Why Are So Few Of Superman's Rogues In Live Action Movies

So I am curious about something. Why does everyone think despite Superman having a grand total of 6 live action movies. That they have used so little of his rogues gallery in those movies.

I mean let’s review…

Superman I - Lex Luthor as the baddie. Makes perfect sense, who else but Lex as the baddie.
Superman II - General Zod. Ok fair enough and can’t argue the movie likely is the main reason he is arguably Superman’s second biggest villain. Although who else was in it Luthor
Superman III - No comic Book villain
Superman IV - Lex Luthor… and another villain they mad up.
Superman Returns - More Luthor. I mean I get it was a quasi sequel to Superman II but again… more Luthor.
Batman v Superman - Well Batman was who he fought the most, but who was behind it… ding ding dign. Luthor. And a Doomsday appearance that deserves better but at least they mixed it up. Sort of.

So in 6 movies… more then any DC Superhero save Batman (by far more then any save Batman), we get 3 villains from the comics (Luthor, Zod, Doomsday) and one not even using a comic book villain. And Luthor was in five of them. Hell, even Zod and Doomsday had to share screen time with Luthor.

Now don’t get me wrong… it’s Lex Luthor. And I know that his rogues don’t have the same kind of depth Batman does (few do). But at the same time Batman’s movie villains almost reach the double digits. He has had more villains adapted then total number of movies.

So how in six movies does Superman basically fight the same villain in all but one of them and only 2 others are even squeezed in? I often wondered if non-comic fans even realize Superman has more then three enemies? Before the Death of Superman I wondered if they knew he had more then 2. (It is ironic too because Zod despite being such an A-List villain has been in relatively few stories compared to Superman’s other top baddies. He basically disappeared for the better part of like 2 decades unless I forget something during the Crisis.

I mean how have we had six movies and Braniac yet to appear in the big screen? Or Mongul, Bizarro, or hell even Metallo all would have movie villain potential.

I know that special effects limitations and some of his more big name villains like Cyborg Superman didn’t appear until late into his movies run. but it just seems that the writers of the Superman films are very unimaginative and have played it safe most of his movie career with his villians. Which seems a waste of some great source material.

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You forgot Man of Steel but Zod was the villain in that which just proves your point more. Non Superman fans main criticism of Supes is he’s too powerful which in their minds equals boring. I’ve always thought it would be fun to have a movie with multiple villains in it so that he would be out numbered. A team of B level baddies like Livewire, Toyman, Parasite and etc.

I’ve always seen the old movies as limitations to the media at the time, and the new ones are a way to catch the attention of fans of those old films. Like, I doubt they’d have done Mongul, Metallo, or Parasite real justice back in the day. If it wasn’t a humanoid villain, it wouldn’t have been very good looking (at least by today’s standards) and Superman’s most known humanoid villains are the ones that showed up.

I really hope Brainiac or Ultra-Humanite (human first, white gorilla later) show up in a film soon.

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Once you get beyond Lex Luthor, Zod, and Brainiac, most of Superman’s adversaries just aren’t well-known enough to general audiences to justify using them in filmic media, which relies much more heavily on familiarity than televised media does.

@RagdollRebel I knew I forgot one of them. lol. Although yeah does show Lex Luthor was not as prominent at least by comparison.

And @dogwelder9 I would never deny batman has a great rouges gallery or even that it is objectively better than Superman’s but a lot of what made it that is the live action adaptions. Hell The Riddley, Mr. Freeze, even Harley Quinn became what they are now, if not existed at all because of non comic adaptions of them. Even The Joker would likely not be what he was without Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger shaping peoples perceptions of him. Superman’s rouges gallery is under appreciated in part because outside of comic book fans most don’t know much about them.

and @ColdSmokeMike I do agree that the limitations are part of it. Although Metallo in the Bronze Age was more humanoid which was when the Christopher Reeve movies came out, so he could have. Braniac might have been hard though I won’t deny at least during the Christopher Reeve films. Although to be fair since Superman Returns when they did have the technology and budget to do more they have not used it to actually… take advantage of to use new villians they couldn’t have done before, just continued to basically be Lex and Zod.

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@DigificWriter Was going to argue when the 66 batman movie came out Batman villians were not as well known, and they weren’t But I will admit that times have changed so you might have a point. Lex or Zod would bring modern audiences in more then Mongul or Metallo or the like.

Although still think it is past time to get Braniac in a movie. I think Smallville, Superman the Animated Series, and Krypton have made him enough of a known entity to carry a movie as Superman baddie. I mean if Krypton can do him well imagine what a big budget blockbuster could do.

I think the lack of having Brainiac in a film stems from concerns about being able to do him justice in the past.

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Don’t forget the beautiful but deadly Faora was in Man of Steel. She’s definitely from the comics and was also on the Ruby Spears Superman TV series.

As to the main topic, that’s a good question. No villain is technologically off limits. Maybe a lack of imagination from certain writers?

IMO, it’s impossible to have a lack of imagination when it comes to Superman, but I’m biased on that account.

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Cyborg Superman
Metallo
Mongul
Darkseid
Brainiac
Doomsday
Ultrahuminate
And of course his greatest nemesis Spider Lady
This is not to argue that Supes has an A+ rogues gallery because he doesn’t, but there’s 75+ years of stories to work worth. Lex is great, and involving him makes sense, but more often he should be in the background just making life difficult.

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Oh I compared him to Batman because Batman is the only superhero besides Spider-Man on Marvel’s end who has had enough movies themselves TO compare with. And on DC’s side no one comes close besides Batman. But will admit his rogues gallery is not comparable to Batman’s in terms of the quantity of recognizable interesting A list villains. But he definitely has more to offer and with potential to make an interesting movie then just Lex Luthor, Zod and Doomsday.

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I’d like to see Conduit and Massacre in Superman movies.

Maxima would be a good foil too.

Can’t forget Mxyzptlk either. It’d be a hoot to see him be played by Gilbert Gottfried.

Did we mention Lobo, Silver Banshee and Blackrock yet?

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Superman has a fantastic Rogue’s Gallery. The problem is, we don’t get to see them often in films. I think now would be the perfect time to do a Man of Steel Sequel and have both Parasite and Metallo as the villains. Take elements from Superman: Secret Origin and have Lex be responsible for their creation.

You could also build up to Brainiac.

And who is to say we won’t see some of his other villains in a small capacity. Hell, you could open the next movie with Superman taking down an Intergang operation or someone like the Prankster or the Toyman causing chaos and Superman’s reveal comes as he stops them.

Superman’s rogues gallery can absolutely make it to the big screen. All we need is a story to showcase them.

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Because of his power set, you either need a Zod/Darkseid level opponent or multiple bad guys. Don’t think anyonehas mentioned Livewire yet. You team her with Silver Banshee, Maxima and now you’re stretching his ability.
Mxy, get the right director and that would rock.

That is one thing most who say for marketing they need familiar villians are not taking into account. Most villains they could have Lex either manipulate or create and introduce them to the masses that way.

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Dan, this is a question I’ve often asked myself. Brainiac has to be the next big bad and maybe Metallo as the minor bad.

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I think the studio likes to play it safe by using a villain the general public is familiar with.

I think they need to take a risk and use other villains. Smallville, Supergirl, and Krypton have featured other members of Superman’s rogues gallery so audiences are more familiar with these characters. Superman 2 and other comic book movies have shown if a lesser known villain is well done in a movie it can make them popular.

@Beagle the general public only knows Luthor. At this point screw what the GP know and want. Give 'em something they didn’t know they loved.

@ dogwelder9 Swap Vartox with Metallo and I’m on board

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Every time a new person posts on this thread another villain is added. Parasite, you telling me that wouldn’t be great on film. Leave Krypton to the tv show and use a movie to put Clark through the gauntlet of rouges.

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I agree 2msgtv. Rudy doesn’t get enough credit as a viable villian. Hell, 90+% of Supermans Rouges Gallery doesn’t.

I’d be Aok with Parasite being a main baddy.

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