Pillow Biter
Senior Member
Explanations for the variability of Superman's performance level have varied over the years. Sometimes it just isn't explained at all. OWAW was the most detailed exploration of the dynamic aspect of Superman's powers to date. However, I wouldn't say that it is definitive--very few things in comics are.
Even just using the OWAW paradigm, we don't fully understand the details of Superman's power level fluctuations. But as compared to the Hulk, for example, it would seem that there is a more definitive ceiling to Superman's power level than there is to the Hulk's. Of course, we may or may not have seen that limit in OWAW. The Hulk, on the other hand, effectively seems to have no limit to how high his power can become. (Of course the no-limits fallacy applies, but whatever ultimate limits the Hulk have, such limits are high enough that they really don't matter, except in the most extreme corner cases. (Hulk trying to duke it out with a Celestial, perhaps.)