10 Underpowered Characters Who Defeated Major Heroes

10. Lex Luthor Vs. Superman

Superman #149 covers perhaps the single most unique concept in all of comics, wherein Lex Luthor researches and creates a cure for cancer just to kill Superman. It's... pretty intense.

With Lex clearly having no way to match the Man of Steel in any kind of actual fight, he instead pretends to reform, creating the cure for cancer as a ruse in order to convince everyone that his intentions are genuinely good. After gaining Superman's trust, Luthor convinces him to build him a space laboratory, where he can carry out his research in peace - research that, unbeknownst to Kent, is aimed at using Kryptonite to finally kill him.

And, somewhat surprisingly, his plan works, with the unaware Superman being killed by Lex's newest invention before he can react. For his crimes, Luthor is sent to the phantom zone, but not before getting in a couple final gloats about finally taking down his arch-rival.