What makes superman super

But can he beat Superman in a race? Superman first raced the Flash in 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. Just let them have it. But even if Superman is always second across the finish line, the Flashes get their speed from the Speed Force, the literal source of all speed in the DCU, and can travel at the speed of light.

Second place is still pretty dang impressive. His heat vision is more like lasers, although he can control the intensity. Back in the Silver Age, he could burn through the planet if he wanted.

Not so much now phew! 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. Superman has always been able to see things that are really far away, and things that are really small.

In the Silver Age, this meant watching conversations on distant planets, like a creep. On the microscopic side, he can definitely perceive things at the molecular level. In some stories he can trace radio waves to their source, which is delightfully silly and should come up more frequently, I think. Unsurprisingly, Superman also has very good hearing! The sight and hearing begs the question of whether his other senses are also enhanced, and the answer is…probably?

The opposite of heat vision! Superman can freeze things with a breath, or simply blow out an enormous gust of air—enough to, say, help a sailing ship on its way or put out a fire quickly.

Objects that Superman touched were enveloped by an invisible telekinetic field that allowed him to move them with the force of his will. The ability also explained Superman's ability to fly. This power was the only ability originally duplicated in the Superboy clone, allowing him to emulate Superman's strength, speed, and flight capabilities, but none of his sensory powers. Over time, Superboy , or Kon-El as he came to be known, would eventually develop the same set of powers as the original.

After Byrne's departure from the series, Superman's powers and abilities were once again increased over time. He regained the ability to travel interstellar distances and to hold his breath for the amount of time required to make such journeys. His strength, speed, and sensory abilities were again increased, although not to Pre-Crisis levels.

Superman's heat vision power has a variant use where he can project destructive heat energy from all over his body as a massive solar flare when an attack in all directions is needed. However, this use will drain Superman's internal solar energy reserves, leaving him powerless for the roughly 24 hour period necessary to recharge in a yellow sun environment.

The comparative weakness of the Superman character to his Pre-Crisis incarnation was definitively shown during Infinite Crisis. The Superboy-Prime character, endowed with nearly the same power levels as the Silver Age Superman, was capable of defeating large numbers of DC universe heroes, including the Teen Titans and many members of the Green Lantern Corps. The Modern Era Superman and his Earth 2 counterpart were only able to defeat Superboy-Prime after plunging him through Krypton's red sun, thereby reducing his powers.

While Superman is frequently assumed to be the strongest hero in the DC universe, following the Byrne reboot, his strength tends to fluctuate depending on the amount of solar energy his cells have absorbed and the writer of the particular story. He has received a temporary boost in power after surviving a plunge into the Sun, and has had his powers depleted when deprived of such energy. The limits of how much energy Superman can absorb, and by extension the maximum limits of his power, has never been stated.

Additionally, because of the solar energy that empowers him, he has often been depicted as being potentially immortal, as well as having a different ageing process, as seen in the Grant Morrison written series set in the far future of the DC Universe, DC One Million. Characters such as Captain Marvel , Wonder Woman , and Martian Manhunter have been described variously over time as equals, at least equal possibly superior , or, in the last case, even superior.

It is important to note that while Superman is among the strongest DC heroes, there are many who match his strength, most notably Darkseid , Bizarro , Lobo , the Cyborg Superman , Eradicator , the original Mongul , General Zod and Black Adam , while Doomsday and Despero have occasionally been shown as stronger, the former being able to effortlessly stand his ground against the entire Justice League , [5] and the latter defeating Superman, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman, and Power Girl at the same time.

The Flash possesses the ability to travel at the speed of light, shunting his mass towards infinity, and enabling him to perform such feats as defeating a white martian with one punch, [7] or almost overcoming the Anti-Monitor singlehandedly. Kyle Rayner , inhabited by the benevolent symbiote " Ion ", was recently touted as the most powerful of Earth's superheroes.

Maxima , has many powers such as telepathy and psi-bolts that have knocked out Orion, who is on equal footing to Superman, effortlessly. She also possesses Matter Manipulation, Telekinesis, and possession abilities that would make her a threat to the entire Justice League.

Maxima also can hold her own against Doomsday in strength and can increase her physicallity to infinite levels. One villain that is often portrayed as vastly superior to Superman in every way is the five-dimensional entity Mr. While the limits and nature of Mxyzptlk's powers is unclear, he is often portrayed as being, for all practical purposes, 'omnipotent,' and his encounters with Superman often amount to him simply toying with the Man of Steel.

Over the years, many alternate versions of Superman have appeared, in Elseworlds books or other timelines. Many of these were limited series' and one shots, so the extent of Supermans abilities is not always explored in great detail. The Dark Knight Returns depicts him as having the usual super speed, heat vision, flight, and strength, but it also depicts him as being vulnerable to several things. Kryptonite still harms him, and he is nearly killed at one point by a massive nuclear detonation.

Whether this was the result of the blast itself, radiation, or the bomb blocking out the sun, or a combination of those factors, is not made clear. He is also shown to be susceptible to a sound wave device, which causes him temporary pain. In some lines, Batman hints that these weaknesses may be related to him being older, although this is never substantiated. Flight, super speed, super intelligence, and massive strength, are all depicted, although other powers associated with the Silver Age, such as time travel, are not depicted, and no real limitations are placed on his powers themselves.

He is unable to see through lead in this version, and his powers are affected by red sunlight radiation. He is never stated to be immmortal, but it is revealed that he lives for an extremely long period of time. Kryptonite is never mentioned in the story.

Superman's powers and weaknesses in Kingdom Come are similar to many of his other incarnations. Strength, flight, and heat vision are all depicted. He does not seem to any more or less intelligent than an average human in this continuity. His vision is portrayed as being able to easily scan a continent for signs of trouble in a matter of moments, from orbit.

During the story, he is caught in a large nuclear blast, and while it does not state that he was unharmed, it does not seem to have affected him at all. He is not exposed to Kryptonite at any point in the story, but Lex Luthor says that it "does not pack the punch it used to", and that Superman is at "the height of his invulnerability. It is also worth nothing that Captain Marvel is regarded as equal to or more powerful than Superman, and a potential match for him in battle.

Superman is shown as being susceptible to harm via Captain Marvel's magic lightning bolt. Another sequence in the story portrays Superman as accidentally cutting his finger on Wonder Woman's sword, to which she responds; "you always were a bit susceptible to magic. Michael Straczynski's Earth One trilogy, Superman is depicted as having the powers typically seen in most continuities. However, in this universe, Kal-El gained his powers almost immediately after arriving on Earth.

As an infant, he is seen bending a tire iron in the Kents' car after being taken from his space craft; in the first issue, he experiences physical pain for the first time as an adult.

As a result, Clark is very familiar and adept with his powers and has developed a fighting style that takes full advantage of them. Superman is showing fighting on par with Tyrell and General Zod, experienced military men with strength to his own.

However, this long experience with his powers burdens Clark psychologically. Unlike most depictions of the character, this Superman feels alienated from humanity, possibly suffering a form of depression.

Clark was frequently bullied as a child and developed an introverted, isolationist personality, unable to get close to the people around him. This initially made him reluctant to publicly use his powers, as he believed it would doom him to permanent loneliness.

In fact, a multiverse glossary in the back of the Crisis on Infinite Earths Absolute Edition places this story on an alternate Earth.

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. The rainbow beams can only do so much, so poor Kal-El has to rely on his…finger clone…to do most of the heavy lifting. Why We Assume He Stopped Using It: He eventually got his regular powers back, and would YOU continue using rainbow hands and a superpowered mini-me when you could use heat vision instead?

After the Great Wall of China is damaged by Nuclear Man, Superman looks at the debris and within seconds the wall has been rebuilt. No sir.