Superman's power ups?

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.

Originally posted by Broken Warrior
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...

Originally posted by Broken Warrior
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.

This brings up another question. Would Superman not die of old age until the sun became red?

Originally posted by jalek moye
He's getting older, as he lives under a yellow sun he gradually gets more powerful. So it makes since for him to keep getting stronger as he ages.

This brings up another question. Would Superman not die of old age until the sun became red?

Impossible question to answer "canonically," seeing as how anything that could answer it would be set in the future, and thus, not canon.

But Morrison clearly agrees with you- check out "DC One Million." Current superman survives thousands of years into the future.

Originally posted by tjcoady
Impossible question to answer "canonically," seeing as how anything that could answer it would be set in the future, and thus, not canon.

But Morrison clearly agrees with you- check out "DC One Million." Current superman survives thousands of years into the future.

Originally posted by tjcoady
Impossible question to answer "canonically," seeing as how anything that could answer it would be set in the future, and thus, not canon.

But Morrison clearly agrees with you- check out "DC One Million." Current superman survives thousands of years into the future.

bah. he's already over a thousand years old...

Originally posted by Raoul
bah. he's already over a thousand years old...

Originally posted by jalek moye
o yea. but i thought that had to do with being in asgard

it does. he was there for a thousand years, even if it didn't pass that quickly on earth...

Originally posted by Raoul
it does. he was there for a thousand years, even if it didn't pass that quickly on earth...

And now we have...

http://m.ca.ign.com/articles/2015/02/02/superman-is-getting-a-new-power-costume-this-week

The new power is called "super flare"

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?

Two responses:

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."

Nice catch/bit of trivia, Mindship.

Nice to see i'm not the only one in the No Camp, too.

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.

Really not a fan of this whole "super flare" thing. No. I like that it gives him some more versatility, sure, but I don't think he needs it.

People like to rag on Superman having too many powers when in actuality he doesn't, but this doesn't help the situation at all.

People like to rag on Superman having too many powers when in actuality he doesn't, but this doesn't help the situation at all.

Seems to me...

...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... 😎

^^^hahaha

Originally posted by -Pr-
Really not a fan of this whole "super flare" thing. No. I like that it gives him some more versatility, sure, but I don't think he needs it.

People like to rag on Superman having too many powers when in actuality he doesn't, but this doesn't help the situation at all.

Flight
Strength
Speed
Durability
Energy Projection
Freeze Breath...

Surfer..like thousands of powers.

Thor almost all of the above plus magic and a weapon.

Seems like Superman has less then most but above the rest.