What makes Superman so super? We could get all philosophical and talk about how it's his inner strength, unshakable moral compass and devotion to truth, justice and the American way that make the Man of Steel truly super, but let's face it -- no kid has ever picked up a Superman comic just because he's a nice guy. No, it has always been about those cool alien powers of his, powers that have grown and evolved quite a bit over the years. In the early days, Superman used superhuman leaps to get where he was going. That ability was soon upgraded to flight, and Superman's list of powers has only gotten longer since then. He can run fast, lift buildings, and can shoot all kinds of things out of his eyes. That's not even getting into his sillier powers, like super-weaving and super-ventriloquism.

Sometimes it seems like the Man of Steel can do literally everything -- and that can be a problem. Even the most well-meaning among us would be tempted to abuse such powers for selfish reasons, or because having powers makes the wielder believe they have the right to run other people's lives, or even just for fun. Superman is no exception. He has succumbed to the temptation to use his powers in less-than-noble ways on a surprisingly regular basis. Yes, sometimes a mind-altering substance is to blame... but not as much as one would hope. Here are 20 of the most memorable times that the big blue Boy Scout acted like a big blue tyrant.

20 HEAR NO EVIL

Superman is a hero because he believes that he has a responsibility to use his superpowers to help those in need. Usually. In Identity Crisis, the Justice League decides to mindwipe a particularly nasty villain named Doctor Light. Superman wasn't around for that decision, but he didn't exactly jump to scold anybody when he found out.

And yes, he did find out. In the fourth issue, Green Arrow tells Flash that Superman is perfectly aware of what his colleagues have done and is willing to ignore the incriminating things his super-hearing picks up because he thinks all this brainwashing protects Lois, somehow.

19 KISS IT BETTER

At the end of Superman II, Superman decides that Lois Lane can't handle knowing that he is really Clark Kent. Without bothering to ask Lois how she feels or what she'd like to do about the situation, he takes matters into his own hands. Or, well, lips.

By kissing Lois, Superman is able to erase her memory of his secret identity. Why does he think messing around with an already distraught Lois' mind will end well? Maybe it's a good thing Lois spends most of the next movie in Bermuda. Who knows what Superman would have done to her had she stuck around?

18 GOING ROGUE

The most famous part of Superman III, aside from the gross misuse of Richard Pryor, is Superman turning evil thanks to some faulty synthetic kryptonite. This newfound evilness first manifests when Superman stops to flirt with Lana Lang rather than going to rescue a man dangling from a bridge. This decision nearly ends the man's life.

Superman gets progressively worse from there, traveling the world committing acts of super-sabotage. He straightens the Leaning Tower of Pisa, blows out the Olympic torch and even punches a hole in a ship, causing all of its oil to leak into the ocean. To his credit, the moment Superman fights off the kryptonite's effects, he fixes everything he broke.

17 YOUR HOUSE IS MY HOUSE

Whenever Clark Kent falls victim to red kryptonite, things in Smallville are sure to get dangerous.  In the episode "Crimson," Lois' kryptonite-laced lipstick causes her to fall madly in love with Clark. After they kiss, Clark falls madly in love with her too. She gets a "Lois and Clark Forever" tattoo and he breaks into Oliver Queen's apartment to be with her.

As if that wasn't enough, check out this laundry list of terrible acts Clark commits before his mother stops him with green kryptonite: He crashes Lana Lang and Lex Luthor's engagement dinner, trash talks his friends and family, spills the beans on Lana's secret pregnancy, kidnaps Lana and forcibly kisses her, and nearly strangles Lex to his demise. Yikes.

16 CHEATER, CHEATER

In Superman #700, Batman instructs Robin to stay home and do his geometry homework. Robin disobeys and goes out after some weapons smugglers. He ends up needing a rescue from Superman, who defeats the smugglers singlehandedly.

Robin gets home at the same time as Batman, who immediately goes up to Robin's bedroom to make sure he did his homework. To save Robin from a justified grounding, Superman snags his textbook off his desk, finishes the assignment at superspeed and gives it back before Batman notices. Batman does figure out the ruse, but he lets them get away with it... this time.

15 SUPER-MATCHMAKER

While reporting on a movie being shot in an African jungle, Jimmy Olsen finds out the local villagers worship a gorilla named Bruna. Jimmy mocks the villagers as "ignorant" and immediately gets what's coming to him. Bruna decides she is in love with Jimmy, and the villagers insist Jimmy marry her to keep her satisfied.

But where does Superman come in? Well, with the local witch doctor sick, the villagers decide that Superman's powers give him the authority to fill in and marry the, uh, happy couple. Superman makes no effort whatsoever to get Jimmy out of this mess and performs the ceremony.

14 SCARE 'EM STRAIGHT

When confronted with a trio of teenage would-be delinquents, Superman decides the best way to make them behave is to terrify them with some ironic, Twilight Zone-style justice. When one of the boys says he wants to rule an empire, Superman flies the kid to Venus to rule over a society of sentient vegetables. He then prepares to leave until the terrified boy begs to go home.

The other two troublemakers don't fare much better.  One wants to be "a big shot," so Superman sticks him in a rocket and shoots him into space. The other wants to be a movie star, so Superman mutates him into a hideous monster perfect for horror movies.

13 A FAMILY AFFAIR

One day, Superman notices that Jimmy is depressed because he has no parents. In a generous, if not weird move, Superman adopts Jimmy. All goes well at first, but when a prophecy predicts that Superman will destroy his son, Superman sits down and rationally explains the situation to the newly adopted Jimmy, like any good father would.

Ha, just kidding. Superman uses his powers to psychologically torment him until Jimmy demands the adoption be canceled. It turns out Superman misinterpreted that prophecy, but by this time it's too late. On the upside, since Superman is no longer Jimmy's father, so he won't have to foot Jimmy's inevitable therapy bills.

12 THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS

A Christmas Carol has been adapted innumerable times, and in Superman's Christmas Adventure, Superman decides to take a shot at playing Ghost of Christmas Present. For no reason, Superman uses his X-ray vision to look into a random building. Inside, he sees spoiled rich child, James, and decides to teach him a lesson.

Superman breaks into James' house and absconds with him. He forces the kid to spy on Metropolis' poor children, supposedly to show young James just how fortunate he is to have so much. We don't know how well that worked, though.  eems like the kids who get to live in peace rather than be stolen away in the middle of the night are the lucky ones.

11 OIL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL

Many of Superman's earliest foes were unscrupulous businessmen, politicians and stockbrokers. In Action Comics #11, Clark Kent stumbles across two swindlers selling shares of a dry oil well. Under an assumed name, Clark buys up all the shares, making him the useless well's owner. As Superman, he drills at the well until oil comes gushing out.

The swindlers, shocked that their well has oil after all, try to take Clark out to take back ownership of the well. Superman's response? He drags the businessmen to the well and then blows it up right before their eyes. Because damaged oil rigs have never, ever caused serious and expensive damage.

10 AS YOUNG AS YOU FEEL

After Lois experiments with a de-aging machine, Superman decides, as he so often does, that he must teach her a lesson for being so nosy. As Lois de-ages out of control, he allows her to believe that his X-ray vision is the only thing that can get her back to normal... and then absolutely refuses to use it.

An increasingly desperate Lois tries every scheme she can think of, including locking herself in a safe to force Superman to use his X-ray vision to see inside it. Instead, Superman uses his strength to rip the safe door off, foiling Lois once again. It isn't until Lois is a baby, no longer able to speak, that he confesses the truth and gives her the real cure.

9 BARBECUED ARCHER

In the "Absolute Power" storyline, some supervillains from the future rewrite reality so that Superman and Batman become Earth's dictators rather than its defenders. All the heroes who could have stood in their way are wiped out one by one. With each eliminated hero, Batman and Superman's stranglehold on the planet strengthens.

By the storyline's start, Green Arrow is one of the last heroes standing, but not for long. The Dark Knight and the Last Son of Krypton run him down in an alley. Although Green Arrow puts up a good fight, Superman incinerates him without a shred of remorse.

8 JIMMY'S DISAPPEARING ACT

Jimmy Olsen, Daily Planet photographer and allegedly Superman's pal, often pays for his close association with the Man of Tomorrow in creatively horrible ways. In Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #40, Superman tries to use a mysterious space rock to give Jimmy superpowers and ends up turning him invisible, permanently. Does Hallmark make "sorry I turned you invisible" cards?

Jimmy takes the news shockingly well, not realizing that Superman is using him as bait to capture a thief and criminal, who takes Jimmy, allowing Superman to track him down and finally arrest him when he tries to go after his hidden loot. Jimmy, as always, is way too forgiving.

7 A DOG'S LIFE

Having a dog can be frustrating, but it’s a pretty sure bet that most of us dog owners have never gotten so angry with our pets that we’ve tried to send them into orbit. Superman cannot say the same. As Superboy, he had a Kryptonian dog named Krypto to help him defeat criminals.

But sometimes, usually thanks to red kryptonite, Superboy turns on his faithful friend. In one issue, Superboy grabs Krypto by the tail and threatens to throw him into a space cloud of green kryptonite. Krypto, heartbroken by his beloved master's betrayal, is prepared to let him. Somehow, the Comics Code Authority was cool with this course of action towards animals.

6 MARRIAGE IS A PRISON

In an imaginary story from Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane #25, Lois finally gets her wish: she marries Superman. But married life isn't all it's cracked up to be. For starters, Superman is so worried about his new wife falling victim to vengeful criminals that he forces her to live in the Fortress of Solitude.

Surprisingly, Lois doesn't deal well with living all by herself in the frozen Arctic with no one but Superman's army of robot servants to talk to. And so they compromise. Superman builds a bulletproof bubble on wheels for Lois to travel around in. Somehow, this doesn't appease Lois one bit.

5 EVE OF DESTRUCTION

The latest cinematic Superman -- the one portrayed by Henry Cavill in the Worlds of DC film series -- has divided fans since his debut in Man of Steel in 2013. This Superman is more moody loner than beacon of hope. And he's not afraid of a little property damage, either.

During the climatic final battle against General Zod, rather than taking the fight away from the heavily populated Metropolis, Superman fights right where he is. This causes untold billions in damage and the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent people. As the cherry on top, the film ends with Superman controversially ending Zod.

4 SELF-HATRED

In the "Public Enemies" storyline, Superman and Batman must contend with a kryptonite meteor heading straight for Earth. Superman plans to stop it by flying a special rocket out to meet the meteor and blowing it up before it hits Earth. But Superman's future self, who enacted that very plan and saw it fail disastrously, is traveling back in time to stop history from repeating itself.

Instead of calmly explaining that, hey, piloting that rocket was a bad idea, Future Superman proceeds to beat the tar out of his past self. He wastes all his time throwing cars around and is pulled back to the future before he can properly explain things.

3 HANDS OFF

Flirting with a married woman while her husband is right next to you is pretty much the height of bad etiquette. But Daily Planet reporter Steve Lombard doesn't care about silly things like "being polite" and "respecting his coworkers". He tells Clark Kent to his face that he thinks Lois is a better reporter than he is and then hits on Lois Lane.

Clearly Steve had no idea who he was dealing with. Clark uses his heat vision to snap a leg on the guy's chair, causing him to collapse to the floor. Worse, most of the office donuts end up on the floor too. What a waste of perfectly good food.

2 TAKE THAT, NORSE MYTHOLOGY!

In JLA/Avengers, the Marvel and DC universes collide, and not everyone takes it well. Captain America is utterly convinced that the Justice League are dictators who force humanity to worship them. Superman, meanwhile, believes the Marvel Universe to be an irredeemable cesspool full of crime and ineffectual heroes.

Finally, Superman snaps and takes out his frustration on the Avengers. Thor bears the brunt of his misplaced anger. The Son of Krypton and the Son of Odin appear to be roughly evenly matched, but Superman prevails, knocking Thor unconscious. The other Avengers, furious at the defeat of their most powerful member, respond by piling on Superman.

1 PROPERTY OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT

Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns shows DC’s heroes muddling their way through a very grim alternate universe. Batman has only recently come out of retirement, and in his absence, Superman has allowed himself to become a government stooge. At a word from President Reagan, he will go out to fight the Soviets or Batman or whoever else the government doesn't like today.

Superman doesn’t really enjoy being the president’s lapdog, but he keeps on doing it anyway... to a point. By the end of the story, Superman allows Batman to fake his passing so that he can continue his illegal crime-fighting activities.