Mala is a fictional

supervillain A supervillain or supercriminal is a variant of the villainous stock character that is commonly found in American comic books, usually possessing superhuman abilities. A supervillain is the antithesis of a superhero. Supervillains are oft ...

in the DC Comics universe. The male version first appeared in ''Superman'' #65 (July 1950) in the story "''The Three Supermen from Space!''"

Fictional character biography

Mala, along with his brothers Kizo and U-Ban, is a native of the planet Krypton, and a former member of the science council. Some years before Krypton exploded the trio attempts to take over the planet by threatening to remove all moisture from the atmosphere with one of their inventions. They are stopped by

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

's father Jor-El who places them in suspended animation and sends them into outer space, as an alternative to the death penalty. Many years later their rocketship is struck by a piece of space debris, which brings the trio out of suspended animation. Mala and his brothers find their way to Earth, where they meet Superman. Once there, the three siblings constructed a machine that hypnotizes all of Earth's population. Superman manages to destroy the machine, but soon finds himself overwhelmed by the combined might of Mala and his brothers. The quick thinking Man of Steel tricks the brothers into fighting each other, until the trio are exhausted. Superman then places Mala and his brothers back into hibernation and sends them back into space. In ''Action Comics'' #194 (Jul 1954), the three Kryptonians manage to escape again, after their rocket is once again struck by a piece of space debris. Kizo and U-Ban go to the planet

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

(for a "vacation from trouble"), but Mala decides to get revenge on Superman. As Superman is off planet on a mission, Mala constructs a duplicate Earth in order to keep Superman out of the way. Mala, who looks exactly like Superman, decides to cause more problems for Superman by disguising himself as

Clark Kent Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publish ...

and then admitting to the public that she is Superman (never realizing that Superman really is Clark Kent). With his plan in place, Mala summons his brothers from Saturn and prepares to destroy Earth. Superman arrives and manages to trick the three evil Kryptonians into entering their space capsule, putting them back into suspended animation once again. This is the last appearance of Mala, Kizo, and U-Ban.

Powers and abilities

Mala, like all Kryptonians, has a number of inherent superpowers. These abilities are super strength, sonic speed, invulnerability, enhanced hearing, x-ray vision, and flight. Presumably, like Superman, Mala can only be harmed by Kryptonite. The DCAU version of Mala is a trained and ruthless fighter, which gives her an advantage over Superman in combat.

In other media

Television

Animation

''Superman: The Animated Series''

*Mala first appeared in '' Superman: The Animated Series'', where she was voiced by Leslie Easterbrook (Season 2) and Sarah Douglas (Season 3). This female version of Mala bears a strong resemblance to

Ursa Ursa is a Latin word meaning bear. Derivatives of this word are ursine or Ursini. Ursa may also refer to: General * URSA Extracts (United States of America), a California cannabis concentrate company * Ursa (Finland), a Finnish astronomical ass ...

and Faora (but named for a male Kryptonian from the comics). She serves as a trusted lieutenant and loyal partner of High General Jax-Ur who attempts to take control on Krypton, until Jor-El foiled their plan. In the episode "Blasts From the Past", they were sentenced to the Phantom Zone for committing treason. Since Mala was considered to have been just following orders, she had been given a thirty year sentence while Jax-Ur's was forever. On present day Earth, Superman found the Phantom Zone projector in his spaceship and able to communicate with Mala. After reviewing the official record of Mala's trail, he decided to release her. Though, initially disorientated by the loss of Krypton, Mala was delighted with her new powers and joins Superman to aid him in a fight for justice. However, she quickly became too aggressive and overly destructive in her efforts to "help" him stop crime. She was so jealous of Lois Lane, because she loves Superman more than her. Mala broke her promise to do good, stole the projector, and freed Jax-Ur. Together, they went on a rampage in Metropolis. The two fought Superman, but he lured them both into a trap. With another projector completed, Lois and Professor Hamilton sent them back to the Phantom Zone. In the episode "Absolute Power", Mala and Jax-Ur escaped from the Phantom Zone through a space rift. They were rescued by a science vessel, before nearly suffocating in the vacuum. After the rescue, they took over a nearby planet, remaking it and its people into their image of Krypton. Superman had no emphasis to dethrone them, since they have brought order and peace on their new homeworld, better than ever. Until, a member of the underground resistance, Cetea begs for Superman's help. She showed him that the two tyrants were preparing an invasion to Earth. With help from Superman, Cetea and the soldier Alterus flew off in an escape pod. During the fight with their battle fleet, Mala and Jax-Ur are sucked into a

black hole A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravitation, gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other Electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts t ...

, never to be seen again.

Video games

Mala appears as a boss in

Superman 64 ''Superman: The New Superman Adventures'', commonly referred to as ''Superman 64'', is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Titus Interactive for the Nintendo 64 and based on the television series '' Superman: The Animated S ...

. This version is a member of the Superman Revenge Squad. ''Superman 64''

References

External links