Summary

• Bloodwynd has more powers than Superman, such as telepathy, illusions, and invisibility.
• Bloodwynd's abilities include retrocognition for solving crimes, teleportation for quick travel, and pain absorption to help victims.
• Bloodwynd's Sentence Stare is his strongest power, forcing criminals to feel the pain of their actions.

Superman is one of the strongest characters in DC's history and has an absurd assortment of abilities, but the hero Bloodwynd, also known as the Superman of Hell, actually has a few more. While Superman is famous for his list of abilities, his powers rarely veer into the supernatural, and that's exactly where Bloodwynd excels.

Bloodwynd isn't a new hero; he's been part of DC's larger universe for a while. But he has recently resurfaced in the pages of Action Comics with a more streamlined origin and is coming back to mainstream attention. This is great news, since Bloodwynd is incredibly powerful and has plenty of abilities that Superman doesn't. While Superman has always been the strongest member of the Justice League, this might change if Bloodwynd re-joins his original team and brings these powers that Superman doesn't have.

The original Bloodwynd was created by Dan Jurgens and first appeared in 1992's Justice League America #61.

12 Bloodwynd's Hyper-Empathy Makes Him a Perfect Superman Counterpart

Lazarus Planet: We Once Were Gods #1 by Dan Watters, Max Dunbar, Romulo Fajardo jr, and Troy Peteri

Bloodwynd was reintroduced to the DC Universe during the huge Lazarus Planet event. In the story that re-established his character and powers, Raphael Arce — the nephew of the original Bloodwynd — traveled from city to city, trying to use his powers of empathy to help people. Eventually, this led him to Metropolis, where his sense of empathy was completely overwhelmed by the trauma left over by Doomsday. While Superman fought Doomsday and saved Metropolis from his path of destruction, he doesn't have the power to feel the trauma of the area as Bloodwynd does.

11 Bloodwynd's Access to Mystical Eldritch Blasts Is Far More Magical than Anything Superman Can Handle

Action Comics 2023 Annual by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Max Raynor, Matt Herms, and Dave Sharpe

One of Superman's strongest abilities is his heat vision — but at the end of the day, it's just heat, a natural energy that Superman simply directs through his eyes. Bloodwynd has a much stronger version of this ability known as Eldritch Blast, which lets Bloodwynd fire magical destructive energy at his enemies. This power seems to be every bit as destructive while having the benefit of being magical. This means Bloodwynd would likely be able to harm a far larger number of enemies than Superman could. It's much easier to be resistant to heat than it is against outright magic.

10 Bloodwynd's Hellish Lightning Looks as Cool as It Is Powerful

Action Comics 2023 Annual by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Max Raynor, Matt Herms, and Dave Sharpe.

Superman gains his power from the yellow sun, but there was a weird time in Superman's history back in the 1990s — during the height of Bloodwynd's popularity on the Justice League — when the Man of Steel was powered by electricity. This unique ability didn't last long, but Bloodwynd seems to be continuing the tradition of Supermen with electricity powers. Bloodwynd has shown the ability to generate red lightning. He used this ability to fight off the Empire of Shadows and was even able to force one of their bats to serve him due to fear of being electrocuted.

Superman's son, Jon Kent, also gained electrical abilities during Lazarus Planet, which he uses to maximum effect in Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent by Tom Taylor and Clayton Henry, available digitally and in a collected edition from DC Comics.

9 Superman Has Never Had True Telepathic Powers Like Bloodwynd

Justice League of America #63 by Dan Jurgens, Rick Burchett, Jose Marzan Jr, Willie Schubert, John Cebollero

Psychic abilities are the one area Superman's powers have never really entered. Bloodwynd, however, has full telepathic abilities.

Psychic abilities are the one area Superman's powers have never really entered. Bloodwynd, however, has full telepathic abilities. Because of Bloodwynd's original origin story, he shares some of the powers of Martian Manhunter. These shared powers allow him to read the minds of other people as well as project his thoughts into people's brains. Paired together, these are massively useful abilities, and that's one of the reasons Martian Manhunter is such a powerful hero. The comination has made Bloodwynd equally powerful, especially in a team setting like the Justice League.

8 Bloodwynd's Invisibility Makes Him Closer to Another Justice League Hero

Justice League America #61 by Dan Jurgens, Rick Burchett, Willie Schubert, and Gene D'Angelo

Bloodwynd shares many powers with Martian Manhunter due to their shared history, which was especially true for the first Bloodwynd, Quintus Arce. Like Martian Manhunter, Bloodwynd can turn invisible to the human eye. This power makes him excel at stealth missions, and while Superman can move faster than the eye can see, that's not the same as being entirely invisible. Combine this ability with Bloodwynd's ability to fly, and he can be undetectable by most people, inlcuding other super-humans, which is a feat that even Superman can't boast.

7 Bloodwynd's Retrocognition Makes Him a Superb Crimefighter

Bloodwynd's Mental Powers Make Him Stand Apart from Superman

Part of being a superhero is having to prevent crimes, and failing to do that, having to solve them. While Superman is an investigative journalist, he can't see exactly how a crime was committed. But with Bloodwynd's power of retrocognition, Arce can see the full history of an area, including past memories and events. This power allows him to witness exactly how a crime happened. Technically, this allows him to solve crimes with ease, something even Batman struggles with on occasion.

6 Bloodwynd Can Be Anywhere at Any Time with Teleportation

Justice League America #61 by Dan Jurgens, Rick Burchett, Willie Schubert, and Gene D'Angelo

Superman is one of the fastest men on the planet, but even he can't appear somewhere instantly. Fortunately, Bloodwynd can teleport, and it's all thanks to the mystical power granted to him by the blood gem. Bloodwynd has access to tons of magical abilities, including the ability to simply teleport wherever he wants. This power not only allows him to instantly be at the scene of a crime if necessary, but he can also quickly retreat from a fight he can't win — or move in to help his teammates anwhere within his range.

5 Bloodwynd's Illusions Can Make Anyone See Anything He Wants

Justice League America #65 by Dan Jurgens, Rick Burchett, Willie Schubert, and Gene D'Angelo

Casting illusions is one of the most powerful abilities in the DC Universe, and luckily, Bloodwynd's powers include illusion casting. It's through illusions that Martian Manhunter can beat Superman without even fighting him. Bloodwynd would likely be able to do the same thing to beat Superman in a pinch. These illusions would also be unbelievably helpful regarding keeping a secret identity. While Bloodwynd doesn't have a secret identity, being able to project a false version of himself would certainly help in a variety of circumstances — especially in a massive team fight.

4 Death Sense Allows Bloodwynd to Always Know When Murder Has Happened

Justice League America #69 by Dan Jurgens, Rick Burchett, Willie Schubert, and Gene D'Angelo

No matter how well a crime is cleared up, Bloodwynd will always be able to sense if someone lost their life in the area.

Usually, when someone commits a murder, they'll try to cover it up to protect themselves. Detectives like Batman have devloped keen senses in order to analyze a crime scene, but Bloodwynd can quite literally sense death. No matter how well a crime is cleared up, Bloodwynd will always be able to sense if someone lost their life in the area. Combine this with his retrocognition power, and there is no violent crime Bloodwynd wouldn't be able to solve, which is an ideal combination for a superhero.

3 Pain Absorption Lets Bloodwynd Help Victims Far More than Superman

Lazarus Planet: We Once Were Gods #1 by Dan Watters, Max Dunbar, Romulo Fajardo jr, and Troy Peteri

Bloodwynd's power to absorb the pain of others is one of his greatest abilities. No matter what trauma someone has gone through, mental or physical, Bloodwynd can take that pain into himself. Before Bloodwynd — Raphael Arce's iteration of the character — got the majority of his powers, this was his first power granted by the Lazarus rains. He used it to visit a hospital and take the pain of every patient there who was suffering. It was a truly noble and heroic act, and while Superman has done similar in the past, he wasn't able to do it on his own as Bloodwynd can.

2 Bloodwynd Can Take Any Shape with the Power of Metamorphosis

Action Comics Presents: Doomsday Special #1 by Dan Watters, Max Raynor, Andrew Dalhouse, and Dave Sharpe

Superman has never been able to morph what his body looks like. Shapeshifting is one of the many powers that Bloodwynd has, and he uses it to instantly transform from his civilian identity, Raphael, into his superhero identity of Bloodwynd. Technically, he should be able to transform into anything, and he'd be able to infiltrate any criminal organization that he wants with no one suspecting him. Combine this with his powers of illusion and invisibility, and it should be truly impossible for anyone to catch him.

1 The Sentence Stare Is Bloodwynd's Strongest Power

Showcase '94 #5 by Ruben Diaz, Max Douglas, Dave Hornung, and John Workman

Of all the powers Bloodwynd has, the Sentence Stare is the most powerful. It functions nearly identically to Ghost Rider's iconic Penance Stare. Bloodwynd can force any criminal to feel the pain of every crime they've committed. He did this to a drug dealer, and the horror of seeing the damage and lives his drugs had ruined immediately made him catatonic. While Superman has tried his best to get criminals to change their ways, to convince them they can be better, Bloodwynd simply forces them to face the pain they've caused, and most criminals can't handle it.