Originally posted by JBL
You say mongul jr taught superman how to drop his BS mental blocks??REALLY DUDE??
Superman wasn't able to take on Imperiex in his current state either, and allowed Mongul Jr. to train him to fight more efficiently in outer space, and to use his own powers effectively. When they were ready, they decided to confront Imperiex somewhere near Saturn. Superman and Mongul Jr. managed to destroy Imperiex's construct (which was used to "hollow" galaxies) and believed that they had stopped Imperiex.
In other words, mongul jr taught superman how to fight better and far more efficiently using his abilities better. Its just like a rookie boxer getting trained by a skilled trainer to be more effective with the powers and skill he has. Sorry. those probes are next dude.
So you didn't read the parts discussing Superman's mental blocks of holding his power back and his meditation to overcome them? You didn't read the part where Superman goes from fighting probes for hours and not doing much to them to one shotting them like fodder. Superman was shown fighting more effectively before the training (using his powers simultaneously and not doing much of anything). After the training, Superman is one shotting them right and left with single physical attacks.
Then we have the DOS arc.
How do you explain how Superman went from not being able to even cause DD pain to killing him in mere moments AFTER Lois convinced him that the only way to win is to let go and be willing to kill? Superman knows that if he doesn't then everyone, including Lois, will die. Then prior to this, Superman thought that he was already using his full might against DD. But that was his conscious might hindered by his subconscious.
That's like Thor going from not being able to cause Juggernaut pain to literally killing him in a few panels. Shit like that don't happen unless a insane power increase happens.
Also we have on panel evidence supporting that Superman's power level is dependent on his belief. In one comic, he had anmesia and didn't know he had powers. In that comic, his belief affected his powers to the level where he was actually powerless (able to easily get hurt, etc.). Byrne stated that Superman's powers are part psionic and based off his will.
Finally, we have Superman with explicitly stated upgrades to his power (the comics explicitly states Superman has gotten much stronger). So CM staying the same can't possibly be his physical equal.