Superman is not only a superhero, he’s the superhero. For decades, he’s been the standard, the ultimate proving ground of strength, the man everyone else gets measured against. He’s so strong that his fans made him the first “can he beat [insert character name here]?” yardstick. And while the Man of Steel normally wins, occasionally someone does manage to pull a loss from him.
Throughout comics, crossovers, and alternate realities, only a few characters managed the impossible: they defeated Superman. Some did it with brains, some with brawn, and some by warping reality. Let’s take a glimpse at ten of the most unexpected names to have laid out DC’s mightiest hero.
10. Doomsday – The One Who Killed Him
If you’ve ever heard about Superman “dying,” you’ve heard of Doomsday. This hulking monster isn’t just another villain; he’s the being who literally fought Superman to the death in Superman number 75. Doomsday adapts to anything that kills him, which means every time Superman figured out a way to hurt him, it stopped working. Their clash was one of comics’ most brutal battles, and it ended with both lying lifeless in Metropolis.
9. Batman – The Master Planner
Naturally, Batman is on the list. No superpowers, no super strength, just good old-fashioned planning. Throughout the years, Bruce Wayne has come up with endless methods to defeat Superman, most of which consist of Kryptonite, red sun technology, or gadgets only he would think of. From the Hush saga to Tower of Babel, Batman continues to show time and time again that prep work and intelligence can topple gods.
8. Wonder Woman – Warrior Versus Kryptonian
Wonder Woman isn’t Superman’s sidekick; she’s his equal, and even his better, in combat. With her martial arts training, divine tools, and plain guts, Diana has defeated Clark more than a time or two. In alternate versions such as Injustice, she doesn’t merely keep pace; she overwhelms him utterly. When Amazonian training meets Kryptonian power, don’t think Superman always prevails.
7. Maxwell Lord – The Puppet Master
Superman’s greatest weakness isn’t Krypton,ite his mind. Meet Maxwell Lord, a telepath who was able to take over Superman’s mind and actions completely. Even the Martian Manhunter said it couldn’t be reversed. Ultimately, Wonder Woman was forced to kill Lord to free him from his grasp. It’s a chilling demonstration of how dangerous psychological manipulation can be, even for Earth’s greatest hero.
6. Lex Luthor – The Eternal Rival
If anyone has a history of outwitting Superman, it’s Lex Luthor. He’s defeated Clark in every imaginable method via politics, technology, manipulation, and, naturally, a good supply of Kryptonite. Sometimes he wears a battle suit, sometimes he manipulates from the shadows, but his wins prove that the most lethal foe isn’t always the most powerful; it’s the one who understands your vulnerabilities like the back of his hand.
5. Godzilla – King of the Monsters, Literally
This actually happened, yes. In the crossover movie Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong, the radioactive kaiju fought Superman head-to-head and beat him down and rendering him powerless. Godzilla’s atomic breath functioned like a death warrant, deactivating Superman’s regenerative abilities and rendering him pulseless. It turns out that Kryptonians don’t fare too well against living nuclear bombs.
4. Scarlet Witch – Reality Is Hers to Rewrite
Magic has long been Superman’s weak point, and Wanda Maximoff is perhaps the most powerful magic-wielder in all comics. She can reform reality with her chaos magic. She once remade the entire Marvel Universe on a whim (House of M). Nobody would have any chance against someone like that, including Superman. She would be able to redefine the rules of existence before he could even throw a punch.
3. Professor X – The Telepath Who Stops Fights Immediately
Charles Xavier doesn’t require super strength to defeat Superman; he only requires his brain. As the strongest telepath on Marvel’s Earth, Xavier could overwhelm Clark in a second. With Cerebro’s assistance, he could dominate Superman not only, but also possibly eradicate him with one thought. It wouldn’t be abattlele it would be finished before Superman even knew it had started.
2. Doctor Strange – The Sorcerer Supreme
Magic once more, and this time by Marvel’s best sorcerer. Doctor Strange’s collection of spells, dimensional tricks, and reality-altering abilities renders Superman his worst fears. Strange can trap him in another dimension, eliminate his powers, or simply render him harmless. When you can warp the fabric of existence, brute strength counts for nothing.
1. The Hulk – Rage Without Limit
The age-old showdown: Superman vs. Hulk. On paper, Clark appears stronger. But the Hulk’s power increases with his rage, and there’s no limit to that. In tales such as World War Hulk, his anger was so intense that his footprints shook continents. If Hulk’s rage continued to escalate, Superman may not be able to match it. The angrier Hulk becomes, the more he pounds, and soon, even Kryptonian resilience will crack.
Superman can be the gold standard, but these ten characters demonstrate that even the greatest hero can be brought down. Sometimes it’s raw strength, sometimes it’s brains, and sometimes it’s reality itself being reworked. What makes these stories so enjoyable isn’t that Superman loses, it’s that we get to see what type of opponent it takes to make the invincible Man of Steel finally flex.