Superman's Kryptonian biology often grants him protection from just about everything in the DC Universe. The majority of physical attacks or even energy-based attacks will have little to no effect on the Man of Steel. Superman's incredible durability truly offers him a level of protection that most characters will never achieve. But there are a few powers that Superman has no defense against.

From telepathy to reality manipulation, there is a huge variety of superpowers in the DC Universe. While Superman is more than capable of resisting physical and energy-based attacks, trickier abilities can often get the better of him. While Superman is pretty clever and has a huge variety of powers to fall back on, there are a few powers that Superman rarely has an answer for and either has to avoid or risk being defeated by.

Superman's Powers Are Useless Against Enemies Who Are Intangible

Robinson Goode's Powers Easily Countered Superman's

There's no denying that Superman has incredible physical strength, but that strength doesn't do him any good if he can't use it on the villain he's fighting. Robinson Goode, otherwise known as Red Cloud, is a woman who has the power to transform into a poisonous cloud of red mist, rendering her completely untouchable to Superman's punches. Her mist form was so toxic that even Superman was affected by it.

The only ways to damage her in this form are either electricity or interdimensional energy, both of which are powers that Superman simply doesn't have. While Superman struggled to win a fight against Robinson, she wasn't particularly difficult to avoid her either.

Powers Over Density Turn Superman's Invulnerability Against Him

Superman's Durability Is Turned Against Him

Superman is practically invulnerable due to his incredible durability. It's a major asset to be able to shrug off any damage thrown his way, be it from a punch or a laser beam. But that incredible durability is exactly what got him into trouble against the villain known as Porcelain. Porcelain's power allows him to invert the density of his targets. The harder and more durable something is, the more fragile and weak it becomes from Porcelain's touch. This one superpower manages to take one of Superman's biggest defensive abilities and turn it into a horrifying weakness with a simple touch.

Superman's Super Strength Can Be Overpowered by Equal or Better Strength

Superman Has Been Physically Beaten in the Past

Superman's strength is absolutely incredible. He can bench press the moon, punch through mountains, and go up against some of the heaviest hitters in the DC Universe - but sometimes the heaviest hitters can in fact hit harder than the Man of Steel. While Superman's strength is almost unparalleled, characters like Doomsday have managed to defeat him with superior physical ability in the past.

While Superman could always train and try to grow stronger, there will likely always be someone - or some creature - out there who's even stronger than he is. At the end of the day, regardless of Superman's Kryptonian strength, he'll always be at risk from someone who can simply hit harder.

Nuclear Radiation Has Defeated Superman

Both Nuclear Bombs And Nuclear Breath Can Take Superman Down

One of the more surprising things that Superman's body seems to struggle with is radiation. While his body processes solar radiation in order to manifest his powers, nuclear radiation tends to leave him in a pretty bad state. When Superman went up against Godzilla, the latter's atomic breath defeated Superman in a single blow, nearly outright killing him. In The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, Superman has to intercept a nuclear missile and takes the full brunt of the explosion. Superman's irradiated, ghoulish form needs to suck the sunlight out of a field of flowers in order to regenerate. While it's not a weakness that pops up often, Superman's Kryptonian biology really struggles with certain types of radiation.

Superman's Powers Can Be Stolen and Used by Others

Various Villains Have Drained Superman's Powers

Superman is essentially a living battery, which several super villains have taken advantage of in the past - like Parasite, who can drain any energy source he gets his hands on, including Superman. Anytime Parasite makes with Superman, he drains his powers until there's nothing left, and surprisingly, Killer Frost can do the same. Killer Frost has the ability to absorb thermal energy, which Superman is technically full of. During a battle between the Justice League and the Suicide Squad, Killer Frost surprised everyone by draining Superman's solar energy and defeating the entire Justice League on her own.

Superman's Brain Is Just as Vulnerable as Any Other DC Character

Superman's Brain Is a Villain's Perfect Target

One of the more disgusting Superman weaknesses is his brain. While his brain is as durable as the rest of him, he'd still prefer not to have anyone running around inside it. In the Injustice comics, for example, one of Batman's contingencies for keeping Superman in line is having the Atom hang out inside his brain with a sliver of Kryptonite.

If Superman ever manages to escape from his prison, Atom could stab him with Kryptonite. In an early New 52 Action Comics story by Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert, a group of villains decide that the safest place for their secret lair is inside Superman's brain. When they're forced to leave, they set off a Kryptonite bomb to try and cover their tracks. Both instances of "brain occupation" did severe damage to the Man of Steel.

Superman's Iconic Super-Hearing Can Be a Huge Weakness

But Superman's Hearing Is Regularly Turned Against Him

One of Superman's most useful abilities is super-hearing. With this power, Superman can hear just about anything on the planet, anytime he wants, which is one of the biggest ways that he detects crimes and makes sure that his friends are doing okay. But it has often been turned against him as well. Sudden loud noises that Superman isn't prepared for can quickly defeat him.

Superman's super-hearing has been his downfall multiple times, and he is especially vulnerable to powers like Black Canary's canary cry. While under mind-control, he was also defeated by Batman with a simple sharp whistle, which caused Superman to black out. It took Superman decades to refine his super-hearing so that it wasn't a liability, but certain sonic-based superpowers can still take him by surprise.

Superman Is Susceptible to Pheromone Control

Many Villains Have Taken Over Superman's Mind with Pheromones

Poison Ivy has managed to take control of Superman twice so far in DC history. The first was during Batman: Hush by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee, when Poison Ivy used her pheromones to take over Superman's mind, forcing him to obey her with Kryptonite laced lipstick that enhanced her pheromones.

Later, in a Batman story by Tom King and Mikel Janín, Poison Ivy gained full control over the Green and again took over Superman's mind with few problems. It's honestly surprising how many times Poison Ivy has managed to take control of Superman through her specific brand of mind-control, but it seems that Superman is particularly weak to being controlled by other people.

Superman Has Absolutely No Resistance to Magic

Magic Is One of the Easiest Ways to Harm Superman

While Superman is practically invulnerable to most physical attacks, magic has consistently pierced his defenses over the years. While Superman isn't more vulnerable to magic than the normal human, he isn't resistant to it either. Magic affects Superman just like it does everyone else in the DC Universe, making it one of the easiest and most effective ways of dealing damage to the Man of Steel.

With magic, Superman can be teleported across the universe, turned into a chicken, or simply hit with a fireball. Superman often tries to either defeat magic s as quickly as possible or simply avoid them all together. It's one of the few weaknesses that Superman simply doesn't have any real answer for.

Telepathy Has Proven Very Effective Against Superman

Superman Has Very Few Mental Defenses

Superman is surprisingly vulnerable to mind control. Over the years, the Joker has managed to turn Superman into a homicidal maniac twice. Poison Ivy was able to take control of him, and Maxwell Lord brainwashed Superman so thoroughly that it was impossible to undo the damage - the only option was for Wonder Woman to kill Maxwell to end his control over Superman in the massive line-wide Countdown to Infinite Crisis storyline.

Superman's weakness to telepathy was also demonstrated when he went up against the Hyperclan, a secret group of White Martians who took Superman down with ease. Using the iconic Martian telepathy, the leader forced Superman into believing he was near Kryptonite, causing him to be defeated with ease.

Superman Has No Answer for Reality or Time Manipulation

There Are No Defenses Against Reality Warping

Two of the strongest abilities in superhero fiction are reality and time manipulation, and Superman doesn't have an answer to either. It doesn't matter how physically strong Superman is, as a reality warper can simply wave a hand and erase him from existence. This inevitability was best shown when the Joker gained reality warping powers in Emperor Joker and was capable of defeating Superman. Superman is also only dangerous as an adult. If someone went back in time and erased him from being born, then there would be no Superman to begin with.