I will first give a pedagogical motivation for, and introduction to, supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model. The biggest obstacle that prevents theorists from making clear-cut predictions for the production of superparticles at the LHC is our lack of knowledge of how supersymmetry is broken. I will review the most promising SUSY breaking mechanisms that have been suggested so far, and outline the resulting signatures for LHC experiments. Finally, I will try to make contact with other areas of particle physics and cosmology, where supersymmetry also might play a role.