Pre-Crisis Superman through the ages:
Super-Speed and the Power of Flight
"From the west, over the city, streaked a familiar red-and-blue figure, grim, determined, dwarfed by the adversary that threatened to deal the city a crushing blow." (Miracle Monday 4)
In the early years of his super-heroic career, Superman was not endowed with the power of flight. Although he possessed superhuman speed, he moved from place to place by running or by executing gigantic leaps. Month by month, however, Superman's running speed increased, along with the length of his leaps and the complexity of the aerial maneuvers he was able to perform once he had left the ground. The transition from leaping to actual flying was extraordinarily gradual and was punctuated with a great deal of inconsistency. Not until May 1943 is Superman explicitly referred to as a "being who can fly like a bird" and not until later that same year can it be said, without qualification, that Superman actually possesses the power of flight.
By 1945, Superman is able to fly from Metropolis to Burma in the wink of an eye. "Light travels 186,000 miles a second, but has nothing on Superman," notes the text, "who finds himself hovering over the jungles of Burma in the wink of an eye!"
In November 1946, Superman demonstrates the ability to stand invisibly on one spot by oscillating his body so fast that the human eye cannot see him. During this same period, Superman protects bystanders at a navy yard from the effects of a devastating explosion by spinning around the blast area at super-speed. With the speed of light, Superman makes a wall of his revolving body, through which the expanding gases of the explosive cannot penetrate. Then, funneling upward, Superman directs the blast toward the sky.
In August 1947, Superman successfully photographs a series of past events by flying into outer space faster than the speed of light and overtaking the light waves leaving Earth which contain the images of the events he wants to record on film.
Later in 1947, Superman single-handedly constructs an entire underground city in a matter of seconds. (Superman #48) During this same period, Superman uses his command of super-speed to travel through the time barrier into the past.
Virtually all texts agree that to penetrate the time barrier, Superman must move at a speed exceeding that of light.
Super-Strength
There have been many strong men in the world, but none with the amazing power of Superman, whose rippling steel muscles can blast boulders to dust and move mountains.
Like Superman's other powers, his strength has been continually magnified over the years.
In June 1938, Superman, described as a man of titanic strength with the ability to raise tremendous weights, lifts an automobile over his head with one hand, shakes its hoodlum occupants out on the the ground, then smashes the car to bits against the base of a cliff.
In Spring 1940, when Metropolis is ravaged by a man-made earthquake, Superman supports tottering buildings while terrified occupants dash to safety.
In 1941, Superman swims through a raging flood using only one hand, while holding a mansion aloft with the other hand. To divert the floodwaters, Superman digs a huge, mile-long ditch with his bare hands in a matter of moments.
In 1942, Superman seizes a set of brass knuckles and crushes the cowardly instrument in his palm as easily as though the metal were putty; he smashes his way through the side of a mountain; and, while clinging to the side of a moving train, Superman performs an amazing stunt - he opens a Pullman window! By September of the same year, his strength has grown to the point where he can wrench apart a pair of twin mountain peaks with his bare hands.
In 1943, when Superman acts to avert the collapse of a massive undersea cavern, his mighty shoulders bear the weight of thousands of tons of rock and the terrific pressure of the ocean above it. (Action Comics #62, "There'll Always Be a Superman!"
He also hits a baseball so hard that it circles the world.
In 1946, Superman uses his super-strength to mend a gaping hole in the hull of a sunken freighter, welding the torn steel plates into place by rubbing them with his hands until they're white hot. Later texts refer to this process as the application of "super-friction."
1947 brings us the first time that Superman transforms a lump of coal into a glittering diamond. In the words of the text, "Incalculable tons of pressure exerted by the Man of Steel's mighty fist duplicate the work of eons to fuse the opaque coal carbons into the translucent perfection of a glittering diamond!" (Action Comics #115)
In 1948 he uses the super-pressure of his thumbnail to cut sheet metal.
By 1949 he has single-handedly created a sun for the Planet Uuz by crashing together its two uninhabited moons and then fueling the resultant atomic blaze with drifting meteors.
In November 1953, when a great dark star that's rushing through the solar system begins causing the Earth to spin faster on its axis, Superman finds himself confronted by the greatest challenge of his career, that of devising a means of slowing down the Earth. After fashioning a gigantic metal drill from ore-bearing rock, Superman drills through the Earth to the red-hot rocks inside Earth's crust and then, using his own body as a high-speed chisel, gouges a canal from the sea to the hole he has drilled in the Earth. When the seawater rushing through Superman's man-made canal washes over the red-hot rocks at the Earth's core, the result is a continuous blast of steam that makes a great jet-blast, pushing against the rotating Earth to slow it down. When it's back to normal, Superman closes off the canal.
But by 1957, Superman is able to hurl an uninhabited Planet through space (Superman #110) and in 1958 can produce a small earthquake with a super-clap of his hands.
In March 1965 Superman seizes a spacecraft manned by members of the Superman Revenge Squad and hurls it into a far distant galaxy light-years away from Earth.
Invulnerability
Of all the awesome capabilities of Superman, one of the most important is his invulnerability. Fire can't burn him, knives can't cut him, bullets can't hurt him. In fact, there's nothing known to man that can harm even a hair of Superman's head.
In June 1938, a bullet ricochets off Superman's tough skin and a knife blade shatters when it strikes his body. Nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin. Subsequent texts describe Superman as possessing a skin impenetrable to even steel and as being impervious to bullets because of an unbelievably tough skin. A text dated January 1945 notes that "Unlike ordinary people, the Man of Steel can do without food if necessary," but a later text contradicts this, noting that Superman could indeed "starve to death."
In September 1945, Superman holds open an earthquake fissure with his bare hands until Lois Lane has had a chance to climb to safety. "The most powerful muscles on Earth," notes the text, "withstand the tremendous pressure of thousands of tons of rock!" "If the fissure had closed on me," remarks Superman, "the only damage would have been to the rock!"
In 1946, Superman flies onto an atomic-bomb test site and withstands the successive impact of two atomic bombs. He also withstands the intense heat of the Earth's molten core. (Superman #43)
In 1950, Superman swims underwater thousands of fathoms deep, down to the ocean bed itself, and suffers no ill effects from the crushing water pressure. He withstands the heat at the rim of the sun, estimated at a few billion degrees.
By 1951, Superman can withstand the heat at the core of the sun. (Action Comics #161) By this date, Superman's Herculean body has become immune to all ills and it's impossible for him to get sick. Superman is not immune, however, to certain extraterrestrial illnesses, such as the mysterious space virus that temporarily transforms his X-ray vision into "deep-freeze" vision in November, 1957, and Virus X, native to the Planet Krypton.
In February 1954, Superman withstands the explosion of a hydrogen bomb, although it does leave him with a slight headache. (Superman #87)
A text dated April 1960 observes that the rifle-like non-super-ray weapon employed by the Bizarros of the Planet Htrae could permanently rob Superman of his super-powers. Another text for this period strongly implies that Superman is invulnerable to the aging process and therefore immortal (Superman #136, April 1960), but Superman #181 contradicts this, noting that "Though Superman is the mightiest man on Earth, even he cannot live forever!" (November, 1965, "The Superman of 2965!"
A text dated April 1965 notes that Superman is invulnerable to drowning, and can remain underwater as long as he wishes.
Because Superman is invulnerable, he cannot blush and because his skin is never affected by the sun, he is impervious to sunburn.
Superman's hair is indestructible and can neither be cut nor can it grow in Earth's atmosphere. (Superman #132, October 1959)
Any attempt to cut Superman's hair by ordinary means results only in the shattering of whatever scissors are being used, but Superman can cut his own hair when absolutely necessary by subjecting it to the concentrated power of his own X-ray vision. In a red-sun environment, however, where Superman has no super-powers, his hair loses its indestructibility and begins to grow. If Superman undertakes a mission to a red-sun Planet, it is best for him to shave and trim his hair before returning to the yellow-sun environment of Earth, where his hair will once again become indestructible.
Similarly, Superman's fingernails and toenails, which are indestructible and do not grow in the earthly environment, do grow and are destructible on Planets revolving about a red sun.
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