We all love Superman cause he's the best of the best, right?
Well right but also wrong.
He's great.
And I love how good he is.
In fact, he's actually my Dad's favourite superhero which means I can really never knock
him.
But throughout the years, some have commented that the original Superman is a little too
good.
Sometimes his overall nobility makes him boring especially when you combine it with how unstoppable
he seems.
I mean he was given a weakness magic just to pretty much balance him.
Which is also probably why there are so many alternates of the guy.
Today we are going to take a look at some of the more exciting and interesting alternates
as we count down the top 10 alternate versions of Superman better than the original.
Be sure to stay tuned to the very end where I will have some sweet bonus content for you
& feel free to plug your predictions as to which alternates will make the list now.
Alright, let's get counting.
10 Cyborg Superman
What is Superman was Terminator?
That's basically what this version of Superman is.
He comes to use from the Reign of Superman and is actually Hank Henshaw.
Well Hank Henshaw's brain inside a cyborg more specifically.
After Hank's brain is transferred to the cyborg he decides to become Superman, cause why not.
His plan is to use the alias of Superman in order to destroy Metropolis with a nuclear
missile.
So a little more insidious than Terminator really, who is only targeting one person,
Sarah Connor.
He ends up being outed as a fake and being taken down by the real Superman.
While he's not better than Superman in terms of power level, a cyborg version of the hero
just seems more interesting to me.
9 Centaur Superman
Yeah, Superman turns into a freaking centaur in the weird 90s comic mini series Whom Gods
Destroy.
It's a really bizarre one.
But even before Superman undergoes this transformation, I really like this alternate because it gets
to explore what the world is like when it actually ages but Kal-El does not.
In this reality Lois Lane and Lana Lang are now elderly women and have to deal with the
fact that Superman hasn't really physically aged.
Mentally is starting to become detached from the world.
In comic books, we don't really have a realistic representation of the passage of time because
no one is ever allowed to get old.
This series explores that a bit.
Then it also gets really weird when we find out that Germany is ruled by Nazis and the
god, Adonis.
Superman gets turned into an evil Centaur, Lois becomes Wonder Woman, Lana become the
Oracle of Delphi.
It's strange but also through the combination of mythology and comics, we get to see the
characters' internal struggles reflected in the transformations they undergo.
It's just a really interesting exploration of the Superman's crisis.
And then it gets a happy ending where all three live in a polyamourous love triangle
on the moon in Superman's Fortress of Solitude.
8 Ultraman
This evil version of Superman may not be using his powers for good but other than that huge
con, he has some pretty big pros.
Superman's weaknesses become his strengths being one of the big ones.
Kal-El is weakened by Kryptonite but for Ultraman it only makes him strongers.
Also DC gave Superman a weakness to magic because otherwise he'd be too OP, right?
Well Ultraman is just that much more OP because he doesn't have this weakness either.
He actually has murdered many magic-using Gods on his own earth.
So he's simply better for capability.
Sure, the sun weakens him but he can still beat Superman any night of the week.
As long as you don't mind the evil part.
You don't mind the evil part do you?
We're all a little bored of Superman's goody two shoes act, right?
7 Injustice
Okay so admittedly, this Superman is a lot darker than the OG.
But I kind of love that about him.
You know me, the closer that superhero is to walking the line of supervillainy the more
I am into them.
The Injustice games have great alternate versions of almost every favourite DC character out
there.
Superman's story and the story of the game itself is set into motion after Joker tricks
him into believing Lois is Doomsday which causes her death and the death of Superman
and Lois' unborn baby.
This plus the destruction of the Metropolis make Superman lose it.
He kills the Joker and sets out to bring about world peace through world domination.
At the end of the game if you choose him to win against Batman, he even uses Brainiac
technology to control Bruce's mind.
Would you want to live in a peaceful Superman-controlled world?
6 British Superman
This version of Superman appears in a one shot that was written by Kim Johnson and John
Cleese.
It's hilarity and British humour is what makes Calvin Kent, this alternate version of Kal-El
stand out.
The one-shot explores the idea of what would happen if the little Kryptonian baby crash
landed in England.
He grows up on a farm with his adoptive parents in the country and it takes awhile for him
to use his powers.
Because his parents actually prefer he didn't!
They think that if anyone were to ever find out they would fear and hate their son so
they tell him to not use them and keep them hidden.
It's even how why he starts wearing glasses.
His dad gives him a pair of specs that were inside the ship that transported Calvin to
earth.
These specs help to prevent Kal-El from using his laser eyes abilities.
When he finally does decide to start using his powers, when he sees innocent people in
danger, he dons a Superman suit with the union jack on the front.
All in all it's a just a colourful comic to read.
Even the Queen of England approves this version of Superman.
5 Kalel
What if we could have a world where Superman was in charge but no oppressively so?
Well that exists if you turn to earth 23.
There we have Kalel who is built in the vein of Barack Obama.
He is the son of Lara and Jorel who managed to save him by putting him on a rocketship
just before their planet of Krypton was destroyed.
He was raised by the Ellis' family who found him.
They raised him as their own, christening him Calvin Ellis.
And in his universe he grew up to become the President of the United States.
Fighting for truth, justice, liberty and equality from both sides.
Even Lois Lane of Earth 45 says that Calvin must be Superman done right.
He ends up being the one Superman who manages to defeat Superdoom of Earth 45, who was basically
an evil robot created by her, Jimmy Olson and Clark Kent.
4 Captain Marvel
Earth 5's Superman counterpart is actually DC's Captain Marvel.
And who doesn't love Billy Batson?
This version of Billy has a history that presumably mirrors that of the main continuity but we
don't really know for sure as it is never confirmed.
Captain Marvel is really just a more lighthearted version of Superman as he is really a kid
in an adult's body which makes him just that much more fun.
Who as a kid wouldn't want to be a superhero?
He joined the Supermen of Multiverse to help Superman defeat the Mandrakk the first time.
After Mandrakk was defeated, Superman knew he would return so Captain Marvel went out
to help recruit even more alternate Supermen for their team.
3 Captain Allen Adams
Adams was a member of Superman's Supermen team in Superman Beyond.
After encountering the new Mandrakk, Superman had Captain Marvel venture off to assemble
a team of Supermen from across the multiverse.
Monitor Zillo Valla and Captain Marvel recruiting Captain Allen Adams from earth 4.
He is a combination of Captain Atom and Doctor Manhattan in terms of his characterization
and abilities.
His abilities include telekinesis, superior intellect and mental capacity, enhanced senses
and perception, quantum superposition which allows him to make copies of himself of various
sizes and reality alteration.
He was even able to combine the minds of Ultraman and Superman together in the fight against
Mandrakk.
Creating another insanely powerful alternate himself.
2 Superdemon
One of Superman's greatest weaknesses is magic, right?
But what if it was one of his greatest strengths instead?
We get to explore this idea with Superdemon of Earth 13.
He is a combination of Etrigan and Superman.
Superdemon's powers include magic, hellfire vision which is similar to Superman's heat
vision, super strength and speed, and fire breath.
Plus he's a demon so he can call on his demon heritage for strength.
He fights against vampires who invaded his world and imprisoned him and his fellow teammates
from the League of Shadows.
He even had to go up against another strange alternate of Superman in the fight against
the vampires, Vampire Ultraman.
Yeah, Earth 13 is pretty weird and pretty great.
1 Super Soldier
Coming to use from Amalgam comics this version of Superman is a combination of Marvel's Captain
America and DC's Superman.
Super Soldier is the ultimate golden boy of the comic world as such.
Combining the ideals of these two characters has to give you the most purely good comic
book character in comic book history.
Super Solider was originally Clark Kent who was transformed after being exposed to the
Super Soldier serum and solar radiation.
This experimental process granted him superpowers.
He's basically a stronger even sweeter version of Superman.
His pals Jimmy Olson and Agent Peggy take on HYDRA and Clark Kent loses his love interest
Lois Lane to Lex Luthor when she marries him.
Lex Luthor later transforms into villain, Green Skull after injecting himself with Green
K, which is Super Solidier's version of kryptonite.
This gives him a longer lifespan but also turns his skin green.
Thanks for watching, nerd squad.
I hope you found some of these alternates just a little more interesting than our original.
Like I said I love OG Superman but these alternates really just allow us to explore some more
interesting sides of the hero.
He probably has the most eclectic ensemble of alternates in all of the DC universe.
What alternates are your faves?
Which did you feel that we missed?
Do you prefer original Superman or is there an alternate you love more?
Let us know in the comments below.
And while you are on your way down there, be sure to like, subscribe, share and ring
our bell for all the nerdy notifications.
This is top 10 nerd, and I'm your host Amanda McKnight, reminding you to stay nerdy, YouTube.
And to watch out for that bonus content.