Lex Luthor or Darkseid

Lex contrasts him in more varied and more interesting ways, I feel. Besides, Darkseid should be an Orion or Mr. Miracle villain.

Luthor.

Lex Luthor.

Lex. DS should be a JL villain instead of being a Superman villain.

Better villain in-general? Darkseid. Better villain specifically to Superman? Lex.

@wollfmyth209: Ditto

Luthor.

Luthor. He has a personal vendetta against Superman, while Darkseid is a threat to everything.

Darkseid.

Luthor.

Darkseid is a Multiversal threat, not a simple Superman villan.

These

Luthor.

Superman is a better character than Orion and a better god, and Darkseid is a better villain than a bald rich guy who isn't dead solely because Superman is unrealistically and irrationally restrained. I vote Darkseid.

Darksied easily, Lex is not even comparable. Destroying worlds on a regular, the level of maniplution, intelligence, everything, darksied wins. Darksied is a threat to the thing superman holds most dear...all life.

Lex. Darkseid isn't really a Superman villain.

Lex.

I never thought of Darkseid as a exclusively Superman villain. He is more just a threat to the entire DCU. After all, he's such a big baddie that when he shows up, it usually takes all the Justice League members and maybe even more heroes to stand against him.

Lex is the perfect foil to Superman. He's to Superman as the Joker is to Batman. Supes is an alien, Lex is human. He was born with his powers that make him godlike, Lex develops himself mentally and physically to be his idea of perfection. Superman is moral, Lex thinks himself above human morality. Superman is honest and genuine, Lex is a perfect manipulator. Clark Kent lives a humble life while Lex aggrandizes himself as much as possible.

People sometimes compare Nietzsche's Ubermensch to Superman, but Lex actually pretty perfectly embodies Nietzsche's philosophy (read Azzerello's Lex Luthor: Man of Steel)

DARKSIED:

Lex was a good villain, but like the Joker, he needs to be used sparingly, and strategicly, to stay relevant. As things stand, SUPERMAN regularly defeats Luther. His first appearances in New 52 seemed ominous, now its like he is Stan Lee, popping up everywhere.

SuperLex is a joke right now, every comic he appears in, they make him look like a complete tool. They are projecting Lex's character flaws onto Superman's boy-scout outlook to make a sad caricature of a wannabe-hero. When you have Lana Lang, Superboy, and a knock-off Superman making you look like a chump, you're in serious trouble.

They have also relied too much on giving him a suite to make him an interesting match. He has been relegated to just another fighter now, and one who relies on Superman holding back. Lex is pretty much an (ex) evil version of Steel now.

Superman has to step up to get DARKSIEDs attention. Granted, Darksied has been reduced to needing to wear diapers so .... maybe he can Fight Jon for a while.

Darkseid.

Darkseid is too obvious of an enemy for Superman to have. Who can fight a really strong Kryptonian? A really strong god. That's simplistic.

Luthor is forced to be more creative, and challenge Supes in manipulative ways. He's a villain who has to mess with Superman's head because that's the only way he stands a chance of defeating him. And for me, that makes Lex more interesting than a villain of brute power.

Lex,Darkseid should be a main villain of the league.

@scott_summers52: That a subtly omnipresent capital-G God of Evil who wants to take away everyone's free will has been reduced to "really strong god" over the years is one of DC's biggest failings.

Luthor is one of the best DC villians. Darkseid is boring.

If we're taking about raw power, Darkseid would obviously take the cake but I think Lex Luthor is a much more interesting character.

@butt_man: not true , he could with ease wipe out earth and you would never see it coming , never even see his face. He has planets at his command he has armies larger then our planet yet alone powers to back them up. It would be a story to span life times.

But they want to write it cheap and end it fast.

They wanted to Tell her, that I just wasn't going to get, important enough to be trapped, in the phantom zone... Anyone who wonders why, you can venture that the police, cannot catch me, I can have, Interpol's, badges, pulled, and I'm very wondering whether 'tor not, I was even, a villain, at all, Superman... "A villain at All, that's supposed to impress me?"

Darkseid is not a Superman villain. In fact, i would prefer it if they didn't shove him in non-New God stories at all.

Luthor.

In addition to my year old statement from above:

Lex is the definitive Superman villain, based on how that he himself is a 'super man': He's extremely intelligent, he's got enough money he could by a country for himself, he's quite fit and if he's also very charismatic. But while Superman has everything he needs in life and shares his great gifts with humanity, Lex's ambitions is only to push himself upwards... and thats the thing with him, he wants to be better than Superman and he wants everyone to see that, but he can't ever be better because he's too selfish.

Darkseid on the other hand, by virtue of having been made to oppose someone else, doesn't have that deeper reflective aspect Lex does with Superman. It's a more tag-along thing of the ultimate good-guy vs the ultimate bad-guy without having to involve Satan. And I think personally Darkseid is just a compromise from the STAS show thats gotten very popular, they needed someone big, evil and ugly enough for Superman to fight directly but not one that was super-obscure or just a brainless monster. And Darkseid got the part because he's a Kirby, you tap into the Fourth World and he's visually more interesting to look at than Mongul who might otherwise have pulled off the same part.

Lex. No doubt.

Lex.

Lex because Darkseid isn't a Superman villain.