Superman Symbolism: What 10 Most Famous Villains Really Mean

6. Cyborg Superman - Superhuman Accountability

On a journey into space, scientist Hank Henshaw and his crew - including his wife - encountered a freak radiation storm that affected the machinery on the ship and everyone on board. The crew suffered terrible fates and Hank himself initially suffered severe radiation sickness, but soon began to suffer a worse fate, as his flesh started falling off his bones. Eventually, Hank's body died, but his consciousness survived by jumping into some nearby technology. He was able to build a robot body and found his way to Superman's birthing matrix to add Kryptonian DNA to himself, absorbing the knowledge of the universe in the process. Superman found him and tried to stop him, but Hank flew away. He would later return, having been driven somewhat insane by the whole ordeal, and blamed Superman for everything that happened to him. As a result, he is a living embodiment of the fact that, in his role as a superhero, Superman is leaving himself accountable to all kinds of blame. In fact, given that he looks like Superman thanks to using his DNA to build himself a body, Hank would later pose as the Man of Steel, meaning that he could potentially pass the blame for anything he did on to Superman.