Preus is a
supervillain who first appeared in
The Adventures of Superman #625 (April 2004) and was created by
Joe Kelly and
Talent Caldwell as part of their "Godfall" arc. For years, Preus had proudly served the Citizen's Patrol Corps, a police force that kept the peace in
Kandor under the
Kryptonian banner of El, their "creator". Preus swore a solemn oath to make the murderer pay, not realizing that Kal-El was the Superman that he and the others had worshiped for so long. He was also unaware that the "victims" were constructs created by an alien telepath,
Lyla, who had brainwashed Kal-El into believing that Kandor was a never-exploded
Krypton. Eventually shattering the illusion, Superman escaped Kandor and confronted Lyla back in
Metropolis. Preus followed them, but exposure to Earth's air and yellow sun drastically affected him, giving him strange, new powers equal to Superman's while amplifying his already-unbalanced racist views. Convinced that Kal-El had defiled the legacy of "The Superman", Preus swore to assume that responsibility himself and that all of the impure would die by his hand. His xenophobia led him to a group of white supremacists in the American desert, who he forced into worshiping him and his views. However, in time, the people of "God's Peake" (as the camp was called) came to worship Preus as their cult leader. His increasing prominence eventually led both the
Martian Manhunter and
Jimmy Olsen to investigate, only to have both of them captured by Preus and his men. This forced a confrontation with Superman, who, at the time, was dealing with the effects of
Gog's synthetic yellow
kryptonite, which had significantly aged and weakened Superman in a short period of time. So weakened, Superman was barely able to deal with Preus' legions alone and quickly found himself outclassed by Preus. A last-ditch gambit using kryptonite to try and weaken Preus failed, as Preus revealed a previously unknown resistance to kryptonite. He was finally defeated when Superman attacked and destroyed a key portion of Preus' armor, rendering him unconscious. Afterwards, Preus was injured from that attack and had to be hospitalized. His current whereabouts are unknown. He was last seen as a weakened Superman tried to fly him to
S.T.A.R. Labs for treatment. Preus disappeared after Superman was engaged by an army of Gogs.
Powers and abilities Preus possesses powers similar to those of Superman, such as superhuman strength and speed, flight, invulnerability, X-ray vision and enhanced senses. Preus can generate fiery black energy from his eyes and is immune to
kryptonite.
Preus in other media Preus appears in
Krypton, portrayed by Ciaran Owens. This version is a Sagitari commander on the moon Wegthor. ==Prez==