Superman is an alien superhero from another planet with powers unlike any other hero on Earth. The Man of Steel himself has been in comics for closing in on 90 years, but since that time, other Kryptonian survivors have shown up as well. Their powers almost always charge under the yellow sun, and while some are protectors of Earth now, others are villains who have arrived and attempted to conquer the planet. There are even some who are not Kryptonians by birth and were instead Kryptonian-adjacent, which makes the debates on what makes someone a legitimate Kryptonian so fun. What is most interesting is that, while he is one of Earth’s most powerful heroes, Superman himself isn’t the most powerful.
From the Man of Steel and Woman of Tomorrow to heroes, villains, and descendants, here is a look at the most powerful Kryptonians in DC Comics, ranked.
Jon Kent is Superman and Lois Lane’s son. He first appeared as a baby in Convergence: Superman #2 (2015) by writer-artist Dan Jurgens, then was developed by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason in Superman (2016). He was a young child when he came into his own and was part of the Super Sons with Damian Wayne’s Robin. However, Brian Michael Bendis controversially aged Jon up from a 10-year-old boy to a teenager via time travel, fast-tracking him into the Superman mantle.
As for his powers, he is half-Kryptonian, half-human, conceived while Superman’s powers were suppressed during “Convergence,” and he ended up with his dad’s full power set, along with a healing factor added on. When Superman left the planet to help fight a war in a far sector, Jon Kent took over the mantle of Superman and took his dad’s place defending the Earth from all threats. His ceiling is almost unlimited, and before his career is finished, he could one day surpass his father.
Eradicator first appeared in Action Comics Annual #2 (1989) by Roger Stern. He is one of the beings who were not born Kryptonian, but was instead a roughly 200,000-year-old Kryptonian artifact-weapon built to preserve and enforce Kryptonian culture. It then evolved into a sentient humanoid with Superman’s full power set. In canon, it is the creator of the Fortress of Solitude.
He became a huge part of the Superman story after “The Death of Superman” storyline, when he was one of the four replacement Supermen in the landmark “Reign of the Supermen” (1993), returning in Action Comics #687 (1993) as the so-called Last Son of Krypton. What makes him stand out, especially in this storyline, is that the Eradicator is the opposite of Superman when it comes to his morals, as he believes in lethal action, believing the ends justify the means. He was later reformed and joined the Outsiders.
General Zod has the same powers as Superman, but he has military training that the Man of Steel never went through, making him a better strategist and tactician than Superman ever will be. He first appeared in Adventure Comics #283 (1961) in the story “The Phantom Superboy,” by Robert Bernstein and George Papp. This was also the first issue that featured the Phantom Zone. Zod was the former Military Director of Krypton’s space program who knew a young Jor-El.
Zod ended up imprisoned in the Phantom Zone when he attempted a coup after building an army of robotic duplicates of himself. However, even though Zod is smarter and a better war general than Superman, he is not stronger than Superman. Kal-El landed on Earth as a baby and had been absorbing the yellow sun into his body his entire life. That alone makes him more powerful than Zod when it comes to strength and the extent of their power levels.
Supergirl first debuted in the story “The Supergirl from Krypton” in Action Comics #252 (1959) by Otto Binder and Al Plastino. She is Superman’s cousin who was sent to Earth to allow her to join Kal-El and survive after Krypton’s destruction. Born in Argo City, a part of Krypton that survived the planet’s destruction, she was sent to Earth by her parents and took the secret identity Linda Lee at Midvale Orphanage. This version died in “Crisis on Infinite Earths.”
At the start, she was simply a female version of Superman with lower power levels. However, that has changed over the years. Moving past the retcons and alternate Supergirl characters in DC Comics, the modern-era version of Supergirl has the potential to be more powerful than even Superman. One thing that can make her stronger than Superman is that she doesn’t hold back. Superman has a strong no-kill rule, and he has always held back in fights. Supergirl is automatically the most powerful in those cases. However, Superman has shown there are times he won’t hold back, and his core strength remains stronger when they fight at the same level.
Superman is the first Kryptonian to appear in DC Comics, debuting in Action Comics #1 (1938) by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. In his debut, his powers were immense, but nowhere near what they are now. Superman could run fast, leap long distances, and was stronger than normal humans. Over time, his leaping was changed to actual flight, and his strength was raised to a level with almost no ceiling.
He was at his strongest in All-Star Superman (2005–2008) by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. He lifted 200 quintillion tons, which was the upper limit of Dr. Quintum’s testing machine. In Superman #13 (2012) by Scott Lobdell and Kenneth Rocafort, he bench-pressed the mass of the Earth for five straight days. Silver Age Superman’s power ceiling grew so high in Superboy #140 (1967) by Jim Shooter and Al Plastino that he pulled a chain of entire planets between galaxies. Superman remains one of the most powerful characters to ever appear in DC Comics.
H’El is a lesser-known Kryptonian character in DC Comics. He was a clone from the planet Krypton with the mission to preserve Krypton’s legacy in any way possible, no matter how ruthless, making him an enemy of Superman. What makes him most interesting is that he didn’t know he was a clone, and he was raised to believe he was naturally born, and as a result, he hated clones. He thought he was a space explorer working for Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van.
When Jor-El realized Krypton was going to explode, he created a shuttle to send H’El into space to protect Krypton’s history and knowledge among the stars. He then arrived on Earth 27 years after Kal-El. H’El debuted in Supergirl #13 (2012) by Mike Johnson and Sami Basri. He tried to kill Kon-El, whom he knew was a clone and an embarrassment to real Kryptonians. H’El proved here that he was more powerful than Superman when he beat the Man of Steel and the Justice League. It took Supergirl betraying him to finally beat the clone.
Superboy-Prime is another questionable Kryptonian, but he is almost surely from the planet in his world. He debuted in DC Comics Presents #87 (1985) by Elliot S. Maggin and Curt Swan, during the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” event. He is a teenage DC Comics fan named Clark Kent from Earth-Prime (a stand-in for the real world, where superheroes are only comics) who spontaneously developed real Kryptonian powers. He debuted as a hero, then was reinvented two decades later in “Infinite Crisis” as one of DC’s most notorious villains, a deliberate satire of toxic, entitled fandom.
The peak level of his powers came in the “Infinite Crisis” event, where his reality-warping punches against the dimensional barrier created ripples that retroactively altered DC continuity. This became known as the infamous Superboy-Prime punch, used in-universe to explain continuity changes. He had the power to kill Kon-El, defeat the Teen Titans team, and lay waste to even Superman before a combined force rose to finally take him down.
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