Who Is the Perfect First Villain for Superman?
With James Gunn self-entitled Superman film set to be released July, 11th I think it's time to talk about the ‘Man Of Steel's' rogues gallery. Superman has a pretty impressive roster of rogues that go unrecognized. Of course we are all aware of Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Doomsday and General Zod. But what villains of his would make the perfect ‘first’ villain for a live action Superman film?
You Can Use Meta commentary For Livewire
Livewire is an incredibly underrated villain of Superman. She was created specifically for the 90's animated series of the show and was later put into the comics. Non-comic book readers only defense for not liking Superman is, “he's too strong, he's boring” blah, blah, blah. I think this would be a great opportunity to use those very poor excuses to help build Livewire as an antagonist. What I would do is have Livewire be a social media influencer who looks to damage the credibility of Superman by exposing him as a “fraud, who saves people just to feed his own ego and selfishness”.
It would turn out that all of this is misplaced anger because Livewire is jealous that no one appreciates her the way the people of Metropolis appreciates Superman.
Parasite Shows Superman Isn't All Brawns
With certain villains/heroes there are different people portraying the character and many fans emotional connection to said character depends on who the character is portrayed by. For example, Peter Parker is widely known as a lot of people's ‘Spider-Man’, however, thanks to the Spider-Verse films and the recent Spider-Man video games a lot of fans are changing to Miles Morales. But with the villain Parasite you can either go with the original Parasite: Raymond Jensen, Rudy Jones, Alex and Alexandra Allston or even Joshua Allen.
If you want a Parasite with more of a human attachment then I would go with the original Raymond Jensen. Parasite has the ability to absorb peoples life-force/energy from them like a human sponge. To the fans that say, “Superman is too OP" Parasite would be a great first villain to show Superman's intelligence as he tries to outsmart a villain that can absorb his abilities from him. Also, I think it would also be a great way to display mental health as Raymond Jensen becomes depressed as he realizes as much power as he has he is unable to physically interact with his family.
Start Off Slow With Intergang
Intergang seems to get passed over a lot when people mention Superman's villains. My portrayal of the crime organization would have them be led by Bruno Mannheim and funded by Lex Luthor to take down criminals in Metropolis to make Superman feel like he's not even needed. However, I would have Intergang services be paid for if any citizens of Metropolis need help. This would create a divide among the people as some feel angry because they didn't need to pay Superman for his services seeing how he's not saving people for any alternative motives he's doing it because he has a kind heart.
Something else I think would be interesting is having Intergang start killing several criminals who are selling drugs to young teenagers. This would cause controversy in the media as everyone starts blaming Lex for funding a group of criminals that kill people. Obviously, this would cause Lex to crash out as he has a negative stain on his name because of them. I think Intergang would be the perfect first villain for Superman. Have him start off with a criminal organization before tackling bigger threats such as General Zod, Metallo or even Mongul.
Closing thoughts: These are just some ideas that I have for different Superman villains. Who do you all think would make a great Superman villain for his first outing as a hero? I’d love to know your thoughts.
