One thing I've never understood regarding Superman stories

[Myasishchev]

The "Kryptonians don't want to leave their world" doesn't make sense in any continuity with Brainiac in it.

While xenophobia would be a normal response, the reaction to a whole city being abducted by an invader isn't usually passive isolationist xenophobia.

It's more like, "this is a day that will live in infamy, now let's go murder every Coluan, especially the babies."

But there are so, so many problems with Superman's origin, specifically Krypton, that the "why don't they just leave" issue is only one thread of the rope, which also includes:

1)why did Kryptonians evolve powers that function under yellow sunlight when their sun is red?;

2)planets can't explode;

3)related, stars capable of sustaining life do not go supernova;

4)also related, what kind of red star has a life-sustaining planet orbiting it, anyway? (this objection is subject to the outcome of present-day scientific investigation, but red giants are obviously out, and my understanding is that red dwarves would tidally lock any planet close enough);

5)it strains belief that a civilization of hundreds of millions or billions could ever act as unanimously as generally portrayed in regards to Jor-El's warning;

6)what kind of fuck-up explains how the Daxamites wound up vulnerable to a common element, instead of a fakey, rarer one like kryptonite? (I mean, I know the story, but oops doesn't even start to cover that);

7)how long was Superman in transit? it's usually portrayed as a brief interval, but the existence of FTL tech on Krypton really, really militates against any lack of a relocation option.

8)related, if Jor-El, the geologist and apparently also spaceship designer (yeah, whatever), knew that yellow sun radiation gave Kryptonians superpowers, then this was almost certainly well-known by biologists--and if so, I'm pretty sure we just found an economically compelling reason to colonize other planets, dudes. How much would you pay to get to Alpha Centauri if it gave you the ability to shoot death lasers from your eyes, fly, and live as a functional immortal? I mean, at least fifty bucks, right?;

9)there are continues where Jor-El invented the Phantom Zone (because geology, astronautics, and biology ain't enough, we add dimensional physics--our friend Jor-El is a highly qualified Kryptonian)? Is Kal-El's dad the universe's greatest monster?

Now these problems are all soluble, but not without rewriting the hell out of the existing material, since no single Superman origin of which I am aware significantly bothers with them. The LSH cartoon, however, gets points for depicting Krypton as merely dead as a result of its vulcanism, instead of blown to smithereens.

 

[Anwar]

No, that explanation doesn't really make any sense at all. "Genetically tied?" What the hell does that even mean? If it means they were adapted to a narrow range of survival conditions, why couldn't their high technology replicate those conditions on their ships?

It wasn't something natural, a bunch of xenophobic Kryptonians (who were ruling the planet at the time) about 150,000 years ago used some visiting Alien missionary's technology to alter the DNA of the entire species so it'd be impossible for anyone to survive leaving the planet and its environs. Also, they made the environment nearly impossible for any non-Kryptonians to live there too.

The idea being that now no aliens would contaminate Krypton, and the Kryptonians couldn't contaminate any aliens out there either.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I'd have to say that I'm not a fan of Kryptonians being "tied" to Krypton. To me, the story works better where they ignore Jor-El out of arrogance. Even if they were capable of spaceflight, they took no preparations to evacuate and probably were unprepared to launch when they finally figured out how screwed they were. To me, regardless of details (the Animated Series version of Braniac was one of my favorites), that story holds the best for Superman.

 

[Anwar]

They didn't "ignore" Jor-El in the Byrne version, he didn't bother telling anyone because he found out too late to do anything but shoot his son off-world. The genetic tying was to utterly insure there'd be no other Kryptonians showing up.

 

[Vendikarr]

And it doesn't make any sense: Really, if they had huge Space Fleets and a "Kryptonian Empire" the "withdrew back to Krypton and became isolationist" thing is unbelievable because they'd still have colonies on other worlds and too big a population to fit all back on Krypton alone.

Unless there was a fear that Kryptonians living on other worlds would mutate due to the varying environments, and those colonies were purged.

 

[Agent Richard07]

The idea that made the most sense was the late 80s Post-Crisis explanation: The Kryptonians were genetically tied to Krypton and literally couldn't survive leaving the planet. Jor-El found out about this and cured Kal-El of it. He was going to cure the rest of Krypton but found out about the imminent destruction and that he could only save his son in the time remaining.

No, that explanation doesn't really make any sense at all. "Genetically tied?" What the hell does that even mean?

Maybe something in their nervous systems were tuned to work only within Krypton's magnetic field and without it, they'd die within weeks. Works for me.

 

[Hound of UIster]

That doesn't sound any better.

 

[Anwar]

Remember, it wasn't natural.

 

[Hound of UIster]

That makes no difference to me. It's still ridiculous.

 

[Christopher]

But there are so, so many problems with Superman's origin, specifically Krypton, that the "why don't they just leave" issue is only one thread of the rope, which also includes:

1)why did Kryptonians evolve powers that function under yellow sunlight when their sun is red?;

I like the post-Crisis explanation: that their cells evolved to absorb energy from sunlight, and since yellow stars are hotter and more energetic, Kryptonian cells absorb even more energy under a yellow star and thus they become more powerful.

Also, the original concept of Siegel and Shuster, which survived to some extent into the Silver and Bronze Ages, was that Krypton was a much more massive planet than Earth with much higher gravity, so that Kryptonians had to evolve much denser tissues and far stronger muscles. Which all too often gets ignored in stories where Superman is reduced to merely human strength and durability by Kryptonite exposure.

4)also related, what kind of red star has a life-sustaining planet orbiting it, anyway? (this objection is subject to the outcome of present-day scientific investigation, but red giants are obviously out, and my understanding is that red dwarves would tidally lock any planet close enough);

Actually, no. That would be true of red dwarfs below a certain size and temperature (spectral type K5, IIRC), but red dwarfs above that limit could still work. And even tidally locked planets could sustain life. Simulations in recent years have shown that their atmospheres and oceans could distribute heat widely enough that habitable conditions could exist in a broad band around the terminator, especially if the atmosphere is dense. And 1:1 isn't the only tidal-lock configuration; there could be planets in a 3:2 tidal lock like Mercury, with the "day" lasting only two local "years" -- which, given how close in a red dwarf's habitable zone would be, could be a matter of weeks or less.

As for a red giant, it could potentially warm an outer planet or moon to habitable temperatures for maybe a few million years. So maybe an outer ice planet with life in the subsurface oceans could be melted and turned temperate when the star goes red dwarf, and it could then become viable for settlers from space (as Kryptonians were assumed to be in the Silver/Bronze Age continuity, or at least in Elliott S! Maggin's novel Last Son of Krypton which was built on same).

5)it strains belief that a civilization of hundreds of millions or billions could ever act as unanimously as generally portrayed in regards to Jor-El's warning;

They didn't have to. Only the leaders would have to.

7)how long was Superman in transit? it's usually portrayed as a brief interval, but the existence of FTL tech on Krypton really, really militates against any lack of a relocation option.

This is one of the annoying continuity errors in Superman: The Movie. At one point it's implied in Jor-El's voiceovers that baby Kal-El soared through space for thousands of years, but later Lex says Krypton exploded in 1948 and Ghost Jor-El says that if Krypton hadn't exploded he could be holding his son in his arms right now.

It wasn't something natural, a bunch of xenophobic Kryptonians (who were ruling the planet at the time) about 150,000 years ago used some visiting Alien missionary's technology to alter the DNA of the entire species so it'd be impossible for anyone to survive leaving the planet and its environs. Also, they made the environment nearly impossible for any non-Kryptonians to live there too.

Just asserting that it happened doesn't explain how it could work. Why is it impossible to survive leaving the planet's environs? Why can't the conditions of those environs be artificially replicated? Hell, we can't survive outside the conditions of our planet, namely the presence of a breathable atmosphere and the radiation shielding it provides, but we can recreate these conditions artificially.

 

[Mistral]

Perhaps the "tied to their planet" idea was this: a rare element way up on the periodic table is present throughout the Kryptonian environment and is in every living thing. This would be like the presence of, say, cobalt in our own environment. Furthermore, although the atmosphere would protect Kryptonian life, when the element is exposed to the naked radiation of a red sun it would mutate into various life-threatening isotopes. This would, of course, be what we call kryptonite in its various forms. The Kryptonians had some kind of space flight-but their shielding technology wasn't totally safe yet. Unmanned probes were fine-but inhabited space vehicles would tend to return dead or horribly mutated astronauts. Jor-El sees the impending doom coming (perhaps brought about by the volatile nature of this base element in Krypton's core) and tries to develop a means of containing those energies. He succeeds but not in time-he has the containment substance which greatly reduces the energy output of the element but not in sufficient quantities to save the planet. This is due to short-sighted politicians on the Council arrogantly refusing to listen-and fund the necessary program for mass production and delivery of same on target. Jor-El takes a small probe from the Science Center, modifies it for suspended animation, and injects the substance into his sun to "shield" him from the harmful effects of the red sun exposure.
As Krypton is being torn asunder he launches his boy into space, where the tiny craft eventually makes its way to the attention of Tomar Re of the Green Lantern Corps. Exhausted and guilt-ridden from his failure to save the planet, Tomar "boosts" the small probe towards Earth, a planet similar enough to Krypton that the tiny Kal-El will be able to pass himself off as a native as he grows up.

An argument might be made that the shielding that keeps Kal from being killed by the red solar radiation frequencies isn't perfect, and that the base element's volatile energy output, combined with the frequencies of a yellow sun, are the true source of Superman's power. This would also make a workable solution for why kryptonite has an effect on him but not on humans.

Now all I need is a bow......

 

[Alidar Jarok]

The idea that made the most sense was the late 80s Post-Crisis explanation: The Kryptonians were genetically tied to Krypton and literally couldn't survive leaving the planet. Jor-El found out about this and cured Kal-El of it. He was going to cure the rest of Krypton but found out about the imminent destruction and that he could only save his son in the time remaining.

No, that explanation doesn't really make any sense at all. "Genetically tied?" What the hell does that even mean?

Maybe something in their nervous systems were tuned to work only within Krypton's magnetic field and without it, they'd die within weeks. Works for me.

I'm fine with that for some sci fi thing, just not Krypton. Jor-el needs to be right and be able to save everyone. If they would die anyway, the whole thing becomes a giant waste of time.

 

[Anwar]

If it's because of something they did to themselves, it's still their own damn faults.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Except that particular scenario no longer exists...and the Superman The Movie retcon origin won't exist come Sep either. Krypton will have an entirely new origin which will won't see at least right away according to Grant Morrison.

 

[Mistral]

Ignored my entire post? Seriously?

I even have an explanation for the Daxamites....

 

[Broccoli]

That makes no difference to me. It's still ridiculous.

Everything with Superman is ridiculous.

It wasn't something natural, a bunch of xenophobic Kryptonians (who were ruling the planet at the time) about 150,000 years ago used some visiting Alien missionary's technology to alter the DNA of the entire species so it'd be impossible for anyone to survive leaving the planet and its environs. Also, they made the environment nearly impossible for any non-Kryptonians to live there too.

Just asserting that it happened doesn't explain how it could work. Why is it impossible to survive leaving the planet's environs? Why can't the conditions of those environs be artificially replicated? Hell, we can't survive outside the conditions of our planet, namely the presence of a breathable atmosphere and the radiation shielding it provides, but we can recreate these conditions artificially.

You do realize this is the same comic that has a guy flying, stopping in mid-air, and then changing directions, right?

You are over-analyzing it. It was an interesting and somewhat unique idea to explain away why no other Kryptonians could leave the planet. Then never went into the science of it, and they never needed to.

It is sci-fi magic, plain and simple. Like nearly all aspects of Superman, if you start looking too deep into it, it is going to fall apart.

 

[G2309]

I remember the cartoon episode beig realy good and liked that explanation.

 

[Hound of UIster]

It is sci-fi magic, plain and simple. Like nearly all aspects of Superman, if you start looking too deep into it, it is going to fall apart.

It's simply not believable sci-fi no matter how many bizarre explanations you come up with There is no reason why it should even be used in the first place other than personal fan nostalgia.

 

[Broccoli]

It is sci-fi magic, plain and simple. Like nearly all aspects of Superman, if you start looking too deep into it, it is going to fall apart.

It's simply not believable sci-fi no matter how many bizarre explanations you come up with.

As I was alluding to, nearly everything involved with Superman is crazy and just as non-believable. Lasers shooting from eyes? C'mon!

In terms of the topic, if you are referring to to no other Kryptonians surviving, well, that's just one of those things you kinda have to go with. If you mean the whole "tied to the planet" thing, it is no more silly than the other dozen reasons given over the years.

 

[Myasishchev]

Ignored my entire post? Seriously?

I even have an explanation for the Daxamites....

Superman's origin depending on a Green Lantern is a little problematic.

It's like doing a rendition of Batman's origin, where you can see Alan Scott standing around in the background, glowing like a radium watch and kind of shrugging his shoulders.