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Reading a DC wiki (yes, wikipedias are bad...), it mentions in the Super Speed section for Kryptonians that Superman can travel at the speed of light or faster than light when in space.

I'm guessing there's been a few fights out there in the Milky Way and beyond, has Superman ever been close enough to a black hole in which he had to escape from?

I'm looking for any version of Superman from any Universe as I think, if this had ever occured, then it probably didn't happen often.

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    pardon me while I express my physics pedantry, which admittedly has nothing to do with the right answer, but going faster than the speed of light is not going to get you out of a black hole. The escape velocity is not the problem; the problem is that space/time inside the event horizon is so warped that there is simply no direction you can move forward that doesn't go towards the singularity. The faster you try to move out of the black hole the faster you end up at it's center. Rant over, please carry on.
    – KutuluMike
    Commented Feb 2, 2015 at 22:16
  • @MichaelEdenfield - Always useful to know how comic book physics compares with real-life physics. Your rant is much appreciated =)
    – user35594
    Commented Feb 3, 2015 at 20:58
  • Not even he could escape. He would be spaghettified by intense tidal forces before he even got close to the event horizon.
    – user89104
    Commented Nov 24, 2018 at 8:31

3 Answers 3

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Yes, Pre-Crisis Superman (one of the strongest versions of the character in all of the DC continuities) has indeed been fast enough to escape the gravitational pull of a black hole by moving faster than light.

  • Different depictions of the character show Superman being able to reach the speed of light, cross the temporal barriers preventing travel to the future or the past, and some have even allowed him the ability to escape singularities, with some degree of difficulty. Suffice it to say, this ability is dependent strictly on the plot of the writer, the permission of the editor and the suspension of belief on the part of the readers.

  • In a Pre-Crisis depiction, he is shown here being fast enough to escape our conception of the UNIVERSE and moving beyond the very fabric of what we call existence.

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  • In other Pre-Crisis depictions he was shown to be able to transcend time itself by flying faster than the speed of light and travel to the distant future.

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  • And for you sticklers who might say these depictions of super-speed are not an indication of his ability to escape singularities (black holes), here he is escaping a weaponized black hole and collapsing it by throwing a spaceship into it.

  • He escapes it by simply being able to fly faster than its event horizon was capable of holding him. (This means to me, he must not have crossed the true event horizon because physics says, nothing can return from that boundary...not even light!)

enter image description here

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    I've got to agree with @ksmarts on this one. It's clear that he can (theoretically) but your answer doesn't actually answer the question asked. Reluctantly downvoted.
    – Valorum
    Commented Feb 2, 2015 at 21:40
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    Patience IS a virtue. And the ability to travel fast enough to transcend light means he could easily escape a black hole since the physics say not even light, the fastest thing in our understanding cannot.
    – Thaddeus Howze
    Commented Feb 2, 2015 at 21:43
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    I don't expect anything at all. Since I do science for a living, I understand this is all ENTERTAINMENT. I recognize the physics involved would be far more incredible if people understood what they are, I am simply trying to present the idea the character has been vastly more powerful than mere physics can contain and escaping the very fabric of the universe, includes the ability to escape singularities which would be contained within the universe the character just transcended...
    – Thaddeus Howze
    Commented Feb 2, 2015 at 21:53
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    Using the laws of physics as we understand them, NOTHING can escape the event horizon. USING COMICS PHYSICS which transcend the KNOWN LAWS OF PHYSICS, Superman IS able to cross the event horizon and escape a singularity. I DID NOT WRITE THE COMIC. I found a depiction that met the requirements and then showed the character has indeed been even FASTER than that. Millions of times faster, also depicted. Does the answer contradict itself? Yes, because it is reconciling ENTERTAINMENT PHYSICS with real physics. It almost never works. That's entertainment, folks.
    – Thaddeus Howze
    Commented Feb 2, 2015 at 22:08
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    (None of which changes the fact that this is clearly the right answer because it has screen shots. Sadly, it lacks freehand circles, but noone's perfect.)
    – KutuluMike
    Commented Feb 2, 2015 at 22:22
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I couldn't track down the exact right page but after the fairly recent Superman: Doomed Superman pushed Braniac into a black hole and emerged.

From Action Comics issue 35: Action Comics 35

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  • Awesome, cheers for this!
    – user35594
    Commented Feb 4, 2015 at 20:45
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Pre Crisis Superman closes black hole

Escape? 😐😑😂 He has closed one with his bare hands and sheer power.

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