Here are the confirmed antagonists in the upcoming DCU Superman

Superman, DCU's first theatrical release, is just two months away. As the release date for the James Gunn-directed movie approaches, the marketing campaign for the movie is surprisingly low-key, with one teaser trailer, one small footage, and one behind-the-scenes featurette. Not much is known about this summer blockbuster, except that we know that the movie involves a superhero team.

Apart from that, we do know who the movie's villains are. But their role in Superman remains mysterious for now. The behind-the-scenes featurette of the movie offers the best look at the antagonists featured in this James Gunn movie.

The antagonists of the upcoming Superman movie explained:

April 18, 2025, was celebrated as Superman Day. Fans were expecting some footage from the upcoming movie, and DC Studios delivered. This 2-minute, 17-second clip showed what went behind the scenes of filming this hopefully new chapter of the sprawling DC Universe. It also gave us the best look at the central antagonists of this movie:

Lex Luthor

Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor in the Upcoming movie | Image Source: Warner Bros. UK & Ireland YouTube Channel

Like almost every other movie featuring the Big Blue Boy Scout, the main antagonist of the movie will be Lex Luthor, played by actor Nicholas Hoult. We know that he is a part of LuthorCorp (traditionally LexCorp in the comics). Apart from that, we know that Luthor already hates The Man of Steel in the movie despite never interacting with him personally.

This was hinted at by director and DC Studios Co-CEO James Gunn during a press set visit in June 2024:

"It was about really putting us in the middle of the action from the beginning. And there's a lot of these things in this movie now that I've been making it for over a year that I think of as normal. But now when you bring it up, I go, oh yeah, that's pretty unusual. We just start in the middle of the action. Superman's already existing. Lois and Clark already know each other. Lex hates Superman's guts from the beginning, although they don't know each other personally. So we start right in the middle of the action. It takes place over a short amount of time."

This is very similar to several other Superman movies and shows in the past that show Lex as hating Superman despite not knowing him personally. The only exception was Smallville, which had Michael Rosenbaum as young Lex Luthor and Tom Welling as a young, pre-Superman Clark Kent.

Angela Spica/The Engineer

A member of the anti-hero team The Authority, The Engineer/Angela Spica's body is enhanced by nanotechnology. Thanks to this enhancement, she has the ability to create any solid objects using her body, including dangerous weapons. Her role in the movie remains unclear, but the end of Superman will probably set her up to join The Authority movie, which is stuck in development.

Ultraman

Ultraman and Superman Dishing out in the movie | Image Source: Warner Bros. UK & Ireland YouTube Channel

Just like every other fictional universe involving superpowers, even DC has an evil Superman. In the comics, he hails from an alternate Earth in which all the heroes are evil and have teamed up to form the Crime Syndicate. This team is led by the evil Superman variant Ultraman. Moreover, while the Man of Steel's weakness is Kryptonite, the same mineral makes Ultraman even more powerful.

However, there are some Ultraman iterations where he is a clone of the Man of Steel created by Luthor. And due to some defect, the clone later transforms into Bizarro. While we don't know much about Ultraman in the upcoming movie, or whether Bizarro is in it, given James Gunn's affinity towards the comic-book source material, it won't be surprising if the movie shows Ultraman's transformation into Bizarro.

The fire-breathing Kaiju

The fire-breathing Kaiju in the teaser | Image Source: Warner Bros. UK & Ireland YouTube Channel

One of the key highlights from the December 2024 teaser is the presence of a Kaiju in the movie. In this scene, we can see the monster breathing fire on Metropolis, and we know Superman will confront him. "It appears that the fire-breathing Kaiju may be a one-off villain, but it will probably play a key role in turning the people against the Man of Steel.

In addition to the four antagonists above, the titular character will also have to confront the armored LuthorCorp soldiers, Hammer of Boravia (a character not from the comics), and the mysterious glowing object seen in the first official image.