Is an evil Superman the worst thing that could happen?

We've all seen it. When Superman turns to the dark side, things tend to get really bad really fast, for a lot of people. Usually a whole planet's worth.

The High Councilor, Lord Superman, Ultraman, Earth-2 Bizzaro, all had the common thread of throwing their world into a sort of organized chaos, with which they ruled with an iron fist.

But could it possibly get worse than an evil Superman? Could an evil Batman do similar, or even worse than Superman? How about a wild Shazam/Black Adam combination? Some sort of unholy alliance between Trigon and the Trinity of Sin? What could the combined resources of Lex Luthor, John Constantine, and Bruce Wayne bring to the table?

So, back to what I asked earlier. Is an evil Superman the worst thing that could happen, and if not what/who is?

A Pedophillic Superman?

Not really.

Anyone who hasn't read it, read the JLA storyline JLA: Trial by Fire #1 - TPB. That shows why an evil Martian Manhunter would be far worse than an evil Superman. Even Superman admits it himself.

Having played Injustice: Gods Among Us, I would say yes.

@mandarinestro said:

Not really.

Lol no. He didn't kill them in their prime. He killed cannibalistic shambles of their former selves. Heck he didn't even literally kill all of them. Most of those deaths were due to gang fights and territorial wars.

Maybe an evil Batman...guy's a nut, and having him go bad would cripple Earth

@papinacho: I thought Superman was the one that beat Superman in Injustice? Or was this at the end of Batmans' story mode?

@mandarinestro: Do you think he did a better job than Deadpool when he killed the Marvel Universe?

@papinacho: Ah. I haven't read the Injustice Comics, myself. Though I suppose that's more of a joint effort. A victory for the classic pairing of Superman and Batman; The Worlds' Finest, and all that jazz.

Evil Flash, MM, Batman, New 52 CA etc.

Superman was almost put down several times before his tyranny. He only kept surviving due to a series of unfortunate "comic" events. Hell Alfred pummeled him and left, he could have killed him but didn't a lot of people could have but for the sake of the plot didn't happen because they wanted him alive. Also I believe there is always worse. Superman is high up there but there are people on his level who could oppose him if the story didn't call for them not to.

Bizzaro wiped out 10% of earth 2 population in two days so I say yes

@trebean said:

@mandarinestro said:

Not really.

Lol no. He didn't kill them in their prime. He killed cannibalistic shambles of their former selves. Heck he didn't even literally kill all of them. Most of those deaths were due to gang fights and territorial wars.

He lured all of those guys to gang wars. And aside from shooting Cyclops, Jubilee, and Hawkeye in the beginning he also slaughtered Cap, Logan, Doom, Murdock, and Banner.

For some reason I get the feeling an evil Flash with high IQ would be the worst.

Yeah Supes is definitely up there. If to say he was well and truly evil, no holding back with his powers and IQ and Kryptonian tech and one well based magical alliance or just take out Zatanna, wondy and bats before they knew what hit them and yeah the earth is his.

The only thing worse would be an evil Batman and Superman team up.

No, an evil Wally West would be worse, for he is TOAA

Could think of a few things worse than an evil Superman, since Supes gone bad is normally still an extreme of his character, so a few times he ends up being a marginally benevolent dictator (Lord Councillor, Lord Superman) rather than a thing of pure evil (E2 Bizarro).

Same is true for an evil Batman who will just end up turning the world into a policestate (ala Kingdom Come Gotham). Even then, he'd be more inclined to simply depower (if possible) and imprison than killing people (Injustice).

But could it get any worse than those two? Easily, because in comparison, the real evils of the DCU are just better at these sort of things:

• Darkseid: we've seen Apokalypse and we can all agree that it's the flaming butthole of the universe for starters, then we've had the man himself shown to not settle with killing people, he just wants your mindless servitude and he's going to break you in every way possible to make you. Best example of his vision for Earth: Rock of Ages.
• The Spectre: because a hostless Spectre was not all that far from trying to judge humanity as a whole the same way it judged Count Vertigo's home country, and then blew it up.
• Wonder Woman: Honestly, if we are just talking the Trinity and non-celestial/cosmic/near-omnipotent beings, then I'd be far more worried about a mad Wonder Woman than I am about Supes or Bats, because unlike those two, she is willing to do whatever it takes to make things the way she wants it to be. And she has a foot in both Superman's and Batman's trump card camps, she has the tactics and the power.
• Brother Eye/Martian Manhunter: they are similar in the way they can both know everything people are saying and thinking and can react nearly instantly on it.
• Trigon... well I will let this picture speak for itself:

Unlike Darkseid, he will just kill the world.

I think an evil Batman or Flash would be a bit worse.

World's Worst?

@outside_85 said:

Could think of a few things worse than an evil Superman, since Supes gone bad is normally still an extreme of his character, so a few times he ends up being a marginally benevolent dictator (Lord Councillor, Lord Superman) rather than a thing of pure evil (E2 Bizarro).

Same is true for an evil Batman who will just end up turning the world into a policestate (ala Kingdom Come Gotham). Even then, he'd be more inclined to simply depower (if possible) and imprison than killing people (Injustice).

But could it get any worse than those two? Easily, because in comparison, the real evils of the DCU are just better at these sort of things:

• Darkseid: we've seen Apokalypse and we can all agree that it's the flaming butthole of the universe for starters, then we've had the man himself shown to not settle with killing people, he just wants your mindless servitude and he's going to break you in every way possible to make you. Best example of his vision for Earth: Rock of Ages.
• The Spectre: because a hostless Spectre was not all that far from trying to judge humanity as a whole the same way it judged Count Vertigo's home country, and then blew it up.
• Wonder Woman: Honestly, if we are just talking the Trinity and non-celestial/cosmic/near-omnipotent beings, then I'd be far more worried about a mad Wonder Woman than I am about Supes or Bats, because unlike those two, she is willing to do whatever it takes to make things the way she wants it to be. And she has a foot in both Superman's and Batman's trump card camps, she has the tactics and the power.
• Brother Eye/Martian Manhunter: they are similar in the way they can both know everything people are saying and thinking and can react nearly instantly on it.
• Trigon... well I will let this picture speak for itself:

Unlike Darkseid, he will just kill the world.

To be fair, Darkseid has been turned back before. I think if he was attacking his Kingdom, Superman--not holding back (with help from his own super soldiers,) could do it again.

I see where you're coming from with Wonder Woman though, and the fact she doesn't have a concrete weakness posses a problem for anyone challenging her.

The Specter though, isn't he kind of barred from such acts by The Presence/God? Or am I wrong here?

Is Martian Manhunters TP really that great? I thought I read he tried that in Kingdom Come and never recovered mentally.

Curious as to who that is by his side. Also, where's Batman?

@scouterv:

That is true, but in the case of Darkseid winning the alternative is so much worse.

Exactly. Add to this, both in Kingdom Come and in Injustice, it could be argued that Diana is the one pushing Superman towards towards the dark side. In KC it was because she wanted to redeem herself in the eyes of her sisters, in Injustice it's because she's been given an 'ends justify the means' mentality.

Only through the morals of it's host. The Spectre itself can do a ton of damage before God or his doorkeep steps in (see Day of Vengeance).

Well KC is a special case really. J'onn in Trial by Fire, put Pres. Luthor in a coma and forced 20+ terrorists in the Australian Outback to stare at the sun while he himself was BBQ'ing in his own back garden. When he turned into Fernus, he eventually had several countries launch their nukes at his 'nesting ground'.

The guy is Black Beetle. I am not quite sure where Batman is since the image is from a 'what if' type of story from Booster Gold, in this case it was the end result of Deathstroke managing to kill the New Teen Titans (save Raven) on their first meeting. The only other live people they meet in this place was Luthor, Kyle Rayner, Zatanna and Oliver Queen.

@lvenger said:

Anyone who hasn't read it, read the JLA storyline JLA: Trial by Fire #1 - TPB. That shows why an evil Martian Manhunter would be far worse than an evil Superman. Even Superman admits it himself.

This seems to be the correct answer. An evil Superman can do a lot of damage, but an evil Martian Manhunter could potentially mind control Superman to be evil, automatically making him more dangerous.

I also fear anyone who's capable of reading the entire planet's minds at once. Imagine how big a threat someone with that ability would be. Or he could just... Turn off all of humanity's brains.