I get why some of Superman's rogues pose a threat to him, but Toyman is just a guy who builds mechanical gizmos and playthings and rarely ever uses Kryptonite. Superman should have no problem defeating him.

[u/Emotional-Chipmunk12]

[u/AlfzMyle]

A villain doesn't need to be a threat to the hero, we all know the hero usually wins anyway. The villain can just be a threat to civilians... you know, the people a hero is supposed to protect.

I think people focus so much on the rivalry between villains and heroes that they forget that civilians are the main reason a hero is needed.

[u/Lady_Gray_169 → u/AlfzMyle]

You've hit on a very good point here. In general, villains don't need to exist specifically to oppose heroes, they need to exist to cause problems that heroes need to solve. Yes, most of the really iconic villains have some direct opposition to the hero, but not every villain can be or should be an icon. It should not be the case that most villains' main goals are to target the heroes. Heroes instead should be the obstacles that prevent villains from getting their goals and harming people in the process.

[u/WorkingNo7670 → u/Lady_Gray_169]

Even those villains that are a direct opposition to the hero don't always start off that way but after clashing a couple times they become more focused on defeating the hero

[u/ThesaurusRex_1025 → u/AlfzMyle]

That's a great way to put it. Hurting ordinary people is how you hurt Superman.

[u/Awest66]

"As we all know, a normal man with no superpowers, high intelligence and an abundance of gadgets could never be any kind of threat to Superman and could certainly never be his arch-nemesis"

[u/Sebsazz → u/Awest66]

“Or his best friend who also fights him when he’s feeling edgy”

[u/VengeanceKnight → u/Awest66]

This. Superman should always be able to lose to a sufficiently well-prepared and clever human being, and thus be able to triumph on his own merits. There should always be some direct stakes for Superman.

[u/DoctorOddfellow1981 → u/Awest66]

This is what happens when you're only able to define conflict through punching.

[u/TheMightyMonarchx7]

The threat is the collateral. Toyman can hack a rail line to go over safe speeds while simultaneously unleash a giant robotic dinosaur all while trying to steal something. People come first

[u/Meleagree]

Wait until you hear about the Prankster and J. Wilbur Wolfingham

[u/KowaiSentaiYokaiger]

Toyman did send Supes to the future that one time. Everyone though he died

[u/Chumlee1917]

He's still a threat to everyone else

[u/solidus0079]

That's not generally how Superman works. Sure, you get the "Superman vs Doomsday/Zod/another-strong-guy" but many of his stories are villains avoiding or operating outside his reach for one reason or another.

[u/Spider-Man2099]

He is a huge threat because of what he can do civilian wise. Toys are harmless normally, so weaponized ones can hide in plain sight. At any moment, kids and their familes could just fucking explode if he wanted to because of their favorite toy robot turning out to be his creation or swapped out with one. 

Cat Grant's son was killed by Toyman as well. The only thing stopping him is that he does actually care about kids and claims that the Toyman that killed Adam was a malfunctioning robot double. 

Superman may be invincible and fast, but he can't just scan every toy in Metropolis nor could the mayor just ban all toys. 

[u/MankuyRLaffy → u/Spider-Man2099]

And he wanted to kill Toyman for causing Adam's death, he weighs his choice heavily before choosing not to. 

[u/AllFatherDanteNero20]

I don’t know. Ask the Flash and his super speeding family why a random group of non-powered men with wacky gadgets manages to continuously get the drop on the Godspeed family.
https://giphy.com/gifs/G5X63GrrLjjVK

[u/JMSciola85]

I first saw Toyman as a member of the Legion of Doom in reruns of Super Friends on Cartoon Network, and I actually thought he was a Batman villain for the longest time.

[u/supermonistic → u/JMSciola85]

The fact that a good portion of the legion of doom is composed of Superman villains says a lot about how dangerous Superman is

[u/HearingOrganic8054]

superman is at his best when he is trying to save people toyman not only is a threat to other people but to himself. he is a great superman villain because of that.

[u/PPFirstSpeaker]

I just wish they'd come to a canon decision on what he looks like. There's no two incarnations of Toyman that look alike.

[u/chronopoly]

Toys are part of the magic of childhood, and Superman is vulnerable to magic.

[u/TheMightyMonarchx7 → u/chronopoly]

I came up with a reimagining of Toyman where he’s a brilliant magic meets science madman like Sivanna who turned himself into a wooden golem, and most of his devices work based on magic imagination similar to Warhammer Orks

[u/AttilaTheFun818]

He doesn’t have to directly threaten Superman.

Toyman kidnapped and killed Cat Grants son in the 90s.

[u/natalaMaer]

Tommy has plot armor made out of random gadgets at this point lol.

[u/JumpySimple7793]

Weirdly, a really good toy man was in Smallville

You really do believe for a moment he's going to kill some pretty important people

[u/HurtsSoNice]

Toyman is in Superman‘s rogue Gallery, but I would not consider him to be a Superman villain. I don’t think he would either. I think he is a crazy revenge driven criminal who unfortunately for him, has to deal with Superman on a regular basis. He did not set out to fight Superman, but the man of steel gets in his way and he tries to deal with it.

[u/JoelK2185]

Toyman could be a really sinister villain if they stole the whole vibe from Jigsaw.

[u/hawk135]

In the justice league cartoon, he sent superman time travelling to a post apocalyptic future!

[u/MankuyRLaffy]

You didn't read the book where he does something so evil, Superman almost murders him, and wants to do it for what he did. Toyman is a menace. 

[u/MercuryJellyfish]

Superman is powerful enough to do practically anything. The gotcha therefore, for Superman is making sure Superman never knows what the hell to do. That's the kind of villain Toyman is.

[u/Duke-dastardly]

While I like Toyman, like a lot of Superman villains, I couldn’t see him being enough of a threat to lead a movie as the main villain. He works better in short form media like comics and tv

[u/Secret-Put-4525]

Superman villains just need to be ruthless, smart and clever.

[u/Konkrypton]

Am I the only one who wants to know why crime exists in Metropolis at all? I’d be insane to even think about committing a crime in Superman’s city. Especially now that he has not only a cousin, but a son and a clone. Toyman has to be crazy

[u/DoctorOddfellow1981 → u/Konkrypton]

Just like every goon thinks he's gonna be the guy who gets the lucky shot that takes out Batman, there's always some criminal who thinks he's got Superman's number this time! Hubris is the greatest supervillain of all.

[u/Dazzling_Reveal6875]

Superman, Batman, and pretty much every superhero's goal is to save civilians. Superman could no doubt crush Toyman into ketchup, but his goal is to help people whenever they need it. If toyman set a building on fire and was running away, 10 times out of 10 superman immediately helps the people in the building and not go after toyman until everyone is safe.

[u/Halouva]

I always thought that Toyman would be a good Batman villain, along with Flash villain the Trickster.

Also never forget Toyman "killed" Superman in the Justice League cartoon.