DCU Vol6: Super Villains

This is the first lineup with villians in the series. I went with Superman villains, not only because that is my favorite superhero, but also because I'm always annoyed when I read that he's got a weak rogue gallery. I fail to see how the list of Superman bad guys is that much inferior to that of Batman or Spidey (widely regarded as the best rogue galleries in comics). There's a huge variety of type of villians Superman has to deal with: from a 12th level intellect businessman, to interplanetary tyrants, from immortal killing machines to 5th dimension omnipotent imps, from mad scientists to data collecting androids, and everything else in-between.

Here are some of my favorites:

Parasite: Went pretty much with the early 00's Ed McGuinness redesign (knowing me, there's no surprise there). A villain that not only can steal Superman's powers, and leave normal humans dead or near-death, but can also steal memories, makes supes vulnerable in every way.

Hank Henshaw: Probably one of my top 3 Superman villians. Unfortunately he was over-used in the late 90's and disappeared for a while until he re-emerged (in a typical Geoff Johns retcon) as an enemy for Hal Jordan. Why on earth is Henshaw using a version of Superman's costume? It made sense during Reign of the Superman because he was impersonating Supes, and pretended to tarnish his legacy. But now?! He blames Superman for his wife's and friends' deaths and also for this immortality, there's no way he would honor his enemy by being associated to him... I guess it could all be explained by the fact that he is insane (other than for marketing issues, and toys).

Lex Luthor: The best Superman villian and here's why: Superman can't fight a man that is perceived by many as Metropolis' greatest benefactor. For the majority of the public Luthor led an honest corporation, and he was a major philanthropist. Well, at least in the Post-Man of Steel era. It's a shame that all movies have gone with the worst possible version of the character, the petty criminal Luthor, obsessed with real-state scams. Even the mad-scientist Lex Luthor would be preferable to that.

Darkseid: OK, technically he is a villian of the New Gods, but since the New Gods are kinda lame (sorry Kirby fans) Darkseid has been linked to Superman for decades. Just imagine the ultimate evil of the DC Universe is a Superman bad guy... yep, Superman's rogue gallery is weak.

Mr. Mxyzptlk: Not really evil, more of a reality-bending nuisance, which can lead to some good laughs. It shows how widely varied Supes' enemies can be.

Bizarro: Another one that is part of pop culture consciousness. There are several versions of him. Some were played for laughs, others as tragedy.

Doomsday: Not really a character and more of a plot device. Thing is there are limits to what you can do with what, essentially, is Hulk without Bruce Banner. When done right it can be good (Hunter/Prey, Doomsday Rex, maybe Death of Superman) when not, it's horrible (almost everything else). Lately Doomsday has been reduced to a joke. And yet he remains memorable enough, due to cool visuals.

edit: can't believe this thing had a typo in the title for such a long time. d'oh!