He's also a co-owner of Comic Basics and Voice Film. Superman's x-ray vision and heat vision are practical and flashy skills to use in battle, but his microscopic vision is reserved for much more specific scenarios. Danner's great strength comes from a serum injected into him by his father while still a fetus which gave him the proportional strength of an insect. "Superman is too strong, Superman is overpowered, Superman [51], Birthright establishes that Lex Luthor grew up in Smallville and was good friends with Clark Kent. ", "Bryan's Journals: Video Journal #17 Untitled", "Exclusif: Zack Snyder parle de Superman! Clark questions why he was abandoned, but later learns of Krypton's destruction through a series of messages left for him by Jor-El in the episode "Foundling". But because Superman was exposed to our Sun longer than any other Kryptonian, he grew up to possess more powers than other superheroes of his kind. It effects Bizarros in pretty much the same way green kryptonite effects . [52] Inspired by the television series Smallville, Clark Kent's parents were portrayed as being similar to their television counterparts played by John Schneider and Annette O'Toole. Clark's father calls Clark a "Super-Man", inspiring Clark to use the name. (It could be argued that this was just a visual representation of Superman flying through the time barrier rather than reversing time for the entire planet, but in that case he probably would have encountered his past self at some point.) His adventures were set during the Silver Age of Comics; he was more powerful than his predecessor, able to fly faster than light and even move planets out of orbit. Along those lines are Superman Red and Superman Blue, created when Superman was exposed to strange energies and split into two - one wearing a red uniform and the other a blue one - hence the names. Daniel's extra musings can be found @DanielKurlansky on Twitter. For example, Superman #127 sees Superman up against a Kryptonite shooting ape name Titano. All Superman Movies Much of the film's groundwork is laid during the film's first sequences on the planet Krypton, with actor Marlon Brando portraying Superman's Kryptonian father, Jor-El. Also, he can make his eyes go all red and glowy without actually unleashing the zappy part of the heat vision, which is a very effective intimidation tactic. In the Silver Age, this meant watching conversations on distant planets, like a creep. Anyway its extremely gross and violate-y and is now thankfully thoroughly non-canonical. Likewise, while many fans think there has always been a single, mainstream Superman, DC's Multiversal structure actually means there have been several, each bringing something slightly new and different to the character, from boundless Golden-Age optimism to the modern strains of parenthood. So, thats a thing. The Daily Planet crew has known Jon his entire life". [27], Jor-El's life,[28] the destruction of Krypton[29] and the launch of the rocket that carried Kal-El to Earth,[30] are documented in The World of Krypton (vol. While an early issue explained that the deaths of Jonathan and Martha Kent occurred in an automobile accident when Clark was an adolescent (explaining their absence from the New 52), the conclusion of the story saw that alterations to the timeline made by Doctor Manhattan led to Clark becoming Superboy at an early age, allowing him to save his parents from their fatal collision and remain alive well into Clark's adulthood.[61]. The reason for this is simple - his powers occurred as a result of a natural phenomenon, rather than anything supernatural. Continued exposure will lead to death Power level 2: More powerful than average human. Wed like to think Superman finally followed that advice, but chances are he probably saw all the grief people gave Barry Allen for timeline-tweaking and decided to cool off. Jor-El attempted to convince the Supreme Council that their world was doomed and that they must take action. Instead of fighting for " truth, justice, and the American Way", Superman is described in Soviet propaganda broadcasts " as the Champion of the common worker who fights a never-ending battle for Stalin, socialism, and the international expansion of the Warsaw Pact". Superman becomes the subject of frequent headline stories written by Lois, and the two become romantically attracted to each other. This was hinted at in the 2013 movie Man of Steel. DC Characters Killed By Superman In The Comics Superman frequently turned coal into diamonds in the Silver Age simply by rubbing coal until it calcified into a diamond, because science. Um. Brainiac is portrayed as the supercomputer that monitors Krypton and advises the planetary council on scientific matters. This was called tactile telekinesis and is most strongly associated with Superboy (the Kon-El version) in the 90s. In order to use his powers to help humanity, Clark creates the alter ego of Superman. When he reaches adulthood, Clark develops his abilities and becomes a drifter, saving people in secret. Comics!). These stories explored individual details, such as the planet Krypton, the source of Superman's powers and his relationships with supporting characters. Everyone knows that the hero has unbelievable strength and a number of complimentary powers. They told Superman's origin over the course of twelve strips, ten of which detailed the planet Krypton. The radiation from Earths yellow sun made his cells stronger. Very Legitimate Reasons Batman Hates Superman, Uncharacteristically Offensive Comic Book Covers, Other Characters Who Have Been the Superman, The Best Versions of Superman You Can Watch, Every Actress Who Has Played Lois Lane, Ranked, The Best Actors Who Have Played Jimmy Olsen. Which, from a practical standpoint, means he moves faster than your eye can follow. Spoiler: one of them is super disco. In the DC Comics Multiverse, there are several versions of Superman originating from different parallel Earths. Supermans other most famous power is that hes strong. Superman's Powers and Abilities | Superman Wiki | Fandom Many of these versions exist because of a slight variation in origin. In Action Comics Annual #10 (2007), Krypton is shown to have characteristics that resemble the version that appears in the Richard Donner Superman films. A passing motorist finds the uninjured child and takes it to the local orphanage. Who Played the Best Man of Steel (So Far)? The extent of his powers peaked during the 1970s and 1980s to the point where various writers found it difficult to create suitable challenges for the character. The 1950s TV series Adventures of Superman explored Superman's origin in the first episode, titled "Superman on Earth". There have been many versions of Superman in the comics throughout the years, but just how many Men of Steel are there? Jessica Plummer has lived her whole life in New York City and yet somehow still hasn't been asked to join the Avengers. In this film, Jonathan Kent dies but Martha survives to see her adopted son become Superman. In fact, it's one of the ways he manages to buy some time against Doomsday. Follow him on Twitter at@TBUJosh. Now its more earthbound, but he can still pretty much see as far as the story needs him to see, especially with the X-ray vision to make sure nothing gets in the way. As a result, he developed an electromagnetic-aura around his body. He doesnt use his super speed to manually rebuild the Wall. All traits of a character are used for calculating the Classification. Why We Assume He Stopped Using It: Magic glasses wasnt an explanation anybody was asking for, so everyone collectively agreed to never mention this story again. The Kents raise Clark and instruct him that he must not reveal his powers to anyone. He is initially pleased at having found a fellow survivor but the two come to blows when Clark realizes Zod's genetic programming will drive him to create a new Krypton on Earth regardless of what will happen to humanity. Touch and taste dont come into it often, but rest assured that Superman can smell whatever you dont want him to smell. Up in the sky! Clark later learns that he is from Krypton after finding the spacecraft in the custody of the secret government agency Bureau 39. Clark first flew in 1940 on the Adventures of Superman radio show, mostly because a WHOOSH sound effect sounded way cooler than a BOING one. Icon's life-pod altered his DNA so he would resemble a normal human being, thus enabling him to blend among Earth's natives. Super strong. Where there had been two Superman, their realities have now been fused into one timeline with just one of them. Superman first raced the Flash in 1967 and he and the various Flashes (Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, and Wally West) have continued the tradition of racing one another regularly over the years, usually either for charity or because of some contrived plot by aliens. As the ship lands on Earth, the Kents are stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire, lamenting Martha's miscarriage earlier that month. She blogs about superhero TV, tween pop culture, and Disney at Jess's (Somewhat) Grown-Up Type Blog. He's a universal figure. During the Silver Age, Superman used telepathic powers (dont even get us started) to identify a caller from the other end of a phoneline. In Superman: Secret Identity, a teenage boy named Clark Kent in the "real world", where Superman is nothing more than a comic book character, somehow develops super-human powers like those of his namesake. [6] Jack Williamson once remarked that Superman's origin had strong similarities to a story he had written and published early in his career, where a Martian scientist sent his infant daughter into space to save her from their planet's destruction. Each of these Supermen appeared in DC's mainstream comics, meaning they got in all kinds of adventures that produced cloned variants. [80] Clark learns of the planet and his alien origins from Dr. Virgil Swann. Fiction depicting the early life of Superman, Designing Superman: From Art and Costume Design to Set Construction on the, The Adventures of Superman (radio series), Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, "Marv Wolfman Talks "Infinite Crisis Secret Files 2006", "Mark Waid interview about Superman: Birthright UGO.com Comics", "Comic Book Resources Super-Stars (Part 1): Mark Waid's "Birthright", The Official Origin", "Newsarama.com: Geoff Johns: Telling Superman's Secret Origin", "DC Comics Announces Historic Renumbering of All Superhero Titles and Landmark Day-and-Date Digital Distribution", "DC Comics' Handling Of Superman Just Got More Convoluted", "Everything Changed Forever! Next: Hyperion vs Superman: Who Wins in a Fight? (Kon still has TKK, somehow. 14. Superman & Lois is basically the story of the duo embracing parenthood . Answer (1 of 3): A better question might be, which Superman has children? With how capable Kal-El is, its hard to imagine why hed need additional superpowers beyond the ones everyone knows, but throughout the years hes picked up plenty of far less practical powers that hes used once or twice and then seemingly forgot all aboutand us along with him. At this power leve. They decided to make the third version, as a visitor from another planet. It's practically assumed that Superman will be able to get his way out of problems due to the power that he wields. It was originally attributed as a byproduct of his x-ray vision but was reintroduced as a power in its own right in Action Comics #275. Now that all cell phones have built-in caller ID, this power is more useless than a slingshot in a battle against Darkseid. He also has tremendous lung capacity: he can inhale all the smoke or poison gas in a room before it affects the humans around him, then hold that breath until hes somewhere it can be safely expelled. [24] Superman's origin was retold during this time in The Amazing World of Superman (Metropolis Edition), which adhered to the origin previously established in the Silver Age. [16] Superman discovered his alien origins for the first time in Superman #61. Superman can no longer travel through time unaided, but in the Silver Age he could easily fly through the time barrier, whatever that means, and arrive when and where he chose. They agree that the world needs him and that he must leave their farm and go where he is needed. It's Super-Ambiguous-Power-Set Man! Kal-Els parents sent him to earth when he was an infant. There are also versions of Superman from across the Multiverse that involve him landing in a different time period. Superman isn't overpowered or boring he's more relevant than ever [47] Starting in 2003, the new origin story was published in the twelve issue Superman: Birthright limited series, written by Waid and drawn by Leinil Francis Yu. Kal-L never had a career as Superboy. After Thomas and Martha are gunned down by a mugger, Bruce reacts by burning the mugger with his heat vision and discovers his superpowers. Jon is the newest character in the DC Universe to assume the superhero persona of Superboy, and later Superman.As Superboy and Robin, Jon and Damian Wayne appeared in several . As a result his powers were significantly reduced when his story was rebooted by writer John Byrne after the Crisis on Infinite Earths series . So, in tribute to the big guy and to his brand-new comic book creative team, we thought it would be fun to look back at seven superpowers weve all forgotten he has. Personally, I like to think the Flashes are a little faster than the Supers, because come on, its their one thing. The first was a villain with telepathic powers, published in the short story "The Reign of the Superman". After losing all of his other powers when he comes in contact with a bizarre alien ship, Superman finds he can both shoot rainbow beams out of his fingers and produce a miniature version of himself out of the palm of his hand. Introduced in the pages of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew, Super Squirrel is a resident of Earth C-Minus; on this Earth, there are anthropomorphic versions of the Justice League, called Justa Lotta Animals. Electric Superman followed during the growing pains period that came after the "Death of Superman" run. Keep reading to find out more about Supermans powers, how did he get them, and do the other Kryptonians have the same powers. Basically, since Kryptonians are powered by yellow sun energy, they can choose to release it in one explosive blast that incinerates everything within a quarter mile, but it leaves them essentially powerless for about a day after. In this retelling, the planet Krypton and Superman's biological parents, Jor-L and Lara, are called by name for the first time. In the 2013 movie, Man of Steel, we saw Supermans father, Jor-El, discover that his home planet, Krypton, was sitting on a ticking time bomb. Did Superman have children? If so, how many did he have? If you count the power of flight, strength, heat vision, freeze breath, invulnerability, super-speed and X-ray vision, he has more powers than all the members of some super-teams have put together. Superman #29, the debut issueby Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Phil Hester, is now available in shops and as a digital comic book. For instance, in the movie Man of Steel, we saw when Zods mask broke, and he was breathing Earths air, he could see through the flesh of humans. Just let them have it. For a while post-Crisis he had something of a force field, toohis bio-electric field, which surrounded him and kept his costume from being shredded in fights or simply by the wind (but still allowed the artists to draw his cape looking cool and tattered if they wanted). As Seen In: 1987's Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. for more details. Clark Kent moves to Metropolis and takes a job as a reporter at the Daily Planet, where he meets his friends and co-workers, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and editor Perry White. Back in the 1930s, the writers of Superman comics portrayed superman as someone who inherited all his superpowers. 1,650 VOTES. They had developed high-speed spaceships, that could travel the universe in seconds. The Superhero Database Classification number, or SHDB Class, is a number that represents the overall 'power' of a character. [20] Producing over a hundred Superman stories a year, Weisinger aimed to introduce a new element to the character's mythology every six months. [18], After Mort Weisinger took over as editor of the Superboy comics in 1953, the mythology of Superman began growing, starting with the introduction of Superboy's pet Krypto the Superdog, the first survivor of Krypton in comics other than Kal-El himself. The ability to project beams of intense heat from his eyes is among Superman's most enduring and iconic powers. The Three Sources Of Superman's Strength - Very Aware