Abstract
Since Time immemorial, man has sought to explain the powers of Kal- El, a.k.a. Superman. Siegel et al. Supposed that His mighty strength stems from His origin on another planet whose density and as a result, gravity, was much higher than our own. Natural selection on the planet of krypton would therefore endow Kal El with more efficient muscles and higher bone density; explaining, to first order, Superman’s extraordinary powers. Though concise, this theory has proved inaccurate. It is now clear that Superman is actually flying rather than just jumping really high; and His freeze-breath, x-ray vision, and heat vision also have no account in Seigel’s theory.
In this paper we propose a new unified theory for the source of Superman’s powers; that is to say, all of Superman’s extraordinary powers are manifestation of one supernatural ability, rather than a host. It is our opinion that all of Superman’s recognized powers can be unifed if His power is the ability to manipulate, from atomic to kilometer length scales, the inertia of His own and any matter with which He is in contact.
I thought Superman got his power from Earth’s yellow sun?
Check out ‘Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex’ by Larry Niven (it’s in one of his story collections). It is an analysis of the problems inherent in Superman having a sex life. Doesn’t work out well for Lois…
A white paper on Superman’s powers.
And I though I had too much time on my hands.
And I thought I was a comic book nerd.
BTW Blackest night rulez.
Somebody probably got a Phd. with that paper.
I was expecting Nietzsche.
It all makes sense now
I think we all know where Superman’s propulsive
power comes from in space. It’s from expanding
gasses eminating from his anal orefice (FARTS)
I thought everybody new that. I figured it out
way back in 1941.
#1 has it. I can remember reading a comic that made that very point very strongly. He needs a yellow dwarf star.
Aw, you just got to admit, seeing Superman taking a bullet to the eyeball, and then watching it fall harmlessly to the ground, is damn impressive.
In most (if not all) of the movies so far, Superman has hovered in mid air. Which isn’t flying or jumping. SO the theory is that he controls the layer of air surrounding him, to achieve this trick. However, being able to lift extremely heavy objects (like an island) suggest this is wrong. No amount of air turbulence could support that kind of weight. So it’s got to be some kind of anti-gravity or “negative” gravity power.
BTW, the next movie isn’t due until 2011. So isn’t it a bit early to start pluggin him now? Pace yourself, I feel it’s going to be a long 18 months.
I don’t believe it. For it to be proven the modern scientific method is: 1. Reproduce expected results in a computer model and then 2. Get Al Gore to do a power-point presentation on it.
If the authors can do this the theory will get real traction.