Unified Theory Of Superman’s Powers?

3:40 pm EST October 1st, 2009 | News | 11 Comments

Now, this is what we call SCIENCE. (via)

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11 Responses to “Unified Theory Of Superman’s Powers?”

  1. MattHooper says:
    October 1, 2009 at 3:48 pm

    This isn’t exactly a new theory per se; Superboy, an attempt by the Cadmus Project to recreate Superman after his death, used “touch TK” to reproduce almost all of his abilites. (But you knew that as a Superman fanboy, right?)

  2. liz says:
    October 1, 2009 at 3:56 pm

    But it doesn’t explain why he’s vulnerable to Kryptonite.

  3. Sean D. Martin says:
    October 1, 2009 at 4:53 pm

    And John Byrne’s take on Gladiator, a Superman stand in, was that his powers were largely mental rather than physical. Something like his lifting a building was telekinesis rather than muscles.

    It wouldn’t fit in with much of the rest of what’s been established regarding Superman’s powers over his long history (not that there aren’t contradictions and multiple explanations littered through that history) but it seemed like a view with possibilities to me.

  4. justadood says:
    October 1, 2009 at 4:57 pm

    I still chuckle at Niven’s “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex”…..

  5. Sam Simple says:
    October 1, 2009 at 5:04 pm

    Was this written by a Special Olympics participant? Good God is that infantile and moronic!

  6. Frank DiSalle says:
    October 1, 2009 at 6:42 pm

    I thought it was just because he came from Krypton.

  7. Quaker in a Basement says:
    October 1, 2009 at 7:16 pm

    First paragraph at the link:

    Siegel et al. Supposed that His mighty strength stems from His origin on another planet whose density and as a result, gravity, was much higher than our own. Natural selection on the planet of krypton would therefore endow Kal El with more efficient muscles and higher bone density; explaining, to first order, Superman’s extraordinary powers. Though concise, this theory has proved inaccurate. It is now clear that Superman is actually ying rather than just jumping really high; and His freeze-breath, x-ray vision, and heat vision also have no account in Seigel’s theory.

    Click the link!

  8. Felix Helix says:
    October 1, 2009 at 8:36 pm

    I like the last two words in the document.

  9. Dr. Psycho says:
    October 2, 2009 at 5:03 am

    This is clearly what John Byrne was promoting in the early issues of his Superman run, with scenes like Superman observing that he seems to be able to carry much larger objects when he flies than otherwise, or his mother noting that clothing that fits tightly to his skin is less often torn or dirty.

  10. Sean D. Martin says:
    October 2, 2009 at 12:26 pm

    Dr. Psycho: or his mother noting that clothing that fits tightly to his skin is less often torn or dirty

    Hence the frequent Byrne-era images of Supers with fragments of cape hanging off the back of his neck. But I thought, despite what he did with Gladiator, that Byrne postulated a thin personal aura/forcefield that kept Superman safe and his clothing (given they were skin tight) clean. Cape extended outside it so was vulnetable.

    Personally, I was perfectly fine with the “Kryptonian things are super under a yellow sun” as complete explanation.

  11. aarrgghh says:
    October 2, 2009 at 8:13 pm

    i too have heard this angle before. i remember reading in some ’70s fanzine someone’s “mental” theory for all of superman’s powers.

    i personally subscribe to the “long history of different and sloppy script-writers looking desperately for new plots” theory. laughable, i know, but one day i’ll be vindicated.