Superman - how much can he lift?

So I recently got into a debate about Superman vs Goku, and was asked to provide what I thought was the average weight Superman could lift - and I really didn't know the answer and had to think about it for a while.

So this is question to all you guys. There is obviously no right or wrong answer, there are high and low end feats, and where the middle is, is different for everyone - Basically how each person interprets the character. So please don't post feats as "evidence" for yourself or against someone else's view.

For me I still haven't decided, but around 1 million tons should not be too difficult for him on average.

The other difficulty is translating the feats into tons, but lets see where Superman stands on KMC. Who knows if we get enough opinions on here we might be able to set a precedent 🙂

He's well in to the quintillion/sextillion range if we're talking upper levels. Probably higher depending on writer.

Originally posted by -Pr-
He's well in to the quintillion/sextillion range if we're talking upper levels. Probably higher depending on writer.

Well yea, what I'm after is average though. So I'm thinking your estimate is likely over 1 billion tons on average?

Originally posted by Placidity
Well yea, what I'm after is average though. So I'm thinking your estimate is likely over 1 billion tons on average?

In terms of lifting, I don't think he really has an average tbh. But yeah, over a billion easy.

Originally posted by -Pr-
In terms of lifting, I don't think he really has an average tbh.

I disagree with that to be frank. I think if you take each showing in every comic and determine how much he lifted in each (in ones that can be quantified, and a rough scientific estimate for ones that aren't easily quantified), you could work out an average.

Now of course this is a very difficult task and beyond reasonable, but I'm just asking for each person's guess of what that would or should be. And in a way, as a supporter for Superman in the Vs debates, one would be putting something on the line by commenting on his/her opinion of their character's average strength (could be used against you). So again not an easy thing to do, practically or in terms of the estimate possibly becoming a liability in debates later on.

But I do wish someone would give it a shot! Even getting a consensus on the weight range would be nice.

I doubt you're going to be able to get a very accurate number.

As for Superman's strength like most characters in that range it can be highly dynamic, and can go up and down.

But if we're talking about what I think he is listed at. The best I can give you is he is for sure planetary, in that I bet he can lift a planet if need be.

Originally posted by Placidity
I disagree with that to be frank. I think if you take each showing in every comic and determine how much he lifted in each (in ones that can be quantified, and a rough scientific estimate for ones that aren't easily quantified), you could work out an average.

Now of course this is a very difficult task and beyond reasonable, but I'm just asking for each person's guess of what that would or should be. And in a way, as a supporter for Superman in the Vs debates, one would be putting something on the line by commenting on his/her opinion of their character's average strength (could be used against you). So again not an easy thing to do, practically or in terms of the estimate possibly becoming a liability in debates later on.

But I do wish someone would give it a shot! Even getting a consensus on the weight range would be nice.

Well you see, that's the thing: Building an average usually allows you to draw from high and low feats, and the average is usually somewhere in the middle.

The problem with Superman is that it's very rare that you actually find him failing to lift something, and then he goes and does things like move planets and push warworlds in to boomtubes.

Yeah his average comes in the terms of levels of foes he can face. But feat wise he normally just does whatever he needs to. within his powerset of course

1 billion tons is about the weight of a small mountain. (everest would weigh hundreds of trillions of tons)

1 billion tons is far too low a number for his 'average'. FAR too low.

I'm going to say in the hundreds of quintillions of tons range, just like in All-Star Superman. Though truthfully, it could be a alot higher judging by feats, since 200 quintillion tons is a lot less than the weight of the earth.

It's impossible to figure out an average weight Superman lifts, because the objects he tends to lift really don't have an average weight... His lifting feats range from lifting cars (a few tons), to airplanes (75 tons), to white dwarf stars (100 tons), to pyramids (75 million tons), to the earth itself (roughly 3,250,000,000,000,000,000 tons), to the infinite book (infinite tons.)

(I'd love to see someone average out those figures out. 😛)

Aside from that, anyone who argues that Goku can lift more than Superman hasn't read much (if any) Superman-related material.

A white dwarf star would weigh far more than a hundred tons.

im guessing that was a typo or something.

(airplanes can be hundreds of tons btw)

Originally posted by ares834
A white dwarf star would weigh far more than a hundred tons.

Originally posted by CosmicComet
(airplanes can be hundreds of tons btw)

Originally posted by Placidity
I think if you take each showing in every comic and determine how much he lifted in each (in ones that can be quantified, and a rough scientific estimate for ones that aren't easily quantified), you could work out an average.

Even John Byrne had him capable of lifting mountains, and there likely isn't a post Crisis writer who would think of him any less than that.

If you want to make an average, you can do it on a writer-to-writer basis and aproximate where his upper limit would be on each portrayal, but not on some asinine "here he lifted x, here y, here z, let's make the mean!".

Originally posted by Philosophía
That is idiotic. If he lifted a ton, 10 tons and finally 100 tons, it doesn't mean that on average he is able to lift only around 37 tons, when the first two objects he lifts are something that are not even close to straining him. That's about as dumb as saying that since he fights both Toyman and Mongul, his average is somewhere in-between them, so he wouldn't be able to take on Mongul on average.

Even John Byrne had him capable of lifting mountains, and there likely isn't a post Crisis writer who would think of him any less than that.

If you want to make an average, you can do it on a writer-to-writer basis and aproximate where his upper limit would be on each portrayal, but not on some asinine "here he lifted x, here y, here z, let's make the mean!".

Why so mad? Why the insults? You made a valid point, you also revealed yourself to be a complete douchebag.

Obviously I would not factor in feats like lifting a newspaper, but anything of considerable weight (or whatever you consider low-end weights), lets say over 100,000 tons, or whatever you want to set it at. Thats just my opinion - you can have yours - no need to act like a absolute jerk.

Class 100 vin

No, as a general rule you can say. Superman lifts always the double amount of WBH limit.

As an "average," I would simply place Superman in the Teraton Class (anywhere from 1 trillion to 999 trillion tons).

As a reporter, Clark lifts a lot of pencils, pens, notepads and the like. That's gotta bring his average way down mmm

😛

Originally posted by Cogito
As a reporter, Clark lifts a lot of pencils, pens, notepads and the like. That's gotta bring his average way down mmm

😛

When He was rebooted by Byrne.

Byrne designed his power to be basically dynamic and related to his psionics.

He did this on purpose as He knew with time other writers will take over Superman and He wanted to give them the liberty of playing with his powers.

Couple of times I have seen the reference "Superman is as powerful as he needs to be"

So the real average is "as strong or powerful as He needs to be"

His psionic powers play a bigger role than his physiology or "godly" heritage.

Sometimes I wonder if many people are aware how his psionics affect his own powers and when the phsyology part kicks in.