Superman (2025) Character Round-Up

Super Supporting Cast

Superman is the ultimate hero, but he can’t do everything alone. Even a Kryptonian isn’t always strong or fast enough to save the day. But he’s not alone. He has inspired hundreds of heroes, and five of them back him up in the franchise’s new movie.

These Superman heroes mix brains, tech, gumption, and a doggo into the ultimate support system for the Last Son of Krypton. But their presence leads Lex Luthor to bring in three ringers for the villains. So who are all of these Superman Characters? Let’s find out.

Mr. Terrific

Played By: Edi Gathegi, Michael Beach, Edwin Hodge

Brains often beat brawn. Lex Luthor can outsmart most Superman characters, but this one is clever enough to outwit him.

Michael Holt was a genius athlete and self-made billionaire who became suicidal after his family died in a car accident.  Michael was consoled by The Spectre, who told him about Mr. Terrific, another genius athlete turned hero that he had fought alongside. The story inspired Michael to become the new Mr. Terrific.

Mr. Terrific was invited to join the Justice Society, where he served with distinction, eventually becoming the chairman. Mr. Terrific led the Society for years, then left to form a Fantastic Four-esque team that he called The Terrifics.

Mr. Terrific is the third smartest person on Earth after Luthor and Batman. He built many devices to fight crime, including autonomous drones called T-Spheres that can hack technology, project forcefields, and fire energy blasts. Mr. Terrific’s mask has stealth tech, rendering him invisible to cameras. When tech fails, he’s still an expert martial artist.

Guy Gardner: Green Lantern

Played By: Nathon Fillion, James Arnold Taylor, Troy Baker

Earth has many Green Lanterns, an especially large number when each space sector is only supposed to have two. So how does this special-ed teacher stack up compared to test pilot Hal Jordan and Marine-turned-architect John Stewart?

Guy Gardner was one of two candidates chosen to inherit dying Green Lantern Abin Sur’s ring. Hal was physically closer, so it went to him, but Guy remained on the list of potential Lanterns. Hal learned about Guy later and had him sworn in as a reserve Green Lantern.

While saving a little boy, Guy was hit by a bus and slipped into a coma. His body recovered, but the brain damage changed his personality. He became a swaggering bruiser with one hundred chips on his shoulder. He was still a hero, but one that allies hated being with.

Willpower fuels Green Lantern Rings and Guy has more than any other Lantern from Earth. He can create solid light constructs with it, often choosing simpler designs such as baseball bats and hammers. Guy can use a Red Lantern Ring, giving him all of a Green Lantern’s powers and napalm-like blood to vomit onto foes.

Hawkgirl

Played By: Isabela Merced, Ciara Renee, Maria Canals-Barrera

Superman isn’t the only alien flying around. This Thanagarian Superman character soars into battle to smite her foes.

Chay-Ara was a priest living in ancient Egypt. She was in love with Prince Khufu and had her own admirer named Hath-Set. He was jealous of Khufu and Chay-Ara’s love and killed them with a magical knife that trapped all three of them in a reincarnation cycle.  Millenia later, they reincarnated as archeologist couple Shiera and Carter Hall, who used magic relics to become Hawkgirl and Hawkman.

Writers changed the story in the 50s. Now the Hawks were Thanagarians, winged aliens similar to Klingons. They traveled to Earth to study human police techniques and became superheroes. DC constantly waffles on whether the modern Hawks are Egyptian or Thanagarian, sometimes claiming that they’re both and, in the modern version, reincarnated on Thanagar.

The current Hawkgirl is Kendra Saunders, a woman who killed herself. Chay-Ara’s soul entered her body, reviving Kendra and merging their minds. Kendra’s mind remained dominant and she became the new Hawkgirl, despite hating the connection to Hawkman and eons of baggage that came with Chay-Ara’s memories.

Nth Metal is the wind beneath Hawkgirl’s winged harness. The magic mineral allows her to fly, disrupts magic, and is perfect for fighting supernatural threats. She has also inherited the many skills Chay-Ara gained over millennia. She primarily fights with an Nth metal mace, but has many other Nth metal weapons.

Superman Characters: Metamorpho

Played By: Anthony Carrigan, Adam Baldwin, Tom Sizemore

Kryptonians have a lot of superpowers, but with all of Mendeleev’s discoveries at his fingertips, this Superman character can adapt to anything.

Rex Mason was an archeologist studying a recently discovered pyramid. His boss, Simon Stagg, hated Mason for wooing his daughter Sapphire and tried to kill him. Rex was wounded, but found the Orb of Ra, a magical artifact that transformed him into the monstrous-looking Metamorpho. He escaped and became a reluctant superhero. 

Metamorpho hated his appearance and searched for cures, foiling Stagg’s schemes wherever he found them. He was the first hero who refused to join the Justice League because he didn’t want to be a hero. Metamorpho agreed to be a reservist for the League while he had powers, but eventually accepted his transformation and joined The Terrifics.

Metamorpho is a one-man chemistry set. He can freely transform into any element or become multiple elements at once. Metamorpho can create explosives, complex gases, acids, and mechanical devices by combining the right components. He’s occasionally mimicked kryptonite gas, but most otherworldly elements like Nth Metal are beyond his power.

Krypto the Superdog

Voiced By: Sam Vincent, Dwayne Johnson, David Kaye

Enough with the second-stringers, we know who you’re here for. This Superman character is the goodest good boy short of Scooby-Doo.

Krypto was the El family’s pet dog and the test subject for the ship Jor-El built to save his son Kal. Meteors knocked the rocket off course, locking Krypto in suspended animation until Superboy found the ship.

Krypto found a new home on Earth, but had to be trained by Superboy. Clark rigged a collar-mounted disguise to dye Krypto’s fur, which the dog could burn off when he needed to help his master. That element was dropped over time and now Krypto spends his days at the Fortress of Solitude or the Kent farm.

Kryptonian dogs are no less dangerous than Superman. Krypto has all the same powers, plus enhanced senses, human level intelligence, and the ability to speak to animals. Unlike Superman, Krypto is happy to maul anyone who threatens his home or people.

Superman Characters: The Engineer

Played By: Maria Gabriella de Faria

Most of these Superman characters have been around since the 60s, but we have some newer blood as well. This anti-hero brought Authority to the Wildstorm universe in 1999.

Angela Spica was a scientist who replaced her blood with nine pints of nanotechnology taken from a hero called The Engineer. She became a cyborg and joined an anti-hero team called The Authority. The Engineer was their tech-head and in charge of their ship, the Carrier.

The Authority slowly slipped into villainy, protecting the world by enforcing their truth, their justice, and their way to it. The Authority eventually stopped beating around the bush and conquered America. The Engineer was always the first to question when they were going too far, but went along with the team’s decisions.

The Engineer’s nanomachines let her create any technology she wants. She can generate guns, drills, replace her hands with buzzsaws, and make copies of herself. 

Superman Characters: Ultraman

Played By: Danny Dark, Tom Welling, Brian Bloom

Don’t confuse this Superman character for the hero from Japan because this villain traveled much further. Can Superman defeat someone as strong as him?

Earth-3 is the dark mirror of the DC Universe. England won its independence from America, Abe Lincoln assassinated President Booth, and Alexander Luthor has hair. Kal-ll is Ultraman, leader of the Crime Syndicate of America and the world’s strongest villain. He discovered the multiverse and led an invasion of Earth-1 to get the lethargic CSA back into fighting shape.

The Justice League defeated the Crime Syndicate, but they returned several times to battle their heroic counterparts. Ultraman and his allies were retconned frequently, changing their pasts and personalities, but always acting as the evil Justice League.

Ultraman has the same powers as Superman and can gain new ones by snorting kryptonite. Some versions rely on Anti-Kryptonite to fuel their powers and grow weaker without their fix. The most recent is also vulnerable to yellow sunlight. Superman can usually outfight Ultraman because the villain kills his foes and has less experience fighting.

Solaris: The Tyrant Sun

Voiced By: Robin Atkins Downs

The sun fuels a Kryptonian’s powers. How fitting that one of Superman’s greatest foes corrupts that concept. He isn’t well known, despite being one of the strongest Superman characters.

Solaris is an AI created to manage an artificial sun and assist in colonizing the galaxy. It performed admirably for millennia, but slowly developed sapience. Solaris believed that the Superman Dynasty was more appreciated by humanity, and he swore to destroy them.

The future Justice Legion was tricked into bringing the Justice League to the 853rd century so that Solaris could kill all his enemies at once. Solaris demolished the heroes, but time travel technology was weaponized to give them 80,000 years of prep time. The heroes destroyed Solaris, ultimately causing his creation in the 20th century and trapping him in a closed time loop.

Solaris is deadly. He can fire radiation blasts, incinerate foes with his fiery body, and once attacked humanity with a “cancer plague.” Solaris’ favorite strategy is eating stars, thus making entire planets worship him or freeze to death. Eating stars also makes him stronger, to the point where one version killed his natural predator, Superman’s pet Sun-Eater.

What Superman Character are you looking forward to in the new movie? Tell us in the comments.

Jared Bounacos

Jared Bounacos has written for Movie Rewind since 2016.