Alan Kistler on Superman's Weaknesses
Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 03:03PM This essay is part of my Superman Files.
"Superman's boring because he's invulnerable. You can never kill him and he can't even be hurt unless you have Kryptonite with you."
Um, not quite, rookie. Obviously you've only seen the movies and never touched the comics or checked out the very fun cartoons that have cropped up now and then. If you had, you'd see that our boy is not, technically, invulnerable.
Yes, it's very difficult to harm him and nearly impossible by conventional means such as guns, knives and tanks. Heck, Superman can hold a grenade and contain its explosion within his cupped bare hands. But Superman doesn't exist in the conventional world. He lives in a universe populated by metahumans, sorcerers, vampires, demi-gods, living alien robots and many others who can match or surpass his abilities.
Here are the basic things Superman needs to watch out for:
- Magic.
- Radiation-based attacks.
- Exhausted power reserves, overwhelming physical force.
- Overloading his powers (including sensory attacks).
- Internal-based attacks (such as a virus or mental attacks).
- Kryptonite.
Note please that this mainly covers Superman's powers/weaknesses in the Post-Crisis continuity.
Want more details? No problem. Let's explore ...
MAGIC
Superman exists in a universe where magic is real. In different adventures, he has worked alongside mages
such as Zatanna and Dr. Fate, as well as magical entities such as the Phantom Stranger and the demon Etrigan.
Now, here's the thing with magic. It is meant to affect everyone. So, if some powerful wizard builds a fortress and casts a spell that is powerful enough to make it invisible to everyone (or at least everyone who isn't a sorcerer of equal merit) then guess what? Superman's heightened senses still won't be able to perceive it. And if someone casts a spell to make Superman a wooden puppet or blow him up like a balloon or turn him into a talking dragon, then our hero's in some serious trouble because he certainly doesn't know any counter spells.
It's important to note though that Superman's powers don't just up and vanish in the presence of magic or a magical being. He may not be able to use his super-vision to detect the invisible fortress we talked about earlier, but if someone else (say Batman) is standing next to him then Superman can still examine their internal bone structure with his X-ray vision.
Another thing to note. Superman's invulnerability is mainly due to a force-field. Some magical foes have been able to get past this and directly injure him. It has been hypothesized by Lex Luthor that the chaotic energies of magic simply disrupt Superman's force-field to some degree. Creatures such as vampires and werewolves (who are inherently magic even if they don't cast spells) can pierce Superman's skin with their claws and fangs. Likewise, weapons that have been magically blessed are capable of harming Superman. But he's still Superman. He can still fight back and his wounds still heal faster due to his Kryptonian powers.
RADIATION ATTACKS
Much of Superman's abilities stem from the fact that his cells are absorbing, processing and converting solar radiation from Earth's sun. Superman is very lucky that Earth and its moon are close enough to the yellow sun that he becomes quite powerful but not so much that he can't control his abilities.
However, Superman may be involved in an adventure that takes him to the far reaches of space where he is away from any nearby suns. Without this energy to replenish him, he's now working on the reserve power stored in his cells. And the more he pushes himself or uses abilities that really tax his energies, such as heat-vision or super-speed flight, the more quickly he will begin to weaken until he's finally tapped out and left only a couple of times 
stronger and tougher than a human being.
Krypton orbited a red sun and its inhabitants had no powers while they were on their home world. The Batman discovered that red solar radiation actually has the effect of locking a Kryptonian's cells from processing solar energy. So if Superman was suddenly exposed to the rays of a red sun, it wouldn't matter if he had any reserve power, his abilities would automatically be cut off. And a focused blast of red solar radiation would not just shut off his powers, it could potentially kill him due to radiation poisoning and heat that could burn his flesh.
Unfortunately for our boy, there are several super-powered beings in the DC Universe who can emit different forms of radiation from their body, including one akin to a red sun's. And there have been technologically gifted folks who have built "red sun lamps" to create prison cells which can hold the Man of Steel and keep him docile.
Speaking of radiation, Superman should also watch out for nuclear weapons, as we discuss in the next section ...
EXHAUSTED POWER, OVERWHELMING FORCE
Superman's body is a solar battery. We've talked about how journeying away from a yellow sun will cause him to run out of juice, putting him on a level more comparable to humans. But even if he remains on Earth, a similar process can occur.
When Superman first fought the monster Doomsday, they battled for several hours, using all their strength and speed against each other. Because he was fighting at full strength without easing up or taking any breaks, Superman began using up more energy than his body was able to replace. As a result, not only did he begin to suffer from general fatigue, but his powers and force-field began to weaken.
There are several beings in the universe who possess power comparable to Superman. Such beings, such as Doomsday or the alien villains Darkseid and Mongul, could cause Superman injury if they overwhelmed him together with physical force and somehow prevented him from having a few moments to take a breath. The constant attacks would cause a similar effect to Superman's battle with Doomsday, stressing his body and powers to the point that they would begin to wane. Essentially, enemies such as these (especially if they attacked as a unit) could beat Superman to death.
By the same token, there have been enemies with powers or weapons that can inflict such colossal damage that they immediately stress out Superman's force-field (at least partially) and cause our boy some injury. When Batman redirected the electrical power output of several city blocks into one burst of energy, it caused Superman some serious pain.
And once when Clark was in the blast area of a 90 megaton bomb, he was knocked out cold by the explosion. When he did wake up half an hour later, he was so dazed and weakened that he could only fly a few feet off the ground before crashing back to the Earth. When he finally returned to Metropolis some time later, he still felt the worse for wear and it's possible he didn't get back to full strength until nearly a day had gone by. Had the nuclear blast been closer or had it been of a stronger force, the Last Son of Krypton could've been more seriously hurt. Had the blast involved multiple warheads of high power, it's even possible Clark could have been killed.
OVERLOADED POWERS
The planet Rann exists under the light of three yellow suns. When Supergirl went there, her powers overloaded to the point that she was not able to control herself. When she tried to fly away from an enemy, she wound up lapping the planet a few times before she finally figured out how to stop. Had she tried to use her heat-vision, it's possible she would have released a blast that completely destroyed a localized area (maybe a small village) within seconds. The same thing would happen to Superman. With no control over his abilities, Superman would be a danger to everyone around him and would be seriously hampered in his ability to fight effectively.
Every battery has its limits so it's also possible that being forced to absorb such excess solar energy for a prolonged period of time could force Superman's cells to decay from being overloaded. Once when he was overloaded on solar energy, it caused his body mass to increase to the point that he was in great pain and had trouble focusing his thoughts.
Clark can also have his own superhuman senses turned against him. Placing him in a room where he is flooded by overlapping noises and voices can serious disorient him, leaving him vulnerable to a sneak attack as he tries to adjust and lower his perceptions accordingly. Likewise, he is vulnerable to sonic attacks on frequencies that the normal human ear cannot detect. Depending on the force of the attack, he can either be disoriented or suffer severe pain.
INTERNAL BASED ATTACKS
Superman's body has been infected by outside agents before, causing damaging effects. Once he was actually poisoned with a form of cancer that was based on Kryptonite radiation and it poisoned him over several days,
bringing him to the brink of death and even causing his skin to glow green. These kinds of attack are slow but definitely effective.
Along these same lines, while his lungs are powerful enough to super-cool air and allow him to hold his breath for a little over two hours, Superman still needs to breathe. So if there's some situation where Superman were caught in a vacuum or underwater and was unable to free himself, he should eventually suffocate.
Likewise, Superman must be on guard from mental attack since he lives in a world of telepaths and the like. Several times, Superman has been under mind control only to eventually resist the attack and reassert his own will. Other times, he's only been able to free himself after getting help from an ally. When brunt force has been involved (i.e. a telepathic attack rather than the more subtle power of controlling the mind), Superman's been more resistant in general.
It's possible that consciously being aware of a direct attack helps his will and allows him to shake it off more readily. It's also known that it's difficult to do a general scan of his thoughts (the telepathic Martian Manhunter has claimed this is a common Kryptonian trait). But he's not immune to telepathy either and needs to exercise caution with it.
KRYPTONITE
"Their home is their only poison."
- Lionel Luthor, Smallville
It is said that Kryptonite was created when the core of Krypton began the chain reaction that soon lead to that world's death. This reaction fused and altered the remnants of the planet into a new green-colored radioactive ore, the energies of which would immediately affect any life native to Krypton, poisoning their cells with its radiation. If a Kryptonian is exposed to Kryptonite for too long or is given an intensive blast of green-K radiation, they will die. However, Kryptonians suffer no cumulative effect from K-radiation and once the green-K is removed from their presence, they just need several minutes (or a couple of hours depending on the exposure time and the size of the rock) to get back to full strength.
Kryptonite radiation is able to penetrate Superman's force-field. A Kryptonite shard or weapon could pierce his flesh and wounds inflicted by green-K would take longer for Superman to heal from than normal wounds. If splinters or shards of Kryptonite are left in Superman's body, his wounds will not begin to heal or close until the radioactive elements are removed. If they are not removed in time, the effect will cause him to die from radiation sickness.
Kryptonite is harmful to other organisms as well, such as humans, but only with prolonged exposure. If the radiation was focused or intensified though, it could certainly burn and injure a human quite easily, even if the radiation poisoning they receive is minimal. In more recent years, it's been shown that intense exposure to Kryptonite can sometimes bring on a mutagenic change to another life form, both human and animal, and sometimes endow them with superhuman abilities. One such example is Dr. Russell Abernathy, the most recent villain to call himself "Kryptonite Man." Due to his intense exposure to Kryptonite, he now has superhuman strength and can channel K-radiation from his body.
Understandably, 
Superman has used lead-lined radiation suits during times when he knows he's going to be in proximity to it. Unlike normal rad suits, his newest lead-lined outfit (which Batman calls the "K-suit") also functions as body armor so that it won't be easily damaged if Clark is forced to fight while still in the presence of green-K.
"This ... piece of my birth planet ... I wonder what part of Krypton it came from ... Land or sea. Surface or core. It could have been from the city my parents lived in. It could have touched the foundation of their home. My father might have walked on this very stone.
"And yet it would kill me."
- Superman,
from Superman/Batman # 45
Although it is possible to create synthetic Kryptonite, the process has been said to be difficult, expensive and requiring a few years to be done properly. Likewise, synthetic-K seems to have weaker effects and a very short radioactive half-life.
In the comics, Kryptonite weakens Superman and causes him great pain, yes, but it doesn't completely eliminate his abilities. It simply dulls them and the pain he experiences keeps him from using them effectively. So while he is usually too weak to fly away while in the presence of Green-K, there have been instances where he's been able to use his heat-vision (with considerable effort) despite the Kryptonite radiation.
Another example of note is the story "Up, Up and Away" by Geoff Johns and Kurt Busiek. During the final battle of the story, Superman hurled himself through a ship filled with Kryptonite after being hit by focused beams of K-radiation. Almost instantly, he lost his flight and most of his strength, yet he still had enough resistance to injury that he survived a subsequent fall from a height of what looked to be at least 200 feet without any major injury or even loss of consciousness. And a few minutes later, his powers began to come back.
Writers made sure that Superman's powers weren't completely removed by Kryptonite as a way to avoid the situation of super-villains exposing the Man of Steel to "Green-K" and then just shooting him in the head with a normal bullet. Of course, if the bullet itself were lined with Kryptonite, then our boy would be in some serious trouble.
Kryptonite isn't purely about harm, however. On several occasions, it has been said to be a great energy source. The cyborg villain Metallo has often used a "Kryptonite heart" to power his robotic body, stating that green-K energizes him far more efficiently than uranium. And like many energy sources, it can be used as an explosive substance under the right 
circumstances.
Although green-K is the natural form of Kryptonite, later forms were discovered. Jewel Kryptonite was Kryptonite ore that had originally been part of the Jewel Mountains of Krypton and had different properties as a result. Blue Kryptonite and black Kryptonite seem to be have been artificially created by super-villains. And different circumstances led to normal green-K mutating into other differently-colored ores.
A long time ago, Superman gave Batman a sample of green Kryptonite to be used in case the Man of Steel ever went rogue or lost his mind or fell under outside control. Unbeknownst to Superman, Batman also have samples of all the other types of Kryptonite stored in one of his vaults, just in case.
So here are the different forms of Kryptonite and the effects they have on our Kryptonian hero.
RED - Red-K was created when samples of green Kryptonite passed through a strange alchemical cloud in space and were mutated as a result. Red-K causes either a psychological or mutagenic change in the Kryptonian who is exposed to it. What this change will be is completely unpredictable. It may cause Superman to behave irrationally, it may turn him into a giant insect, it may give him the head of a lion, it may alter his powers, it may give him amnesia or convince him that he's afraid of the color purple. There's just no way of knowing until it's too late.
These changes, whether it's psychological or physical, last anywhere between 24 to 48 hours and afterward Superman is invulnerable to that particular piece of red Kryptonite (perhaps because his body learns how to resist its specific radiation).
Batman once created an artificial form of Kryptonite that happened to be colored red. This artificial Kryptonite caused Superman's skin to become transparent, forcing him to absorb more solar energy than his body could properly process and causing severe pain as a result.
GOLD - Gold-K disrupts a Kryptonian's physical ability to process solar radiation. Exposure won't cause pain, but the Kryptonian would immediately lose their super-powers (including their force-field), leaving him or her vulnerable to anything that can kill a normal human being. The effects of gold-K radiation only seem to last for about two minutes.
JEWEL - Apparently a remnant of Krypton's jeweled mountains which was irradiated by the planet's destruction. Jewel Kryptonite enhances mental abilities for Kryptonians in the Phantom Zone (and possibly for those who are living in the real, tangible world if they know how to use it).
BLACK - A substance called "Black Kryptonite" was given to Lex Luthor by the alien villain Darkseid. When Supergirl was exposed to it, an evil duplicate of her was created. Considering this sort of effect is in keeping with Darkseid's desire to corrupt all life in the universe, and since no other samples of black-K have been found, it seems likely that Darkseid himself artificially created this form of Kryptonite.
Black Kryptonite was originally introduced in the TV program Smallville, where it had a similar effect on humans as well as Kryptonians and was said to be the result of green-K being super-heated. The film Superman III also had an artificially created form of Kryptonite that resulted in Superman's darker nature coming forth and becoming a separate living being.
BLUE - Blue Kryptonite only affects Bizarro and presumably the inhabitants of the "Bizarro World" that he
later created. The exact origin of blue Kryptonite is unknown. It may have been created by the Joker when he temporarily stole the great magical power that allowed him to create the current version of Bizarro (previous Bizarros were failed attempts to clone Superman's DNA).
Blue Kryptonite weakens and slowly poisons Bizarro in the same way that green-K affects normal Kryptonians. Bizarro is immune to the effects of green Kryptonite and, likewise, Superman is completely immune to the radiation of blue-K.
Interestingly enough, blue-K radiation has the side effect of enhancing Bizarro's brain power, not only allowing him to speak in clear sentences but also granting him 12th-level intelligence akin to Brainiac's (normal humans possess 6th level intelligence).
Like Superman with green-K, Bizarro regains his health and normal frame of mind as soon as blue-K is removed and he still possesses his powers while in its presence.
SILVER - Also called "magic-K" by the Flash. Pre-Crisis, silver-K was a fake created by Jimmy Olsen to celebrate Superman's silver anniversary.
In the Post-Crisis comics, the only sample of silver Kryptonite was a pendant divided into two halves that was found by Batman and Superman. The main part of the pendant was said to be the mystical amulet of "Ach-Om Rashay", blessed with a spell that would affect the mind of an enemy. Batman couldn't completely understand its radiation signature but confirmed that the core was definitely Kryptonite.
When Superman encountered it, he immediately fell into a state of aloof detachment from
reality, hallucinating that the world he lived in was a kids cartoon version of the reality he knew. He became lazy, very hungry and lost most of his attention span. The effect was only countered by the second, complimentary piece of the silver Kryptonite stone. Batman said this "cure" was due to the second, smaller half of the pendant somehow having a reverse radiation signature, while the sorceress Zatanna claimed it was actually enchanted with a counter-spell.
Batman further noted that the silver-K amulet looked ancient, which understandably confused him since Kryptonite was created when the planet Krypton was destroyed only a few decades ago. Zatanna confirmed that the amulet was centuries old and said it was carved from a stone that fell from the sky, so the truth behind the origin of silver-K remains to be seen.
THE ORIGIN OF KRYPTONITE
When Superman's creators Jerome Seigel and Jerry Shuster started settling down and realized they would soon start families, they decided they wanted their most popular creation to go through a similar life-style change. They scripted a story called "The K-metal from Krypton" wherein Superman would discover a glowing metal ore that was somehow poisonous to him (yet gave Earth people super-powers if they touched it) and through it would finally learn the truth about the planet he'd come from and why he was sent away. The story would end with Superman revealing to Lois Lane who he really was and the two would begin an actual, honest relationship and partnership as Lois would now help Superman in his missions and aid in covering for Clark Kent's absences.
But DC said NO! and the story was shelved. When the radio show The Adventures of Superman came out, the story was eventually picked up and adapted for one of their story-arcs. The "K-metal" was renamed as "Kryptonite" and was a glowing meteorite from the remains of Krypton.
How could this "K-metal" hurt Superman? Seigel's explanation (from Clark Kent's own words) was:
"We're like two poles of a short-circuited battery. While I lived on Krypton, I derived great strength and powers from the planet, but after the explosion and my removal to Earth, contact was broken in some mysterious fashion. When the fragment nears Earth, the effect upon me is negative!"
I guess this explanation was a bit too metaphysical for the radio show writers, because they put their own spin on it some time later:
"The polarity of the electrical contact between the Man of Steel and his native soil has been reversed by the explosion of the planet and the effect of the formerly beneficial Kryptonite has become negative."
So ... Kryptonite was a beneficial substance while it was on Krypton. Just as, I guess, spinach is good for us. But the explosion made it become opposite in nature. Just as, I suppose, if Earth exploded, spinach would afterwards be able to kill us just by our being in the same room with it ... I think.
In the comics, Kryptonite was finally introduced as a radioactive ore which only affected Kryptonians. In the 1980s, it was revised so that it also affected humans and other life forms, but only with prolonged exposure. The writers of the TV show Smallville came up with the idea that Kryptonite could mutate certain life forms under the right circumstances and a few years later this was included in the comic book continuity as well.
Pre-Crisis, there were a few other forms of Kryptonite that made rare appearances. Anti-Kryptonite affected only Kryptonians who were not under a yellow sun. Kryptonite-X gave temporary powers to Earth life forms. Slow Kryptonite affected human beings like green-K affected Kryptonians. Bizarro red-Kryptonite affected humans the same way red-K affected Superman. And in an alternate universe story by Peter David, pink Kryptonite seemed to alter Superman's sexual orientation.
You know enough about Superman's weaknesses now. Go out and enjoy your life.
Reader Comments (7)
KISTLER'S RESPONSE:
Well, like I said, his force field/durability can be overwhelmed by tremendous force. I mentioned Batman once used the electricity of several city blocks to injure Superman so by that token Livewire would definitely be a threat at times. A normal lightning bolt isn't going to do much though since we've seen him hit by normal lightning once or twice Post-Crisis with no real ill effect.
Like in "Red Son".
KISTLER'S RESPONSE:
Since kryptonite itself utilizes radiation, I think using OTHER sources of radiation to hurt Kal is very attractive to writers because it's not resorting to the oh-so-easy-to-overuse green-K and yet it's close enough that you don't need to explain it to any readers who aren't too familiar with Superman comics.
what im trying to say is supperman is a big blue boyscout and i can see him dying in final crisis
KISTLER'S RESPONSE:
That has absolutely occurred to me. But this essay wasn't focused on WHO could kill Superman, just what could hurt him.
Also, in the future, you might want to watch the spelling errors and lack of punctuation. Otherwise some folks may think you're referencing Sergio Argones' parody character of Supperman.