Superman: DC Comics' 10 Strongest Kryptonians, Ranked

It's a bird... it's a plane... it's... James Gunn's "Superman" finally crashing into theaters! After what feels like an eternity in orbit, the long-awaited David Corenswet-led relaunch of the DC Universe is approaching our atmosphere, having poetically escaped the destruction of the doomed world that came before.

As Warner Bros. looks to revive the public image of their biggest source of intellectual property, Gunn has decided to eschew the previous iteration of the Man of Steel's emphasis on god-like power to instead strike a more human tone – one which is already resonating with audiences. Though this will likely lead to a more moving, character-driven story, some Super-Fans will miss seeing Kryptonians battling it out with unparalleled strength, speed, and invulnerability (at least for now).

Fortunately for us, we still have the comics. DC has thoroughly explored the bounds of Kryptonian strength over the past several decades, imagining members of their race who possess such unique and dazzling abilities as telekinesis, reality distortion, and even godly omnipotence.

Here are DC Comics' strongest Kryptonians (including Superman).

Val-Zod has earned a surprising amount of name recognition since his debut during the New 52 era of DC Comics, thanks in large part to the announcement of Michael B. Jordan's potential standalone "Superman" film. While that project has yet to materialize (though Jordan, J.J. Abrams, and Ta-Nehisi Coates remain attached), it successfully stoked interest in a story that would explore what it would be like for a Black person to grow up with Superman's powers in America.

From a narrative standpoint, Val-Zod didn't fulfill the potential of this premise. Soon after he landed on Earth (in the New 52 version of the Earth-2 continuity), Val was taken captive by government scientist Terry Sloane. This limited his strength initially, through his eventual release and mentorship at the hands of the Wonders of the World (essentially the Earth-2 Justice League), he becomes strong enough to handily defeat the Kal-El clone Brutaal early in his career.

It's reasonable to assume that Val-Zod is as strong as the main continuity Superman (the New 52 version of him), or at the very least has that potential. He also boasts a genius-level intellect on par with the greatest scientific minds of Krypton, which gives him an edge over most Kryptonians created by DC.

An adversary with whom Superman frequently comes into conflict early on in his career, readers likely remember General Dru-Zod best from Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel" film, in which he tracks Kal-El down with the intent to terraform Earth and instigates a city-destroying battle (he also meets an infamously controversial end that executive producer Christopher Nolan desperately tried to change). Both the character and the actor Michael Shannon returned for "The Flash" in 2023, though his appearance was much less memorable the second time around.

The origins of General Zod have changed several times, but the consistent points are that he was an acquaintance and perhaps even a friend of Superman's father Jor-El on Krypton. However, he was sentenced to imprisonment in the Phantom Zone as a result of him attempting to use his military power to overthrow the corrupt government of Krypton. This ultimately saves his life, however, as he is spared destruction alongside the rest of the planet and thus given the opportunity to exert dominance on Earth. 

Depending on the writer, Zod is depicted as having essentially the same physical capabilities as an average Kryptonian exposed to Earth's yellow sun. He is distinguished by his intellect, supreme tactical mind, and nigh-unmatched skills in ranged and close-quarters combat. Though he hasn't had as much time to absorb yellow solar energy, he adapts to and understands his powers remarkably fast, using them in imaginatively lethal ways any time he comes up against Superman. He has yet to vanquish him, of course, but is a persistently difficult enemy for the Man of Steel to face.

This might be the most controversial and contested placement on this list. The power level of Kara Zor-El — better known as Superman's cousin, Supergirl — has been one of the most debated aspects of Kryptonian lore since modern comics have explored whether or not she might actually be the stronger of the two. In a particularly memorable episode of the recent "Supergirl" television series (season 2, episode 22, "Nevertheless, She Persisted"), Melissa Benoist's Arrowverse take on the character definitively defeats a brainwashed Kal-El (played by future "Superman and Lois" star Tyler Hoechlin), with him explicitly admitting that he was neither holding back nor limited by his lack of control.

For those unaware of Kara's origins, she actually grew up on the planet Krypton and was evacuated by her parents (one of whom was Jor-El's brother) before the planet's destruction, so she would be able to look after her baby cousin on Earth. However, usually due to a space-related issue, Kara spends a great deal of time off-course in suspended animation (which is why she ultimately arrives on Earth as a teenager, despite Kal having aged into a full-grown adult). The difference between their respective flights from Krypton has been used to explain why Kara might be more powerful — whether because she spent more time acclimating to Krypton's harsh gravity and environment, orbited Earth's sun throughout her journey, or just lacks the maturity to hold back, even instinctually. In one story, when she was under the control of Darkseid, she certainly seems to give Superman a run for his money in terms of raw strength.

All that being said, comparing feat-to-feat, we can't justify putting Supergirl above Superman. It will be interesting to see how James Gunn depicts her strength in his upcoming "Supergirl" film, which will be directed by "Cruella" filmmaker Craig Gillespie and star "House of the Dragon's" Milly Alcock.

Speaking of characters seemingly set to be revamped by James Gunn's DC Studios, the next entry on our list is Kal-Il — better known as "Ultraman," the Superman counterpart of the morally-inverted alternate reality Earth-3. On this world, every "good" person — from the Man of Steel himself to a human like John F. Kennedy — is an evildoer with values exactly opposite to what you'd expect (by extension, villains like the Joker or Lex Luthor have more heroic qualities).

Few stories have seriously attempted to distill a clear origin story for Ultraman, though recent comics have imagined that he was raised in an environment opposite to Clark's. While he was ejected from Krypton as a child also, on Earth-3, the Kent family that received him were cruel, oppressive, and abusive, instilling such values in him from a young age. Thus, Kal-Il believes in nothing but power and self-service, using his superior gifts to subjugate humankind to his will. He does this with several like-minded individuals — the sociopathic billionaire Thomas Wayne Jr. (aka Owlman) and the merciless Superwoman. Together, they run the Crime Syndicate of America, an influential and widely feared force for organized crime bolstered by the membership of villainous variants of most superheroes you could imagine.

Despite being questionably killed off by Tom Taylor (via his "Injustice" Superman variant) in the current era of DC Comics, Ultraman should canonically be almost equal in power to the mainstream Superman. He's moved the moon on his own just to block out the sun, drawn blood from the Antimonitor with a single punch, and has spent much of his time before his recent death killing alternate versions of Superman for the heck of it. It remains to be seen if the curious-looking "Ultraman" showcased in trailers for Gunn's "Superman" is anything like this one, though we wouldn't be surprised if the true Earth-3 variant makes an appearance down the line.

Accurately placing Superman on this list is nearly impossible. Since his debut in 1938, the star of "Action Comics" has been defined by being, well, superior to any other character in just about every imaginable way. His strength has been written as being so great that he can destroy moons with a single punch, carry entire galaxies on his back, and lift over 200 quintillion tons with just one hand (after absorbing lethal energy from the sun in Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly's "All-Star Superman," one of many "Superman" comic books you should read before seeing James Gunn's film). He's so durable that the destructive energy of a black hole can be held safely in the palm of his hand, so fast that he can literally fly through universes in an instant, and is so strong in spirit that he once took the weight of the heavens off the back of Atlas.

If one were to take all his feats at face value, there would be no reason not to put Superman at the very top of this list — in fact, you could probably put him at the top of any list, if you argued with yourself (and hordes of fans online) for long enough. The trouble is, this also makes him one of the most inconsistently-written characters in all of comics — and that's saying something. There are also certain figures yet to come on this list who have either beaten Superman one-on-one or have been said to be stronger than Superman. Whether his fluctuating strength is a side effect of changing writers or shifting moral restraints (seriously, check out our list of the worst things Superman has ever done — he's almost always suspiciously stronger than usual in these circumstances), this feels like where the most reasonable, mainstream version of Superman should be.

Like many DC Comics characters created during the polarizing (but often very entertaining) New 52, poor H'El has sadly been relegated to the waste bin of "Superman" lore for the foreseeable future. Chances are that you'll never see him adapted for a film or even a television show, nor is there any real reason to bring him into the current Post-Rebirth era of the DC Universe. This makes it somewhat difficult to judge where he fits with the rest of the Kryptonians on this list. After all, we're comparing a handful of comics from a very specific era to the thousands that have featured Superman over the better part of a century. None of that really changes the fact that, when H'El was in the mainstream DC continuity, he certainly seemed stronger than Kal-El.

If you weren't reading comics during the New 52 (which only lasted through the early 2010s), H'El was a minor antagonist in the "Superman," "Superboy," and "Supergirl" titles that were running at the time, originally created by "Supergirl" team Mike Johnson and Sami Basri. At first, he claims to essentially be the adoptive brother of Kal-El and cousin to Kara Zor-El, having been taken in by Jor-El as both son and protégé. Like the latter El, H'El was ostensibly sent away from Krypton with Kal-El to protect him, but didn't make it to Earth until the Last Son of Krypton had already become a full-blown hero. 

In addition to the standard Kryptonian powerset, H'El also possesses psionic abilities like telekinesis, size manipulation, energy projection, temporal awareness, and teleportation — further, he lacks the usual weaknesses to Kryptonite and red solar energy. He is so powerful that he was able to withstand the combined might of Superman, Supergirl, and Superboy, and he even managed to single-handedly conquer a temporally displaced variant of the planet Krypton.

If you're wondering how one of the most infamously-dead characters in the DC Universe could possibly be on this list, it's probably been a while since you've tuned in to the "Superman" story unfolding in the comic books. As of the transition from the New 52 into the DC Rebirth era of the comics' continuity, Jor-El was able to dodge the fated canon event he shared with the likes of Uncle Ben and Thomas & Martha Wayne, thanks to a last minute intervention from none other than Doctor Manhattan (the very same omnipotent, god-like antihero created by Alan Moore for the "Watchmen" series).

The head of the House of El (and, really, the entire Superman family tree) was then forcibly exposed to all the horrors mankind had to offer, even personally witnessing an African warlord turning a child soldier against his own family. Combined with infinite psychological reprogramming courtesy of Manhattan, this turns Jor-El into a jaded mirror of his son's boundless hope in humanity. Along with his Kryptonian powers, he was gifted a cosmic staff that allows him limited levels of omniscience and reality-warping capabilities. He can also fire a Kryptonite laser beam from his eye, as debris from his lost planet was permanently buried in his face following its destruction.

Kryptonians may walk the Earth like all-powerful gods, but a few of them actually are legitimate deities. Cythonna is the Kryptonian god of Ice, an ageless immortal cosmic entity who has existed since the planet's beginning. Millennia before the main DC continuity, she fell in love with another Kryptonian deity who did not love her back (and whom we'll discuss very soon). She started a war of vengeance against him, and the two gods enlisted mortal Kryptonians to their aid, ultimately resulting in countless deaths and Cythonna's retreat.

In the present day, she traveled to Earth when she discovered Superman, a Kryptonian being of such immense power that he might just be the god she had dreamed of all along. Unfortunately for her, she soon realizes that Kal-El is not only a mere mortal, but a descendant of the house that champions the very Kryptonian god that spurned her affections. She thus attempts to kill Superman, and quite seemingly could have done so in terms of raw strength, speed, and durability alone. It is only due to some quick thinking on Superman's part — flying them both close enough to the sun that her ice-based powers weaken — that he's able to survive the encounter. Without exploiting such a weakness, he wouldn't have even been able to hold his own against Cythonna, and would have died a cold, cold death.

As diehard "Superman" fans surely guessed, the other Kryptonian god that made the cut for this list is Rao, the god of fire and red sun energy who also happens to be the patron saint of the House of El. Rao has adopted many forms throughout the DC Universe, depending on the religious interpretation of the writer and the specific continuity in which he's appearing in any given story. Sometimes, he is treated as an ancient, all-powerful deity, like in his war with Cythonna, and often, he is merely a source of energy embodied by Krypton's red sun. Erok-El was the first Kryptonian to pay tribute to Rao by asking him to honor his lineage, while his descendant Jaf-El established the Church of Rao as a formal, modern religion that existed on Krypton up to its destruction. In some continuities, Kal-El himself believes in Rao as a god.

Occasionally, Rao is a nigh-omnipotent being that can walk alongside Superman in the present day and even fight against him. In the New 52, the living Rao was manifested as a devotee of the unseen ancient Kryptonian sun god (with the writers seemingly wanting to keep the existence of a definitive god deliberately vague). He was very nearly able to subjugate all of Earth to the will of Rao for cynical aims, and was using advanced Kryptonian technology to falsely present himself as more powerful than he actually was.

The only Kryptonian who could possibly be more powerful than a Kryptonian god would have to be one capable of transcending the very pages within which all beings in the DC Comics universe — mortal or otherwise — are bound. There is, of course, only one being of this kind: Superboy-Prime, the Clark Kent of Earth-Prime.

Earth-Prime is, for all intents and purposes, the "real" world. For example, on this Earth, DC Comics is a comic book company that publishes stories about Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, etc., with the writers of these stories being able to derive inspiration from a subconscious awareness of the multiverse (similar to a concept referenced in an episode of the "Justice League" animated series). The Kal-El of this reality is also sent to Earth, raised by a family of Kents, and given the name Clark, and eventually becomes the superhero "Superboy." Tragically, Earth-Prime was destroyed by the Anti-Monitor, which ultimately drove Superboy insane to the point of trying to conquer the New Earth (the mainstream Post-Crisis Earth).

Superboy-Prime is as strong as any version of Superman throughout history, but without the heavy canonical asterisk. When he took his first villainous turn, he was able to punch reality so hard it shattered — and in his most recent appearance in the "Dark Knights: Death Metal" event, his battle with the nigh-omnipotent Batman Who Laughs sent literal, destructive shockwaves throughout the multiverse. Most notably, for our purposes, is that he's proven his might against several other Kryptonians, nearly killing Power Girl with one punch, surviving an explosion that killed the "false" Superboy, Conner Kent, and beat that same Golden Age Superman to death with his bare hands. (Did we mention he also lacks the usual Kryptonian weaknesses to magic and Kryptonite?) 

In raw power alone, Superboy-Prime is the strongest Kryptonian DC Comics has ever created — and they should know, because he once showed up to their offices in person to attack them for writing about him too much.

Wait, is it too late to pull the plug on this? Anyone? Hello? I think I see red eyes glowing outside my window...