Superman vs Mongul Fight – Justice League Unlimited

Kal-El of Krypton is truly the “big gun” of the Justice League, and the duty usually falls to him to pit his otherworldly strength against the monstrous supervillains that seek to enslave or destroy the Earth. Mongul, intergalactic conqueror and alien psychopath, is often at the forefront of these supervillains that are just a tad too powerful for the other members of the Justice League to deal with.

As mighty as the Princess Diana is, Wonder Woman often gets her hat handed to her at the hands of the ultra-strong Mongul. We got to truly see the extent of her powers, as well as how much she needs Superman when a cosmic-level entity enters into the fray, in the Trinity comics run. There, Superman's clone Bizarro nearly sent Diana back to he nativity (the earth), with a brutal series of blows and a battering that left her helpless and near-death. Just as with Mongul, Kal saved the day with great vengeance.

Just at the moment the would-be conqueror is readying the final blow he’ll deliver to Wonder Woman, Superman swoops in at super-speed to deliver several powerful, unanswerable shots to Mongul’s nigh-invulnerable head. The indigo-clad alien falls back, helpless under the Man of Steel’s fierce onslaught. It’s worth it to know that Mongul had previously caused great harm to Kal’s mind in an attempt to subvert him for his own means, and so Superman was angrier than we’re used to seeing. His great power often compels him to hold back when fighting villains (as well as because of damage to civilians around), so that he doesn’t outright kill the supervillain – which would be against everything he stands for.

A solid few minutes of thrashing delivered by Superman passed before Mongul was finally able to turn the tide of the attack and give Kal a few shots of his own. During their entire dust-up, Wonder Woman – who had taken quite a beating at Mongul’s hands before Superman intervened – was nearly down for the count, and even when she arose, was in no shape to help the Man of Steel.

Not that the Kryptonian would really need any aid. Despite the beating that Mongul was handing out, Kal seemed to bounce back to full strength relatively quickly, showing off that impressive invulnerability of his. This also shows another side of the MAn of Tomorrow's awesome palate of super-powers: his regenerative healing. Because Clark is so very difficult to hurt in the first place, we rarely give him credit for his accelerated healing. 

As if to say “Mongul, you’ve had your fun,” he suddenly decided to put an end to their little dance by first scorching Mongul with his heat vision, and then beating his face into the side of a mountain. Despite his exceedingly durable hide, Mongul’s face was an absolute mess after this; a moment’s hesitation by Kal (who seemed, for a second there, like he might actually kill Mongul), allowed the villain to deliver a knee that downed Superman, upon which he picked up a huge boulder to finish him off.

As you might have expected, however, this was not to be – finally, Wonder Woman comes to her senses enough to team up with Batman and extract one of the alien amoebas that had sent Kal to dreamland for a spell. Princess Diana throws the subversive monstrosity at Mongul, causing it to attach to his face and send him spiraling into a dark fantasy of his own, where his megalamaniacal mind could find no surcease.

One of the most significant things we learned from this episode is just how easy it Is for Superman to kill a very powerful supervillain, if that was indeed how Big Blue operated. Just a few more punches when he had Mongul down would have ended it for the big guy – and most villains are far below Mongul when it comes to power and durability. If Superman ever truly unleashed, he could wipe out the universe of most of the current bad guys – but then, would he not be a bad guy, himself? This is the usual argument that has withstood the test of time, and it even restrains the Dark Knight from finally ending the scourge named Joker. It is a superficially noble mandate, but one must wonder if it is reasonable. For the good of mankind, we see that such restraint is a necessity.