Every Superman ranked from weakest to strongest

10. Superboy

Airing on TV screens in the '80s and '90s, Superboy gave us a look into the Man of Steel's younger and more vulnerable years. Yes, it sounds like a pre-Smallville version of Smallville and that's essentially what it was. There was one difference, however: This version was allowed to wear a cape.

The version of Clark Kent that we meet on Superboy is basically just a young Superman. He tries to be Clark Kent as much as he can but he also has to contend with the fact that he is super and must save people. And so, he goes off to be Superman. Except he's a boy, sort of.

Complicated codenames aside, Superboy gives us exactly what it promises, as the Boy of Steel does possess the vast majority of his comic book counterpart's abilities, but they haven't been fully developed as he's still learning about what it means to be a superhero - and how to be a superhero.

Over the course of the show's run, Clark evolves (in more ways than one, as he is recast from season 2 onwards) and grows, edging closer to the Man of Steel we all know and love. Yes, the conventions of TV meant that he had to regress every so often, or fall victim to problems he should have overcome by then, but hey that's the journey of life, right?

While Superboy should have been more powerful given his youth, it's forgivable considering we're talking about a '90s show that ended prematurely. Nevertheless, it was interesting to see what a young Superman, without his fully-formed abilities, would have been like.