More to justify his power

[DexterSinister]

Superman at his most powerful has been capable of amazing feats but at the end of the day he is simply a Kryptonian, a naturally occurring race. Comic book universes have their own way of deciding how things work because in the real world nature doesn't make one animal physically weaker because it hasn't evolved enough it does it because it requires less resources for a smaller and physically weaker animal to sustain itself.

I have no problem with how powerful Superman is but I would prefer if there was a more mystical reason for how powerful he becomes. I have my reasons for this but I want to see the opinions of others on the matter before they are listed.

[Ice Wolf]

In the Byrne era modern Kyptonians like Kal El were the end result of millennia of genetic engineering which resulted in their powers when charged by the sun.

[Jake V]

I seriously HATE the idea of a mystical explanation for his powers.

Instead, it's cleaner that the Kryptonians have a much longer history than humans and have evolved certain abilities because of red sun radiation and natural evolution.

[ascended]

Gotta say, I dont think Clark needs a mystical connection for his powers.

Yes, science as we now understand it sort of destroys the explanation for Clark's powers, but this is a comic book. If we can believe that he can fly under his own power, shoot lasers from his eyes and see into sub-atomics, I think we can believe that Kryptonians are stronger and more durable than we are due to higher gravity or whatever excuse is at hand. It's a comic book after all.

Plus, magic has always by-passed Clark's abilities so a connection to magic or similar forces sort of flies in the face of precedent.

[stephens2177]

Gotta say, I dont think Clark needs a mystical connection for his powers.

Yes, science as we now understand it sort of destroys the explanation for Clark's powers, but this is a comic book. If we can believe that he can fly under his own power, shoot lasers from his eyes and see into sub-atomics, I think we can believe that Kryptonians are stronger and more durable than we are due to higher gravity or whatever excuse is at hand. It's a comic book after all.

Plus, magic has always by-passed Clark's abilities so a connection to magic or similar forces sort of flies in the face of precedent.

Kryptonians are science gods,they get more and more powerful threw science.like kara is now able to do more with her energy,and it "might" be because her dad genetically engineered her somehow.jor-el could have done something similar to kal,or maybe not,maybe he is what centuries of genetic improvements cullminate in.

So no i dont see kryptonians being as powerful as they are just by living as long as they have,more that they constantly improved their species by scientic breakthroughs..kinda the same way we do,just a thousand to a million years ahead of us.

[Adekis]

I'm fine with the combination of Superman being a natural physical marvel due to his Kryptonian physical structure, mixed in with some tactile TK, but I have had a conversation with Superlad93 lately in another thread, and he's said he sees Superman as being able, with his enhanced senses and solar-enhanced strength, to be able to somehow bend the laws of physics to manipulate his power. I equated that with Captain Marvel's power, which might explain why they're so similar, if they had a common power source.

The main difference would be that Captain Marvel gets the cosmic power blasted right into his body with a single word, where Superman absorbed the fundamental cosmic energy naturally over the course of many years.

It's a very interesting idea, and I'd love to see a comic do something with it.

But like I said, I'm fine with the idea of a Superman who's just strong because his already super-human physique is enhanced by solar energy which manifests as heat vision and tactile telekinesis.

[Desaad]

I don't see anything wrong with employing the standard pseudo science that allows us to believe in Green Lantern rings and Speed Forces.

Kryptonians, as a race, simply adapted to their environment over millions of years such at that their cells began to hypermetabolize certain wavelengths of energy, literally generating more energy than was put in; they are, each of them, thermodynamic miracles, and Superman came from a particularly well bred stock, and his powers have grown over the course of decades of constant exposure to those wavelengths.

The Sentry also posited an interesting explanation, in which the solar energy was used as a catalyst to induce a forward shift of his molecules in space/time, this shift generating near infinite energies as a byproduct.

[Last Son]

I wouldn't mind some form of magic, but not some sort of Harry Potter bibitty bobbity alakazam type stuff. Sort of.. magic that still feels kind of sciencey. Blurring the lines between them, I suppose kind of like Thor.

[Adekis]

That's more what Superlad93 was going for with his "Fundamental Cosmic Forces of the Universe" theory. It's not really magic, it's kind of science, but it isn't really something that can be explained. Superlad93 called it something like "an inside joke, that only he knows how his power really works".

I was the one who made the connection to Captain Marvel with fundamental forces of the universe.

[dreyga2000]

In Universe where thousands perhaps millions of Alien races exist Kryptonians just happen to be at the top of the Intergalactic "food chain" next to the NEW GODS and The Guardians.... That's how I always looked at it.... Their power is justified by being at the high-end of the intergalactic bell curve...

[DexterSinister]

One of the problems of all Kryptonians having he same potential is that they will forever be a doomed race because DC would never allow them to exist in large numbers because it would make Superman less unique and intergalactic problems would be a thing of the past when you have a couple of hundred Kryptonians peace keeping member's put down the big threats.

Since it is natural it should be incredibly easy for the endless supply of genius mad scientists to clone and endless supply of mentally controlled Kryptonian super soldier's, there may be some throw away line about how Krytonian's are hard to clone but that would be for the D-lister scientist's on earth with are limited technology sooner or later the big bad's in space will realize how profitable it would be to start cloning these people on mass instead of one at a time.

One solution I can think of that would not effect Superman's nature that heavily would be to address the issue of how terribly unstable Kryptonian's must be carrying all that energy and how villains have started using them as living bombs, this would prevent Kryptonian's from travelling to any planets with a yellow sun for fear of being detonated. They could have Clark leave Earth for fear of doing serious harm just to find out that something is stabilizing all the energy that he has amassed over the years, it could be anything really but it would mean the only Kryptonian's he encounters would be the few crazy ones who don't care about their own well being.

[Grendel01]

One of the problems of all Kryptonians having he same potential is that they will forever be a doomed race because DC would never allow them to exist in large numbers because it would make Superman less unique and intergalactic problems would be a thing of the past when you have a couple of hundred Kryptonians peace keeping member's put down the big threats.

Since it is natural it should be incredibly easy for the endless supply of genius mad scientists to clone and endless supply of mentally controlled Kryptonian super soldier's, there may be some throw away line about how Krytonian's are hard to clone but that would be for the D-lister scientist's on earth with are limited technology sooner or later the big bad's in space will realize how profitable it would be to start cloning these people on mass instead of one at a time.

One solution I can think of that would not effect Superman's nature that heavily would be to address the issue of how terribly unstable Kryptonian's must be carrying all that energy and how villains have started using them as living bombs, this would prevent Kryptonian's from travelling to any planets with a yellow sun for fear of being detonated. They could have Clark leave Earth for fear of doing serious harm just to find out that something is stabilizing all the energy that he has amassed over the years, it could be anything really but it would mean the only Kryptonian's he encounters would be the few crazy ones who don't care about their own well being.

They are also the Daxamites and Legion of Superheroes seems to go in a such a direction with the Dominators trying to create an army of leadresistent hybrids with all of Superman's powers. But I guess, if that turns out to be true, the Dominators will eventual lose control over their creations same as any scientist trying to clone Supermonsters would.

As for Superman being an instable living bomb, I don't like it. That idea would pretty much go for any superhuman with some major power, especially if energy-manipulation is part of the deal. Kryptonians being dead and Daxamites being xenophobic are probably the best ways to limit the amount of other Supermen for the moment.

[ascended]

Dont forget too, that while Kryptonians are extremely powerful, they're not the only heavy hitters out there. Plenty of alien races are quite powerful, and even if they are not on the same level as a Kryptonian, its enough to keep that sort of thing in check.

And hell, if I was a crazy evil scientist from an alien culture advanced enough to clone Kryptonians, I'd just go all out and start grafting suneater DNA into random subjects. Likely Tamaraneans, they're already built to handle large amounts of energy.

[The Batman]

Maybe instead of getting his powers from solar radiation, Clark could encounter a mysterious character who explains that his powers actually come from him being a solar avatar or a sun totem and a conduit for ancient mystical power? Maybe we could call the character Ezekiel or something?

[dreyga2000]

Dont forget too, that while Kryptonians are extremely powerful, they're not the only heavy hitters out there. Plenty of alien races are quite powerful, and even if they are not on the same level as a Kryptonian, its enough to keep that sort of thing in check.

I agree... Each New Gods has the power to go toe toe with Kryptonian and then some... Then there are the Psychic Shapeshifting Martians who have all the Kryptonian powers and then some... Don't get me started the Czarians...