Warning: contains spoilers for Taskmaster #2!
The most recent issue of Taskmaster just showed how terrifying it would be to fight a Superman who didn't have the morality and kindness of Clark Kent. In Taskmaster #2, Taskmaster must hunt down Agent Phil Coulson as part of his latest mission. Unfortunately, Coulson is the commander of the Squadron Supreme, and has the Superman-pastiche character Hyperion at his beck and call.
Originally designed as Marvel's critique of Superman, Hyperion possesses many of the same powers, including enhanced speed, strength, flight, durability, and heat vision. But while Superman pulls his punches and cares even for his enemies, Hyperion tends to be a little more morally gray, and the version Taskmaster fights in this issue is well and truly under Coulson's control, meaning readers get to see the actual disconnect between even the most skilled assassin and a walking WMD.
Taskmaster tracks Coulson to a comic book shop and, quickly discovered by the trained agent, is attacked by Hyperion. Taskmaster throws every weapon he has at Hyperion, including his shield, and Hyperion tosses them aside as if they were nothing. "I come at him with everything I got. And I don't even come near him," Taskmaster explains as Hyperion pummels him with granite-hard fists too fast to see, "He's a god. And god is playing with me." Hyperion makes it clear his X-ray vision allows him to see the internal damage he's doing to Taskmaster, melting his arrows and shattering his sword while expressionlessly suggesting he surrenders
Superman's code against killing his villains is resolute, so it's rare to see a story where someone with his power set isn't holding back. Of course, Hyperion isn't trying to kill Taskmaster - he could just burn a hole through him if he wanted to - but he also doesn't care if his enemy survives past the interrogation that would follow. Without breaking a sweat, he almost effortlessly dismantles Taskmaster's arsenal, leaving one of the Marvel Universe's greatest mercenaries a devastated wreck. Thankfully, Taskmaster is able to survive the experience, using Hyperion's perception of their vast power difference to lull the Kryptonian-level threat into a false sense of security before hitting him with some offbrand-Kryptonite delivered via Hawkeye's lamest trick.
Whenever one company does a version of another company’s character, here Hyperion, it offers a fascinating glimpse of other ways of understanding who they could be. In the Marvel Universe, this Superman is a warrior - a brutal soldier who doesn't waste any time thinking of creative ways to stop his foes, simply beating them into the ground. He's an interesting one-note character for an antihero like Taskmaster to fight, but the real thing Hyperion adds to comics is a contrast to better understand the compassionate, restrained, and humane way in which DC's Superman is written.