Originally posted by Astner
That was Superboy, not Superman.Anyway. So is Superman being unable to move the Earth, with help, also canon?
What Darksaint said.
Longer story: I grew up during the Crisis transition. My earliest memories of DC comics are Man of Steel, following the reboot, and I followed Superman up until the "electric blue" transition.
I can not understate how much they "nerfed" him. He lost a fight against Mammoth and the Fatal Five, for crying out loud. He struggled with all his might to keep a single building from collapsing. He even struggled against the Helgramite, a Batman villian. This is no accident, DC made a conscious decision to show Superman using his wits, instead of punching his way to victory.
The effects of this era lasted for a long, long time. That's why fanboys held so hard onto the Imperiex Saga, and probe busting, because it took that long to get the kinds of combat feats fans of Hulk, or Xmen, or Marvel in general, got to see every month.