8 Ridiculous Superman Characters You Will Never See In The Movies

The world of Superman has always been a lighter one than his fellow Justice League-r Batman – while The Dark Knight is a superhero born from death and tragedy, Superman comes from Clark Kent’s natural amazing abilities and faith in people. Sure, his whole planet was destroyed, but the character still inhabits a brighter, lighter place than Bruce Wayne. Not that you would know that from watching Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, however, where both the Son of Kryton and the Bat of Gotham are glum sourpusses who live in rain-drenched shadowy cities. Just look at the trailer above and you'll see what we mean. Zack Snyder's take on the character is hands-down the darkest and most serious version yet. As such, if the movies of the so-called DC Extended Universe continue on in this vein, many of the wackier and lighter-hearted characters from Superman’s back catalogue will not be making their way to the big screen any time soon. Following on from our 8 Ridiculous Batman Characters list that we put together, we've decided to do the same for Supes. So, on that note, here are 8 bizarre individuals from Superman lore who you shouldn’t expect to see on the big screen. At least, not anytime soon. 8) Toyman In the grand tradition of supervillains needing a gimmick, Winslow Schott’s is – you’ve got it – toys. His MO is that he makes toy-like devices with murderous twists - you know, acid-spraying water pistols, toy soldiers that shoot real bullets, that sort of thing. A recurring enemy of Supes during the Golden Age of Comics, he has surprisingly lasted over the years. The Toyman has likewise had an impressive career on TV, appearing in Smallville, Lois & Clark: The New Superman Adventures and most recently, Supergirl (in which his son is a main character). The DC Animated Universe also sported a clever reinvention of the character – as he wears a chilling ever-smiling doll’s head. However, while the larger-than-life villain fits perfectly on those lighter-hearted shows, he is never going to be one that Zack Snyder adds to his cinematic toybox. 7) Ultra-Humanite Despite having the huge honour of being the first supervillain that the Man of Steel ever faced, Ultra-Humanite is pretty unlikely to make the transition to the big screen at any point. Depending on the incarnation of the character, he is either too hokey and old-fashioned, or too downright odd. A criminal genius who lost the use of his legs, U-H is hellbent on world domination. Initially, Superman creators Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel intended Ultra-Humanite to be the Man of Steel’s nemesis – figuring that an evil disabled man would be the perfect polar opposite of the brave, superstrong Kal-El. However, once Lex Luthor came on the scene, the character quickly lost his importance. Things only got weirder for the guy, though, as later comics had his mind transplanted to the body of an albino gorilla. Speaking of which, he isn't the only evil gorilla Supes has faced… 6) Titano DC fans might be familiar with Gorilla Grodd, the chief simian opponent of the company’s superheroes. While the likes of The Flash TV show have adapted Grodd, which potentially leaves the door open for him to pop up on film, we can’t say the same for the altogether more outlandish character of Titano. A gigantic gorilla in the vein of King Kong, Titano was originally an ordinary ape who was cruelly experimented on – which caused him to not only grow in size but also increased his intelligence and also gave him the ability to fire Kryptonian-esque energy beams from his eyes. Basically, he’s Caesar from Rise of the Planet of the Apes mixed with King Kong… plus laser vision. Having said all this, the final fight with the pretty boring Doomsday in Batman V Superman might have been a lot more fun if it featured Titano instead. 5) Granny Goodness Going by the heavy hints to the character in BvS, it seems likely that Darkseid will appear in the Justice League films. However, we wouldn’t count on the movies featuring Granny Goodness at his side. Despite her name, Granny Goodness is anything but good. Though her appearance and name suggest she is just a sweet old lady, Goodness is actually a superstrong follower of Darkseid, the trainer of his elite force of soldiers and the commander of the Female Furies. She trains her troops from childhood, using brainwashing and torture to turn them into fanatical followers of the big bad blue guy. Clearly, then, there is some darkness and depth to the character beyond her silly name. Still, her turning up in the films remains a long shot. Alhough, maybe they could give her a dramatic makeover and cast someone like Judi Dench or Helen Mirren? 4) Rainbow Raider Perhaps because of the casting of Kevin Costner (well, he was big once), Jonathan Kent’s role in Superman’s story has been somewhat increased in the DCEU. Still, we don’t expect to see the time he turned supervillain adapted to the big screen any time soon. As part of a bizarrely complicated scheme to get his son Clark (in his teenage guise as Superboy at the time) to go after actual villain Vic Munster, Jonathan Kent dressed up as a supervillain called the Rainbow Raider. Sadly, this didn’t go to plan – you don’t say – and Munster ended up using the identity himself, making him harder to defeat. Nice one, Pa! Later on, a new version of Rainbow Raider was introduced, and even turned up on The Flash recently – but don’t hold your breath waiting for Kevin Costner to don that ridiculous costume. 3) Mr. Mxyzptlk The most infamously bonkers character from Superman lore in the Golden Age is Mr. Mxyzptlk. Similar to Bat-Mite, he is an inter-dimensional impish character with reality-warping powers. Unlike the little guy who is Batman’s biggest fan, however, Myxp… Mxyp… this fella is a fully-fledged villain, who enjoys tormenting Superman. If played straight and given a visual revamp, Mxy could be a formidable villain for Henry Cavill’s Supes – an all-powerful creature that exists on different planes would be a hard one to defeat. However, the character also comes with a ridiculous in-built off-switch – he can be stopped if he is tricked into saying his own name backwards. Superman fans might have a soft spot for the character, as he represents the endearing wackier side of the character’s history, but there isn’t much hope of seeing that impossible-to-pronounce name in the credits of a movie. 2) Bizarro Bizarro is one of those Superman terms that have managed to pass into popular culture (like Brainiac), with the word being used to describe anything that is the reverse of the norm. The character’s fame might be bigger than most Man of Steel villains, then, but he is still far too, well, bizarre to appear in a film. In short, Bizarro is a twisted version of Superman, as bad as the Big Blue Boy Scout is good. Elements of the character have been used before, in the evil Supes of Superman III and Nuclear Man in Superman IV: Quest For Peace. However, Bizarro’s comic book origin, in which he comes from an alternate world where everything is backward (including the speech), was even too goofy for those movies. As such, now that Supeman films are much grittier, Bizarro’s chance at the limelight has most likely passed. 1) Ant-Headed Superman Technically, this one isn’t a separate character, but it is a wonderful example of the madness of the Silver Age of Comics. In one issue of Action Comics in 1963, Superman briefly transformed into… Ant-Headed Superman. After being exposed to some Red Kryptonite (which has effected the hero in various hilarious ways over the years – see also: Rainbow-Faced Superman), Supes grows an ant-like head – which handily allows him to control the horde of giant ants that are invading Earth at the time. Even more bizarre, the issue ends with Superman warning us that nuclear weapons could leave us all with ant-heads. So, you know, be warned, guys. Maybe if a future Superman movie wanted to go down a horror movie The Fly-type route it could happen, but we're going to go out on a limb and say that you’ll sadly never be able to watch the adventures of Ant-Headed Superman in your local theatre. One ant-related superhero is probably enough.