79
Part of the answer has been placed on the iconic look of the strong man from the circuses of the 1920s and 30s. But there was another answer that lies in the process used to print comic books in times of yore.
The process used was called offset printing. Offset printing was actually invented by accident in 1903 by Ira Washington Rubel, but it didn’t really ...
77
Superman has indeed said "Ouch!", on the cover of Superman 106.
Lex Luthor creates an alloy that picks up energy Superman uses in his
super-feats and transmits it to a suit of electronic armor he has
invented. The suit gives Luthor all of Superman’s powers, but Superman
defeats him by exposing himself to Kryptonite, which also transmits
weakness ...
67
Superman can't normally get drunk when he has his powers.
Under the effects of a Yellow or Blue star, Kryptonians don't have to eat or drink anything and they can't get drunk. I'm not even sure they have to sleep. Therefore, under most circumstances, he, along with any other Kryptonian, such as Supergirl, cannot get drunk.
However, were you to take away ...
66
Superman is arguably one of the most powerful metahumans on DC Earth. Since the DCnU reboot, it has not been determined if there is anyone physically more powerful.
But if I were to consider all of the canon versions of Superman as a reference, Superman could be defeated by several heroes using a variety of techniques. Superman is amazingly tough and ...
66
The quote you mention is the only motivator we're given but it should be enough to go on. Lex's full quote reads:
See, what we call God depends upon our tribe, Clark Joe, 'cause God is tribal; God takes sides! No man in the sky intervened when I was a boy to deliver me from daddy's fist and abominations. I figured out way back if God is all-powerful, He ...
61
He started flying in the 1940s right after the creation of the Fleischer films. This was because it became difficult so show him leaping from place to place. The Fleischer films used a form of rotoscoping and many of Superman's actions had to be drawn by animators because they couldn't be rotoscoped at the time. It was easier to show him flying than leaping.
...
61
Yes
In the Red Son universe (Earth 30), the soviet Batman fought against Superman using Red Sun lamps, weakening Superman enough for him to beat him up.
However Wonder Woman, who was used as bait, was convinced by Superman to destroy the generator powering the lamps, which lead to Superman's powers returning and Batman killing himself (as this Superman ...
57
Sheldon's wrong and Leonard is right (Superman matches her speed).
Lois was not two feet above the ground. Superman catches her about half way (approximately) down the building and he slows to a stop then proceeds. So he was matching her speed and slowing so she didn't get hurt.
He does the same thing when the helicopter ...
55
Dean Cain, who played Superman in the 90's TV show Lois and Clark, is actually 1/4 Japanese, and does identify as Asian American. However, by looks, I could see the audience not necessarily reading the character to be Asian American, and of course, Superman himself being an alien from Krypton, calling the character to be of any particular ethnicity is kind ...
50
Yes. In "Whom the Gods Destroy #1" we see Superman sunbathing. On the Moon, obviously. Because he's Superman.
50
There are at least five. (and an unnamed one)
Sunshine Superman
First appeared in Animal Man #23 (1990), as an illusion of sorts (generated by Psycho-Pirate's mask), along with other twisted versions of known characters. Then, his nationality is uncertain.
Kal-El of Earth D
Featured in Legends of the DC Universe: Crisis on Infinite Earths (1999).
This ...
49
TL;DR: The two DID fight in at least 3 different comics. Superman had 2 clear victories and one sorta-clear victory on points.
Fight #1: 1981 "DC and MARVEL present: #28: SUPERMAN and SPIDER-MAN".
That comic featured a fight between Hulk and Superman.
Hulk gets all hulked-out... but can't hurt or move Superman.
In the end, he's so exhausted, he converts ...
49
In Superman: American Alien #3, Clark Kent is mistaken for Bruce Wayne by an assassin (Deathstroke). Deathstroke slips him a neurotoxin in a glass of champagne that would kill a human, but just makes Clark act for all the world like he's drunk. While this isn't intoxication by alcohol, it's amusingly close.
45
That's Tomar-Re's Space Sector!
Tomar was a scientist before joining the Green Lantern Corps and becoming the Green Lantern of Space Sector 2813. Here's an excerpt from his Wiki entry:
Tomar's most famous mission while serving in the Corps dealt with the
planet Krypton. Krypton, a planet in sector 2813, was growing
increasingly unstable. It was due ...
44
It's already been established that all of the Flashes can move past light-speed via the Speed Force. As for Superman, he's never shown to move at light-speed while running inside a planetary atmosphere.
This image should answer your question, though. This scan was taken from Flash v2, #220.
Flash states that Superman is moving at over 2000 miles/sec, ...
44
Within Supergirl: The Girl of Steel (1984), the second Which Way book in the Super Powers series, Supergirl records Mister Mxyzptlk saying his name and plays it backwards, dismissing him.
43
No, it is not Kryptonian. The language is the Pre-Crisis 30th century shared galactic language of Interlac. It is a direct cypher made for comic readers of the Legion of Superheroes.
I recognized it from issues of the Legion of Superheroes which used to have coded messages in the stories or in the letter columns when I was a growing up.
Interlac is the ...
43
TL;DR: drinking yes, and willingly, smoking is debatable.
Drinking — yes
The first two images are courtesy of the answers to Can Superman get drunk?.
In this one, Superman is powerless after using the "Super Flare" power (basically unleashing all his energy, rendering him powerless for some time after). So the getting drunk part is because of the ...
42
Superman is highly aware that most of his opponents are often less durable and usually less physically powerful than he is. When in doubt he uses the least amount of force required to handle his opponents. To understand his actions, they have to be seen in context.
The fight opens with Superman using his super-senses to detect that Batman's utility belt is ...
42
He used to hide it nearby:
Later on he shrunk it, and put it in his pocket:
The modern era has it as a self-changing supersuit:
Thanks to Li hei Bao on Quora for referencing this for a different question. (First time I ever found an answer on Quora that wasn't here.)
42
Yes! At least three of them.
Kong Kenan
The recent New Super-Man comics feature Kong Kenan as the "Superman of China".
Note that he was some kind of replacement after the "usual" Clark Kent Superman died for the nth time.
Actually, he was shown to bully a rich kid (because he was the heir to the flight company who managed the plane Kong's mother died in) ...
41
Martha Kent was said to have unwoven the fabrics he was wrapped in and rewoven them into his only costume. The costume was indestructible except to Kal-El's heat vision, which was how she was said to have cut the material, when necessary. In this version of the character, baby Kal-El was so hard on his clothing due to his powers manifesting as a child, he ...
40
Canon Comic versions of Superman
This list does not include every alternate version of Superman, nor does it deal with his first animated appearances in the 1940's Fleisher Superman Adventures, The New Adventures of Superman series from the 1960s, his appearances in the Super Friends in the 1970s and 1980s, his award winning Superman: The Animated Series in ...
40
No, Krypton was not made of Kryptonite - at least, not initially.
Kryptonite is a radioactive mineral from Krypton. The most common form is Green Kryptonite, but it comes in other forms, including Red Kryptonite, which has unusual temporary effects on Kryptonians, but only works once, and Gold Kryptonite, which would permanently remove Superman's powers.
...
40
There are two examples that I know of:
In the epilogue of Kingdom Come, the Trinity meets in a cafe. Bruce orders "Steak. Well-done.", but the steak he's brought is not even "a shade over medium". Instead of calling for a waiter, Clark decides to make himself useful for once:
In a deleted scene from Superman II (1980), with Christopher Reeve, titular hero ...
39
Our first exposure to Jor-El and Lara being shown sending baby Kal-el to Earth was in 1948 in Superman #53 by Bill Finger and Wayne Boring. This is almost a decade after Superman has been saving the day. It was implied in some earlier depictions (particularly in radio broadcasts) but never actually realized "in print" until Superman #53.
This origin was ...
39
It turns out that this comic does not exist in normal continuity with either universe. Although they look identical to the DC Comics' Earth-One Superman and the Marvel's Earth-616 Spider-Man, they are actually denizens of what Marvel calls Earth-7642.
In this universe, both DC and Marvel characters have always coexisted with each other. So this universe had ...
38
The fate of Superman's parents was revealed on February 12, 1940, with the broadcast of "The Baby from Krypton", first episode of the Superman radio serial. It is quite clear from the broadcast, which you can listen to at the Internet Archive or YouTube, that Jor-El and Lara did not survive the end of Krypton:
So the tiny rocket ship roars into the ...
36
Yes, Superman was really super even compared to other Kryptonians. (Or at least he was until the DCnU New 52 changed the DC Universe, yet again.) Under the original premise, as the Last Son of Krypton, Kal-El/Superman gained his powers due to the slow and long-term exposure of his body to the radiation of our yellow sun. This made him a force to be reckoned ...
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