Kryptonians are some of the most powerful beings on the planet, which is why the idea of an entire family composed of them is so terrifying. While Superman is often regarded as the most powerful Kryptonian around, his family members aren’t far behind.
The Super-Family has grown in recent years, and each new member seems to be more powerful than the last. From classic members like Superboy and Power Girl, to members rarely heard of, like Ronan Kent, or even new additions like Osul-Ra, every member is pretty strong in their own right and has every reason to be in the family. That said, not all of them are equal in power, despite their shared Kryptonian heritage. Some members of the family will simply always come out on top.
11 Jor-El
Superman #53 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Jor-El was the patriarch of the original Super-Family, but he never really had powers that reached the same level as Superman. Since Jor-El almost never left Krypton, he never really experienced the powers that Superman is used to. While he is a brilliant scientist who discovered the Phantom Zone and created rockets that can travel the galaxy, he’s really not that powerful and is rarely portrayed as a physical threat.
The one time Jor-El managed to show off his potential was when he was acting as Mr. Oz. But even as a villain, Superman’s father really wasn’t all that intimidating. Jor-El was only ever a pawn of Doctor Manhattan, and aside from completely altering Clark’s relationship with his son Jon, Jor-El is easily the weakest member of the Super-Family and is the one who is most rarely depicted with powers.
10 Mon-El
Superboy #89 by Robert Bernstein and George Papp
Mon-El met Superman when he was very young and was still going by Superboy. The pair quickly became friends, as Superman thought he’d found another Kryptonian with whom he could finally bond. Unfortunately, that wasn’t exactly true. While Mon-El has similar powers to Superboy, he’s not actually Kryptonian, but instead a genetic off-shoot known as a Daxamite.
This weakness makes Mon-El one of the weakest members of the Super-Family, due to the abundance of lead on Earth.
Daxamites have all the same powers and biological advantages of Kryptonians, except they are deathly allergic to lead instead of Kryptonite. This weakness makes Mon-El one of the weakest members of the Super-Family, due to the abundance of lead on Earth. But if he’s kept away from it, he’s still pretty strong. A later version of Mon-El introduced in Superman #14 by Brian Michael Bendis, Ivan Reis, Oclair Albert, Joe Prado, Alex Sinclair, and Wes Abbott was reinvented as a Human and Kryptonian hybrid, but the most well-known version is a Daxamite.
9 Ronan Kent
Future State: Superman – House of El #1 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Scott Godlewski, Gabe Eltaeb, and Troy Peteri
Ronan Kent is one of the descendants of Superman, the Superman of the 30th century, and the leader of the House of El. He continues to uphold Superman’s ideals in the far future as best he can. When it comes to power, Ronan has all the same abilities as his ancestors and what people would expect from a Kryptonian on Earth: superhuman strength, speed, heat vision, and everything else.
He had the potential to be a great character
But unfortunately, since the Future State event and timelines wasn’t really followed up on by DC, Ronan never really got a chance to shine. He had the potential to be a great character, but as DC took their stories in a different direction, Ronan was left behind, and he hasn’t been able to prove the limits of his power since. Given the chance, Ronan might be just as strong as his ancestor, Clark.
8 Hunter Prince
Justice League #26 by Bryan Hitch, Fernando Pasarin, Oclair Albert, Brad Anderson, Jimmy Betancourt, and Richard Starkings
Wonder Woman and Superman are two of the most powerful beings on Earth, so naturally, a lot of people have wondered what the result would be if they had a child together. This was partly answered by the existence of Hunter Prince. Hunter was Wonder Woman’s son from an alternate timeline. In this timeline, Wonder Woman gave up Hunter as he was the chosen avatar of the Darkness.
Wanting to make sure he was raised properly and with love, Diana gave Hunter over to Lois and Clark Kent, who raised the boy as their own. As far as powers go, Hunter is every bit as powerful as his mother, sharing much the same abilities. While this doesn’t put him on the level of a normal Kryptonian, it puts him remarkably close to one.
7 Otho-Ra
Action Comics #1038 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Miguel Mendonca, Adriano Lucas, and Dave Sharpe
The Superman family is large partly because they keep embracing so many kids as part of the family, including Chris Kent, Jon Kent, and the Super-Twins, Osul-Ra and Otho-Ra. Otho was a child trapped on Warworld, and isn’t technically a Kryptonian. She’s instead a young Phaelosian, a genetic offshoot of Kryptonians. As such, she has all the powers one would expect of a Kryptonian, but also a few extra. Otho has all the expected powers of super strength, speed, flight, and heat vision.
She also has Genesis Energy Absorption and Energy Manipulation, which allows her to use powers like Optic Blasts, letting her fire energy from any point of her body. She can also generate force fields and even summon energy constructs to obey her every command. While she’s still young, these powers put her just above the average Kryptonian.
6 Osul-Ra
Action Comics #1038 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Miguel Mendonca, Adriano Lucas, and Dave Sharpe
The other half of the Super-Twins, Osul isn’t nearly as fiery and direct in action as Otho is, but that just belies the actual powers he has at his command. Just like his sister, Osul is Phaelosian and has the exact same powers as a Kryptonian, such as superhuman speed, invulnerability, super-hearing, and super-breath. But his powers go so much further than that: he can create optic blasts from any part of his body, just like his sister, but he’s also capable of summoning Olgrun.
Olgrun is an Old God and one of the most powerful beings in the DC Universe. The phantom that Osul summons is merely a fraction of Olgrun’s power, but even a minor part of this power was more than enough to overpower Desaad. While Desaad is no fighter, he is a new God, and Osul beat him easily.
5 Rowan Kent
Future State: Superman – House of El #1 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Scott Godlewski, Gabe Eltaeb, and Troy Peteri
Also hailing from the abandoned Future State timeline, Rowan Kent is the sister of Ronan Kent. While Ronan never got to show off his powers, Rowan didn’t need hers to make an impression. Rowan has all the same powers as a Kryptonian, which already makes her incredibly powerful in comparison to most other beings, but she also has a Blue Lantern Ring on top of all that.
This additional power boost means that not only is Rowan nearly impossible to hurt due to her physical invulnerability, absurd speed, and strength, but she also augments her natural powers with her Lantern Ring, such as creating a shield to help protect her from attacks. It’s truly a shame readers didn’t get to see more of her, since Lantern Kryptonians, such as Yellow Lantern Superman, are always remarkably powerful.
4 Conner Kent / Kon-El
The Adventures of Superman #500, “First Sighting…” by Karl Kesel, Tom Grummett, Doug Hazlewood, Glenn Whitmore, and Albert De Guzman
Conner Kent is the strange “lovechild” of Superman and Lex Luthor, as he was created as a clone using the two’s DNA. As such, Conner has all the expected powers of a Kryptonian, but a surprising number of extras. Conner’s Tactile Telekinesis power in particular makes him a major threat, allowing him to disassemble complex machinery by simply touching it, create a barrier around his body or other places, and manipulate objects without touching them.
These barriers that Conner makes can even deflect Kryptonite bullets, giving him a major edge over other Kryptonians. He can also unleash bursts of raw concussive force from his telekinetic powers. Combine all of this with his Kryptonian abilities, such as heat vision, and Conner is a major powerhouse.
3 Jon Kent
Convergence: Superman #2 by Dan Jurgens, Norm Rapmund, Brad Anderson, and Sal Cipriano
Jon Kent is the human/Kryptonian hybrid child of Lois Lane and Clark Kent. Even after being aged up to a teenager, Jon is still young, but he’s become an incredibly powerful hero, even as a young adult. Batman has stated that Jon’s hybrid DNA gives him the potential to be stronger than any pure blood Kryptonian, and his extra powers seem to imply this is correct. Jon has the ability of Energy Transference, which allows him to manipulate the stored solar energy inside of him.
This power typically causes him to crackle with blue energy and allows him to release powerful electrical blasts, especially after his power upgrade during the Lazarus Planet event. He’s also taken on Doomsday, Darkseid, Ares, Neron, and several others all the same time in Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths by Joshua Williamson and Daniel Sampere. While Jon didn’t win this fight, he survived for several minutes, which is more than anyone else can claim.
2 Kara Zor-El
Action Comics #252 by Otto Binder and Al Plastino
The cousin of Superman, Supergirl has all the same powers as Superman, but she has demonstrated a few feats of endurance that even Superman can’t match. During the events of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King and Bilquis Evely, Kara is trapped on a planet with a Kryptonite infused sun. This planet was originally created to kill her cousin, and Kara stated that Clark was barely able to last an hour on this planet. Meanwhile, Kara lasted over several hours until the sun went down.
This survival is a massive feat and one Clark has never really been able to recreate. Overall, Kara is one of the most powerful Kryptonians in the world and has been able to constantly help her cousin with the bigger enemies over the years.
1 Superman / Clark Kent / Kal-El
Action Comics #1 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Out of every Kryptonian, no one has the same feats of strength and raw power as Superman. He has crossed entire galaxies in seconds, knocked out Gods with a single punch, and survived everything the DC Universe has thrown at him. The man regularly holds black holes in the palm of his hand. He once lifted the Book of Eternity, which held all possible knowledge in it and, if that’s not impressive enough, he once held up all of reality for several hours.
Superman is DC’s strongest Kryptonian, without a doubt. While others may be stronger in one or two areas, or they may have powerful abilities that he doesn’t, in terms of what he has accomplished, there is no one more powerful than Superman.
Superman
The icon who launched the entire world of superheroes, the last son of Krypton escaped his dying world to crash land on Earth and be raised as Clark Kent. The world knows him better as Superman, the Man of Steel, the leader of the Justice League, and the most well-known hero in the DC Comics Universe. Blessed with the powers of a demigod, Kal-El of Krypton fights enemies both small and cosmic in his endless pursuit of truth, justice, and a better tomorrow.
- Created By
- Joe Shuster , Jerry Siegel
- First Appearance
- Action Comics
- Alias
- Kal-El, Clark Kent, Jonathan Kent
- Alliance
- Justice League, Superman Family
- Race
- Kryptonian
Summary
The icon who launched the entire world of superheroes, the last son of Krypton escaped his dying world to crash land on Earth and be raised as Clark Kent. The world knows him better as Superman, the Man of Steel, the leader of the Justice League, and the most well-known hero in the DC Comics Universe. Blessed with the powers of a demigod, Kal-El of Krypton fights enemies both small and cosmic in his endless pursuit of truth, justice, and a better tomorrow.
