How is it that everyone and their dog has a piece of kryptonite?

[frostedone]

This is the biggest thing about the Superman stories that have always bugged me. Krypton was blown up, who knows how many light years from earth, yet somehow several chunks have somehow found their way to earth. The universe is really big, and even if Krypton exploded, it is highly unlikely that any piece would come to earth, much less in the short amount of time since Superman's rocket came to earth. I mean the explosion couldn't blast the pieces at the speed of light , and even if it did, there are other planets that would have had enough gravity to pull a lot of the pieces.

Was this ever explained? Also I know that Kryptonite is radioactive, but what o the different colors do? I know that in Batman/Superman they are tracking down the various colors, but I haven't read any of the stories other than the first few.

Thanks.

[Rik Levins]

Pre-Crisis, the explanation was that the warp drive of the spaceship that brought him to Earth as an infant had opened up a permanent wormhole between Krypton's solar system and ours, allowing a large amount of kryptonite to follow him through. This also conveniently explained why practically EVERYTHING the Kryptonians had ever launched into space seemed to end up on our planet.

As for the effects of different colored Kryptonite:

Green Kryptonite weakened Superman, and prolonged exposure would kill him.

Red Kryptonite caused unpredictable random mutations; it might make him obese, turn him into an old man, a baby, a giant, an animal, cause hallucinations, take away his powers or give him new ones, etc. Fortunately the effects were always temporary, usually lasting 48 hours (although there were exceptions).
Red K was created when a flock of Green K meteors passed through a radioactive space cloud.

White Kryptonite could kill any form of plant life, no matter what planet it came from. It had no effect on Superman. It was created when a flock of Green K meteors passed through another radioactive space cloud.

Gold Kryptonite could PERMANENTLY remove the powers of a Kryptonian. Fortunately Superman always managed to avoid exposure to this stuff, although a few other Kryptonians didn't, including a released Phantom Zone villain and a clone of Supes created by Luthor. Gold K was created when...yup, you guessed it, another space cloud.

Blue Kryptonite had no effect on Superman but worked on Bizarro the same way Green K affected Supes. It was created...surprise, NOT by a space cloud. In fact , Superman created it deliberately by using the same duplicator device that had originally created Bizarro, on some Green K.

Post Crisis--well, originally there was only one baseball-sized chunk of Green Kryptonite on Earth, which was lodged in one of the tail fin's of his rocket. Recently, however, Supergirl arrived on Earth, and HER ship apparently was towing an entire mountain-sized asteroid of the stuff. Parts of the mountain consisted of different-colored K, but I don't know if any explanation has been given as to why, or if the effects are going to be the same as they were before the universe was rebooted. So far we know that Blue K does weaken Bizarro, but it also seems to make him more intelligent. Black K (which didn't exist in the PC Universe), split Supergirl into identical twins, one good and one evil. (Red Kryptonite did this to Superman on several occasions Pre-Crisis).

I haven't been keeping up with the books lately so if more varieties have been introduced, someone else will have to step in with the info.

[escapegoat]

I don't have a piece of kryptonite :frown:
Once again, I feel left out from the "in" crowd...

[Captain Smith]

So on Smallville, there are tons of the stuff and every piece turns you into some super powered loonie. Could be worse.

[carabas]

Post-Crisis, kryptonite wasquite rare. There was only one piece of it, that originally stuck to baby Kal-el's rocket or something. This was broken up into Lex's ring (which Batman later stole), Metallo's heart, and small samples in STAR labs. And all of it was green.
There was also and inferior, reddish synthetic variant, and that was pretty much it.

And then in the first arc of Superman/Batman, Jeph Frelling Loeb in a fit of nostalgia dropped a huge asteroid made up of all sorts of colours of kryptonite into Gotham Bay.

[WorstThingUS]

Pre-Crisis, the explanation was that the warp drive of the spaceship that brought him to Earth as an infant had opened up a permanent wormhole between Krypton's solar system and ours, allowing a large amount of kryptonite to follow him through. This also conveniently explained why practically EVERYTHING the Kryptonians had ever launched into space seemed to end up on our planet.

I don't think it was permanent wormhole, but yeah.


Post-Crisis, kryptonite wasquite rare. There was only one piece of it, that originally stuck to baby Kal-el's rocket or something. This was broken up into Lex's ring (which Batman later stole), Metallo's heart, and small samples in STAR labs. And all of it was green.
There was also and inferior, reddish synthetic variant, and that was pretty much it.

And then in the first arc of Superman/Batman, Jeph Frelling Loeb in a fit of nostalgia dropped a huge asteroid made up of all sorts of colours of kryptonite into Gotham Bay.

The red K was originally created by magic by Mxylpltlk. And in that same storyline of Loeb's, he had Superman trapped in the fortress for two weeks while the heroes of the world cleaned it up all the kryptonite. A story the current writing and editing team of Superman/Batman apparently missed.

[CBikle]

The red K was originally created by magic by Mxylpltlk. And in that same storyline of Loeb's, he had Superman trapped in the fortress for two weeks while the heroes of the world cleaned it up all the kryptonite. A story the current writing and editing team of Superman/Batman apparently missed.

I think the unofficial policy is that, in creating new writers/editors have the freedom to ignore/explain-away previously written stories that are lame (the Hawk-Avatar from Zero Hour, The Kingdom and even the Challengers Of The Beyond, who just debuted !).

[carabas]

IThe red K was originally created by magic by Mxylpltlk.Wasn't there a red synthetic variant in Tower Of Babel? I don't recall the specifics, but I thought it was man-made. Batman-made, even.


And in that same storyline of Loeb's, he had Superman trapped in the fortress for two weeks while the heroes of the world cleaned it up all the kryptonite.And not as much as a pebble was overlooked, and the cleaned up kryptonite magically vanished intp thin air, rather than being stored somewhere 'secure' ?
Once a huge K meteor crashes on earth, Pandora's box is open and won't be shut without retconning the entire story (and probably not even then).

[brundlefly]

And in that same storyline of Loeb's, he had Superman trapped in the fortress for two weeks while the heroes of the world cleaned it up all the kryptonite. A story the current writing and editing team of Superman/Batman apparently missed.

Or just outright ignored, the way that all of Loeb's insipid S/B run should have been.

[WorstThingUS]

Wasn't there a red synthetic variant in Tower Of Babel? I don't recall the specifics, but I thought it was man-made. Batman-made, even.

You're right. Batman created one from science as well.


And not as much as a pebble was overlooked, and the cleaned up kryptonite magically vanished intp thin air, rather than being stored somewhere 'secure' ?

Bear in mind the same Batman who's helping him clean it up now, is the same Batman who supervised that clean up. So either Batman is hugely incompetent or some "event" happened in the meantime to cause this to happen again (in which case the previous clean should have been mentioned by an exasperated Superman wondering just where the hell this stuff keeps coming from) or this is just another instance of the lack of editing going on at DC and sheer laziness of the writer who can't be bothered to keep up with a book that hasn't even hit 50 issues.

[herogirl]

Pink Kryptonite gives straight Kryptonians homosexual tendencies. :wink: :cool:

[Ilash]

And this is yet another one of the great things about Byrne's reboot that has been lost in recent years.

[Slaughter]

mountain-sized

Mountain-sized? You got it wrong. The whole meteor was CONTINENT-SIZED, about the same size Brazil or Australia. Even fragmented, it was at least enough material falling in Earth to be of the same size of Mt. Everest.

[Mon-el]

And not as much as a pebble was overlooked, and the cleaned up kryptonite magically vanished intp thin air, rather than being stored somewhere 'secure' ?


I might be remembering this wrongly, but wasn't that Kryptonite stored in a wharehouse at Ted Kord Industries, the one that Ted Kord Blue Beetle was checking on in Countdown to Infinite Crisis, then apparently Jason Todd was the one that stole it all, and then Luthor got ahold of it Up, Up, Up and Away arc.

Yeah I think I need to re-read it all again.

[carabas]

Yes, except that any warehouse (or any thousand warehouses, really) is a bit to small to store that amount of radioactive rock.

[herogirl]

Mountain-sized? You got it wrong. The whole meteor was CONTINENT-SIZED, about the same size Brazil or Australia. Even fragmented, it was at least enough material falling in Earth to be of the same size of Mt. Everest.

Brazil's a country, not a continent.

[Mon-el]

Yes, except that any warehouse (or any thousand warehouses, really) is a bit to small to store that amount of radioactive rock.

I think their has been some exaggeration. Looking back at Infinite Crisis, it was 100 pounds, Surely any warehouse could accomedate 100 pounds of Kryptonite.

[herogirl]

GoldPermanently removes superpowers from Kryptonians, by destroying the ability of Kryptonian cells to process solar energy.
For obvious reasons, this variety is little-used in Superman stories.
In one instance, gold kryptonite is shown to instead cause cellular degeneration and accelerated aging; however, it is not confirmed if this is true of all gold kryptonite because this version was presumably created by the time traveller Gog.
BlueBlue kryptonite is the Bizarro analogue to green kryptonite.
Pre-Crisis, blue kryptonite is the result of using Professor Potter's "duplicator ray" on some green kryptonite. Here, blue kryptonite affects Bizarros like green kryptonite affects Kryptonians. In an episode of Super Friends, blue kryptonite heals Superman from the effects of red kryptonite. Post-Crisis, its origin is unknown. Here, blue kryptonite makes Bizarros become polite, goodhearted, coherent, and intelligent. It also causes physical pain much like green kryptonite affects Superman.
In Smallville, blue kryptonite suppresses Kryptonians powers and removes their sensitivity to green kryptonite. Blue Kryptonite is therefore not a reverse analogue of Green Kryptonite. Blue Kryptonite was first introduced as a Victory Ring given to Clark by a replicant of Lara El in "Blue". Also in Smallville, the Phantom Bizarro's powers were increased exponentially by blue kryptonite, overloading his powers and killing him, much like "a light bulb being powered by a nuclear reactor", in the episode "Persona". This is due to the reverse effect of kryptonite on Bizarro - where it causes Clark to lose his powers, it gives Bizarro new and immense power.
BlackBlack Kryptonite was first introduced in the Smallville television series, in the fourth season premiere episode "Crusade", as Kryptonite with the ability to split the personality of Kryptonians. It later appears in the fourth season episode "Onyx", where it is revealed to split physically the bodies of humans. In the series, Black Kryptonite can be created by super-heating Green Kryptonite.
In All-Star Superman, which takes place outside of DC Universe continuity, Black Kryptonite makes Superman evil, almost as if he is transforming into Bizarro Superman.
WhiteKills all plant life, whether Kryptonian or not. Induces decay immediately upon exposure, with a range of about 25 yards. The most prominent use of this variety in the comics was to destroy Virus X.
JewelJewel Kryptonite amplifies the psychic powers of Phantom Zone residents, allowing them to project illusions into the "real world" or perform mind control. It was made from what was left of a mountain range on Krypton called the Jewel Mountains.
Anti-KryptoniteHas no effect on superpowered Kryptonians, but has the same effects as Green Kryptonite on non-superpowered Kryptonians. This version of Kryptonite is what killed most of the residents of Argo City in the pre-Crisis comics. Anti-Kryptonite was likely introduced to cover a writer error, as in the original Argo City story, the residents of Argo City are killed by Green Kryptonite even though it should have had no effect on non-superpowered Kryptonians. Post-Crisis, it is the power source of Ultraman, Superman's evil counterpart who lives in an alternate antimatter universe. Anti-Kryptonite was also used by Green Lantern Hal Jordan while rescuing a member of the Green Lantern Corps from the Phantom Zone to cause pain to General Zod, Non, and Ursa (since regular Kryptonite has no effect on individuals in the Phantom Zone).
X-Kryptonite Created by pre-Crisis Supergirl while experimenting with Green Kryptonite in hopes of finding an antidote. It has no effect on Kryptonians, but bestows temporary superpowers on Earth lifeforms, most prominently Supergirl's pet cat, Streaky. Not to be confused with Kryptonite-X.
Slow KryptoniteA modified variety of Green Kryptonite produced by supervillain Metallo that affects humans in a manner similar to normal Green Kryptonite on Kryptonians. Its effect on Kryptonians, if any, is undocumented.
Magno-KryptoniteArtificially created by the villain Nero, "Magno-Kryptonite" is magnetically attracted to all substances originally from Krypton, with such incredible force that not even the strength of Superman or Bizarro can escape it. It is not specifically stated if any parts of its alloy are of Kryptonian origin.
Bizarro RedAffects humans the same way Red Kryptonite affects Kryptonians.
Kryptonite-X or KryptisiumA form of filtered/purified Kryptonite. Professor Emil Hamilton used the term "Kryptonite-X" to describe the substance that restored Superman's powers after a confrontation with the villain known as the Cyborg Superman in Engine City. This substance was created when the Cyborg used a huge chunk of Kryptonite in an attempt to kill the weak, powerless, recovering Superman. The Eradicator, who had fashioned a faux-Kryptonian body using a Kryptonian matrix, jumped in front of Superman before the release of the Kryptonite energy could kill him. Despite the Eradicator's efforts, the Kryptonite energy hit Superman, but instead of killing him, it transferred all of the characteristic Kryptonian powers from the Eradicator to Superman, as well as saturating Superman's body with a purified/filtered form of Kryptonite. This substance eventually led to Superman becoming an over-muscled giant, due to his accelerated sunlight absorption and overstorage of energy. (This Kryptonite is not to be confused with X-Kryptonite.)
SilverIn the television show Smallville episode titled "Splinter," manufactured "silver kryptonite" brings out Clark's paranoid side, and his delusions show him some of his greatest fears, which he believes to be real. However, this "new form of kryptonite" turned out to be a hoax.
Magic KryptoniteIn Superman/Batman #46, an enchanted piece of Kryptonite has effects similar to Marijuana, until Batman finds another piece which cancels out the effects of the first piece.
PinkThis bizarre variety of Kryptonite apparently turned heterosexual Kryptonians temporarily and stereotypically gay; it was seen in just one panel, with Superman giving flattering compliments to Jimmy Olsen about his wardrobe and decorative sense. It spoofs the more "innocent times" of the Silver Age.

Simulated kryptonite
Green Lantern Corps power rings can be used to emit simulated green kryptonite radiation. This radiation is apparently just as powerful and painful to Superman and other Kryptonians as the genuine rays, but it can be blocked by interposing anything yellow between the Green Lantern's green kryptonite and the Kryptonian (however, this may no longer be an option due to the recent development of yellow no longer being an automatic weakness of power rings). Breaking the ring-bearer's concentration will also dispel the effect.

Synthetic kryptonite has been successfully produced by Lex Luthor, Batman, and Ra's al Ghul in the comics. It has proven to be less powerful than genuine kryptonite, to be extremely difficult to create, and to have a short half-life that renders it useless after a short period of time. Superman III featured synthetic kryptonite that altered Superman's personality.
Magic: Individuals adept at the use of magic may be able to create kryptonite, such as Mr. Mxyzptlk did in the "Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite" storyline (though his version of Red Kryptonite differed from the traditional version in its workings, temporarily eliminating Superman's powers). Jimmy Olsen, when changed into a Genie, was ordered by his master, Abdul, to turn himself into Living Kryptonite, Jimmy chose Green Kryptonite.
On one occasion, Lex Luthor combined the element-duplicating substance that composes the robots known as the Metal Men into a single robot that imperfectly duplicated the properties of green kryptonite. While its presence caused Superman severe pain, it was not severe enough to completely incapacitate him, and did not affect his powers at all; thus, Superman was able to focus past the pain and defeat the robot.
Radiation: In the film Superman III, the computer Webster built was able to analyse Superman and find his weakness, and emitted a beam of radiation that simulates that of green kryptonite. It was stopped only when Gus Gorman pulled the plug.

Hoaxes

Yellow: This one was used in a hoax masterminded by Lex Luthor.
Blood Kryptonite: In 52, the Cult of Conner - a religious sect dedicated to resurrecting Superboy, employed "Blood Kryptonite" in a preliminary ritual to resurrect Sue Dibny. While physically resembling Green Kryptonite, the "Blood" variant drains a portion of life force from present attendees, intended to direct this energy towards an effigy of the deceased as part of a Kryptonian resurrection ceremony. It is later revealed that this was a manipulation of Felix Faust and the rock was either regular green Kryptonite or not Kryptonite at all.
Kryptonite Plus: 30 or so non-glowing, varicolored, banded rocks invading unnamed Super-aliens had left on Earth's moon and then said were Kryptonite Plus or maybe a form of Ultra-Kryptonite. They are really Tikron Stones.
Purple Spotted: Mentioned in Streaky's fictional story in the animated cartoon Krypto the Superdog. This phony Kryptonite made Krypto chase his tail.
Fake Kryptonite: Seen in an episode of Superboy 1988 TV series, Superboy's friends are selling crystals which are labeled as "fake Kryptonite" to raise money for charity. These crystals are clearly false and the vendors make no dispute about it. However, they use humorous references such as "Buy one and have nothing to fear; even Superboy will run away from you!"

[carabas]

I think their has been some exaggeration. Looking back at Infinite Crisis, it was 100 pounds, Surely any warehouse could accomedate 100 pounds of Kryptonite.That's what was shown. But apparently an entire continent-sized meteor made from kryptonite was scattered across the globe.
Probaby gonna need a bigger warehouse.

[Slaughter]

Brazil's a country, not a continent.

I know that because I LIVE in Brazil!

But Brazil is continent-sized (just 50% of south america). Australia is about the same size, too.

[Rik Levins]

Herogirl: Thanks for an excellent article on the various kryptonite varieties. I learned a few things that I didn't know.

A few minor corrections:

The "Bizarro" duplicator ray was invented by a Professor Dalton, not Potter, and first appeared in Superboy #68. It was destroyed in that issue, but later rebuit by Luthor in Action Comics #254, and created the adult version of Bizarro. That machine was later used to first create Blue Kryptonite, which Superman used to foil a Bizarro invasion of Earth.

X-Kryptonite does give super-powers to Earth creatures, but still harms Kryptonians the same as regular green kryptonite. This was the reason why Supergirl, after countless experiments with her original sample of green K, became frustrated that its radiations still weakened her, and (picking it up with a set of tongs), hurled it away into the wooded area near Midvale Orphanage.
(I've been told that there was a Supergirl story in the early Eighties in which a teenaged girl found the X-K; I've never seen that story so I'm not sure if it may have contradicted the fact that X-K harms Kryptonians.)

There were two other possible, but unnamed, appearances of X-Kryptonite; in Superboy #65, a Professor Egglehead's experiment with green kryptonite changes it so that its radiations give super-powers to a mouse (and also cause it to grow to human size). In World's Finest # 114 Superman, Batman and Robin travel to the planet Zoron, whose atmosphere is filled with a green haze which weakens Superman but confers super-powers on the two Earthlings.

Also, I believe there is a sentence missing from the section on Silver Kryptonite. It caused Clark to become paranoid in Smallville. The "Silver Kryptonite" that appeared in the comics (Jimmy Olsen #70) was the one that was a hoax.

It should also be noted that Pre-Crisis Red Kryptonite was extremely unpredictable in its effects. As a general rule, it had the same effect on any Kryptonian, wore off after 24-48 hours, and could only affect a particular Kryptonian once, after which he or she was immune to that particular sample. However, there were notable exceptions. Some pieces of Red K could affect Superman more than once; some lasted for more or less than 48 hours, and some could even affect Earthlings.

[Utility Belt]

In response to Herogirl's post:

Holy smoke! I though I knew all the different types of Kryptonite that there were (Magno-Kryptonite?:confused: ?). Excellent post.

[herogirl]

Herogirl: Thanks for an excellent article on the various kryptonite varieties. I learned a few things that I didn't know.

A few minor corrections:

The "Bizarro" duplicator ray was invented by a Professor Dalton, not Potter, and first appeared in Superboy #68. It was destroyed in that issue, but later rebuit by Luthor in Action Comics #254, and created the adult version of Bizarro. That machine was later used to first create Blue Kryptonite, which Superman used to foil a Bizarro invasion of Earth.

X-Kryptonite does give super-powers to Earth creatures, but still harms Kryptonians the same as regular green kryptonite. This was the reason why Supergirl, after countless experiments with her original sample of green K, became frustrated that its radiations still weakened her, and (picking it up with a set of tongs), hurled it away into the wooded area near Midvale Orphanage.
(I've been told that there was a Supergirl story in the early Eighties in which a teenaged girl found the X-K; I've never seen that story so I'm not sure if it may have contradicted the fact that X-K harms Kryptonians.)

There were two other possible, but unnamed, appearances of X-Kryptonite; in Superboy #65, a Professor Egglehead's experiment with green kryptonite changes it so that its radiations give super-powers to a mouse (and also cause it to grow to human size). In World's Finest # 114 Superman, Batman and Robin travel to the planet Zoron, whose atmosphere is filled with a green haze which weakens Superman but confers super-powers on the two Earthlings.

Also, I believe there is a sentence missing from the section on Silver Kryptonite. It caused Clark to become paranoid in Smallville. The "Silver Kryptonite" that appeared in the comics (Jimmy Olsen #70) was the one that was a hoax.

It should also be noted that Pre-Crisis Red Kryptonite was extremely unpredictable in its effects. As a general rule, it had the same effect on any Kryptonian, wore off after 24-48 hours, and could only affect a particular Kryptonian once, after which he or she was immune to that particular sample. However, there were notable exceptions. Some pieces of Red K could affect Superman more than once; some lasted for more or less than 48 hours, and some could even affect Earthlings.

You're welcome. But the silver K in Smallville was kind of a hoax. It was synthetically created by Brainiac, and was not true Kryptonite.

[herogirl]

In response to Herogirl's post:

Holy smoke! I though I knew all the different types of Kryptonite that there were (Magno-Kryptonite?:confused: ?). Excellent post.

Thanx. I'm always glad to help people learn new things.

[princesa]

Pink Kryptonite gives straight Kryptonians homosexual tendencies. :wink: :cool:


:eek: that explains so much

[NotSuper]

And this is yet another one of the great things about Byrne's reboot that has been lost in recent years.
Not really. Multiple varieties of kryptonite will always return, no matter who decides they're "not in continuity." Hell, even Byrne himself used them--just not in the main universe.

It's what I call "mythos Darwinism." Good ideas will stand the test of time and will eventually come back when erased, while the bad ones (Clark Kent hypnotizing his co-workers, Superman being born on Earth, a birthing matrix instead of a rocket, electric Superman, mullet Superman, a Kandor with no Kryptonians, a Supergirl who's a purple blob, Russian Zod, For Tomorrow Zod, yuppie Clark Kent, anchorman instead of newspaper reporter, ect) won't stand the test of time and will stay gone when erased.

Multiple kryptonite is an idea that has survived over time, and was never even really gone during the now defunct post-Crisis era. Something about it is appealing, which is why it will continue to survive as long as Superman is published.

[Rik Levins]

You're welcome. But the silver K in Smallville was kind of a hoax. It was synthetically created by Brainiac, and was not true Kryptonite.

I see your point. That's kind of ironic, that Silver K was a hoax of sorts in both Smallville and comic book continuity.

[herogirl]

I see your point. That's kind of ironic, that Silver K was a hoax of sorts in both Smallville and comic book continuity.

Ya know, looking back, it wasn't even really created by Brainiac. It was kind of a part of Brainiac. He just sorta welded a piece of himself onto a regular rock and reabsorbed it at the end of the episode.