Click HERE to see this thread with all of the graphics, features, and links.

This is probably a stupid question, but I'm wondering if somebody can explain something for me.

I read in another thread that Superman gains his powers from the Sun. In fact, I've heard that a lot, and its born out by the Superman comics I've bothered to read.

But, in the comic series Batman and the Outsiders, Superman battles one of the Outsiders, Geoforce, who has the ability to control gravity. Geoforce claims that Superman gains his powers from Earth's gravity, and proceeds to weaken him considerably with his gravity powers.

What's up with that?

Well I know that originally in the very first superman.When he was 'faster than a......more powerful than a.........leap tall buldings in a..........and that nothing less than an exploding shell on contact could break his skin'. That was all he could do.he couldn't fly he could just jump 'hulk-style'.This must be 1920s/30s.Anyway, they didn't start the idea of the sun providing his power then and decided that his great strength was due to his home planet(Krypton) having a much stronger gravitational pull than Earth because it was many times larger in mass(some physics there for you).I think thats what this comic was on about.How old is it?

It's a combination of both the stronger gravitational pull of the planet Krypton (although to be honest, little Kal never got used to that environment, so it's a sci-fi B.S. explanation pointing to his genetics, which I don't think flies in reality), Kryptonians having a denser molecular structure than Earthlings, and the sun comes into it in that his powers are fueled by solar energy. He's like a plant. He soaks in yellow sunlight and stores it in his cells. There's a book called "The Science of Superman" that you may want to check out.

Pretty much what Logan and kal said. The high gravity of Krypton causes him to have a much denser body mass, and that high gravity is actually what caused Krypton's destruction because the planet was unstable.

Also kal if you were asking Superman's first appearance was Action Comics #1 in June 1938.

Okay. Thanks for the info.

I tell you what I always found inconsistent with the molecular density thing - why doesnt he weigh like a few tonnes if his mass is so dense?

Tsk tsk, and he's such a realistic character otherwise ....

good point

Superman is basically a deity. The fact that he is a good character is critical in deciding this. The monotheistic theodicy would only permit an independent being of his attributes to exist if it were evil (say a devil)

ehhh in english

The Superman world is pagan because Superman has fantastic abilities, but he is a good character.

Superman lives in the same world as Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel, so I suppose you could call it a "pagan" world. He is not literally a deity. Whether one believes in the kind of accidents that give people like Spider-Man and the Hulk superhuman powers, they can't definitively say anything about extraterrestrials' abilities. We haven't seen any, so it's still up for ideas. Monotheism has no place in judging how comic books are written, unless it's an independent comic specifically about such matters.

this is a discussion for a whole other forum guys.