I'm not very familiar with Superman, but I've read a few stories, and I was wondering what the various levels of Superman's power have been over the years. It helps to compare him to other characters.
Now, I know it goes from Golden Age Superman through Silver Age to Post-Crisis, but within the Post-Crisis era it can be further split down, because in 1986, Superman could be KO'd by a nuke and couldn't breathe in space. When did the weaker Superman who was killed by Doomsday change? Even coming back from death, he wasn't any stronger straight away.
Currently, Superman can survive supernovas and so on. Also, in the Golden Age he couldn't fly at first, but later on, he could because of the radio shows.
Can anyone give me a list of what and when of the various leaps in power (obviously some happened gradually), such as going from being able to be hurt by artillery shells to surviving in stars?
towards the end of the 90s, Superman started to really grow in power. it was gradual, but the benchmark for a lot of people is the "Our Worlds At War" storyline. Superman shows some insane feats of strength and power during that arc. That, imo, would be the best bridge between what happened durin Death of Superman, and the one we have today...
Why did Superman grow in power? Was it just training through battle or was there something extra (like magic, or a certain event that had an effect on his body) making him stronger?
Also, is early Golden Age Superman the weakest, or is it John Byrnes Superman? Golden Age can be hurt by artillery, right? Early Post Crisis can be hurt by a nuke, so must be stronger.
it wasn't like he was just upgraded or anything. writers just tend to write him as getting more and more powerful as years go by... he has the odd small upgrade, like after infinite crisis, but in general its a pretty gradual thiing.
early post crisis would be stronger than the original superman yeah...
Kind of underwhelmed here, Going just by this article.
The VERY Sentry like art isnt helping.
So, keeping an open mind, whats the verdict on this as of right now?
1. Regarding a new power/costume: No. Stop. Don't. Unnecessary.
2. Regarding heat vision: though heat from his x-ray vision was first used in 1949, "Heat Vision," per se, was not intro'd as a distinctly separate power until 1961. This is why, eg, you don't see HV ever used or even mentioned in the 1950s TV show, "The Adventures of Superman."
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Last edited by Mindship on Feb 4th, 2015 at 03:45 PM
Based on the pics from the link, I'll guesstimate that someone thought Superman needed an omnidirectional-blasting ability, that HV wasn't expansive enough (and generally, it is more of a point-strike energy weapon than a broad-field one).
Superman already has enough ability to destroy things, large and small. If anything, he should be given a healing power. That, imo, would be much more befitting the character.
But then, comics aren't bought to see people get healed.
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Shinier than a speeding bullet.
...every time a comic company does something like this (or there's a "crisis", or someone "dies"), I can virtually feel their desperation to boost sales for characters that -- not only have been around for decades -- but often have multiple titles. Good God, the pressure to produce stories monthly!
They need something fresh, bold and new, and I have just the character for them...
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Shinier than a speeding bullet.
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Mar 17th, 2009 01:00 AM
