These DC heavyweights met their untimely ends at the Man of Steel's hands.
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00:00 For most of his 84 year history in various media, Superman has been defined by the restraint he employs,
00:06 while using his incredible abilities in combat.
00:09 But there have been some instances where good old Supes has taken some lives in the heat of battle.
00:15 So, with this in mind, I'm Dan from WhatCulture, and these are the 10 most powerful characters killed by Superman.
00:22 Number 10, Doomsday. The death of Superman.
00:26 Following his escape from his underground tomb, Doomsday went on a destructive rampage throughout the country,
00:32 that eventually attracted the Justice League's attention.
00:35 After a brief but violent encounter with the Behemoth, only Clark was left standing to face the new and powerful threat.
00:42 Doomsday's animalistic rage and sheer might forced the hero to tap into the reserves of power he had previously held back,
00:49 just to keep up with his opponent.
00:51 And naturally, this display of strength proved to be dangerous for both combatants,
00:56 as well as the various environments they clashed in.
00:59 While the Man of Steel was able to put down the threat before it escalated any further,
01:03 it came at the expense of his own life.
01:06 Subsequent encounters with the monster have seen the hero win by the skin of his teeth,
01:10 due to Doomsday's terrifying regenerative abilities.
01:14 Number 9, General Zod. Superman #22.
01:18 Not too long after his origin, abilities and nature were rebooted in Crisis on Infinite Earths,
01:23 Superman was placed in the uncomfortable position of having to kill to save countless lives.
01:29 Through the machinations of the Time Trapper, the mainstream Superman,
01:32 encountered a younger version of himself from a pocket universe that was similar to the pre-Crisis timeline.
01:39 This meant that Superboy and all Kryptonians from this time were significantly more powerful than Clark,
01:45 and the latter got first-hand experience of this when he encountered that time's General Zod.
01:50 The villain went on a destructive rampage throughout the alternate timeline,
01:54 and Superman was forced to intervene after his counterpart had died earlier on.
01:59 Ultimately, the hero depowered and killed the rogue alien,
02:02 using a combination of gold and green kryptonite, respectively.
02:06 While the pocket universe was spared, this execution weighed heavily on the hero,
02:10 who, up to this point, had never taken a life.
02:13 Number 8, The Flash, Deceased
02:16 In 2019's Deceased, the Earth is infected by a techno-organic virus
02:21 that was born out of Darkseid's interference with Cyborg's body.
02:25 The virus quickly spreads over the planet and infects many civilians and heroes alike,
02:30 including The Flash.
02:32 A zombified Barry then zips around the planet, infecting countless people in the process.
02:37 Realising that he is the only one who can keep up with this hero,
02:40 Superman flies around the world and collides into his former teammate, instantly killing him.
02:45 Unfortunately, some of The Flash's remains get lodged into Superman's site,
02:49 infecting him in the process.
02:51 Then, the zombified Kryptonian goes on a frenzied path of his own
02:55 that culminates in him absorbing the sun itself to wipe out the entire solar system.
03:00 Number 7, Wonder Woman, Superman/Batman, Absolute Power
03:05 In this timeline, Superman and Batman were raised by the futuristic legion of supervillains
03:10 to be global dictators.
03:12 And, fitting with the territory, this new version of the beloved heroes were vicious murderers
03:17 who held nothing back while dealing with any opposition they came across.
03:21 During a clash with Wonder Woman, Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters,
03:25 Diana kills this version of Bruce Wayne and this Angus Clark,
03:29 who viciously beats the heroine into submission before strangling her with her own lasso of truth.
03:34 Fortunately, after much time hopping and multiple deaths for the titular heroes,
03:39 the timeline was reset and the damage done by the legion of supervillains was undone,
03:44 ensuring that the world's finest followed their intended paths in the timeline.
03:49 Number 6, Shazam, Injustice, Gods Among Us, Year One
03:53 The Injustice comics and games have seen Superman commit countless atrocities
03:58 throughout his five-year reign over the planet.
04:00 From killing Green Arrow, the Joker, and untold numbers of innocents,
04:04 there was no line that Kal-El would not cross
04:07 in his quest for his version of global order.
04:10 Towards the end of his reign, the former hero began to lose the trust of his allies.
04:14 One such hero was Billy Batson, who became disillusioned with his teammates' decision
04:19 to raise Gotham and whatever remained of Metropolis to the ground.
04:23 The young hero made the mistake of invoking the late Lois Lane's name
04:27 to call out the cruelty of Superman's plan.
04:30 This enraged the unstable Kryptonian.
04:32 And, before Shazam could use his eponymous phrase to defend himself,
04:36 Superman sealed Billy's mouth shut with his freeze breath
04:40 and used his heat vision to burn through his head, killing him in the process.
04:45 Number 5, Mogo, and Gantet, Injustice, Gods Among Us, Year Two
04:50 A sentient planet, Mogo at some point joined the Green Lantern Corps,
04:54 but was not known for being the most outgoing being out there,
04:58 what with being a living planet and all.
05:00 That said, he is one of the most powerful Green Lanterns alive,
05:03 and it's easy to see why.
05:05 This made his death at the hands of the Yellow Lantern Superman
05:08 all the more shocking in the Injustice comic series.
05:11 Before encountering the now tyrannical Man of Steel,
05:14 Mogo proved instrumental in wiping out a significant number of the Sinestro Corps members,
05:20 and was a key component in confronting the fallen hero and his villainous allies.
05:25 But, unfortunately for them, Superman possessed a Yellow Lantern ring,
05:29 and this boosted his already considerable power
05:32 and made him even more of a threat to Mogo himself.
05:35 Then, Supes used his newfound power to push Mogo into the sun,
05:39 killing both him and Gantet in the process.
05:42 Number 4, A Rogue Sun Eater, Action Comics #847,
05:47 Worried about her son's well-being in the Phantom Zone,
05:50 Martha Kent expresses concern to Jonathan about the impending invasion from Zod and his allies.
05:55 Jonathan attempts to alleviate his wife's woes by sharing a tale about their son's
06:00 indomitable will in the face of adversity.
06:02 A while back, the father and son embarked on an interstellar trip
06:06 that saw Clark and an alien civilization defeat a rogue Sun Eater.
06:10 While the superhero didn't use his powers in battle, he was instrumental in its defeat
06:15 by transporting a powerful explosive known as an Entropy Bomb to the entity's core.
06:20 In addition to this entry being one of a kind due to the Sun Eaters not being sentient beings,
06:26 it's not every day that Superman's parents are involved in his adventures.
06:30 Number 3, Imperiex, Our Worlds at War.
06:34 The Our Worlds at War saga is one of DC's most underrated crossover events.
06:39 In it, the god-like being Imperiex felt that the current universe was flawed
06:44 and sought to remake it as he saw fit.
06:47 Using Mongols' War World as a conduit for his power,
06:50 the cosmic entity began his galactic rampage.
06:53 A massive battle ensued and, in the process, the villainous Brainiac 13
06:58 took advantage of the situation and absorbed Imperiex's apocalyptic energies for himself.
07:04 This unexpected team-up forced Superman to increase his power by diving into the Sun
07:09 and pushing War World through a boom tube that the other heroes had created.
07:13 Before this cosmic phenomenon wiped out Imperiex and Brainiac 13,
07:17 the former found out that the flaw in the universe he discovered was in fact himself.
07:23 Number 2, Mr. Mitzel Spitlik, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow.
07:28 Normally, the fifth dimensional imp is no more than a nuisance in Superman's life,
07:32 but this was far from the case in the seminal Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow storyline.
07:38 This 1986 comic served as a coda for the pre-crisis Superman and pitted him against his foes,
07:44 who had become more dangerous than ever before.
07:47 In addition to this, Superman's secret identity was exposed to the world,
07:52 placing his loved ones at risk.
07:53 After several dangerous encounters, which left most of his friends and foes dead,
07:58 the titular hero realized that he had not encountered the omnipotent imp at any point.
08:04 This is where Mixey revealed himself as the instigator behind Clark's current woes.
08:09 To prevent further annihilation through the imp's deranged influence,
08:13 Superman traps Mitzel Spitlik between his home dimension and the Phantom Zone,
08:18 literally tearing the imp in two.
08:20 Dejected by his actions, Superman strips himself of his abilities
08:23 and goes into hiding in order to live a normal life.
08:27 Number 1 - Darkseid - Final Crisis
08:31 Final Crisis saw the Earth turn to ground zero for Darkseid's ultimate plan
08:36 to wipe out the cosmos before his demise.
08:39 Naturally, the universe's various heroes sought to stop this plan,
08:43 even as they were being fallen prey to Darkseid's destructive nature.
08:47 Before the villain's essence could wipe out the entirety of the DC universe,
08:51 Superman noted that it operated on a very specific frequency
08:55 that he could counter with a powerful note of his own.
08:58 This high-pitched sound was able to dissipate the new god's essence and wipe him out for good.
09:04 And while the idea of Superman defeating Darkseid with a high-pitched note,
09:08 of all things, might sound ridiculous and anticlimactic to some,
09:12 it showcases the hero's ingenuity and his ability to overcome threats
09:16 without having to resort to simple blows.
09:18 And that's our list.
09:20 You can find more lists like this on screen now.
09:22 But for now though, I've been Dan and I'll catch you in the next one.