Superman's Villains Get New Powers in Huge Overhaul of DC Lore

Superman is one of the most powerful heroes in the DC Universe and it seems his villains are finally getting upgraded to match him.

Warning! Contains spoilers For Superman #4!In order to contend with Superman's overwhelming power, two villains are giving the Man of Steel's enemies some long-overdue remixes to their own power sets.

This dramatic new direction for Superman's rogues takes place in Superman #4 by Joshua Williamson, Jamal Campbell, Nick Dragotta, and Frank Martin. Two of Lex Luthor's old enemies, Graf, and Doctor Pharm, are working to undermine both Lex and Superman's control of Metropolis. In order to achieve this, they've been transforming Superman's villains, granting them new powers that are wildly above what they're usually capable of. Parasite's power upgrade has made him a global threat, while Silver Banshee's upgrade seems to let her go up against Superman pretty evenly, at least for the moment.

In current Superman comics, Lex Luthor is in prison and Superman is in charge of his company. With Lex locked up, some of his old rivals have begun resurfacing, seeing their chance to claim Metropolis with him out of the way. In order to counter this Lex Luthor has gifted Superman his entire company, LexCorp. With near-infinite financial resources to match his near-infinite physical strength, Superman is now in a better position than ever to deal with these two new threats. But it seems Graf and Pharm were prepared for this, as they've begun experimenting on Superman's rogues' gallery. Since they've already empowered Parasite and Silver Banshee, literally anyone could be next.

Superman is used to fighting strong enemies, but lately it seems all of his enemies have been getting remixed. In Action Comics Superman is currently fighting against a monstrously mutated Metallo, and in Superman, he just finished fighting a mutated Parasite and an empowered Silver Banshee. While Graf and Pharm are not responsible for Metallo's changes, it's still another example of Superman's villains really stepping up and approaching how they fight the Man of Steel in a brand-new way. Several of Superman's villains are due for a power upgrade. For example, despite how many years they've been fighting one another, Lex Luthor has mostly been the same. But considering just how many villains Superman has, this could quickly spiral out of control. While readers have only seen glimpses of Doctor Pharm and Graf's laboratory, they do seem to be in possession of Bizzaro. If they are capable of turning Parasite into a world-ending threat, the idea of what they could do with Bizzaro is truly terrifying.

While it's unclear what threats are next for Superman, the one thing that can be certain is that several of his villains aren't the same people they used to be. With Doctor Pharm and Graf's manipulations, every villain now poses a brand-new threat to Superman.

Superman #4 is now on sale from DC Comics!