The Man Who Has Everything

Written by Kal-El

We all know that Superman has all the smart villains to match his strength, but what we’re here to tell is about an origin of a Supervillian that is purely all about the Power and Strength that could also match up with Superman’s own superpowers, I’m not here to talk about his famous arch enemy Lex Luthor, Darkseid or Doomsday even though he killed him before, a more under rated but not to be forgotten villain that goes by the name of Mongul.

Mongul is one of the supervillians that are as strong as Superman himself, he was originally supposed to be DC Comics version of Marvel Comics’ Thanos, for use in the DC Universe which is quite ironic, considering that Thanos is supposedly originated as an imitation of DC’s Darkseid. However he is quite famous for being in Alan Moore’s (Watchmen Writer) Story titled “For The Man Who Has Everything”. This was also a title in one of the adapted series episodes of the Justice League animated cartoons.

Unlike Thanos or Darkseid, Mongul is a small minded, self centered tyrant who rarely plans beyond his own greed. While he is very intelligent, he does not have the charisma or personality to inspire the loyalty needed for his own grand, galactic conquests; rather he is very simply a Supervillian who happens to have an enormous physical prowess. This makes it relatively easy for other Supervillians to manipulate him and for quick witted superheroes to defeat him using their quick wits, rather than using brute force on him.

Originally, Mongul was a ruler of his own alien race called the humanoids. He was eventually deposed by a revolution and Mongul swore he’d reconquer his subjects, but in the end, he sought the most powerful weapon in the Universe: The Artificial Planet, Warworld. In order to activate this, he will need a “key” device, which was under the care of The Martian ManHunter. Mongul kidnapped three of Superman’s friends (Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Steve Lombard) Hoping to force Superman into geeting him the Key. Superman fought against and had defeated the Manhunter and obtained the key. In the subsequent scuffle, the Martian Manhunter rescued Superman’s friends, but Mongul had already escaped with the Key.

Mongul activated Warworld and linked his mind directly to its controls. Warworld was attacked by Super Kryptonians: Superman and Supergirl. Mongul used its superweapons against them. Almost too late, he realized that the control’s drain on his brain was too strong; however he had managed to escape just before the heroes destroyed Warworld.

A Few years later, Mongul again tried to steal a Superweapon, a ray machine that could possibly destroy a planet, which was used by the empress of another galaxy to blackmail its citizen into obedience. It was controlled by the empress’s crown. In a big plot to obtain the crown, Mongul had killed the empress; he had also captured her brother, the alien superhero Starman and threatened to kill him unless Starman’s lover gave him the crown. He got the crown, but was attacked again by Superman, this proved to be a diversion whil Starman destroyed the weapon, but in the end again, Mongul escapes.

As he seeks revenge on Superman, Mongul stole a Sun-Eater from the Controller who kept it and tried to use it to devour the Earth’s solar system. With help from the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Sun-Eater was destroyed and finally, Superman was able to defeat Mongul in Hand to Hand battle.