A Discussion on Supermans' Powers

[FrostyBoy]

As many will know, Superman 5 or rather Superman Lives will be released 2006.


I watched Superman 1 and 2 on DVD recently, and noticed many many... physical.. impossibilites, and other errors.



If Superman picked up the Statue of Liberty, would it cumble?

If Superman held someone's hand, would Superman have to try so hard to be gentle so as not to crush the hand? Would that not be a momental task everytime he has to touch something or bump into something?

and so on

So.. what would it really be like to have Superman's powers?

The reason I ask, is because I think the physics, the reasons, need to make sense in the movie, they need to be accurate and believable.


These are his powers:

Strength:
No one knows how strong he is yet, but let's just say, that he is "biggest swear word ever" strong.

X-Ray

Heat-Vision

Super Speed

Flight

Invulnerability

Super Hearing

Super Breath

There are others, (smaller ones, like the ability to hold his breath for hours) but the above are the main ones.

[Verto]

Batman pwnz Superman. Hands down.

[FrostyBoy]

Originally posted by Verto
Batman pwnz Superman. Hands down.

jk.




Actually, there have been a few fights between the two.

Superman usually starts off as the problem and in the end the solution. So Superman gave Batman some kryptonite - just in case.

[Brent]

Batman was neither super nor hero. this is true. He can't possibly compare to any superhero. As I see it, in the movies and comics, he's not much of a hero. Way too dark. Superman is by definition THE superhero. Aquaman, Green Lantern, and Flash are good too, in that order.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Brent
Batman was neither super nor hero.

That's two things going for him.

Unfortunetly, he does wear spandex, however.

[OzzyKP]

Superman is so lame.

X-Men or Spider-Man is where its at.

[techumseh]

Re: A Discussion on Supermans' Powers

Originally posted by Sn00py
As many will know, Superman 5 or rather Superman Lives will be released 2006.


I watched Superman 1 and 2 on DVD recently, and noticed many many... physical.. impossibilites, and other errors.



If Superman picked up the Statue of Liberty, would it cumble?

If Superman held someone's hand, would Superman have to try so hard to be gentle so as not to crush the hand? Would that not be a momental task everytime he has to touch something or bump into something?

and so on

So.. what would it really be like to have Superman's powers?

The reason I ask, is because I think the physics, the reasons, need to make sense in the movie, they need to be accurate and believable.


These are his powers:

Strength:
No one knows how strong he is yet, but let's just say, that he is "biggest swear word ever" strong.

X-Ray

Heat-Vision

Super Speed

Flight

Invulnerability

Super Hearing

Super Breath

There are others, (smaller ones, like the ability to hold his breath for hours) but the above are the main ones.

You forgot 'telescopic vision'.

[BustaMike]

Also, you forgot the recently added "Teenage Angst."

How can I be close to someone if I constantly have to hide my identity? Teenage woe is me.
- Sissy Smallville Superman

[GePap]

Well, if superman ever lifted anything extremely large, at some point the structural stress would have that thing fall apart, since superman could only support the wight of one small area and the item would not be balanced incorrectly.

I never liked superman- first, too many powers, making him inevitably invincible, and hence trully absurd ways of putting him under threat have to be created cause an invulnerable character means no drama.

[Sava]

superman blowz

[SnowFire]

What GePap said. Also, while I'm generally willing to suspend disbelief over any one thing, it gets hard to do it over multiple things. Superman's incredible powers, okay, we can let that pass. But in order to give him a good challenge, his villains have to be similarly overpowered.

That said, the one thing that Superman has that he really shouldn't is super-speed. If Superman was merely a flying invulnerable super-strength thing, then sure, he can do a lot of stuff, but he can't be everywhere at once. He'd actually have to use his brain in order to at least be in the right location to stop the baddies. With super-speed, I mean, heck, he could be the entire world's cop if he wanted, not to mention do quite a bit more as far as constructive civilian projects (which sadly do not make good comic book material, but for an altruist with super-powers, would in some ways be far more rewarding than merely fighting crime).

Edit: So getting back on topic, how does super-speed work anyway? Does your mind actually speed up as well? If so, then wow, Superman truly is unstoppable. He's living 1000 times more than the rest of us, brain-wise. If not, then you'd think super-speed would cause problems if you weren't flying at a very high altitude- oops, I accidentally ran over that cat at 1,000 miles an hour. Heck, even at altitude, you'd have to be careful not to fly into planes, meaning you couldn't use your super-speed as much.

That said, I think it's pretty clear that Superman has his mind speed up as well, since I think he's done things like instantly tie up criminals with rope, which would require a bit of precision. I wonder if there's any balancing factor? Like, when he uses super-speed, does that age him faster, for instance?

[Berzerker]

Strength:
No one knows how strong he is yet, but let's just say, that he is "biggest swear word ever" strong.

X-Ray

Heat-Vision

Super Speed

Flight

Invulnerability

Super Hearing

Super Breath

There are others, (smaller ones, like the ability to hold his breath for hours) but the above are the main ones.

How about competing powers that negate each other? Like his super sense of humor being nullified by his super dullness... Dullness wins, Superman is dull as hell...

[St Leo]

Originally posted by Verto
Batman pwnz Superman. Hands down.

BOULDER FIGHT!

[Boris Godunov]

Superman is boring and just plain silly. Easily one of the lamest of the comic heroes.

Batman rocks!

[St Leo]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
Superman is boring and just plain silly. Easily one of the lamest of the comic heroes.

Batman rocks!

Oh, you say that now, but can your Batman do this?