ANSWERS: 8
  • Superman possesses extraordinary powers, traditionally described with the phrase, "faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound", which was first used in the Superman radio serials of the 1940's. However, though that phrase is still referenced in contemporary media, the limits implied by it were surpassed by the character decades ago. For most of his existence, Superman's famous arsenal of powers have included flight, vast super strength and invulnerability, super speed, vision powers (including x-ray, heat, telescopic, infra-red, and microscopic vision), super photographic memory, super hearing and super breath, which enables him to freeze objects by blowing on them. Various comics have also suggested that Superman is a "True Immortal". (Most notably, Where is Thy Sting?, a miniseries where Superman confronted his immortality and the mental struggle with his own death. In the comic, he was flung forward in time a couple of times and aged appropriately, the final time, being thrown forward to the end of the Universe and being sucked into a gigantic black-hole.) As originally conceived and presented in his early stories, Superman's powers were relatively limited, consisting of stupendous strength which allowed him to lift a car over his head, run at amazing speeds and leap one-eighth of a mile, and incredibly tough skin which could be pierced by nothing less than an exploding artillery shell. Writers slowly increased his powers over time until, by the Silver Age, he was effectively omnipotent. However, it became increasingly difficult to write stories in which such a hero was believably challenged, given that by then he could demolish entire planets, fly fast enough to travel through time, required neither food nor sleep, was superhumanly intelligent and could see and hear from one side of the universe to the other. A series of attempts to reel in the character were made, the most significant being in Byrne's 1986 rewrite, which established several hard limits on his abilities (for instance, surviving a nuclear blast nearly exceeded his invulnerability, and his flights into space were limited by how long he could hold his breath). Inevitably, Superman's powers have grown again since then, with Superman possessing enough strength to hurl mountains and, with effort, stop entire planets in their orbits. The source of Superman's powers subtly changed over the course of his early years. At first, it was said that his abilities derived from his Kryptonian heritage, the race having been eons more evolved than Earthmen. Soon it was also established that the gravity on Krypton had been much higher than Earth's (presenting a situation similar to that of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter character). However, as Superman became increasingly godlike, the implication that all Kryptonians possessed the same abilities became problematic, since it became doubtful that a race of such beings could have been wiped out by something as trifling as an exploding planet. In part to counter this, it was established that Kryptonians only enjoyed powers under the light of a yellow sun (and that Krypton's native star had been red, rendering the natives all mere mortals beneath it). Besides the requirement for yellow sun radiation, Superman's greatest vulnerability is to kryptonite, debris left over from Krypton which were transformed into radioactive material by the forces which destroyed the planet. Exposure to kryptonite radiation immediately nullifies Superman's powers and immobilizes him with pain. Prolonged exposure will eventually kill him. Kryptonite made its first notional appearance in the comics as "K-metal", but the concept wasn't refined until the radio serial needed an excuse to let voice actor Bud Collyer take some time off; for several shows Superman was represented only by anonymous groaning noises while he was kept trapped by a chunk of kryptonite. Green kryptonite is the default form, but other forms with varying effects were introduced over the years. Superman also has a vulnerability to magic. However, this is not as commonly used in his stories, and what this particular vulnerability actually entails has been at best hazily defined. For various dramatic reasons, Superman's default abilities have occasionally been removed or altered. The most significant recent one was a short period of time in the late 1990s, when Superman lost his traditional powers and then transformed into a being made up of electromagnetic energy. In this form Superman could now phase through solid objects, see different frequencies of energy (like photons and radiation) and draw power from electrical sources. However, in order to maintain physical cohesion in this form, he needed to wear a blue and white containment suit (this costume change being a heavily promoted event, during which Superman was nicknamed "Superman Blue" and "Electric Superman"). During this time, he was able to willingly transform back into the corporeal form of Clark Kent, but in his human guise he had no special powers. Recently, it has been implied by some authors that Superman's powers can reach unlimited levels, based on solar energy absorption and withdrawal of mental blocks. In Our Worlds at War, Superman dove into the sun to gain sufficient energy to overpower Brainiac 13, whose power had nearly reached omnipotence after absorbing the essence of Imperiex. In an interview with Joe Casey on Alvaro's ComicBoards, he stated that Superman under his penmanship could re-arrange the Solar System and tear a star apart. "I've always seen Superman as this completely over-the-top, fantastic character who has *no* limits whatsoever," said Casey. In Superman's probe-busting mode, "Superman is unbeatable." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman#Powers_and_abilities
  • Ok here is the basics to supermans powers, most people will avoid how his powers work, but im will tell you the lot. Super strength - through eons of time kryptons have developed superiorly evolved bodily structures wich act as a channel to exert the energy they take in via the sun, wich also meens there muscles dont have to be large to be able to lift cars, its all about channeling. Invunerability - the kryptons have evolved super dense bodily structures wich are completely controlled by there superior minds, wich lets them withstand nuclear explosions and still be able to kiss without knocking there partner unconcious. Flight - There are many different theories into how superman can fly, but the reson to wich i have been put forth to introduce is that, as heralding monarch of Krypton Kal-El was imbued with the bio-aura that alowes him to take sunlight and change it into energy, this very Bio-aura can also vererbarate the gravitons in the surronding space and propell superman at speeds that match that of mach 10 and over. Super breath - superman has the ability to blow gusts of wind powerfull enough to move cars and sometimes cold enought to freeze lava, but the fasct is superman has the same sized lungs as a human, but the difference relies on his alviole wich can store and chemicly compress air from 200 cubic feet to 1 cubic centimeter (thanks to his krypton phsiology)and with teh muscles in his chest and teh rapid relise of so much air he has the force required to blow gales, and as for the freezing, its his Bio-aura that dramaticaly reduces the temperature the air that he stores by taking all teh heat energy away, thus making it very cold. Optical abilities - Superman presents many optical abilities such as heat vision, X-ray vision, telescopic and microscopic vision, infa-red vision and polorized vision as well as his inate ability to capture 1000x more frames of sight and almost see the world in slow motion, most of these abilities are to do with shifting of energy and the mentality superman posseses over them for example, the heat vision is directly used from the energy that superman takes from the sun, and his psyconic ability to control the energy flow in his body aloes him to focus this energy as beems from his eyes. anouther ability is his X-ray vision wich is not actualy the use of "x-rays" but insted he uses a a type of sub-polorized light energy wich can penetrate most substances and can be tuned to reflect of such densities as that of bone or metal, almost like a "light radar", and finaly his telescopic and miscroscopic vision is manifested by the superiro eye cortex network that the cryptons have evolved, not that far of that of an eagle. There are many more but im sure you will ask when youe find out about them. :-)
  • The problem with superman is that his creators back in the 30s approached the exercise in a most simple and crude manner. The result was a superhero with no limits except when it came to Kryptonite and other Kryptons. While this may have been fun for a while, it made it impossible to have any realistic or interesting storylines because he would always succeed effortlessly whatever the situation. This is why we have had almost three-quarters of a century of writers inventing and creating ruses to make him more vulnerable. And as a result, we have had years of pointless, contrived storylines (which BTW kids and "big kids" have loved) and always will.
  • Super strength Super hearing Invincibility (Except to Kryptonite and magic) X-ray vision Heat vision Super speed The power of flight Freeze breath
  • Everyone has already given great answers, so I'm just going to include that at one point he had the power to bake super cakes! Man I wish I could try one of those!
  • Superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability, senses, intelligence, regeneration, and longevity; super breath, heat vision, x-ray vision and flight
  • I don't think anybody said that he can't see through lead.
  • Whatever is narratively convenient/necessary

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