Superman isn’t too strong. His villains are too weak.

How many times have you heard someone say that Superman comics aren’t interesting because Superman is just too strong, and that his strength alleviates any sense of stakes. I could argue that there are plenty of interesting Superman stories (which there are) or that other characters like Goku are just as strong, but I won’t, because I do agree that a lot of Superman comics have a power scaling problem, but it’s not because he is too strong. It’s the opposite. His villains are too weak.

There’s nothing wrong with a strong hero. Shōnen protagonists are characteristically absurdly strong, but this is rarely a problem because the threats they face are specifically designed for someone of their power level to face. Even in western comics (like Invincible) the protagonists’ strength isn’t a narrative problem because they’re fighting villains that are roughly on par with them most of the time.

Superman has several strong villains (like Zod, Brainiac, and Doomsday) that can more than stand toe to toe with the man of tomorrow. But most of the villains he faces on a regular basis are either regular criminals, or “freak of the week” villains like Parasite and Livewire that he can dispose almost immediately without breaking a sweat, and anytime writers try to make these villains a tangible threat they inevitably just make Supes look weaker than he is.

Kryptonite isn’t the solution, because it just leads to antagonists that shouldn’t be able to beat Superman doing so with little actual effort in what’s typical a narratively unsatisfying way. I’m not saying characters shouldn’t have an easily exploitable weakness, but making it rarer and using it less would at least make it feel more interesting when it does show up. But when any villain can just “get Kyptonite” and beat Superman by themselves, that’s a problem.