Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Alan Moore's terrifying take on Mongul, as an unstoppable alien juggernaut was an absolutely wonderful twist to a previously unmemorable space-enemy. And the Johns/Busiek take on the Prankster was a wonderful way to turn a minor, irritating nuisance into a charismatic and unique foe.

I'd love to see a return or re-use of Karb-Brak, simply because his motivation was so interesting: he wanted to kill Superman because he was allergic to his powers, and needed to simply to survive.

Chemo and the Galactic Golem, two of Len Wein's favorite creatures, are incredible characters and have incredible looks - there's no need to redesign them visually the way, say, it would be necessary to redesign someone like Kanjar Ro or Chronos. But to use them in a context where they are the lethal, unkillable monsters they are? That would be something.

I'd love to see the Galactic Golem in a future Superman movie. Imagine his look duplicated with advanced CGI.

How about Cary Bates's Momentus, Master of the Moon? I mean, think about how bizarre he is: Isaac Asimov as a giant blob monster superliquid whose greatest weakness is Superman's supergravity body...or whatever. That story had a Jack Cole Plastic Man feel to it: even after you read it you have trouble saying what its about.

I always liked Terra-Man's stories (the one where Superman defeats him by playing to his superstitious nature was a wonderful bit of characterization) but the more I read them the more I realize the stories work in spite of him, not because...and while I have been critical of the reboot version, in all honesty it's hard to imagine a version of Terra-Man that's worse. ANYTHING would be an improvement.

It would be great to see Matrix-Prime again, however...not as a Superman enemy. He's more a kind of machine that could fight someone like the Teen Titans. The idea he would be a menace to someone like Supergirl is laughable.

I'd like to see a return to Mongul's pre-Crisis characterization, a scheming alien tyrant who could take all that Superman could dish out and come back for more. If anything, it would keep Darkseid out of the picture.

The Atomic Skull was another of my favorites and made a cameo in the last issue of Action.

Amalak is set to return.

A revamped Composite Superman could be fun.

Are you ever going to fix your avatar DBN?

Let's see here...

Electro ;)

a new Flame-Dragon would be nice too.

Electro can breath new life into Amalak's dead pre-Crisis body... ;D

 How about the abominable snowman from Superman #266? The one who could turn Superman to ice just by touching him. I bet they could make him really scary looking today, even give him a better origin.

The Petrified Spaceman.

http://superman.nu/wiki/index.php/Petrified_Spaceman

I would like to see the return or revamp of Super-Menace. That was the exact double of Kal-El, an energy-duplicate, created by aliens on Kal-El's trip to Krypton---who was raised by CRIMINALS. He had two abilities Superman lacked---Kryptonite didn't effect him, and he could turn into pure energy.  Which he did at the end of the full-issue story (rare in those days), destroying his parents who called him a "freak" repeatedly.
    Definitely a case of nurture vs. nature, there. ---Al

Now THAT is a cool idea.


Have you read the Subjekt 13 story?

(Written, I should add, by your old rival from the Roy Thomas INVADERS lettercols.)

It pretty much WAS a revamp of Super-Menace (though it at first did not appear to be so, an unexpected plot twist). And it was a very emotionally powerful story.

Busiek has plans for the Galactic Golem. He mentioned this in the "Ask Kurt Busiek" thread over at Comic Bloc.

I've always loved the Galactic Golem. I always bought him as a bigger threat to Superman than someone like Doomsday.

Speaking on Mongul, the post-Crisis version of his character was far too watered-down for my tastes. The pre-Crisis Mongul wouldn't have been a lackey to the Cyborg-Superman. Thankfully, Mongul II (the son of Mongul) seems to be more like the pre-Crisis version.

I've never really cared for Mongul II either. He was used as nothing more than a punching bag for Supes and a chewtoy for Krypto ever since he was introduced. Now he's a minor Green Lantern threat. :P

The Mongul that killed a Controller to gain control over a Sun-Eater and used the Black Mercy against Superman is how the character should be portrayed, imho. 8)

I didn't care for the ORIGINAL Mongul II (and his sister Mongal--ugh), but the most recent version of the character seems to be more like the pre-Crisis version. He even used the Black Mercy on Hal and Ollie. (I wonder if that means "For the Man Who Has Everything" is back in continuity. That'd be awesome.)

I certainly wouldn't mind seeing "For the Man Who Has Everything" back in continuity, since it could mean the return of the original Earth-1 Jason Todd.  Compared to the post-Batman #400 rebooted Jason Todd (who SHOULD have remained dead), I rather liked the first Jay -- even if a second orphaned circus acrobat strained credulity at times.  Remember it was Jason who delivered the finishing blow to Mongul -- literally knocking him out with a potted plant!  ;-)

 Personally, I wish thye would just bring the whole pre-crisis universe back but that's probably not going to happen. :'(

One thing I always liked about the Kryptonite Man is, he had the sense to go after Superboy, who is helpless against him. If he goes up against the Flash or Green Lantern, he's as good as licked.

I mean, I can't think of a villain with a power quite as specific, which is only useful against one or two people on earth. The Melter was always paired up against Iron Man, against whom his melting-rays were always bad news. But even if you had the Melter fight, say, Spider-Man, he could still give a good account of himself, because his melty-ray can melt things other than Iron Man's armor, like chains that hold up steel beams, walls, webs, and even human flesh.

"The MELTER! If he gets his mitts on a micronized version of his melting ray...he'll be the most dangerous CROOK on EARTH!"

(You might want to re-assess that statement there, Tony.)

In any other comic, the Kryptonite Man's "power" would be more a curiosity or feature, like those mutants that only have powers like the ability to change brass into gaseous form, or the guy that can open car doors with his mind. Having Kryptonite powers against anybody else but Superman, is basically just another word for being a living nite-light.

"TREMBLE at my powers, puny EARTHLING SLAVES! See how I can read a book on an airplane...WITHOUT using my overhead light!"

Its like Goldface (or whatever the heck his name was) the big gold guy who fought Green Lantern. against anyone else he was pretty useless (though later they made him super strong and a crime boss)