Powers and Abilities of Superman - Complete List

Complete List

Over the course of the character's existence of more than 70 years, Superman has—at some point or another—had various combinations of the following powers and abilities. The levels of those individual powers and abilities have also changed in intensity, from "merely" enhanced above that of normal humans to truly god-like. Some added as the character evolved, others toned down and restricted in later eras.

• Living Solar Battery – Superman's powers rely on his cells' ability to absorb and metabolize solar energy from local stars like Earth's sun. His Kryptonian body is a living "solar battery" that absorbs solar energies and converts them for fuel for his powers. His cells also store yellow sun energy so he can use his powers under objects, at night, in dark places, and in space. (Pre-Crisis, yellow stars were said to emit "ultra solar rays" which enabled Kryptonians' superpowers; penetrating the Earth itself, said rays also enabled Kryptonians to stay super-powered at night.) The more yellow sun rays Superman absorbs the stronger he gets; in some instances he has been shown to enter the sun in order to increase his powers to their highest potentials, as seen in 1998's DC One Million storyline.

• Superhuman Strength – Enhanced strength much greater than that of a human and even most superhumans, making him "more powerful than a locomotive," is one of Superman's signature powers and has often been described as chief among his other abilities. While not infinite, depictions of the upper limit of how much weight he can lift have ranged from being able to do the work of several laborers in half the time, crush diamonds in his grasp, lift objects hundreds of times his own weight including any sized vehicle over his head, bend and/or break steel with his bare hands, lifting mountains, and all the way up to in the Silver Age and Modern Age where he is seen moving entire planets. This makes him arguably the strongest superhero in the DC Universe. After being saturated with yellow solar energy in All-Star Superman, his strength was tested as exceeding the force of 200 quintillion tons (or 2x1020 tons, in scientific notation, i.e., two hundred billion billion tons) he held this much with one hand and he even said he feels like he can pick up more, enough to pull the Earth away from the sun. As of The New 52 reboot, his strength now exceeds 5.972 sextillion metric tons. Explanations include being adapted to the heavier gravity of Krypton, and his muscles using the power of the solar energy which fuels all his abilities. Superman's stamina has also been shown as limitless (whilst he remains in yellow sunlight).

• Invulnerability – Immunity to almost all forms of harm and ailments, including extreme force and extremely high temperatures. Effectiveness has ranged from his skin being piercable by nothing less than a "bursting shell" to being completely unharmed by a star going supernova. Explanations for this ability have ranged from Kryptonians having a molecular structure with a density superior to that of titanium and emitting an unbreakable aura of solar energy. His invulnerability has enabled him to withstand Darkseid's omega beams, a feat originally thought to be impossible. In the rare instances, however, Superman has required medical attention, this resistance to injuries has complicated necessary procedures such as surgery. For instance, when a criminal shot him with a kryptonite bullet, a surgeon was forced to give Superman a controlled exposure to the mineral in order to temporarily weaken his skin enough to make the incisions necessary to remove internal fragments of the bullet. Superman can also withstand kryptonite in certain circumstances, such as lifting an island made of kryptonite and tossing it into space in Superman Returns. Superman has something that increases his invulnerability called a bioelectric aura which protects him from some attacks and he can extend this to protect other like what he did in All Star Superman. In some versions, this power greatly retards his aging and increases as he gets older, sometimes rendering him effectively immortal. The epilogue to the Justice Society of America storyline "Thy Kingdom Come" (a sequel of sorts to the Kingdom Come limited series) showing Superman surviving 1,000 years into the future, albeit as a very elderly, hunched-over man. Another version in DC One Million lives through the 853rd Century, some 83,200 years from now.

• Healing Factor – Superman is shown to possess remarkable recuperative powers that allow him to quickly heal from wounds and makes him immune to all forms of human or Earthly diseases, illnesses, viruses and toxins. Superman heals faster when he is closer to the sun and he is absorbing more sun rays.

• Flight – The ability to naturally defy and operate independently of gravity and propel himself through the air at will. Originally, he only had the power to jump great distances, as stated by the 1940s Superman cartoons ("Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound"). Has ranged from simply being able to jump great distances using his vast strength, to beginning in late 1941 being able to accelerate, float in midair, and change direction while traveling. Later he became able to traverse interstellar distances without stopping. Lex Luthor once theorized that Superman had to stem from a gigantic planet with enormous gravity, where his species had developed natural anti-gravity organs to be able to function; on Earth, this would allow him to control his own gravimetric field in order to fly.

• Superhuman Speed – Another one of Superman's signature abilities is his superhuman speed, allowing him to move, react, run, and fly extraordinarily fast. Originally classified as being "faster than a speeding bullet", allowing him to catch bullets in mid air before they hit him, or anyone else. Top speeds have ranged from nearly a hundred miles per hour when he was first created in the 1930s to speeds far greater than the speed of light. His thoughts, perceptions and reflexes are also greatly accelerated to be able to control his actions while moving at high speeds. Superman's running speed has oftentimes been shown to be on par with that of The Flash's.

• X-Ray Vision – The ability to see through solid objects, usually with the exception of lead. Early stories assumed that hiding objects in lead would prevent him from finding them, however, more modern stories have Superman being able to take advantage of lead's opaqueness to do a wide scan of an area with his X-Ray vision in which the lead objects become immediately visible and then narrow his search to those specific locations. Explanations for how this power works vary, but rarely include the emission and perception of actual X-Rays, as such high-energy radiation would actually be dangerous to living things he uses it on. A more common theory involves being able to see and concentrate on the patterns of natural cosmic radiation as it reverberates off objects. X-Ray vision was first used by Superman in Action Comics #11 (April 1939), where it was called "Superman's X-ray eyesight".

• Superhuman Intelligence – Superman possesses intellect that is beyond genius-level. People from Krypton already had genius-level intellect, being a society thousands of years ahead of Earth in technology. In the presence of a yellow sun, Superman's intelligence is further enhanced, giving him super intelligence and allowing his brain to operate faster than a supercomputer.

• Eidetic Memory – Superman is shown to have flawless, total recall of everything he has ever seen, read, or heard. In turn, he is often depicted as being fluent in many of Earth's languages and cultures.

• Heat Vision – Ability to emit solar energy from his eyes. Usually resembles bright red or orange laser-like beams, which may be invisible at low temperatures but extremely bright at high ones. The effective range of his beams are hundreds of feet it can also reach hundreds of miles wide instantly disintegrating a person. In addition varying the beam width, height, and intensity, Superman has demonstrated a high degree of skill and accuracy in manipulating his beam, being able use this power with surgical precision and at microscopic levels. Superman can lobotomize or cut off someones powers as shown in The Elite when he cut off Manchester Black's powers. Since the power can be used invisibly, Superman often takes advantage of that to perform tasks subtly without needing to get into costume. In some versions, these beams can also be used to produce great concussive force rather than heat. The beams are tremendously powerful, and can be used to rupture steel plates and pulverize rock. Also in some stories, it can be reflected like a true laser, able to use great skill and accuracy in manipulating the blasts off multiple targets in rapid succession, or more commonly to remove his very durable facial hair. Sometimes shown to be one of his more physically draining powers to use, as it uses such concentrated solar energy. In the pre-Crisis stories, Clark wears glasses with lenses made of Kryptonian glass (initially cannibalized from his rocket ship's transparency dome) so he can fire his heat vision through them without damaging them. In the stories from the 1986 relaunch onward, Clark wears glasses with regular lenses, which force Clark to momentarily lift them out of his eyes' firing arc to use his heat vision effectively. In revision in Superman: Secret Origin, Clark wears glasses with Kryptonian glass that are intended to contain unwanted firings. Heat vision was initially introduced as "the heat of his x-ray vision" (a byproduct of his existing x-ray vision powers) in Superman (vol. 1) #59 (July 1949); heat vision as a separate power first appeared in Action Comics #275 (April 1961).

• Superhuman Breath – Ability to inhale and exhale huge volumes of air with great force, capable of extinguishing large fires and moving heavy objects such as cars. Super-breath also allows Superman to hold his breath for extended periods in airless environments. In one 70s-era Superman comic, he saved a town from a tornado by inhaling the twister into his lungs. He then flew just above Earth's atmosphere, with his chest looking somewhat distended, and exhaled the tornado into space. In another 70s comic, Superman was inflicted with a condition whereby if he stepped in the ground or otherwise came in physical contact with the surface of the Earth, explosive energy orbs would begin to rise from the area immediately near him, endangering anyone nearby. When Superman realized he was causing the orbs to appear, he resolved to always fly until he could find a solution to the problem. However, as Clark Kent, he couldn't be seen flying; instead, Clark walked around constantly expelling a jet of air straight down from his nostrils to keep his body just millimeters from his walking surface. The release (exhalation) of highly compressed air through a valve (such as pursed lips) causes it to drop radically in temperature. This is known as the Joule–Thomson effect, and when Superman does this, it is usually referred to as Freeze Breath, and can cool objects to sub-zero temperatures and freeze air moisture solid.

• Superhuman Hearing – Can hear far more sounds with far more detail and at far greater distances than normally humanly possible, including sounds on frequencies undetectable by humans such as dog whistles. Superman is able to mentally screen out most of these sounds to be able to function normally, even in a noisy environment, and can focus in on specific things, like a person's voice or heartbeat, even if they are in another part of the city. He can even hear sounds on other planets, which makes it likely that his hearing is fundamentally different than that of a human, as sound cannot travel through the vacuum of space. Like humans and most animals, he is skilled at automatically noticing his own name out of the jumble of several overheard conversations, making him adept at quickly responding to calls of distress all over the city.

• Superhuman Vision – His senses grant him the ability to see farther and with greater accuracy and detail than humanly possible. Sometimes includes the ability to see EM frequencies invisible to humans, such as radio transmissions, infrared light, the bioelectric aura which surrounds all living things, even in pitch-black darkness. Offshoots of this power include Telescopic Vision, which allows him to "zoom in" on far away objects, sometimes hundreds of miles away, and Microscopic Vision, which allows him to zoom in on objects that would normally be too small to see, like those on a cellular or molecular level.

• Superhuman Olfaction – A heightened and highly accurate sense of smell comparable to some animals such as dogs. Can be used to detect things like the chemicals in a bomb hidden somewhere in a crowded room.

• Master Combatant – While most authors prefer to portray him as having mediocre combat prowess in favor of showing the magnitude of his powers in battle, there have been some exceptions. Some stories portray Superman as a very capable fighter with or without his abilities, as he has been trained by both Wildcat in boxing and Mongul in the fighting arts. He has fought and learned from Wonder Woman and has also learned more advanced martial arts techniques from Batman. To a lesser degree, Superman is also adept at armed combat, as he is shown to be a decent swordsman and sword-maker, and also knows how to wield a hammer. He has also learned two different types of kryptonian fighting styles, Torquasm-Rao and Torquasm-Vo to enhance his body and mind.