All 19 Superman Movie Villains, Ranked

Kneel before Zod. And Lex Luthor. Because for some reason, movies love those two.

With Superman officially kicking off the DCU, I figured it was time to look back through all of the Superman movies and do all of the classic rankings. The Superman movies are not the strongest set of films, and that is very obvious when you look at their villains. There are not a ton of great villains in the Superman movies. They've struggled to adapt classic villains well, so this is an interesting list. I think a lot of people may disagree with me, but, of course, this is just my ranking. So here it is.

19. Selena

Supergirl

Supergirl is genuinely one of the worst films I've ever seen, and Selena is one of the worst parts of this movie. Oscar-winning actress Faye Dunaway delivers this insanely cartoonish performance where she plays the most generic evil witch I've ever seen. None of her actions make sense. She fights Supergirl because she bewitched this guy to fall in love with her but he fell in love with Kara instead. They chose that as their main conflict rather than the fact that Selena has the orb that powers Supergirl's homeworld. From her cheesy-as-can-be dialogue to her stupid plans and motivations, everything about this character is just a pure dumpster fire.

18. Nuclear Man

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

One of the most infamous villains ever put to screen, Nuclear Man is about as bad as the reputation that proceeds him. From the cheap, Party City-looking costume to the random growls and long, electric claws, everything about this character is just an utter failure. He originates because Lex Luthor steals a strand of Superman's hair and makes a potion out of it that he puts inside a nuclear warhead which he expects Superman to throw into the sun, and when it is thrown into the sun, it explodes into Nuclear Man. What??? That is the dumbest thing ever. I don't even know what else to say about this character. He's basically the amalgamation of all of the problems of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.

17. Lenny Luthor

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

Have you ever wanted to see Lex Luthor broken out of prison by his stupid nephew who tricks police officers into getting into his remote-controlled car? Me neither, but Superman IV gave us that anyways. That is basically the only purpose that Lenny serves. Otis and Miss Teschmacher aren't in this film, so they need a replacement sidekick for Lex, and thus, we get his idiotic nephew. He's written terribly, Jon Cryer's performance is not good, and he is just utilized in such a pointless and awkward way. This movie sucks, and so do it's villains.

16. Vera Webster

Superman III

Isn't it sad that this is the closest we've ever gotten to a live-action adaptation of Brainiac? Vera Webster is Ross Webster's mischievous sister, and she is about as interesting as all of Superman III...which is to say, she's not interesting at all. She has very few lines, but the ones she does have are just purely mustache-twirling, over-the-top evil statements. The only thing she's memorable for is when she is eaten up by Gus Gorman's machine and becomes the nightmare almost-Brainiac monster. For that, she moves up slightly. But she still sucks, don't get me wrong.

15. Ross Webster

Superman III

Lex Luthor is...oh, wait, sorry, this is the stupid ripoff of the Man of Steel's greatest enemy. Ross Webster is the same character as Lex Luthor. He is a greedy corporate billionaire who wants to do some evil scheme that will give him control of a portion of the world, and he gets annoyed when Superman gets in his way. Beyond the fact that he is just a rehash, he's a very uninteresting rehash. If he was Lex Luthor, he'd be a crappy version of that character. He has no nuance or subtlety. Everything he's thinking, he just says. He's the ultimate mustache-twirling villain. He just wants to take over the world because he's evil and wants control or money or power or whatever. God, this guy sucks. And so does this movie.

14. Gus Gorman

Superman III

Basically the main character of Superman III, Gus Gorman is this Richard Pryor loser who does not belong in the world of DC. It's hard to even count him as a villain, because he's a morally good person who serves as an antagonist for most of the film. He aligns with the Websters to make money because he's poor and out of a job. Honestly, I could see a scenario in which that could be a compelling character, but he's so stupid and cartoonish and written so awfully that I just cannot muster up any shred of sympathy or care for him. He's the worst part of Superman III because he takes up most of the screen time, even if he's ranked higher than the other villains in that movie.

13. Lex Luthor

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice

I am so confused as to how they've screwed up Lex Luthor so many times and in so many different ways. Not counting Ross Webster, this is the worst version of Lex Luthor. I don't know what Zack Snyder or David S. Goyer were thinking when they created this version, but he's is just atrocious. Instead of being this dark, criminal mastermind, he's an awkward computer nerd who feels more like this bad Joker parody than Lex Luthor, Superman's greatest enemy. He doesn't once present as threatening. He has so many weird moments, like feeding that one guy Jolly Ranchers. Jesse Eisenberg is a great actor, but he was severely miscast as Lex, and his version is one of the worst characters in the DC Extended Universe.

12. Lex Luthor

Superman Returns

I really hate Kevin Spacey's Lex also, to be completely honest. Superman Returns is supposed to be this homage to the Donner films, but at times, it's too much of an homage. And Spacey's Luthor is the primary example of that. Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor is more comedic, but that's mainly because, up to that point in the comics, Lex had been comedic and mustache-twirling. In the 80s, they changed his character to make him an actual threat to Superman, a menacing force that acts as the Man of Steel's polar opposite. Spacey's Lex came out after he had been changed in the comics, but he's still this outdated, weirdly comedic version that does not fit with the tone of the movie or the vibe of modern superhero films. I get what they were trying to do with this character, but I think it was a bad idea executed even worse.

11. Doomsday

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice

If the DCEU was executed differently, I feel like this could've been a really compelling way to lead into the Justice League. Introduce Doomsday and do The Death of Superman and have his absence be the primary reason that Batman forms the JLA. Instead, we got this ugly CGI monster that was a creation of Lex Luthor's from the genetics of Zod. Not really sure how that makes sense. Instead of being a prehistoric monster from Krypton, Doomsday is nerdy Lex's science project that is ultimately reduced to a boss fight at the end of Batman v. Superman. They should've set him up more and had him be a more prominent character rather than this final battle that results in Superman's death.

10. Ultraman

Superman

Ultraman was a weird inclusion in the newest Superman, because he felt very underutilized. In the comics, he's this cool, alternate version of Superman...but here, he's this dumb, Lex Luthor-ified clone of him that isn't revealed to be a version of Superman until the very end. This character honestly felt more like Bizarro than Ultraman, but he wasn't a good adaptation of either. With Bizarro, there's usually some sympathy and tragedy. With Ultraman, there's some intimidation and scariness. Here, there's neither. And that was disappointing.

9. Otis

Superman, Superman II

I don't know why the Donner-era Superman films love giving Lex Luthor these knucklehead henchmen, but alas, that's what they do. Otis is a funny character, but he is by no means a compelling villain. Ned Beatty is great at the physical comedy and the line delivery, but he just acts as another part of this comedic version of Lex Luthor that I really don't like all that much. He doesn't really do much. He's just this bumbling idiot that Lex, for some reason, uses to do his dirty work. If Lex Luthor is really a super-genius, why on Earth does he have a sidekick with a brain the size of a pea?

8. Non

Superman, Superman II

Non is a strange character. He's meant to be the brawn for Zod's brains, but that doesn't really work all that well, because Zod and Ursa are just as strong as he is. So, rather than feeling like this menacing enforcer, he's a relatively forgettable piece of meat that is the least interesting of the evil Kryptonians. He isn't much of a character because he doesn't talk, so there's nothing there besides the muscle, which, again, is not that believable because all of the Kryptonians are basically all-powerful.

7. Eve Teschmacher

Superman, Superman II

This is where I get mixed on the list. Miss Teschmacher is a good antagonist. Honestly, she's not even really a bad guy, but she works with Lex Luthor, so I have to put her on here. She's an interesting mix of wanting to be there to support Lex while also having a righteous moral compass to the point where she does save Superman after Lex traps him in the pool. I find it interesting that, despite her redemption, she still stays with Lex and helps him escape prison in Superman II. She's not this ultra-compelling antagonist, but I do find her to serve her purpose very well. 

6. Ursa

Superman, Superman II

Ursa is essentially Superman II's version of Faora, and I think she works as that. Sarah Douglas, the actress, is actually very menacing in this role. She, like Zod, feels like a true alien that is discovering her powers with the same incredible awe as the General. This is more the henchman that I wanted Non to be. She doesn't overtake Zod, but she works to elevate each of his scary moments by just being imposing and having a few threatening lines of dialogue in the background. Like Miss Teschmacher, not a great villain, but definitely serves her purpose.

5. Faora-Ul

Man of Steel

I feel very similar about Faora-Ul as I do about Ursa. She's not a great villain, but she serves as a good addition to Zod's Sword of Rao. She's menacing. She holds her own against Superman. Honestly, this version of Faora feels almost more alien than Michael Shannon's Zod. She's a secondary antagonist for a reason, but she does feel like a good antagonistic force that creates a bigger threat for Superman.

4. Lex Luthor

Superman, Superman II, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

Alright, alright, alright. Time to be honest here: I am not a huge fan of Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor. I've hinted at this throughout the ranking, but I am just putting it out there. Hackman is a phenomenal actor and his iteration of the character is classic, but it simply does not hold up. Lex Luthor has been modernized since 1978, and this comedic, mustache-twirling version is just not who the character is anymore. Michael Rosenbaum's Lex Luthor of Smallville is my type of Lex. Not Hackman's. That said...I give him a bit of a pass because Lex was not the menacing threat that he is now back in the days when the original Superman came out. And, on top of that, Hackman is fun to watch. This is just not the Lex Luthor that I want on screen. I want the scary, truly evil version that hates Superman and will do terrible things to get rid of him. I have him this high out of respect and out of the fact that there are not a ton of great villains in the Superman films.

3. Lex Luthor

Superman

I have such mixed feelings on this version of Lex. On the one hand, Nicholas Hoult is great and clearly takes inspiration from Michael Rosenbaum's version from Smallville, which is one of the best comic book villain adaptations ever. He's a truly despicable person who will destroy anyone and anything on his way to killing Superman, so that makes him just so hatable. That's all awesome...and it's a shame that he's so one-dimensional. There's no nuance or complexity - he just hates Superman and wants to destroy him. And that's disappointing. There doesn't even need to be that much behind his hatred of Superman, but there needs to be a little more than this. So, while I do think this is the best film version of Lex we've ever gotten, I still do not think this is a great characterization of him.

2. General Zod

Man of Steel

One of the best parts of Man of Steel is Michael Shannon's electric portrayal of General Zod. Zod is a character that I think is genuinely more popular in film than in the comics, and I think part of that is that we've had two very good versions of him. This one works as a nice foil to Terence Stamp's, because on the surface, he has the same ideals, but his goals and motivations feel different. He truly wants to rebuild Krypton under his rule, and his insane ego and lust for power drive him to annihilate anything in his way. He is truly crazy in every sense of the word, and that's just fun. I just enjoy his version of this ruthless Kryptonian general who believes in his ability to rule.

1. General Zod

Superman, Superman II

While I do really like Shannon's Zod, I think there's something even scarier about Stamp's. One of the things that the Superman movies sometimes forget about the Kryptonians is that they are aliens. Not Superman II, however. Superman II gives us this truly alien version of Zod who is fascinated by Earth but finds it to be primitive and below him. He has this sense of superiority and purpose that make him terrifying. Basically everything he says, he says in this calm, disturbing manner. He knows that he is, alongside Superman, the most powerful being on the planet and can do whatever he wants. I find that to be just so unsettling, and I think Stamp plays it perfectly. He works as this representation of what could've gone wrong had Clark landed in the wrong hands, and I think that just makes for a really cool and compelling villain.