she doesn’t simply take over the world.