Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Since he first hit the four-color pages in Action Comics #1, Superman has stood out as the greatest superhero of them all, leading the way for all that have followed in his wake.

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The orphan son from Krypton who grew up on a farm in Kansas before becoming the hero of the universe, the Man of Steel, has had more than his fair share of hard fights, but he has never once given up in the face of overwhelming odds. Superman has faced off against forces stronger than him time and time againーhe's even lost his life protecting othersーbut he has never once given up. No matter how hard he gets hit, he always gives it his all. Here's are 10 of Superman's toughest fights.

10 Superman VS Batman

Batman VS Superman in DC Comics' The Dark Knight Returns

When bullets bounce off your skin, fighting someone like Batman isn't all that threatening, even when he has Green Arrow hidden away with a Kryptonite arrow, but that doesn't make fighting the Dark Knight any easier for Superman. Facing off in Frank Miller's iconic Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, what made this battle so tough for Superman was that he didn't want to fight his friend, but circumstances left him no choice in the matter. Fans and Batman got the fight they wanted, but it was a tragic day for Superman.

9 Superman VS Bar-El & Lilo-El

All-Star Superman

A fight so wild that it broke the moon in two, Superman faced off against Bar-El and Lilo-El in Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's All-Star Superman. The couple, two Kryptonian astronauts who got lost in space and ended up on Earth decades after Superman arrived, Bar-El and Lilo-El believed that the Last Son of Krypton had disgraced his heritage by letting Earth be run by humans instead of releasing the Kryptonians in the Phantom Zone onto the planet.

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If Superman hadn't have been supercharged by the sun at the start of All-Star Superman, he might not have been able to take down the two Kryptonian space travelers while also sewing the moon back together, but as luck would have it, the Man of Steel was more than up for the job.

8 Superman VS Shazam

Superman Shazam Kingdom Come Alex Ross

One of Superman's few weaknesses is magic, and it is that exact weakness that Lex Luthor takes advantage of in Mark Waid and Alex Ross' Kingdom Come. In the story, Lex Luthor, with the help of Mister Mind, gains control of Shazam and uses Earth's Mightiest Mortal to nearly killing Superman through an attack of magic lightning. The fight isn't just Superman vs Shazam, but Superman's team versus Batman's team and Shazam, and it ends with the deaths of many heroes, but with a hope for a new and brighter tomorrow.

7 Superman VS The Elite

Superman VS The Elite

Along with magic, Superman is also quite vulnerable to psionic attacks, which is something Manchester Black, the Elite leader, used against him. The Elite, a team of "heroes" who believe that more established heroes of the Justice League go too easy on supervillains, do what Superman and his pals refuse to do; they kill the villains.

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Superman's battle with The Elite wasn't just a violent smash-em-up between superpowered beings. It was a battle for the soul of the DC universe. Superman needed to prove that, above all else, his way worked and that killing was wrong. It took a lot out of the Man of Steel, but he proved his point in the long run.

6 Superman VS Xenomorphs

Superman VS Xenomorphs

Traveling into deep space after picking up a Kryptonian distress call, Superman and Doctor Cheryl Kimble - the head of Lexcorp's space division - find themselves in an alien city far from any sun. As Superman's powers weaken without a yellow sun's radiation to keep him going, he comes under attack from Xenomorphs and is even impregnated by an egg. With only hours before the alien in his stomach will burst its way out, Superman must battle his way off the planet and back to Earth where he can power up.

5 Superman VS All His Enemies

Superman VS All His Enemies

When DC Comics decided to reboot the universe with 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths, they turned to Alan Moore to tell the final Superman story. "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow" is a tragic two-parter told across Superman #423 and Action Comics #583 where Superman sees his greatest villains team up to destroy him and all he loves.

Across the two issues, many of Superman's greatest friends and foes fight their final battles, including Bizarro, Krypto, and Lex Luthor, all thanks to the evil machinations of Mister Mxyzptlk, the imp from the Fifth Dimension who finally reveals his true horrific form.

4 Superman VS Darkseid

Superman choking Darkseid in DC Comics' Final Crisis

If Superman is the embodiment of all that is good in the DC Universe, Darkseid is his direct opposite. A being of pure hate and rage, Darkseid wishes for nothing more than to rule the galaxy, bending reality to his every whim. And on more than one occasion, the evil New God would have succeeded if it wasn't for the Man of Steel.

In Final Crisis, Darkseid comes closer than he ever has before reaching his goal; the only thing that stands in his way is the insurmountable will of Superman. When all of the universes are destroyed and the only thing left is Superman, the Man of Steel uses his last breath to sing a song that counters the vibrational frequency of Darkseid's life-force and powers the Miracle Machine saving the multiverse.

3 Superman VS Superboy-Prime

Infinite Crisis Superman vs Superboy-Prime

After seeing how the heroes wasted the opportunity to create a better world, the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths Superboy-Prime and Alexander Luthor from Earth-3 decided to do something about it. Their plan would lead to the destruction of all that was to try and build something new, and the heroes of the DCU weren't about to risk all of existence on this gamble. In the battle that raged across the pages of Infinite Crisis, the pre-Crisis and post-Crisis versions of Superman teamed up to battle Superboy-Prime. The battle cost pre-Crisis Superman his life, along with the lives of many heroes.

2 Superman VS Muhammad Ali

Superman vs. Muhammad Ali

When an alien race called Scrubb threatens to destroy the Earth unless the planet's greatest champion fights Scrubb's greatest champion, two men step forward - Superman and Muhammad Ali. To decide which of the men will face off against the alien champion, Superman is rendered powerless and forced to battle Muhammad Ali in a boxing match.

Without his superstrength, Superman is no match for the man who rightly gained the nickname "The Greatest of All Time." Ali floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee all over Superman's face and body, leaving the Man of Steel a bloody mess.

1 Superman VS Doomsday

METROPOLIS - The Death of Superman

A creature created only to destroy, Doomsday tore a path across America and decimated the Justice League before Superman entered the fight. In their battle, the beast spoke not a word, its only goal seemed to be to kill as many people as possible, and Superman did all he could to stop the monster. In the end, Superman was able to take Doomsday down, but doing so cost the Man of Steel his own life. On that day, the DC Universe - and the real world - mourned the death of a great hero.

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