These DC heavyweights met their untimely ends at the Man of Steel's hands.
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00:00For most of his 84-year history in various media, Superman has been defined by the restraint he employs,
00:06while using his incredible abilities in combat.
00:09But there have been some instances where good old Supes has taken some lives in the heat of battle.
00:15So, with this in mind, I'm Dan from WhatCulture, and these are the 10 most powerful characters killed by Superman.
00:22Number 10, Doomsday, the death of Superman.
00:26Following his escape from his underground tomb, Doomsday went on a destructive rampage throughout the country,
00:32that eventually attracted the Justice League's attention.
00:35After a brief but violent encounter with the Behemoth, only Clark was left standing to face the new and powerful threat.
00:42Doomsday's animalistic rage and sheer might forced the hero to tap into the reserves of power he had previously held back,
00:49just to keep up with his opponent.
00:51And naturally, this display of strength proved to be dangerous for both combatants,
00:56as well as the various environments they clashed in.
00:59While the Man of Steel was able to put down the threat before it escalated any further,
01:03it came at the expense of his own life.
01:06Subsequent encounters with the monster have seen the hero win by the skin of his teeth,
01:10due to Doomsday's terrifying regenerative abilities.
01:14Number 9, General Zod, Superman number 22.
01:18Not too long after his origin, abilities and nature were rebooted in Crisis on Infinite Earths,
01:23Superman was placed in the uncomfortable position of having to kill to save countless lives.
01:29Through the machinations of the Time Trapper, the mainstream Superman encountered a younger version of himself,
01:35from a pocket universe that was similar to the pre-crisis timeline.
01:38This meant that Superboy and all Kryptonians from this time were significantly more powerful than Clark,
01:45and the latter got first-hand experience of this when he encountered that time's General Zod.
01:50The villain went on a destructive rampage throughout the alternate timeline,
01:54and Superman was forced to intervene after his counterpart had died earlier on.
01:59Ultimately, the hero depowered and killed the rogue alien,
02:02using a combination of gold and green kryptonite respectively.
02:06While the pocket universe was spared, this execution weighed heavily on the hero,
02:10who, up to this point, had never taken a life.
02:13Number 8, The Flash, Deceased
02:16In 2019's Deceased, the Earth is infected by a techno-organic virus
02:21that was born out of Darkseid's interference with Cyborg's body.
02:25The virus quickly spreads over the planet and infects many civilians and heroes alike,
02:30including The Flash.
02:32A zombified Barry then zips around the planet, infecting countless people in the process.
02:37Realising that he is the only one who can keep up with this hero,
02:40Superman flies around the world and collides into his former teammate, instantly killing him.
02:45Unfortunately, some of The Flash's remains get lodged into Superman's side,
02:49infecting him in the process.
02:51Then, the zombified Kryptonian goes on a frenzied path of his own
02:55that culminates in him absorbing the sun itself to wipe out the entire solar system.
03:00Number 7, Wonder Woman, Superman-Batman, Absolute Power
03:05In this timeline, Superman and Batman were raised by the futuristic legion of supervillains
03:10to be global dictators and, fitting with the territory,
03:13this new version of the beloved heroes were vicious murderers
03:17who held nothing back while dealing with any opposition they came across.
03:21During a clash with Wonder Woman, Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters,
03:25Diana kills this version of Bruce Wayne and this Angus Clarke
03:29who viciously beats the heroine into submission
03:31before strangling her with her own lasso of truth.
03:34Fortunately, after much time hopping and multiple deaths for the titular heroes,
03:39the timeline was reset and the damage done by the legion of supervillains was undone,
03:44ensuring that the world's finest followed their intended paths in the timeline.
03:49Number 6, Shazam, Injustice, Gods Among Us, Year One
03:53The Injustice comics and games have seen Superman commit countless atrocities
03:58throughout his five-year reign over the planet.
04:00From killing Green Arrow, the Joker and untold numbers of innocents,
04:04there was no line that Kal-El would not cross
04:07in his quest for his version of global order.
04:10Towards the end of his reign, the former hero began to lose the trust of his allies.
04:14One such hero was Billy Batson who became disillusioned with his teammates' decision
04:19to raise Gotham and whatever remained of Metropolis to the ground.
04:23The young hero made the mistake of invoking the late Lois Lane's name
04:27to call out the cruelty of Superman's plan.
04:30This enraged the unstable Kryptonian
04:32and before Shazam could use his eponymous phrase to defend himself,
04:36Superman sealed Billy's mouth shut with his freeze breath
04:40and used his heat vision to burn through his head, killing him in the process.
04:45Number 5, Mogo and Gantet, Injustice, Gods Among Us, Year Two
04:50A sentient planet, Mogo at some point joined the Green Lantern Corps
04:54but was not known for being the most outgoing being out there,
04:58what with being a living planet and all.
05:00That said, he is one of the most powerful Green Lanterns alive and it's easy to see why.
05:05This made his death at the hands of the Yellow Lantern Superman
05:08all the more shocking in the Injustice comic series.
05:11Before encountering the now tyrannical Man of Steel,
05:14Mogo proved instrumental in wiping out a significant number of the Sinestro Corps members
05:20and was a key component in confronting the fallen hero and his villainous allies.
05:25But unfortunately for them, Superman possessed a Yellow Lantern ring
05:29and this boosted his already considerable power
05:32and made him even more of a threat to Mogo himself.
05:35Then, Supes used his newfound power to push Mogo into the sun,
05:39killing both him and Gantet in the process.
05:43Number 4, A Rogue Sun Eater, Action Comics number 847
05:47Worried about her son's well-being in the Phantom Zone,
05:50Martha Kent expresses concern to Jonathan
05:52about the impending invasion from Zod and his allies.
05:55Jonathan attempts to alleviate his wife's woes
05:58by sharing a tale about their son's indomitable will in the face of adversity.
06:02A while back, the father and son embarked on an interstellar trip
06:06that saw Clark and an alien civilization defeat a Rogue Sun Eater.
06:10While the superhero didn't use his powers in battle,
06:13he was instrumental in its defeat by transporting a powerful explosive
06:17known as an Entropy Bomb to the entity's core.
06:20In addition to this entry being one-of-a-kind
06:23due to the Sun Eaters not being sentient beings,
06:26it's not every day that Superman's parents are involved in his adventures.
06:30Number 3, Imperiex, Our Worlds at War
06:34The Our Worlds at War saga is one of DC's most underrated crossover events.
06:39In it, the god-like being Imperiex felt that the current universe was flawed
06:44and sought to remake it as he saw fit.
06:47Using Mongols' War World as a conduit for his power,
06:50the cosmic entity began his galactic rampage.
06:53A massive battle ensued and, in the process,
06:56the villainous Brainiac 13 took advantage of the situation
07:00and absorbed Imperiex's apocalyptic energies for himself.
07:04This unexpected team-up forced Superman to increase his power
07:07by diving into the Sun and pushing War World through a boom tube
07:11that the other heroes had created.
07:13Before this cosmic phenomenon wiped out Imperiex and Brainiac 13,
07:17the former found out that the flaw in the universe he discovered was, in fact, himself.
07:23Number 2, Mr. Mitzel Spitlik, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
07:28Normally, the fifth dimensional imp is no more than a nuisance in Superman's life,
07:32but this was far from the case in the seminal
07:35Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow storyline.
07:38This 1986 comic served as a coda for the pre-crisis Superman
07:43and pitted him against his foes who had become more dangerous than ever before.
07:47In addition to this, Superman's secret identity was exposed to the world,
07:52placing his loved ones at risk.
07:53After several dangerous encounters, which left most of his friends and foes dead,
07:58the titular hero realized that he had not encountered the omnipotent imp at any point.
08:04This is where Mixey revealed himself as the instigator behind Clark's current woes.
08:09To prevent further annihilation through the imp's deranged influence,
08:13Superman traps Mitzel Spitlik between his home dimension and the Phantom Zone,
08:18literally tearing the imp in two.
08:20Dejected by his actions, Superman strips himself of his abilities
08:23and goes into hiding in order to live a normal life.
08:31Final Crisis saw the Earth turn to ground zero
08:34for Darkseid's ultimate plan to wipe out the cosmos before his demise.
08:39Naturally, the universe's various heroes sought to stop this plan,
08:43even as they were being fallen prey to Darkseid's destructive nature.
08:47Before the villain's essence could wipe out the entirety of the DC universe,
08:52Superman noted that it operated on a very specific frequency
08:55that he could counter with a powerful note of his own.
08:58This high-pitched sound was able to dissipate the new god's essence and wipe him out for good.
09:04And while the idea of Superman defeating Darkseid with a high-pitched note,
09:08of all things, might sound ridiculous and anticlimactic to some,
09:12it showcases the hero's ingenuity and his ability to overcome threats
09:16without having to resort to simple blows.
09:19And that's our list.
09:20You can find more lists like this on screen now.
09:22But for now though, I've been Dan and I'll catch you in the next one.