Superman's Ultra

Superman has been up against the most powerful enemies DC has to offer, but his new villain the Chained might be too much for the Man of Steel.

The DC Universe is full of unspeakably powerful monsters, but it seems the newest villain that Superman will be facing off against in September, the Chained, is a truly unstoppable force of nature. After Superman releases a man he believes to be falsely imprisoned, he realizes that he may have unleashed an enemy that not even he can defeat.

Now that Superman is in charge of SuperCorp, he has evidence of things that the former CEO Lex Luthor has done. One of the more shocking things Superman comes across in the upcoming Superman #6 by Joshua Williamson and Gleb Melnikov is evidence of a secret prison that Lex built long ago to hold exactly one person captive. Obviously, Superman isn't going to let Lex decide whether someone gets to go free or not, so he immediately releases the prisoner, only to realize that this may be the biggest mistake of his life. This prisoner is revealed to be an unbelievably powerful psychic called the Chained who was sealed away because Lex was terrified of his power. Now that the Chained is free to rampage through Metropolis seeking revenge, Superman has to grapple with the fact he may have finally come up against the one enemy he can't defeat.

Many of the villains that Superman is known for fighting use overwhelming physical force, such as Doomsday or Mongol, to fight the Man of Steel. Other enemies usually focus on removing Superman's overwhelming strength, such as Metallo and Parasite. While Superman has fought telekinesis users like Manchester Black in the past, this isn't common for him. Introducing a villain that only uses powerful psychic abilities is a relatively new threat for Superman and is going to force him to rethink how he approaches this new enemy. In an interview with Screen Rant at San Diego Comic-Con, writer Joshua Williamson said the Chained is making Superman doubt himself like never berfore:

"Superman is very much about like breaking the chains, right? The Chained is a character that’s all about chaining thing.

So with this, it's a fight that is incredibly hard. It becomes one of those things where it's like, obviously, this is more than just a fight. The Chained feels like an unstoppable force, making Superman think outside is the box on how to beat them actually consider, “Can I beat him?"

The Chained has been stated to be a Doomsday-level threat by writer Joshua Williamson, which is no small statement. Doomsday is famous for beating Superman to death with his bare hands. Even Darkseid couldn't beat Doomsday in single combat. So the idea that The Chained is every bit as strong as Doomsday, but in a different way, is terrifying. The Chained seems to be specifically designed to contrast Superman, both in terms of power and philosophy. While Superman's powers are mostly physical, the Chained's powers seem to be entirely mental. Ideologically, the Chained is able to hold things down, to "chain" them with his mind, and Superman is all about breaking chains. As Williamson says, Superman breaking chains is an iconic and important image. Recently in Action Comics Superman has wrapped up a year-long story in which he went to Warworld specifically to become a symbol as the breaker of chains. Superman is used to freeing people, but it seems freeing the Chained from his bonds is a massive mistake, and may force Superman to rethink how he saves people.

Superman is used to fighting enemies that either remove his strength or try to outright match it. But the brand-new villain, the Chained, might finally be a threat that Superman can't beat by conventional means due to his psychic power keeping the Man of Steel at a distance, which is going to be a brand-new challenge for Superman to overcome.

Superman #6 will be available on September 19 from DC Comics.