In Superman Prime he just kept getting older and stronger, he got to godlike levels in that story after many hundreds of thousands of years.
In Kingdom Come it was eluded to that he gets stronger, not older...they said Kryptonite doesn't work on him anymore in that future.
And I think it was Dark Knight Returns where Batman comments that Superman dyed his hair grey to fool people into thinking that Clark Kent was getting older.
My impression is that Superman will continue to thrive as long as he has our yellow sun to sustain him. Thing is, in about 5 billion years, our sun will swell into a red giant then exhaust all its fuel and become a cold dwarf. So unless Supes migrates to another yellow star (and 5 gigayears should give him enough time to do so, especially if he sees us leaving for a new star), he loses his powers and ages normally (whatever "normally" is for a Kryptonian).
However, in time, all the stars will burn out, and Superman will pass on. But that's okay cuz there won't be any mortals left to save.
I suppose Supes could shift into a younger, parallel universe (Marvel's?), but what's the point? I would think that after countless eons he might realize it's time to move on from the physical plane. In far less time than a few billion years, us ordinary folk will perhaps have evolved to a higher plane. Conceivably, we could even leave Superman in the evolutionary dust.
I propose that it may be his very attachment to his superhuman identity which may, in the end, keep him "prisoner" in that form (hmm, now wouldn't that be an interesting story...)
Originally posted by Mindship
My impression is that Superman will continue to thrive as long as he has our yellow sun to sustain him. Thing is, in about 5 billion years, our sun will swell into a red giant then exhaust all its fuel and become a cold dwarf. So unless Supes migrates to another yellow star (and 5 gigayears should give him enough time to do so, especially if he sees us leaving for a new star), he loses his powers and ages normally (whatever "normally" is for a Kryptonian).
However, in time, all the stars will burn out, and Superman will pass on. But that's okay cuz there won't be any mortals left to save.
I suppose Supes could shift into a younger, parallel universe (Marvel's?), but what's the point? I would think that after countless eons he might realize it's time to move on from the physical plane. In far less time than a few billion years, us ordinary folk will perhaps have evolved to a higher plane. Conceivably, we could even leave Superman in the evolutionary dust.
I propose that it may be his very attachment to his superhuman identity which may, in the end, keep him "prisoner" in that form (hmm, now wouldn't that be an interesting story...)
Wow. Nice to see signs of intelligent life every once in a while on this forum. Great post.
Originally posted by Mindship
My impression is that Superman will continue to thrive as long as he has our yellow sun to sustain him. Thing is, in about 5 billion years, our sun will swell into a red giant then exhaust all its fuel and become a cold dwarf. So unless Supes migrates to another yellow star (and 5 gigayears should give him enough time to do so, especially if he sees us leaving for a new star), he loses his powers and ages normally (whatever "normally" is for a Kryptonian).
However, in time, all the stars will burn out, and Superman will pass on. But that's okay cuz there won't be any mortals left to save.
I suppose Supes could shift into a younger, parallel universe (Marvel's?), but what's the point? I would think that after countless eons he might realize it's time to move on from the physical plane. In far less time than a few billion years, us ordinary folk will perhaps have evolved to a higher plane. Conceivably, we could even leave Superman in the evolutionary dust.
I propose that it may be his very attachment to his superhuman identity which may, in the end, keep him "prisoner" in that form (hmm, now wouldn't that be an interesting story...)
Great post.
Originally posted by Mindship
My impression is that Superman will continue to thrive as long as he has our yellow sun to sustain him. Thing is, in about 5 billion years, our sun will swell into a red giant then exhaust all its fuel and become a cold dwarf. So unless Supes migrates to another yellow star (and 5 gigayears should give him enough time to do so, especially if he sees us leaving for a new star), he loses his powers and ages normally (whatever "normally" is for a Kryptonian).
However, in time, all the stars will burn out, and Superman will pass on. But that's okay cuz there won't be any mortals left to save.
I suppose Supes could shift into a younger, parallel universe (Marvel's?), but what's the point? I would think that after countless eons he might realize it's time to move on from the physical plane. In far less time than a few billion years, us ordinary folk will perhaps have evolved to a higher plane. Conceivably, we could even leave Superman in the evolutionary dust.
I propose that it may be his very attachment to his superhuman identity which may, in the end, keep him "prisoner" in that form (hmm, now wouldn't that be an interesting story...)
I get the feeling he'd get killed by something before that happened. That's billions and billions of years away; he's only thirty something now and he's encountered dozens of villians with the potential to kill him, and at least one (Doomsday) who is known to be more than capable of it.