X-Ray vision can melt steel?

[Utility Belt]

I just recently read the newly launched Adventure Comics #0 that includes a reprint of the first meeting between Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes. In it, Superboy uses his X-Ray vision, NOT his heat vision, to melt a bar of steel. And I thought WHAT??? Why doesn't he use his heat vision?
My question is: Has there been any other instance where X-Ray vision was used to melt objects? Was this a regular thing in Superman/Superboy comics of back then?

[cosmoboy]

I'm all for some suspension of disbelief. This is just silly though. It might make sense if Supes was actually emitting x-rays, but that's not what's happening.

[Captain Smith]

X-ray vision was used to melt things in the past - then folks realized that being such a level of X-rays around would give tumors to all of Metropolis and make things radioactive.

Also seeing through stuff with X-rays was suspect as they penetrate - however, modern scatter tech might handle this.

Thus, we get heat vision that is IR or telekinetic and some other basis for X-ray vision.

[Michael P]

Yeah, back in the day, the writers didn't bother distinguishing between x-ray vision and heat vision. Eventually, someone pointed out to them that X-Rays Do Not Work That Way, and they started using "heat vision" for when he melted stuff.

[Rik Levins]

Superman used "the heat of his X-Ray Vision" to burn or melt things up until the early Sixties. This will be how it's shown in any reprinted story you find from before that time.

There was even a Superboy story in which his Clark Kent glasses kept melting every time he used his X-Ray Vision to melt something (or even to look through something), until he got the idea of using the indestructible glass from his rocket window (which he was somehow able to cut with his fingernail).

As Michael pointed out, at some point circa 1960, someone at DC finally realized that x-rays don't work that way, and he suddenly had heat vision, with no comment or explanation.

As an interesting aside, since x-rays don't penetrate lead, it was assumed that they also could not melt lead. And this persisted even after he "acquired" heat vision, so for years he was unable to melt lead, even though it has one of the lowest melting points of any metal. An odd and often overlooked weakness of Silver Age Superman. Eventually, again without any explanation or comment, he started being able to melt the stuff, but it took years for that retcon to take place.

[WorstThingUS]

It was used that way on the TV series of the 50's as well. And before they changed it, there was a plot device with the Legion where Chameleon Boy was hit with such a hard dose of radiation from x-ray vision (though not from Superboy) that he lost his powers. It wasn't until Byrne that radiation ceased to be a part of the x-ray vision, though heat vision was separated from it decades earlier.

[Xybernauts]

You guys really know your Superman. Interesting factoids. So has Superman ever used his X-ray vision, or any other vision to blasting an enemy with a serious dose of radiation?

[kyle82]

in real life that's dumb. x-ray visions can never melt anything.. for some intensity,,, it can still not.. laser do have these capabilities.. but not xray.. it has specific wavelength not suitable for that kind of application. :tongue:

[Xybernauts]

in real life that's dumb. x-ray visions can never melt anything.. for some intensity,,, it can still not.. laser do have these capabilities.. but not xray.. it has specific wavelength not suitable for that kind of application. :tongue:
I thought Captain Smith's explanation was about right. He said it's possible, but if Superman raised the intensity of his X-Ray vision to that level it would produce a lot of radiation. Of course I'm not a physicist so.....?

[Rik Levins]

So has Superman ever used his X-ray vision, or any other vision to blasting an enemy with a serious dose of radiation?

Nah, he would never do that in the Silver Age.

He did once use X-Ray Vision to transmute gold into lead, to shield him from kryptonite.

[CjP]

Interesting aside: I read a long time ago that he uses a mirror and heat vision to shave, since no ordinary razor is a match for his Super-Stubble. Is this still true?

[Xybernauts]

Interesting aside: I read a long time ago that he uses a mirror and heat vision to shave, since no ordinary razor is a match for his Super-Stubble. Is this still true?
What does he do with the hairs he cuts off? Imagine if it gets caught in the drains?

[AdamYJ]

X-ray vision was used to melt things in the past - then folks realized that being such a level of X-rays around would give tumors to all of Metropolis and make things radioactive.

Also seeing through stuff with X-rays was suspect as they penetrate - however, modern scatter tech might handle this.

Thus, we get heat vision that is IR or telekinetic and some other basis for X-ray vision.

Yeah, you have to realize that this was happening back when people used to think that heat was a natural byproduct of X-Rays. People actually used to end up with radiation burns when they'd get x-rays taken at the hospital. Good thing they figured out what was happening, huh?

[Augusto]

This sounds perfect for a trivia!

[Mat001]

Yeah, you have to realize that this was happening back when people used to think that heat was a natural byproduct of X-Rays. People actually used to end up with radiation burns when they'd get x-rays taken at the hospital. Good thing they figured out what was happening, huh?

Which is why the Hulk and Spider-Man couldn't come into existence today, based on that. That's why the film adaptations changed the role of radiation, specifically gamma radiation, in regards to how they gain their powers.

As to the hair left over when Clark shaves his face, it's never been addressed. One would assume that it would become like normal hair and thus no longer be a problem. When he shaves, he burns off their hair on his face. I assume it goes up in flames. Though when Clark used to shave, specifically before 2006, he would use a piece of metal from his ship since it could withstand the heat and reflect it back at his face. He could use regular metal, but it would be completely ruined by the time he was done. Before 1986, he would use mirrors to reflect it back and did it once in the comics in 1995. "Superboy"/"The Adventures Of Superboy" and "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman" showed Clark using a mirror. When Clark's hair was long in the 90's, he finally got it cut when his powers did not come back after "The Final Night" mini-series. He got it cut on his wedding day and his hair hasn't grown that long since then.

[dancj]

Before 1986, he would use mirrors to reflect it back and did it once in the comics in 1995.
Before 1986, Superman's hair didn't grow under a yellow sun so he didn't need to shave - except when he went under a red sun

[Mat001]

Before 1986, Superman's hair didn't grow under a yellow sun so he didn't need to shave - except when he went under a red sun

I thought he had started shaving in the 70's. I knew in the late 50's that his hair didn't grow unless under a yellow sun or exposed to Red Kryptonite that one time. But I thought that it had started in the Bronze Age.

[dancj]

Most of my early Superman reading was late 70s - mid 80's and his hair still didn't grow

[IvCNuB4]

I remember a Silver-Age story where Lois discovered Clark's identity or something, so Superman used X-Ray vision from one eye and Telescopic or Infra-Red from the other eye at the same time to erase her memory. Apparently it was a trick he could only ever use once on the same person ....

[Mat001]

Makes me glad they just did a super kiss in the theatrical version of the second film and in the fourth film. Sounds a lot less dangerous.