Pre-Crisis Villians more powerful than Superman

[alschroeder]

There was a Superman Family tale where both Superman-One and Superman-Two fought a villain from another dimension who was stronger than EITHER of them together, to save the life of the Earth-Two Jimmy Olsen.

---Al

[Captain Kal]

Absolutely right, Al.  The villain's name was Krogg.

E-1 Superman stated in that story that they were only as strong as their weakest link, and even though both Supermen were equal, Krogg had bested one of them.  Their only option was to adapt the transmatter device -- for transporting between the two Earths -- to merge them into a single super-Superman.

They had a fixed time limit for this merger since they were too powerful and would eventually explode.  They finally noticed that Krogg had the same problem so they used their combined heat vision in their merged form to push Krogg over the critical point and Krogg exploded.

BTW, that is a case where Superman could arguably have deliberately killed someone.  In this case, both Supermen would have been guilty.

[alschroeder]

Krogg. Yeah, THAT's why I couldn't remember the name---because it was eminently forgettable.---Al

[Uncle Mxy]

E-1 Superman stated in that story that they were only as strong as their weakest link, and even though both Supermen were equal, Krogg had bested one of them.  Their only option was to adapt the transmatter device -- for transporting between the two Earths -- to merge them into a single super-Superman.

They had a fixed time limit for this merger since they were too powerful and would eventually explode.  They finally noticed that Krogg had the same problem so they used their combined heat vision in their merged form to push Krogg over the critical point and Krogg exploded.

I think they recycled this plot into about 50,000 episodes of Dragonball Z.

[SteamTeck]

Duplicate man wrote
Good point about Mongul. If he could have beaten the Martian, he would have, and we saw how Superman kicked Jo'nn's butt even without using his fire weakness. But unexplained power-up or not, he was stronger than Superman in later encounters.


I always figured one of J'onn's powers like telepathy played on a weakness of Mongul's or he had traps set for him. In any event Pre-Crisis one of my favorite villians.

[Captain Kal]

That's an interesting rationalization that almost works, SteamTeck.

The problem with it is J'Onn clearly was confronting Mongul purely physically at the end of that story.  He had no special traps or plan but a brute force approach when he laid into the villain.  He even says he stopped Mongul before and he'll do it again as he commences his brute force attack.  Surely, J'Onn would exploit any special weaknesses or traps that were effective the last time he faced Mongul.

Also, Mongul has never shown any special weaknesses in any of his portrayals.  He's capable of being overpowered -- eventually, even at his later uber-levels.  He's capable of being outsmarted, though that still takes some doing.  But he has no real special weaknesses.  To suggest that J'Onn exploited a special weakness of Mongul is a baseless speculation contradicted by all of his portrayals.

[Super Monkey]

There was a Superman Family tale where both Superman-One and Superman-Two fought a villain from another dimension who was stronger than EITHER of them together, to save the life of the Earth-Two Jimmy Olsen.

---Al

I was looking for that issue and it was Superman Family No. 187.

I don't have that issue, but would liek to see the merged Superman (Giant Superman?) added to the https://www.supermanthroughtheages.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

info:

Story: “A Phoenix of Steel” (8 pages)
Editor: E. Nelson Bridwell
Writer: Gerry Conway
Penciller: Curt Swan
Inker: Jack Abel
Letterer: Ben Oda
Colorist: Anthony Tollin
Feature Character: Superman (last appearance in Superman story in last issue; appears in Jimmy Olsen story in this issue between pg. 8, panels 3 / 4; next appears in Lois Lane story in this issue)
GS: Superman of Earth-Two (next appears in ALL-STAR COMICS #71)
Supporting Characters: Jimmy Olsen (between Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane stories in this issue), Professor Potter (last appearance in Superman story in last issue)
Villain: Krogg (last appearance)
Comment: This story continues from the Superman story in last issue, crosses over with the Jimmy Olsen story in this issue, and continues in the Lois Lane story in this issue.
Synopsis: In order to stop the monstrous Krogg from devastating Earth-One, the Supermen of both Earths are merged into a single, double-powered Superman.

http://darkmark6.tripod.com/supermanind6.html

[TELLE]

I don't have it either.  Anyone?  

I'm often tempted, armed with a great summary like Dark Mark's, to write a Supermanica entry, but relying on the actual primary source is a better tactic.

Any more super-powerful nominees?  What's that? 5 total listed in this thread?