A wave of posters for the upcoming DC Studios‘ Superman movie profiling the film’s villains inspired a wave of questions. For casual fans, the questions involved who many of these characters were. For comic readers, however, the question was why some of these characters were listed among the antagonists.
Who are the villains in the Superman Character Posters?
The characters identified as antagonists in the Superman character posters are Lex Luthor, Metamorpho, The Engineer, Eve Teschmacher, and Rick Flag Sr. Some of these characters will already be familiar to fans of the DCU. Others, however, are obscure, even to long-time comic readers.
Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor is a man who needs no introduction, though his ego would surely demand one. His background differs from adaptation to adaptation. In some realities, he grew up in Smallville alongside Clark Kent. Other stories say he was raised on the mean streets of the Suicide Slums of Metropolis. In some realities, Lex is the quintessential mad scientist. In others, he is a captain of industry who built his brand on his amazing inventions. The one constant across the multiverse is that Lex Luthor is Superman’s greatest enemy and a symbol of everything he is not.
Played by Nicholas Hoult, the DCU Lex Luthor is definitely a big businessman. The LuthorCorp building was featured prominently in the first teaser trailer. However, while this version of Luthor seems more likely to menace the world in a power suit than power armor, he is still a danger to the Man of Steel.
Rick Flag Sr.
Played by Frank Grillo in the DCU, Rick Flag Sr. is a general in the United States Army and, most recently, field commander of the Creature Commandos. A skilled tactician and experienced combatant, Flag is capable of holding his own in a fight against superpowered individuals. However, beneath his hardened exterior, he is still deeply traumatized by the death of his only son at the hands of Peacemaker.
Rick Flag Sr. is a man of honor, but the story of Superman seems poised to pit him against the Man of Steel. Flag is a career soldier, and ready to fight against any who stand against America’s interests. This could well include the Last Son of Krypton, based on the revelation in the first trailer that Superman interfered in American interests in a war zone to save lives.
Metamorpho
In the comics, Rex Mason was a soldier of fortune, hired by Stagg Enterprises CEO Simon Stagg to retrieve various artifacts. However, Stagg began plotting to kill Mason after learning that Mason was dating his beloved daughter, Sapphire. This resulted in Mason being left for dead in a pyramid containing the mystic Orb of Ra. This transformed Mason into Metamorpho, The Element Man, giving him the power to transform into any element.
It is unclear why the DCU version of Metamorpho (played by Anthony Carrigan) is numbered among Superman’s antagonists. Rex Mason is nominally a hero, despite his dour attitude. However, Rex has also been blackmailed into doing questionable things by Simon Stagg in the comics. It’s possible that Luthor may have gained leverage over Metamorpho in a similar fashion.
Eve Teschmacher
First appearing in 1978’s Superman: The Movie, Eve Teschmacher was Lex Luthor’s girlfriend, who supported him in his evil schemes. Different versions of Eve Teschmacher have appeared in other Superman adaptations, with varying degrees of intelligence and loyalty to Luthor. Little is known about the DCU Eve Teschmacher (Sara Sampaio), beyond her being Lex Luthor’s girlfriend and executive assistant. Based on her behavior in the trailer, taking selfies in the middle of a superhero battle, she is evidently as self-centered as Lex Luthor.
The Engineer
First appearing in 1999’s The Authority #1, Angela Spica was an electronics prodigy. Her cleverness allowed her to track down the first superhero to use the name of The Engineer. Upon his death, he transmitted all his research on nanotechnology to her. This, coupled with her own research into human-machine fusion, allowed Angie to replace her blood with liquid nanites. This gave her the power to control any machine and reshape her body into any electronic device. Henceforth, she also used the Engineer name to build a better world.
The Authority in the comics was particularly antagonistic to Superman, whose ideals they saw as naive in protecting a modern world. Given that, it isn’t hard to understand the DCU Engineer (María Gabriela de Faría) standing against the Man of Steel. However, it is not explicitly clear why she’d be fighting alongside Lex Luthor in the Fortress of Solitude.
Superman arrives in movie theaters on July 11, 2025.
