Man Of Steel 2: 7 Villains We Really Need To See

Enough with Zod and Luthor, please.

Superman Man Of Steel Braniac
Warner Bros. Pictures/DC

This week thousands of Superman fans cried out in terror as The Wrap confirmed that Warner Brothers has begun active development on Man Of Steel 2. Although proving controversial upon release, the Zack Snyder helmed Superman reboot has somehow ended up being the less maligned of the three DC Extended Universe outings so far, speaking volumes as to the quality of their output to date.

It is no surprise then, with the critical drubbing Suicide Squad received, that Warner Brothers is heading back into Superman solo film territory now that Geoff Johns has taken the reigns of the DCEU. Assuming Zack Snyder isn’t a returning, fans may finally get to see a heroic, non-conflicted and coherent version of Superman. The kind of Superman that saves cats out of trees and doesn’t mope around on mountains wondering what the ‘right’ thing to do is; spoiler alert Kal, it is to save the cat out of the tree.

All jokes aside, the world could do with an inspirational Superman more than ever and with Batman V Superman and Suicide Squad embracing the more fantastical elements of the DCEU, the floodgates have been opened for Superman to battle something other than Lex Luthor and Zod.

Again.

Here are 7 super-villains that could see their big screen debut in Man of Steel 2 :

7. Bizarro

Superman Man Of Steel Braniac
DC Comics

Kryptonian DNA seems to be of major interest in the DCEU with both Zod and Luthor obsessed with gaining control of the remaining samples. With Superman the only remaining survivor from Kyrpton, it wouldn’t be a leap in logic to see Luthor or another shady government group steal Clark Kent’s DNA to further experiment on Kryptonian genetic material.

Traditionally Bizarro is the twisted version of Superman, created when human DNA is spliced with its Kryptonian counterpart; when the experiment to create the perfect soldier goes horribly wrong, Luthor attempts to destroy Bizarro but the resilient creature survives. Possessing the abilities of Superman but lacking his intelligence or complete memories, Bizarro proves to be a vicious, tragic and sometimes humorous villain, for the Man Of Steel.

An inversion of Superman provides a talented filmmaker and script writer with a treasure trove of story beats to exploit, especially after the public and government of the DC universe has finally accepted Superman as a hero.

Contributor
Contributor

Ben Holliday is a features writer and film critic for What Culture, Heroic Hollywood, Den of Geek and The London Economic. As an artist he has worked on various projects for Maverick Media, Bauer Media, Image Comics and Valiant Entertainment amongst others.