Evolution of Superman’s Abilities
We’re all familiar with the abilities traditionally ascribed to the Man of Steel:
“faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and able to leap tall buildings at a single bound”
The phrase was coined in the 1940s, not by Shuster and Siegel but by a writer called Jay Morton and listeners to the radio series were the first to experience it. It would be interesting to ask those writers how they would compare Superman now – faster than a laser? more powerful than a Jumbo Jet? You get the picture; Superman’s abilities were compared to contemporary things.
Superman’s original abilities as conceived by Shuster & Siegel, were amazing strength, speed, almost invulnerability and an enormous jump. He could not, however, fly. It was the Fleischer Brothers animation studios which pushed for the ability to fly as they found the constant leaping from building to building tough to animate, specifically it took too many sequences to get Superman from place to place.
Krypton
At this early stage Superman’s abilities were derived from his Kryptonian heritage – namely that Kyrpton was a much older civilisation and the inhabitants were more evolved. Later iterations of the background story pin Superman’s powers on the fact that gravity is weaker on Earth than on Krypton, providing him abilities based on those differences. Superman’s vulnerability to Kryptonite was also introduced in the 1940s.
During what has become known as the Silver Age of comics from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s, Superman gradually became the recipient of many other abilities, many involving his eyes such as super hot rays, x-ray vision and microscopic vision (a sort of zoom ability). Other powers included super-hearing and super breath.
All these extra abilities certainly added to the fascinating Superman story but the writers were backing themselves into a corner. It became harder and harder to present Superman with challenges that would actually test him. What could possibly defeat someone with so many unbeatable abilities? Story lines became more and more fantastical with Superman zooming around the universe solving interplanetary problems, a long way from the vigilante saving office girls from muggers and thwarting the Klu Klux Klan.
John Byrne
To their credit, DC Comics recognised this and in the mid-1980s began to look at ways to
curtail some of his abilities once more, to enable writers to expand the story lines back to a more terrestrial level. As mentioned in the previous article, John Byrne was the main driver behind this move, tidying up some of the strands of recent history, rewriting some of the main characters (Lex Luthor) but more importantly reigning in some of Superman’s powers. Events in one or two story lines proved him to be vulnerable and he could only travel intergalactically as long as he could hold his breath.
These changes were a welcome step back for the franchise but inevitably it didn’t last long. Superman can now zoom through space unhindered once more and even fly into the sun without coming to harm.









