Who is really the most powerful DC superhero?
- Thread starter Mr Silver
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I didn't say that, but through her lasso she can force people to say the truth, she can communicate with all forms of animal life and astrally project herself. These probably could be considered "psionic" abilities.
In some versions of the character yes I believe so.
I guess, arguably. Destruction almost certainly knew about it, and seemed to be fond of Dream. There's a decent case for Delirium there, but one of the problems with her is how she was usually portrayed less as someone with actual severe mental problems and more as someone who was just kind of cutely weird and a little bit dumb. And thus easily capable of mounting a rescue given nigh-on omnipotence.
It might be unfair to infer things from the structure of a 75 issue comic book series, too, since the Endless had to pop up pretty continually in order for the plots to work, so it presents an impression of a family who are constantly communicating and interfering with one another despite express statements of how "distant" they are.
I still say Cain or Lucien could have done something. If the Corinthian can kill people, and Brute and Glob can live in some abused kid's head, what was stopping the good... better... well, loyal... guys from helping their boss? Arbitrary rules, probably. That's the answer to everything in Sandman.
Bonus question: is Neil Gaiman's subdivision of the universe and all experience into seven neat compartments really any more sophisticated than when Geoff Johns did it? If so, why so? Also, if you're like me, a stupid visual joke just flickered across your mind's eye.
Because it's not fair to the others, right?
Arbitrary characters is more like it in this case, I think. The Endless might be anthropomorphic personifications, but they don't operate in a truly human way. Seventy years? Try ten thousand, which is time a former lover of Morpheus' spent in hell at his whim. Morpheus was probably glad of the peace and quiet that those seventy years afforded him.I still say Cain or Lucien could have done something. If the Corinthian can kill people, and Brute and Glob can live in some abused kid's head, what was stopping the good... better... well, loyal... guys from helping their boss? Arbitrary rules, probably. That's the answer to everything in Sandman.
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I dunno. He came out of it pretty messed up.
What are the absolute limits to Superman's abilities?
What I mean by this is, what are the biggest feats that he is capable of accomplishing before he turns around to somebody and says "Sorry, I can't actually do that" ?
What kind of things does he really have to push himself to do?
Flight - flying between solar systems in seconds?
Super Strength - moving stars?
Super Speed - moving at speeds equal to or greater than the speed of light despite planetary limitations?
Heat Vision - vaporizing asteroids?
Freeze Breath - taking a planet to an ice age?
Super Hearing - hearing over interstellar distances?
Have limits ever been imposed upon Superman?
What I mean by this is, what are the biggest feats that he is capable of accomplishing before he turns around to somebody and says "Sorry, I can't actually do that" ?
What kind of things does he really have to push himself to do?
Flight - flying between solar systems in seconds?
Super Strength - moving stars?
Super Speed - moving at speeds equal to or greater than the speed of light despite planetary limitations?
Heat Vision - vaporizing asteroids?
Freeze Breath - taking a planet to an ice age?
Super Hearing - hearing over interstellar distances?
Have limits ever been imposed upon Superman?
It's all down to writer fiat. Plenty of people gave it a shot but those coming in later in the reboot cycle have disadvantages Byrne, for example, didn't. There's always a power creep, because some people like Superman doing crazy-plus nonsense, as opposed to regular nonsense, and later writers are going to wind up beholden to it even if they don't. So they're only ever able to add power, not subtract, except in major reinventions.
Well, Byrne put some fairly clear limits on him, but even in the Silver Age, he really couldn't do much of that. He could break the "time barrier", which I assume that means faster than light speed, and he slowed the Earth down in its orbit for a few seconds one time.
For a while there it seemed like Superman's powers were nearly limitless as he literally moved planets and blew out stars. As said above Byrne sort of dialed back the powers a bit to Superman not being able to survive in space longer than he could hold his breath, which still was a long time.
But "realistically" it would seem that on Earth, unless near some form of Kryptonite, his powers have no bounds. I mean he can take a hunk of coal and compress it into a diamond, something it takes nature eons to accomplish. How he manages to shake someone's hand without crushing their bones into a blackhole is a power within itself. The only "limit" to his powers is him not being able to see through lead with his "X-Ray" vision. (Which under logical interpretation involves no X-Rays, but he simply has some-sort-of "see-through" vision.)
Now there are other things he is weak to, magic being one of the things and I believe to other things that can effect his mind like hypnosis.
But he can lift anything on the planet he needs to lift, he can run at relativistic speeds, his heat-vision can melt everything, his super-breath can freeze anything, and he can compress coal into a diamond within seconds. So he's got some pretty strong powers in his corner. At the same time, I've never bought into the idea that Superman is so over-powered as that it's hard to create a foe for him to fight, because you can with foes that can out-think Superman (again, something that's probably hard to do) or just in how he handles the situations he's in to do good for the people of Metropolis.
This is doubtful, hearing over interstellar distances isn't likely as sound doesn't travel through space. Maybe if Superman's hearing is an "active" process (his ears emit something that picks up sounds at their point of creation rather than waiting for the sound to reach them, this is likely as he's able to react to a gun shot before the super-sonic bullet reaches its target) but even then I doubt he can "hear" over interstellar distances, at least of the current writers want to keep Superman's power range within some form of reason and just keep him Earth-bound, not needing to hear into space. Superman: Returns did suggest he can hear from space, presumably everything on the planet, which again assumes active hearing.
I think it's mostly been suggested Superman can "tune" his hearing to filter out what he doesn't want to hear and only hear what he DOES want to hear.
But "realistically" it would seem that on Earth, unless near some form of Kryptonite, his powers have no bounds. I mean he can take a hunk of coal and compress it into a diamond, something it takes nature eons to accomplish. How he manages to shake someone's hand without crushing their bones into a blackhole is a power within itself. The only "limit" to his powers is him not being able to see through lead with his "X-Ray" vision. (Which under logical interpretation involves no X-Rays, but he simply has some-sort-of "see-through" vision.)
Now there are other things he is weak to, magic being one of the things and I believe to other things that can effect his mind like hypnosis.
But he can lift anything on the planet he needs to lift, he can run at relativistic speeds, his heat-vision can melt everything, his super-breath can freeze anything, and he can compress coal into a diamond within seconds. So he's got some pretty strong powers in his corner. At the same time, I've never bought into the idea that Superman is so over-powered as that it's hard to create a foe for him to fight, because you can with foes that can out-think Superman (again, something that's probably hard to do) or just in how he handles the situations he's in to do good for the people of Metropolis.
This is doubtful, hearing over interstellar distances isn't likely as sound doesn't travel through space. Maybe if Superman's hearing is an "active" process (his ears emit something that picks up sounds at their point of creation rather than waiting for the sound to reach them, this is likely as he's able to react to a gun shot before the super-sonic bullet reaches its target) but even then I doubt he can "hear" over interstellar distances, at least of the current writers want to keep Superman's power range within some form of reason and just keep him Earth-bound, not needing to hear into space. Superman: Returns did suggest he can hear from space, presumably everything on the planet, which again assumes active hearing.
I think it's mostly been suggested Superman can "tune" his hearing to filter out what he doesn't want to hear and only hear what he DOES want to hear.
Has it ever been explained just how Superman can *hover*? I mean, we all know he can fly, but how does this manifest itself in his ability to float off the ground without moving? That's what made the Earth-2 Superman a bit more realistic - at first, Kal-L could literally "leap tall buildings in a single bound" and that was it. AFAIK, he only learned to fly, as we usually see it, later.
I don't suppose either DC or Marvel has an explanation of how a character like this can simply float/hover? Superman can fly because Earth has lighter gravity, but this shouldn't mean he can float.
I don't suppose either DC or Marvel has an explanation of how a character like this can simply float/hover? Superman can fly because Earth has lighter gravity, but this shouldn't mean he can float.
There just being lighter gravity doesn't mean he could fly either, at least not fly the way he does with varying speed and change direction. The idea that Superman's powers come from the difference between Earth and Krypton is sort-of old hat. He doesn't fly because of Earth's lower gravity he flies because the Sun gives him that power. However it does it.
It gives him the ability to change speed, direction and movement at will. "How" would only be speculation. I'll go with he's able to change his "solar aura" as needed to get the type of movement (or lack of movement) he wants, sort of like warp drive.
In fact this is how he's able to fly with Lois in "Superman The Movie" with her stretched out of his arms flying along side him, he extends this aura to surround her as well, effectively, giving her the ability to fly so long as she's within his touch. This is also how when he saves people from a fall or some other form of harm they don't get hurt from the sudden stop, or from the heat of an explosion. Superman's aura protects them from damage so long as he's holding them.
It gives him the ability to change speed, direction and movement at will. "How" would only be speculation. I'll go with he's able to change his "solar aura" as needed to get the type of movement (or lack of movement) he wants, sort of like warp drive.
In fact this is how he's able to fly with Lois in "Superman The Movie" with her stretched out of his arms flying along side him, he extends this aura to surround her as well, effectively, giving her the ability to fly so long as she's within his touch. This is also how when he saves people from a fall or some other form of harm they don't get hurt from the sudden stop, or from the heat of an explosion. Superman's aura protects them from damage so long as he's holding them.
^ Aura...I can buy that. I guess that also would explain how he gave Lana's son a brief burst of super strength in Superman III... (at least in the novel, he did. In the film I think all he did was 'sneeze' right when the kid was getting ready to bowl.)
Superman can't fly between solar systems.
His power depends on Earth's sun. That's why Jor-El didn't have superpowers and why Superman needed a ship to go to the presumed vicinity of Krypton.
In some older comics he was, somehow, capable of flying between solar systems. But I think most of that stuff is long gone since his powers were "grounded" a bit more.
Actually, the way he's been written pretty much since the John Byrne reboot is that he can't recharge under a red sun. Other suns have been capable of supplying him on a varying basis usually following the spectral type. e.g. a blue star powers him up faster than a yellow one.
For a while, they probably did this, but I've read some pretty recent stories (including ones in continuity) where Kryptonians were actively depowered by "red solar radiation." How they are not also actively depowered by being inside a burning building is not explained. This isn't surprising, because it's preposterously stupid in the first place, like, even dumber than regular Superman physics.
Speaking of the gravity, I really liked that one part in All-Star Superman where Quintum went to Kandor and the gravity is explicitly stated to be 8 Gs. So did he die from breaking every bone in his body when he hit the floor the second he got there, did he die from asphyxia as all his blood pooled in his legs and stayed there, or did he die when his lungs exploded from his first breath due to the air pressure at ground level in an mighty gravity field? Oh no wait it's fine he has a cane carry on.
I don't know how long he's supposed to "hold a charge", but doesn't that still mean he would run out of juice somewhere between suns? How close to a sun does he have to be to get power?
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