Superman Powers (Smallville related)
 

I've yet to have the Big S's Powers explained in full to me. I have theories of course, but no solid explination from any TV show or comic... So I'll just list the theories by induvidual power... and see what you people have to say about it...

And I say 'smallville' related, becuase I've developed some of these theories in relation to what I've seen on the show... others come just from general superman knowledge.

Stregnth: The obvious one. Powered by the yellow sun, superman's posseses stored energy which allows him to punch through walls, tear down buildings, etc etc. Normally, this would shred skin, but he's either got 1) a protective 'force field' of sorts around his body which prevents any direct assualts on his person from penetrating, or 2) simply unpenetrable skin. Also, the using of his powers (esspecially super-strength) exerts his body in such a way, that his muscles develop... a lot... thus the buffness.

Speed: Rather than simply being able to run really really fast, I think that this power has two seperate functions. one cuases clark to go into a 'overdrive mode', in which he is able to precieve everything around him perfectly while moving at an incrediblely fast rate... he would percieve this as everything else moving slower, while he is moving normally.

The second function is just a natural ability to move fast in one direction, a super-sprint, if you will.

Heat/Laser vision: Perhaps the most ridiculous of superman's powers, I'm assuming that kryptonian physiology allows for heating ability in the eyes... mild and hardly noticleble in under normal "red-sun" conditions. I say this becuase human eyes are recivers, and not generators thus any development of laser vision would seem... immpossible, even by fantasy standards.

X-ray vision: Another inexplicable power... unless we assume that clark only generates true x-rays. In smallville, the x-ray vision comes in 2 forms. one allows him to see normally, only its through walls. the second is that his eyes generate a kind of actual 'x-ray' which allow him to see those weird outlined x-ray images.

Ice breath: I've only seen this power in the movies, and "Lois and Clark" Tv show... probably was in the comics, too... The abilty to control breath temperature perhaps? Or maybe an abilty to retain the heat while exerting breath?

Flying: Confusing, but not without a certain naturalness about it. Defying gravity, makes sense. Superman has control of his own gravity. But moving forward and such? I.e. actual flight? I belive he can generate a vacuum in the air which moves his body forward, or backward, or side-to-side, or whatever. So flight is, again, a two-stage abilty requiring 1)abilty to control personal gravity, and 2) momentum.



I'm sure I've forgotten something... and I don't expect that these are very well developed... I just want to generate some disscusson about this... I'm going through a slightly obsessive phase, which I'm sure will move on to spiderman again, once the 2nd movie comes out this summer....

I've always wondered what would happen if Superman developed a lazy eye and tried to use his heat vision.

bTwt: THAT'D BE HILARIOUS! hardyharhar

Nique: good analysis. I'm sure Brian and Sosa would know quite a bit about this, actually.

well...maybe his eyes arn't generators, but condensers and reflectors? like, all the cones on the perifials of his eyes collect sunlight, and focus it through the rods around the center of his eye, creating a more cohesive stream of energy?

but i mean...it is FICTION we're talking about.

There was one Power I missed, although smallville explained it perfectly...

Super-hearing: the abiltiy to focus in on a sound that was, not only far away, but difficult to distinguish from surrounding noise. Apparetly, clark can focus in on one paticular voice or noise, after his hearing became enhanced via a briefe blind-spell. Basically, he can counsiously choose a soundwave, and listen exclusivly to that.

If he was having eye problems... well, that'd just be flat messed up.

But that would be pretty funny...

Why thank you... and yes, I gather that Brian and Sosa are quite the fake-physics philosophers... i mean, what with the twinkin' out articles and such...


Whoa. Excellent concept. I think I agree...

Oh absoulutly. You could just say 'It's magic, the end.' But it's hard to enjoy something like superman when there is no explination... I mean, stan lee loves fake-science garbage... but at least he attempts to use that science to explain his heros' powers. DC didn't do that so much in the initial comic-lore, I think... besides, what better way to waste my time, eh?

I believe the cold breath is supposed to be the result of compressing the air in his lungs. Since he can take in enormous amounts of air, it must be heavily compressed. Whenever you compress something there is a increase in temperature. When you let it decompress there is therefore a sudden loss of temperature. This is how a heat pump works.

For the flying Superman may be capable of reactionless motion. The vacuum idea is interesting, but Superman can fly in space just fine. One possibility is that his flying is similar to the gravetic ship in the later Foundation novel. As such Superman would be able to manipulate gravity and us it to in turn propel himself. Since there is an enormous amount of gravity throughout the galaxy he'd be able to fly just about anywhere.

Actually, I think one could make an argument that Superman's strength and flying and invulnerability are linked. Presumably he can use his gravetic ability to overcome his own inertia and move quickly. Likewise he can stabilize himself so as to throw a large object without being thrown backwards himself. He may be able to extend this control onto an object stabilizing it.

There is no question that his invulnerability is linked to some kind of energy. The fight with Doomsday showed that. Perhaps the same force that allows him to fly and manipulate large objects somehow charges his flesh making it invulnerable.

I wouldn't be surprised if the cold breath WAS his ability to change internal or breath temperatures and all, as in those horrid cartoons, he was also able to alter his vocal cord positioning (or something like that) to sound exactly like Bruce Wayne. Then again, that's from the cartoon, and the cartoon is crap.

Also, as far as his durability goes, that's his skin, not some kind of forcefield. I know this fo'sho, since in the Life and Death of Superman (the big honkin' novel), Superman states that a standard hospital can't test/treat him--he'd break the needles, scalpels, etc, etc.

... Which makes you wonder how he shaves. If his bare flesh is strong enough to resist steel blades and brick walls, shouldn't his hair be at least strong enough to resist a puny Earth razor?

But I dunno. I think too much sometimes.

Edit: Also, alot of Superman's powers can easily be explained by saying the sun just gives him temporary radiation effects. Y'know, like, Kryptonians aren't used to the sun, so it has abnormal effects on their body development--like humans growing third eyes or being able to stretch their limbs to impossible lengths or turn invisible after being near a radioactive plant / another planet with similiar effects. Not sure if the powers themselves stay with him once he leaves the sun, though--has that been established? Naturally, his strength would fade out once his sun reserves were gone (see: Doomsday), but would he necessarily lose his powers entirely? If the radiation thing were the case, then he could simply become as weak as a normal Kryptonian, but with the added effects of being able to X-Ray, fly, etc. Just a thought.

Edit II: Superman doesn't really move backwards or forwards when he flies. He moves the UNIVERSE around HIM. Because he's like, two inches from God and four feet from Goku, so he can do that sort of thing (before you ask, yes, Futurama).

Mattisma is right, his flesh isn't invulnerable, it's a protective barrier- they explained that in one episode of Lois and Clark. somoene assaulted them with a machine gun, and even though they were OK, his superman outfit was wasted. He explained that it's only invulnerable because HE is, and that's only when he has it on.

By the way, don't really count the movies into this 'superman physics' thing. I mean the movies had it so that he reversed time by going backwards around the earth. I don't need to explain that time is really just a convenience for humans and really doesn't exist - that alone disproves any time-travel theories.

His ice-breath only showed up in Lois and Clark, sometimes in the movies, and a little in the comics. You can include it if you want.

Hey, maybe he just made a Champions character that sucked. who knows.

EDIT: I almost forgot - his speed is a matter of his movement going at high velocity. In another episode of Lois and Clark, he was trapped in a motion-sensitive barrier that would shoot Lois if he moved. He got out by making his whole body move at high speeds back and forth. He had a mother of a headache afterwards and he didn't hold it up very long, but it shows how his speed works a little.

Originally, Superman couldn't fly. He could just jump really really really high and far, so it would seem like he was flying. I don't know when he got 'upgraded', though.

I don't think we should count Lois and Clark as actual canon, in one episode he gets his powers transfered to Lois, if all his powers were really due to his alien physiology, then that would be impossible.