Superman

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(Derivation of the Super-Powers)
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==Derivation of the Super-Powers==
 
==Derivation of the Super-Powers==
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Superman's super-powers are by and large, extraordinary magnifications of ordinary human abilities.  Just as an ordinary man can hurl a baseball, Superman can hurl an entire Planet.  Just as an ordinary man can see across the room, Superman can see across the universe.
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Compared with the powers he possesses today, however, the powers employed by Superman in the early texts are modest indeed.  Action Comics # 1 (1938), the first comic book in which Superman appeared, claimed only that its hero could "leap 1/8th of a mile; hurdle a twenty-story building... raise tremendous weights... run faster than an express train... and that nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin!" (Jun '38).
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As the years passed, however, the chroniclers endowed the Man of Steel with ever more spectacular powers to enable him to meet ever more exacting challenges.  Today Superman can withstand the heat at the core of the sun, soar through the air at a speed thousands of times the speed of light, and extinguish a star with a puff of his breath as though it were merely a candle on a birthday cake.
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Along with a steady expansion of Superman's powers has come a series of changing explanations of how he came to acquire those powers. Action Comics # 1, for example, contains this "scientific explanation of his amazing strength":
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Kent had come from a Planet whose inhabitants' physical structure was millions of years advanced of our own.  Upon reaching maturity, the people of his race became gifted with titanic strength!
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Incredible?  No!  For even today on our world exist creatures with '''super-strength!'''
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The lowly ant can support weights hundreds of times its own.  The grasshopper leaps what to a man would be the space of several city blocks. {Jun '38}
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For approximately the first decade of Superman's career, the texts advanced the thesis that Superman's powers were merely those possessed by all the inhabitants of his native Planet.  These texts described the men and women of Krypton as a "super-race" (S No. 73/2, Nov/Dec '51: "The Mighty Mite!") who were gifted with X-ray vision and other powers and who were thousands of eons ahead of earthlings, both mentally and physically. (S No. 53/1, Jul/Aug '48: "The Origin of Superman!").
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According to Superman No. 33/1, "...'''Superman'''-- a native of the ill-fated planet of Krypton---is of a different structure than than the natives of Earth! Neither his mind nor his body are susceptible to the influences that can overcome other human beings!" (Mar/Apr '45: "Dimensions of Danger!").
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"Where we come from," gloats the Kryptonian villian U-Ban in July-August, "'''everyone''' has see-through vision, extra-strength and extra-speed!" (S No. 65/3: "Three Supermen from Krypton!").
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By the late 1940s, however, the texts had begun to describe the people of Krypton as more or less ordinary human beings and to attribute Superman's powers to the vast differences between the gravitational pull and atmospheric conditions of Krypton and those of the Planet Earth.  In the words of Superman #58,
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Everyone knows that Superman is a being from another Planet, unburdened by the vastly weaker gravity of Earth.  But not everyone understands how gravity affects strength!  If you were on a world smaller than ours, you could jump over high buildings, lift enormous weights... and thus duplicate some of the feats of the Man of Steel! [May/June '49: "The Case of the Second Superman"].
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Subsequent texts continued to cite the importance of the gravitational difference between Earth and Krypton while laying increasingly greater stress on the significance of Krypton's unique atmosphere in accounting for the awesome powers a Kryptonian acquired once he was free of his native Planet.  "Obviously, Krypton is such an unusual Planet," Superman's father, Jor-El, once noted, "that when a native Kryptonian is elsewhere, free of Krypton's unique atmosphere and tremendous gravitational pull, he becomes a superman!" (Superman #113, May '57: chs. 1-3-"The Superman of the Past"; "The Secret of the Towers"; "The Superman of the Present").
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Since, according to this theory, Superman owes the existence of his super-powers to the fact that he is no longer on the Planet Krypton, it follows that Superman has no super-powers wherever atmospheric and gravitational conditions prevail that are identical to those of his native planet.
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Indeed during a visit to a man-made duplicate of the planet Krypton, in July 1953, Superman finds that he can no longer fly, "since [the planet's] tremendous gravitational power neautralizes [his] strength!"
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"And because of the greater atmospheric density on this world," notes Superman, "I can't (ugh) use my X-ray vision here either!" And moments later he adds, "I--I could stay under water almost indefinitely on Earth---but not on [the duplicate] Krypton! Because of the greater exertion, I need more oxygen!" (Act No. 182: "The Return of Planet Krypton!").
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An identical loss of super-powers befalls Superman whenever he journeys through the time barrier to Krypton at a time prior to the its destruction or pays a visit to the bottle city of Kandor. "...[W]here Krypton's non-earthly gravity conditions are in force," muses Superman during a visit to Kandor in October 1958, "I have no super-powers!I-I'm just an ordinary man!" (Act No. 245: "The Shrinking Superman!").
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This can befall Superman whenever he journeys through the time barrier to Krypton at a time prior to its destruction or visits the bottle city of Kandor.
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According to a revised theory of Superman's powers, first advanced in 1960, the Man of Steel derives his super-powers partly from [the] lesser gravity of Earth and partly from the unique "ultra solar rays that penetrate Earth day and night."
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"These rays," explains Superman to Supergirl in March 1960, "can only affect people who were born in other solar systems than Earth's!  And only yellow starts like Earth's sun emit those super-energy rays!  On Planets of non-yellow suns, we would not be super-powered, even under the low gravity!" (Supergirl story in Act No. 262: "Supergirl's Greatest Victory!").
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This theory is restated in Superman No.141. “What gave me super-powers on Earth,” explains Superman, “was Earth’s lesser gravity and the fact that, unlike Krypton’s red sun, Earth’s solar system has a yellow sun….Only yellow stars radiate super-energy rays which give super-powers to people born in other solar systems!” (Nov ’60: pts. I-III-“Superman Meets Jor-El and Lara again!”; “Superman’s Kryptonian Romance!”; “The Surprise of Fate!”).
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Superman No. 146/1 refines this theory still further, attributing Superman’s “muscular powers” - super-strength, super-breath, super-speed, and the power of flight – to Earth’s light gravity, and his “super-senses and mental powers” - X-ray vision and other optical powers, super-hearing, and various intellectual powers – to the ultra solar rays of Earth's yellow sun. In a flashback sequence, Superman explains that, as the result of his having been born
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on a giant world with heavy gravity, my muscles automatically became super-strong in Earth’s light gravity! I’m like the ant, which, if it were man sized, could carry a locomotive! Grasshoppers could leap over buildings!
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Now notice that Krypton had a red sun…! But only the ultra solar rays of Earth’s yellow sun can super energize my brain and five senses to give me the other non-muscular super-powers!
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Also, those yellow-sun rays, which only tan Earth people’s skin, hardened mine like steel! Radium rays…lightning…fire…nothing can harm me! [Jul ’61: “The Story of Superman’s Life!”].
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In the logic of this latest refinement, all Kryptonian objects acquire indestructibility in the yellow-sun environment of Earth, and all native Kryptonians - such as Supergirl or Krypto the Superdog - acquire super-powers identical to Superman's.  However, the indestructibility of these objects and the super-powers of the various Kryptonian survivors remain proportional to what they would have been had they remained in their native Kryptonian environment. Superman is stronger than Supergirl, for example, just as an ordinary human male is normally stronger than his female counterpart. Similarly, a Kryptonian gorilla on Earth would be stronger than Superman, just as an ordinary gorilla is more powerful than an ordinary man.
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It is this phenomenon to which Superman refers in February 1962, when, after having been bitten severely on the hand by a Kryptonian “flame dragon” (see Flame Dragon), he remarks that “The beast’s bite penetrated my skin…which is invulnerable to everything to everything except the bite of a Kryptonian creature who would have normally been stronger than me if both of us were on Krypton, minus our super-strength!” (S No. 151/3: “Superman’s Greatest Secret!”).
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Because Superman is now said the derive his powers, in part, from the ultra solar rays of Earth's yellow sun, he has no powers on any Planet revolving about a red sun, such as the Planet Lexor (Act No. 318, Nov ’64: “The Death of Luthor!”; and others) or the world of the Thorones (Act No. 321, Feb ’65: “Superman—Weakest Man in the World!”).
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The mighty super-powers that Superman employs today are the products of a gradual evolution spanning decades of texts.  Following is an inventory of Superman's super-powers, along with the history and evolution of each super-power.
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==Super-Speed and the Power of Flight==
 
==Super-Speed and the Power of Flight==
 
''in progress''
 
''in progress''

Revision as of 21:58, 27 February 2005

Contents

Overview

Superman.jpg
Superman pastel by co-creator Joe Shuster.
Action Comics No. 1, marking Superman's first appearance. Art by Joe Shuster.

Superman. A world-famous crime-fighter and adventurer who has, for almost seven decades, battled the forces of crime and injustice with the aid of an awesome array of superhuman powers, including X-ray vision, the power of flight, and strength far beyond that of any ordinary mortal. Born on the planet Krypton, the son of the scientist Jor-El and his wife Lara, he was launched into outer space in an experimental rocket ship to enable him to escape the cataclysm that destroyed his native planet, and, arriving on Earth, was taken into the home of Jonathan and Martha Kent, who named him Clark Kent and raised him to manhood as their adopted son. Endowed with mighty super-powers in the alien environment of Earth, this orphan from Krypton--named Kal-El by his parents--has, since mid-1938, battled the forces of evil as Superman, while concealing his true, extraterrestrial identity beneath the alternate identity of Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for the Metropolis Daily Planet, more recently a full-time newscaster for Metropolis television station WGBS-TV.

Superman is "Earth's mightiest hero" (S No. 128/1, Apr '59: chs. 1-2-"Superman versus the Futuremen"; "The Secret of the Futuremen"), a "colorfully-costumed, mighty-sinewed man of might" engaged in "an unrelenting battle against the forces of evil" (S No. 21/4, Mar/Apr 1943: "The Ghost of Superman!"). He is "the world's number one champion of justice and fair play" (S No. 130/3, Jul 1959: "The Town That Hated Superman!") and "mankind's foremost crusader for good" (S No. 181/2, Nov 1965: "The Superman of 2965!"), "a fighting champion of justice who is famous the world over" (Act No.45, Feb 1942). Described as "the world's most dynamic man" (WF No.8, Win 1942: "Talent, Unlimited!") and the "world's mightiest mortal" (WF No.116, Mar 1961: "The Creature from Beyond!"; and others), he is "mankind's greatest friend" (Act No.310, Mar 1964: "Secret of Kryptonite Six!"), a "mighty foe of all evil" (Act No.91, Dec 1945: "The Ghost Drum!"), a super-powered "savior of the helpless and oppressed" (Act No.18, Nov 1939).

Superman No. 1/1 calls Superman "the greatest exponent of justice the world has ever known" (Sum 1939), and other texts describe him as "the law's most powerful defender" (Act No.177, Feb 1953: "The Anti-Superman Weapon"), as "the greatest of all heroes" (Act No.210, Nov 1955: "Superman in Superman Land"), and as a "defender of democracy" (S No. 13/1, Nov/Dec 1941) who has chosen to "dedicate [his] powers to the good of all humanity!" (S No. 121/1, May 1958: "The Bride of Futureman!"). "There is one man that people throughout the world honor and respect," notes Superman No. 128/1,, "--and that man is Superman!" (Apr 1959: chs.1-2-"Superman versus the Futuremen"; "The Secret of the Futuremen").

Superman is "an incredibly muscular figure" (WF No.6, Sum 1942: "Man of Steel versus Man of Metal!"), "indestructible and cosmic in his gigantic strength" (Act No.131, Apr 1949: "The Scrambled Superman!"), a tireless "sentinel for the world" (Act No.282, Nov 1961: "Superman's Toughest Day!") whose "incredible super-powers. ..have made him a living legend...!" (S No. 160/1, Apr 1963: pts. I-II-"The Mortal Superman!"; "The Cage of Doom!"). He is also the "most famous man in America" (Act No.143, Apr 1950: "The Bride of Superman!"), "patriot number one" (S No. 12/3, Sep/Oct 1941), the indefatigable "foe of all interests and activities subversive to this country's best interests" (S No. 10/4, May/Jun 1941). Everywhere, "in big cities...small towns...rural villages...the name of Superman is honored and loved!" (S No. 130/3, Jul 1959: "The Town That Hated Superman!").

Indeed, "throughout the universe, Superman is hailed as a mighty champion of justice" (Act No.319, Dec 1964: "The Condemned Superman!"), as a "champion of the weak and helpless" (Act No.4, Sep 1938) whose life is a "constant battle against evil. .." (Act No.280, Sep 1961: "Brainiac's Super-Revenge!"). "Not only on Earth is Superman the greatest and most acclaimed of heroes," proclaims Superman No.168, "but on many other worlds across the universe as well!" (Apr 1964: pts. I-II-"Luthor--Super-Hero!"; "Lex Luthor, Daily Planet Editor!").

"Everyone knows that Superman is the greatest hero of all time!" states Superman No.165/1. "A man who can move mountains, even planets...a man who has defeated the worst villains in history!" (Nov 1963: pts. I-II-"Beauty and the Super-Beast!"; "Circe's Super-Slave").

"Today ," notes Superman No. 144/2, "Superman is the most famous crusader in the world, idolized everywhere for unselfishly using his incredible super-powers in behalf of justice" (Apr 1961: "Superboy's First Public Appearance!").

In addition, the texts contain these descriptions:

Action Comics No.6, November 1938:

Dedicated to assisting the helpless and oppressed, is a
mystery-man named SUPERMAN. Possessing super-strength,
he can jump over a ten-story building, leap an eighth of a
mile, run faster than an express train, lift tremendous
weights, and crush steel in his bare hands!-- His amazing
feats of strength become more apparent day after day!

Action Comics No.7, December 1938; and others:

Friend of the helpless and oppressed is SUPERMAN,
a man possessing the strength of a dozen Samsons! Lifting
and rending gigantic weights, vaulting over skyscrapers,
racing a bullet, possessing a skin impenetrable to even
steel, are his physical assets used in his one-man battle
against evil and injustice!

Action Comics No.8, January 1939:

Leaping over towering buildings, rending steel in his bare
hands, lifting incredible weights high overhead, impervious
to bullets because of an unbelievably tough skin, racing at
a speed hitherto unwitnessed by mortal eyes...these are the
miraculous feats of strength which assist SUPERMAN in
his one-man battle against the forces of evil and oppression!

Action Comics No.27 , August 1940:

Heartless criminals exploit the helpless and unfortunate!
Clark Kent and his dual self, dynamic SUPERMAN, battle
side by side with pretty Lois Lane, courageous girl reporter,
to stamp out the evil geniuses of crime and corruption!

Superman No.10/4, May-June 1941:

Foe of all interests and activities subversive to this
country's best interests, SUPERMAN loses no time
in going into action when he encounters a menace to
American democracy. Super-strength clashes with evil
super-cunning in another thrilling, dramatic adventure
of today's foremost hero, the daring, dynamic MAN OF
TOMORROW--SUPERMAN!!

Superman No.16/4, May-June 1942: "Racket on Delivery":

No sterner or more courageous battler in behalf of justice
is there than Superman, amazingly strong champion of
the helpless and oppressed!

Superman No.25/1, November-December 1943: "The Man Superman Refused to Help!":

Superman, amazing nemesis of evildoers, champion of
the helpless and oppressed, comes to the aid of all worthy
individuals in need of assistance.

Superman No.64/1, May-June 1950: "Professor Lois Lane!":

Faster than a speeding bullet! Able to hurdle the highest
mountain! More powerful than an atomic cyclotron! That's
Superman, eternal foe of the underworld, champion of
the underdog!

Action Comics No.204, May 1955: "The Man Who Could Make Superman Do Anything!":

Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive
Able to leap the highest mountain! That's Superman; the
world's mightiest mortal.

Superman No.96/1, March 1955: "The Girl Who Didn't Believe in Superman!":

From the jungle-wilds of Africa, to the skyscrapers of New York,
the name of Superman has spread its fame! His Herculean
strength, his super-battles against evil, are familiar to all....

Superman No.120/3, March 1958: "The Human Missile":

Stronger than the very gravity that holds Earth in place...faster
than the swiftest jet...more invulnerable than a mile-thick slab of
steel, the incredible Superman can scoff at all weapons aimed
at him!

Superman No.152/2, April 1962: "Superbaby Captures the Pumpkin Gang!":

Today the whole world rings with Superman's fame! In the far
corners of the Earth men tell of how the Man of Steel uses his
fantastic super-powers to help the forces of law and order against
evildoers!

Friend and foe alike have paid tribute to Superman's heroism, and the texts have hailed him as "a giant among men" (S No.70/2, May/Jun 1951: "The Life of Superman!") and as the "mightiest of mortals" (S No, 84/2, Sep/Oct 1953: "A Doghouse for Superman!"). An unidentified U.S. Navy admiral once described Superman as "the greatest hero of all time" (Act No.284, Jan 1962: "The Babe of Steel!"), and the master of ceremonies on a television special glowingly introduced him as "our greatest American hero" (Act No.309, Feb 1964: "The Superman Super-Spectacular!").

"How fortunate we are here in America to have someone of Superman's calibre to aid us!" remarked Secretary of the Navy Hank Fox in March-April 1942. "In my opinion, he's worth several armies and navies!" (S No. 15/2).

Jimmy Olsen has called Superman "the champion of justice and the enemy of evil all over the world" (S No. 176/2, Apr 1965: "Tales of Green Kryptonite No. 2"), and Lois Lane has described him as "the smartest, handsomest, strongest man in the universe" (S No. 176/3, Apr 1965: "Superman's Day of Truth!") and as an "--American crusader, crime's greatest foe, enemy of all injustice, the most powerful force for good the world has ever seen...!" (S No.17/1, Jul/Aug 1942: "Man or Superman?").

In May 1962, an unidentified escapee from the Phantom Zone refers to Superman as "Earth's greatest defender" (S No. 153/3: "The Town of Supermen!"), and in August 1964 the extraterrestrial gambler Rokk (see Rokk and Sorban) calls Superman the "guardian of Earth" (S No. 171/1: "Super- man's Sacrifice!").

"Though he wasn't born on this world," notes scientist Mel Evans at the annual Superman's Earthday celebration in Smallville in April 1960, "he has become Earth's greatest and most generous citizen!" (S No. 136/2: "The Secret of Kryptonite!").

Indeed, preliminary indications are that Superman's fame will be even greater in the future than it is today. A scientist of the thirtieth century A.D. has called Superman "the greatest hero in history" (WF No.91, Nov/Dec 1957: "The Three Super-Sleepers!"), and a man of the fiftieth century A.D. has echoed the sentiment, describing Superman as "the greatest hero in Earth's history" (S No. 122/1, Jul 1958: "The Secret of the Space Souvenirs").

In the texts, Superman is frequently referred to as the Man of Steel and the Man of Tomorrow. He is also referred to as the Action Ace, the Champion of Democracy, and the King of Speed.

In addition, the texts describe Superman as a "champion of justice" (S No. 9/1, Mar/ Apr 1941), an "amazing champion of the helpless and oppressed" (S No. 13/4, Nov/Dec 1941), "the world's foremost crime crusader" (S No.18/3, Sep/Oct 1942: "The Man with the Cane"), "the world's foremost justice-dispenser" (S No. 25/1, Nov/Dec 1943: "The Man Superman Refused to Help!"), "Earth's mightiest warrior" (S No. 38/1, Jan/Feb 1946: "The Battle of the Atoms!"), "the world's mightiest citizen" (S No. 40/2, May/Jun 1946: " A Modern Marco Polo!"), the "world's mightiest being" (S No. 65/3, Jul/ Aug 1950: "Three Supermen from Krypton!"), "the world's most famous citizen" (Act No.150, Nov 1950: "The Secret of the 6 Superman Statues!"), "the most amazing human of our century" (Act No.171, Aug 1952: "The Secrets of Superman!"), "the world's mightiest defender of justice" (Act No.178, Mar 1953: "The Sandman of Crime!"), "the mightiest man alive" (Act No.181, Jan 1953: "The New Superman"), "the world's mightiest man" (Act No.182, Jul 1953: "The Return of Planet Krypton!"; and others), "Earth's mightiest champion of justice" (Act No.225, Feb 1957: "The Death of Superman"), the "mightiest human being in all the world" (Act No.235, Dec 1957: "The Super-Prisoner of Amazon Island"), "Earth's mighty champion" (Act No.242, Jul 1958: "The Super-Duel in Space"), "the mightiest man on Earth" (Act No.247, Dec 1958: "Superman's Lost Parents!"; and others), "the Earth's most powerful man" (Act No.269, Oct 1960: "The Truth Mirror!"), a "famed battler against crime and injustice" (Act No.287 , Apr 1962: "Perry White's Manhunt for Superman!"), "Earth's protector" and "the heroic champion of Earth " (Act No. 327, Aug 1965: "The Three Generations of Superman!"), "the world's greatest hero" (Act No.328, Sep 1965: "Superman's Hands of Doom!"), "a defender of the weak and oppressed" and "the mightiest of all men" (S No. 164/1, Oct 1963: pts. I-II-"The Showdown Between Luthor and Superman!"; "The Super-Duel!"), the "greatest lawman of them all" (S No.178/2, Jul 1965: "When Superman Lost His Memory!"), and as "a defender of the helpless, [and] a champion of the underdog" (S No.14611, Jul 1961: "The Story of Superman's Life!").

Origin

"Out of the infinite reaches of interstellar space came Superman, son of the doomed planet Krypton, to fight the forces of evil upon Earht...!" (Act No. 63, Aug '43: "When Stars Collide!").

The Original Account

"As a distant planet was destroyed by old age, a scientist placed his infant son within a hastily devised space-ship, launching it toward Earth! "When the vehicle landed on Earth, a passing motorist, discovering the sleeping babe within, turned the child over to an orphanage. "Attendants, unaware the child's structure was millions of years advanced of their own, were astounded at his feats of strength. "When maturity was reached, he discovered he could easily: Leap 1/8th of a mile; hurdle a twenty-story building...raise tremendous waits...run faster than a express train... and that nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin! "Early, Clark decided he must turn his titanic strength into channels that would benefit mankind. And so was created... "SUPERMAN! Champion of the oppressed, the physical marvel who had sworn to devote his existence to helping those in need!" (Act No. 1, Jun '38).

Addenda and Revisions

Since the appearance of this original account forty years ago, the story of Superman's origin has been greatly revised and expanded to accomodate a wealth of new detail. Later texts, for example, gave the name of Superman's native planet as Krypton and described its people and civilization in great detail. Superman's parents, Jor-El and Lara, were introduced, and the events leading up to the cataclysm that destroyed Krypton were extensively chronicled. The "passing motorist" who found the infant Superman became a couple, Johnathon and Martha Kent, who adopted the orphan from space and named him Clark Kent. Conflicting accounts were offered of the infant's brief stay in the orphanage, including how long he remained there and whether his super-powers were actually revealed there. Later texts asserted that Superman embarked on his super-heroic career while still a youngster in Smallville rather than waiting until "maturity was reached." And, finally, the range and extent of his superhuman powers were continually expanded and the explanation of how he aquired them was periodically revised (see section 5, the super-powers). For complete accounts and analyses of all the supplementary data concerning Superman's origin, consult the various entries cross-referenced above.

The Secret Identity

in progress

The Costume

in progress

The Fortress of Solitude

in progress

The Super-Powers

in progress

Derivation of the Super-Powers

Superman's super-powers are by and large, extraordinary magnifications of ordinary human abilities. Just as an ordinary man can hurl a baseball, Superman can hurl an entire Planet. Just as an ordinary man can see across the room, Superman can see across the universe. Compared with the powers he possesses today, however, the powers employed by Superman in the early texts are modest indeed. Action Comics # 1 (1938), the first comic book in which Superman appeared, claimed only that its hero could "leap 1/8th of a mile; hurdle a twenty-story building... raise tremendous weights... run faster than an express train... and that nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin!" (Jun '38). As the years passed, however, the chroniclers endowed the Man of Steel with ever more spectacular powers to enable him to meet ever more exacting challenges. Today Superman can withstand the heat at the core of the sun, soar through the air at a speed thousands of times the speed of light, and extinguish a star with a puff of his breath as though it were merely a candle on a birthday cake. Along with a steady expansion of Superman's powers has come a series of changing explanations of how he came to acquire those powers. Action Comics # 1, for example, contains this "scientific explanation of his amazing strength":

Kent had come from a Planet whose inhabitants' physical structure was millions of years advanced of our own. Upon reaching maturity, the people of his race became gifted with titanic strength! Incredible? No! For even today on our world exist creatures with super-strength! The lowly ant can support weights hundreds of times its own. The grasshopper leaps what to a man would be the space of several city blocks. {Jun '38}

For approximately the first decade of Superman's career, the texts advanced the thesis that Superman's powers were merely those possessed by all the inhabitants of his native Planet. These texts described the men and women of Krypton as a "super-race" (S No. 73/2, Nov/Dec '51: "The Mighty Mite!") who were gifted with X-ray vision and other powers and who were thousands of eons ahead of earthlings, both mentally and physically. (S No. 53/1, Jul/Aug '48: "The Origin of Superman!"). According to Superman No. 33/1, "...Superman-- a native of the ill-fated planet of Krypton---is of a different structure than than the natives of Earth! Neither his mind nor his body are susceptible to the influences that can overcome other human beings!" (Mar/Apr '45: "Dimensions of Danger!"). "Where we come from," gloats the Kryptonian villian U-Ban in July-August, "everyone has see-through vision, extra-strength and extra-speed!" (S No. 65/3: "Three Supermen from Krypton!"). By the late 1940s, however, the texts had begun to describe the people of Krypton as more or less ordinary human beings and to attribute Superman's powers to the vast differences between the gravitational pull and atmospheric conditions of Krypton and those of the Planet Earth. In the words of Superman #58,

Everyone knows that Superman is a being from another Planet, unburdened by the vastly weaker gravity of Earth. But not everyone understands how gravity affects strength! If you were on a world smaller than ours, you could jump over high buildings, lift enormous weights... and thus duplicate some of the feats of the Man of Steel! [May/June '49: "The Case of the Second Superman"].

Subsequent texts continued to cite the importance of the gravitational difference between Earth and Krypton while laying increasingly greater stress on the significance of Krypton's unique atmosphere in accounting for the awesome powers a Kryptonian acquired once he was free of his native Planet. "Obviously, Krypton is such an unusual Planet," Superman's father, Jor-El, once noted, "that when a native Kryptonian is elsewhere, free of Krypton's unique atmosphere and tremendous gravitational pull, he becomes a superman!" (Superman #113, May '57: chs. 1-3-"The Superman of the Past"; "The Secret of the Towers"; "The Superman of the Present"). Since, according to this theory, Superman owes the existence of his super-powers to the fact that he is no longer on the Planet Krypton, it follows that Superman has no super-powers wherever atmospheric and gravitational conditions prevail that are identical to those of his native planet. Indeed during a visit to a man-made duplicate of the planet Krypton, in July 1953, Superman finds that he can no longer fly, "since [the planet's] tremendous gravitational power neautralizes [his] strength!" "And because of the greater atmospheric density on this world," notes Superman, "I can't (ugh) use my X-ray vision here either!" And moments later he adds, "I--I could stay under water almost indefinitely on Earth---but not on [the duplicate] Krypton! Because of the greater exertion, I need more oxygen!" (Act No. 182: "The Return of Planet Krypton!"). An identical loss of super-powers befalls Superman whenever he journeys through the time barrier to Krypton at a time prior to the its destruction or pays a visit to the bottle city of Kandor. "...[W]here Krypton's non-earthly gravity conditions are in force," muses Superman during a visit to Kandor in October 1958, "I have no super-powers!I-I'm just an ordinary man!" (Act No. 245: "The Shrinking Superman!").

This can befall Superman whenever he journeys through the time barrier to Krypton at a time prior to its destruction or visits the bottle city of Kandor. 

According to a revised theory of Superman's powers, first advanced in 1960, the Man of Steel derives his super-powers partly from [the] lesser gravity of Earth and partly from the unique "ultra solar rays that penetrate Earth day and night." "These rays," explains Superman to Supergirl in March 1960, "can only affect people who were born in other solar systems than Earth's! And only yellow starts like Earth's sun emit those super-energy rays! On Planets of non-yellow suns, we would not be super-powered, even under the low gravity!" (Supergirl story in Act No. 262: "Supergirl's Greatest Victory!"). This theory is restated in Superman No.141. “What gave me super-powers on Earth,” explains Superman, “was Earth’s lesser gravity and the fact that, unlike Krypton’s red sun, Earth’s solar system has a yellow sun….Only yellow stars radiate super-energy rays which give super-powers to people born in other solar systems!” (Nov ’60: pts. I-III-“Superman Meets Jor-El and Lara again!”; “Superman’s Kryptonian Romance!”; “The Surprise of Fate!”). Superman No. 146/1 refines this theory still further, attributing Superman’s “muscular powers” - super-strength, super-breath, super-speed, and the power of flight – to Earth’s light gravity, and his “super-senses and mental powers” - X-ray vision and other optical powers, super-hearing, and various intellectual powers – to the ultra solar rays of Earth's yellow sun. In a flashback sequence, Superman explains that, as the result of his having been born

on a giant world with heavy gravity, my muscles automatically became super-strong in Earth’s light gravity! I’m like the ant, which, if it were man sized, could carry a locomotive! Grasshoppers could leap over buildings! Now notice that Krypton had a red sun…! But only the ultra solar rays of Earth’s yellow sun can super energize my brain and five senses to give me the other non-muscular super-powers! Also, those yellow-sun rays, which only tan Earth people’s skin, hardened mine like steel! Radium rays…lightning…fire…nothing can harm me! [Jul ’61: “The Story of Superman’s Life!”].

In the logic of this latest refinement, all Kryptonian objects acquire indestructibility in the yellow-sun environment of Earth, and all native Kryptonians - such as Supergirl or Krypto the Superdog - acquire super-powers identical to Superman's. However, the indestructibility of these objects and the super-powers of the various Kryptonian survivors remain proportional to what they would have been had they remained in their native Kryptonian environment. Superman is stronger than Supergirl, for example, just as an ordinary human male is normally stronger than his female counterpart. Similarly, a Kryptonian gorilla on Earth would be stronger than Superman, just as an ordinary gorilla is more powerful than an ordinary man. It is this phenomenon to which Superman refers in February 1962, when, after having been bitten severely on the hand by a Kryptonian “flame dragon” (see Flame Dragon), he remarks that “The beast’s bite penetrated my skin…which is invulnerable to everything to everything except the bite of a Kryptonian creature who would have normally been stronger than me if both of us were on Krypton, minus our super-strength!” (S No. 151/3: “Superman’s Greatest Secret!”). Because Superman is now said the derive his powers, in part, from the ultra solar rays of Earth's yellow sun, he has no powers on any Planet revolving about a red sun, such as the Planet Lexor (Act No. 318, Nov ’64: “The Death of Luthor!”; and others) or the world of the Thorones (Act No. 321, Feb ’65: “Superman—Weakest Man in the World!”). The mighty super-powers that Superman employs today are the products of a gradual evolution spanning decades of texts. Following is an inventory of Superman's super-powers, along with the history and evolution of each super-power.

Super-Speed and the Power of Flight

in progress

Super-Strength

in progress

Invulnerability

in progress

X-Ray Vision and the Other Optical Powers

in progress

Super-Hearing

in progress

Super-Breath and Related Powers

in progress

Vocal and Ventriloquistic Powers

in progress

Mental and Intellectual Powers

in progress

Miscellaneous Powers

in progress

The Vulnerabilities

in progress

Kryptonite

in progress

Green Kryptonite

in progress

Red Kryptonite

in progress

Gold Kryptonite

in progress

Blue Kryptonite

in progress

White Kryptonite

in progress

Magic

in progress

Virus X

This deadly Kryptonian virus, for which no cure has ever been discovered, is described in Superman No. 156 as "a contagion fatal in 30 days to any native of Krypton...." Because living X viruses—if, indeed, any survived the destruction of Superman's native planet—would acquire super-virulence in the alien environment of Earth in the same manner whereby Superman acquired his super-powers, Superman and all other surviving natives of Krypton are vulnerable to this killer virus just as they would have been had Krypton never exploded and they, and the virus, remained on Krypton.

In his experiments with Virus X prior to the death of Krypton, the Kryptonian scientist Tharb-El discovered that he could destroy the virus with "element 202." Because element 202 is fatal to human beings, however, Tharb-El was unsuccessful in his efforts to produce a viable cure (S No. 156, Oct 1962: "The Last Days of Superman!" pts. I-III—"Superman's Death Sentence!"; "The Super-Comrades of All Time!"; "Superman's Last Day of Life!").

Other Vulnerabilities

in progress

The Equipment

in progress

Lead Armor

in progress

Dummies, Robots, and Androids

in progress

(see also the list of Superman Robots)

Miscellaneous Equipment

in progress

The Man Himself (as Clark Kent)

in progress

The Man Himself (as Superman)

in progress

The Women of the Chronicles

in progress

The Relationship with Lois Lane

in progress

The Relationship with Lana Lang

in progress

The Relationship with Lori Lemaris

in progress

The Relationship with Lyla Lerrol

in progress

The Relationship with Sally Selwyn

in progress

The Relationship with the Law-Enforcement Establishment

in progress

The Texts

in progress

Locales

in progress

Developments

in progress

The Early Adventures

in progress

The Wartime Adventures

in progress

The Postwar Adventures

in progress

The Later Adventures

in progress

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