Strength level of movie Superman vs. Pre-COIE and Post-COIE comics versions

[Buried Alien]

Superman, as he's portrayed in the Christopher Reeve/Brandon Routh movies, seems to have vastly fluctuating power levels. On the one hand, he has performed feats that indicate he has the power level of the Pre-COIE Silver Age Superman (i.e. turning back time on Earth by flying around it at superluminal speed in the first SUPERMAN movie, pushing the moon out of orbit with his bare hands in SUPERMAN IV). On the other hand, he seemed to need to put more effort into certain feats than would seem necessary for someone with Pre-COIE Kryptonian power levels (i.e. the saving of the falling jet in SUPERMAN RETURNS wasn't as easy as it should have been for someone who could reverse the rotation of the Earth). So where does the movie Superman's power levels lie relative the Pre-COIE and Post-COIE comics versions'?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[livin_target]

He's closer to pre COIE (at least on speed and pulling powers out of his ass). The whole winding back time thing puts him in that bracket and pre COIE superman also had his low showings. However, I'd put the plane scene partly down to CIS/PIS to make good viewing and the fact that superman was trying to be fragile with it so that he didn't end up killing anyone inside.

[Kara Zor El]

Superman, as he's portrayed in the Christopher Reeve/Brandon Routh movies, seems to have vastly fluctuating power levels. On the one hand, he has performed feats that indicate he has the power level of the Pre-COIE Silver Age Superman (i.e. turning back time on Earth by flying around it at superluminal speed in the first SUPERMAN movie, pushing the moon out of orbit with his bare hands in SUPERMAN IV). On the other hand, he seemed to need to put more effort into certain feats than would seem necessary for someone with Pre-COIE Kryptonian power levels (i.e. the saving of the falling jet in SUPERMAN RETURNS wasn't as easy as it should have been for someone who could reverse the rotation of the Earth). So where does the movie Superman's power levels lie relative the Pre-COIE and Post-COIE comics versions'?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Maybe the idea about the plane being hard to stop is down to physics. If he suddenly stops it then everyone on board will be hurt and the plane will break up. so he has to slowly stop it. But even so.

[Sean Whitmore]

Maybe the idea about the plane being hard to stop is down to physics. If he suddenly stops it then everyone on board will be hurt and the plane will break up. so he has to slowly stop it. But even so.

Exactly. No PIS, CIS, or whatever-else-the-hell-IS about it.


SEAN

[David Atkins]

Maybe the idea about the plane being hard to stop is down to physics. If he suddenly stops it then everyone on board will be hurt and the plane will break up. so he has to slowly stop it. But even so.

That was how I percieved the event. It wasn't that Superman was having trouble keeping up with the plane, or that he was having trouble stopping it. The way, toward the end of the scene, he zipped forward in short bursts before taking position at the nose indicated to me that he was making sure that he didn't just rocket right past the thing. It gave me the impression that he was very specifically trying to control his powers so as to not compound the problem rather than straining physically to pull off this feat.

[Powerboy]

Maybe the idea about the plane being hard to stop is down to physics. If he suddenly stops it then everyone on board will be hurt and the plane will break up. so he has to slowly stop it. But even so.

His power levels fluctuated to fit the needs of the story in the Reeve movies just as in the comics. He wasn't fast enough to stop both missiles but he was fast enough to exceed light speed and time travel. He took effort to catch the missile and to push it. I chalk it up to dramatic license or 'drama points' as some said the Tick uses. There's nothing he can't do but he strains mightily to do everything for dramatic purposes.

I'd put the thing with the plane down to being careful. In the first Reeve movie, some of the people in the theater the night I first saw it winced, some gasped and some laughed when he caught the helicopter because he just stopped it in its tracks, no gradual slowing. People instinctively knew the impact the pilot would really take from that. Then they just brushed it off with the attitude that its basically a comic book.

[Adamantium_Avatar]

Superman winds back time... The thing I hated most about any of the films!! :mad:

I wouldnt have been so bothered had he flown so fast that he himself time-travelled, but no, rather than just bending certain natural laws they had to go and shatter them... sigh

The whole Earth spinning backwards things just makes me shudder every time I watch it.


My second hatred is Superman's gross stupidity! Who the hell grabs hold of a plane by the weakest point to slow it's decent!! Surely flying underneath it and supporting the body would have made much more sense!

I of course realise that this is purely the fault of the writers. They would rather have an edge of your seat moment rather than have Clark actually use his abilities intelligently..

I suspect my films would be much shorter and a hell of a lot more boring...

[dancj]

Superman winds back time... The thing I hated most about any of the films!! :mad:

I wouldnt have been so bothered had he flown so fast that he himself time-travelled, but no, rather than just bending certain natural laws they had to go and shatter them... sigh

What's the difference between travelling backwards in time and turning back time? They just sound like different words for the same thing to me

[Binker]

I have to do the thread(s) here then, huh? Since many say that Routh's Superman is a continution of Reeve's. But it's not, Superman Returns is not connected to the earlier films ina direct sense.

[Citizen V]

I would simply say that Reeve was the movies equiviliant of the Pre-Crisis Superman..and Routh is the Post-Crisis.

[Sean Whitmore]

I would simply say that Reeve was the movies equiviliant of the Pre-Crisis Superman..and Routh is the Post-Crisis.

I dunno, moving the continent at the end was a pretty big deal.


SEAN

[dockwats]

I dunno, moving the continent at the end was a pretty big deal.


SEAN

I know he had just been stabbed with kryptonite, and my memory is a bit shoddy, but didn't the land mass also have kryptonite in it? I agree that was a pretty big feat at any rate.

A bit related to the earlier post about CR Superman not being able to catch two missiles, despite his reverse-time speed, here is a funny and popular animation (I'm sure many have seen) entitled How Superman Should Have Ended (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4l771r2a-4).

It's a good nod toward how powers somewhat fluctuate, or situations in films become somewhat contrived, as to limit a hero's massive power set.

I feel Singer did many great things with Superman's power in the recent film (including trying to control them when pursuing the falling jet) yet made it a bit too subtle for most audiences to appreciate.

[David Atkins]

I know he had just been stabbed with kryptonite, and my memory is a bit shoddy, but didn't the land mass also have kryptonite in it? I agree that was a pretty big feat at any rate.

No. The land mass only had kryptonite-like properties (the crystals absorb the properties of the minerals around them), making it's effects more muted than those of true kryptonite. Notice, Superman didn't seem to be affected at all until he approached Luthor, whom had a shard of real kryptonite in his non-lead lined pocket.

[dockwats]

No. The land mass only had kryptonite-like properties (the crystals absorb the properties of the minerals around them), making it's effects more muted than those of true kryptonite. Notice, Superman didn't seem to be affected at all until he approached Luthor, whom had a shard of real kryptonite in his non-lead lined pocket.

That's right. Thanks for clearing that point for me. I think I was misremembering close to the end of the movie, where Supes lifted the island out of the water and I was thinking green chunks of pure kryptonite were sticking straight from the bottom.

[David Atkins]

That's right. Thanks for clearing that point for me. I think I was misremembering close to the end of the movie, where Supes lifted the island out of the water and I was thinking green chunks of pure kryptonite were sticking straight from the bottom.

There were pieces of green crystal growing through the rocks (Superman apparently lifted the island by first lifting a portion of the Earth beneath it) almost directly in front of his face. However, I believe these were still crystals with kryptonite-like properties (stronger in those, perhaps, than the rest of the island, given their coloring) and not actual Kryptonite.