Top 10 Times Superman Was a D*ck

For the world’s greatest hero, he sure can be an ass-hat sometimes. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down the Top 10 times Superman was a dick.

For this list, we’re looking at instances when the Man of Steel was way off-base. We’re counting instances that happened in an imaginary story or due to outside circumstances, as well as times when Supes was just being jerky.

#10: When He Used Mind Games to Test Supergirl

Superman went a bit too far when testing his recently-arrived cousin Supergirl to see if she was ready for the superhero life. He made her keep her existence a total secret at first, and when she revealed it to his dog, Krypto, he exiled her to a barren planet light years away. She stayed there, heartbroken and full of sorrow until he allowed her back. During that time, she passed a secret test of his - and he revealed he had set up everything, including meeting Krypto and exiling her, just as one big mind game to test her. A dick move if ever we saw one.

#9: When He Made Out With Mr. Miracle’s Wife

Sleez was a character so depraved that even Darkseid couldn’t handle him and kicked him out of Apokolips and banished him to Earth. In this story, he kidnapped Mr. Miracle’s wife, Big Barda, and used mind control to make her his slave. Superman tried to rescue her, but he got the same treatment from Sleez – who then decided these two would be great in a porno flick - yes, seriously. Hiring a director who specializes in X-rated fare, he put Supes and Barda in bed and commanded them to go to it. Superman was able to resist enough to limit the action to some heavy duty kissing. Still, not exactly what we expect from our superpowered boy scout.

#8: When He Acted Like Judge and Jury

“Kingdom Come” was an Elseworlds story, so it’s not part of the official Superman canon. But it contains a very noteworthy jerk move by our hero. A new breed of heroes has taken over who are a lot darker and a lot less committed to pure justice, and Superman decides to do something about them. That “something” basically involved rounding them up and, without due process, sentencing them all to a giant gulag. Naturally, the prisoners eventually escaped, initiating a war with Superman and the Justice League. In response, the United Nations launched a bomb which destroyed thousands and thousands of the superhumans. Which, you know, wouldn’t have happened if Supes hadn’t taken the law into his own hands.

#7: When He Waged War on Cars

Look, nobody likes idiots who get behind the wheel of a car and go too fast, causing accidents and deaths. They should definitely be stopped – but Superman’s reaction when a friend was killed by a reckless driver was a little excessive. Basically, he decided to take it out on the cars themselves. He destroyed impounded cars and then cars that weren’t safe. When he found out that a particular manufacturer made substandard cars, he tore down the factory – almost injuring innocent employees in the process. All of this may have come from good motives, but it still was a heavy-handed way to attack the problem.

#6: When He Made Out With Another Woman – On Lois Lane’s Grave

As long-time comic book readers know, you can’t judge a comic book by its cover. Often, the scene depicted on the cover doesn’t depict an actual event from the story on the inside… and that’s exactly the case here. The cover shows the gravestone of Lois Lane-Kent, indicating that she had married Clark and died giving birth to their child. It also shows Clark as Superman kissing a scantily-clad redhead, who is sitting right on top of the gravestone. None of this actually happens in the actual story, which is set in an alternate timeline where Superman leaves Earth... but the cover is simply too much of a dick move not to be included on this list!

#5: When He Tried to Destroy All Tenements

Superman is at his best when fighting evil villains with a clear agenda to conquer the world. Where he’s not so good is complex social issues that can’t be solved with a few punches and a little heat vision. Case in point: After realizing that tenement life practically forces kids on a path that leads to crime, Superman decided the best thing to do was – simply destroy all tenements in Metropolis. Which he proceeded to do, even as the National Guard tried to stop him. True, his plan did result in the government rebuilding the slums as nice, new affordable housing – but such a plan could only work in the comics.

#4: When He Killed Green Arrow and Shazam

In the Injustice series, which is based on a video game set in an alternate world, Superman takes jerkhood to a whole new level. That’s kind of the point of the whole thing, to show what a tyrannical Superman would be like. There are plenty of asswipe moments from the big guy, but two that really takes the cake is when he killed Green Arrow and Shazam. Arrow had a battle with Supes in the Fortress of Solitude, during which an arrow accidentally wounded Pa Kent – and that sent Superman way over the edge. And Shazam tried to dissuade Superman from his path of killing and destruction – with dire consequences. Injustice, indeed!

#3: When He Made Lois Think Clark Was Dead

The very first story in the first issue of Lois Lane’s own comic book established a pattern that would be followed for years: Superman has to teach Lois a lesson for her own good. In this instance, Lois pretended to be a famous, tempestuous French film star in order to get a scoop from a politician. Superman sees through her disguise and sets up an elaborate ruse to trick her. Along the way, he has his alter ego Clark Kent seemingly jump to his death – and lets Lois think it’s because Clark was madly in love with the French star she was impersonating. Not the case at all – just Superman being a jackass.

#2: When He Mistreated Jimmy Olsen

Jimmy Olsen may have been Superman’s pal, but that doesn’t mean he always got treated like one. For years, the writers tended to put Jimmy in a subordinate position, with Superman acting like a smug and cocky older brother. Refusing to help Jimmy lose weight, marrying him to a gorilla – not nice. Worst of all was a story where Superman adopted Jimmy – and then treated him like total trash and made him feel horrible and unwanted. Sure, there was technically a reason for it – but a guy with Superman’s intelligence could have found a better way around the problem.

#1: When He Just Plain Tormented Lois

Lois and Superman have a strange relationship. There are so many times when he has tormented her, supposedly for her own good, including making her obese so a killer wouldn’t get her - don’t ask - or letting her think he was letting her die - again, moving on - but the most bizarre example has to be when he cruelly put her through a whole range of emotional traumas. Why? Because he wanted to help her get cast in a movie, and the director needed to be convinced she could emote properly. Duh! Sure, maybe Lois wanted to be in the movie – but she probably would have preferred a route that didn’t involve potentially being mauled by a lion!