# How does Superman fly? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676 "2009-12-10T02:31:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/21 "2009-12-10T16:31:20Z")
I remember a line from the old radio Superman (brought to you by Kelloggs Pep), “90 MPH good speed for a train but it can’t leave superman behind.” It seems in the radio version his powers were more limited. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/22 "2009-12-10T16:34:17Z")
“You know, you’re really an asshole when you’re drunk, Superman.” ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/23 "2009-12-10T16:48:43Z")
I wish the radio series had kept him as a super leaper, with a super BOOOIIINNNNGGG as the SFX. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/24 "2009-12-10T16:51:09Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Superman’s ability to fly once was close to unique. Only a very few other heroes could fly and supervillains basically didn’t exist. In the Silver Age, flying became a bit more the norm and Stan Lee especially started creating villains who were just as super as the heroes.\ Lots of characters fly, both heroes and villains. They just do. There’s no good explanation for it. And doesn’t that make heros and villains whose power is that they can fly _ **because they have wings** _ look utterly pointless? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/25 "2009-12-10T17:14:56Z")
[Because God made it so he could fly.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=542746) Sorry, **Dio** , I couldn’t resist. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/26 "2009-12-10T17:44:58Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Note that Superman didn’t even know he was from another planet until Superman #61, circa 1950–apparently he never really worried about it. This has got to be the weirdest continuity problem in the history of the world. Every reader of \*Superman \*comics knew he was from Krypton. We’re told so in the very first panel of the first story. The first series of the radio show in 1940 is called “The Baby from Krypton.” The full history of Superman is revealed in 1942 in of all things a novel - now mostly forgotten but then a big thing - _The Adventures of Superman_ by George Lowther. The book tells what became the origin story for decades, and names Jor-el, Lara, and Kal-el for the first time. “Eben” and “Sarah” Kent never learn where the child came from, though. And Mort Weinberger wrote the same story in \*Superman \*#53 in 1948 so that all the other writers could have a common continuity to build upon. (Although he has also Superman first publicly using his powers as an adult, forgetting that the character of Superboy already existed. Continuity, shmontinuity.) But he doesn’t go back to Krypton until 1949 (issue #61, the “origin” issue). So of everyone in the entire world, the only one who didn’t know that Superman came from Krypton was… Superman? Oy! ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/27 "2009-12-10T17:53:23Z")
All right, do \*you \*want to be the one to tell him that he \*can’t \*fly? ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/28 "2009-12-10T17:57:40Z")
The way it was retconned is that on Earth-2 (where the Golden Age Superman was eventually placed\*), “Eben and Sarah” Kent died _way_ early. Like when Clark was 16. He didn’t know he wasn’t their biological son and just thought he was born differently. There was also (IIRC) an E. Nelson Bridewell “Mr & Mrs Superman” story that followed up on the story from Superman #61–how the general public learned about Superman (E2’s) alien origins and that kryptonite weakened him. But in the original stories, it just wasn’t something that anyone worried about. Hell, referring back to the origin story, beyond a single-panel recap, was almost unheard up until the Silver Age. \*I know you know this Exapno, but for the n00bs. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/29 "2009-12-10T18:02:18Z")
Maybe he shoots particles out of the bottom of his feet to propel himself. That would also explain the laser beams coming out of Zod, Non, and Ursula’s fingers in Superman II. But it also sounds kind of dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/30 "2009-12-10T18:03:27Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Seigel and Schuster were thought to be heavily influenced by Philip Wylie’s _Gladiator_ (where a super-powerful human can jump like that) and John Campbell’s “Aarn Munroe” stories (which used the heavy-gravity-planet explanation), so it seems reasonable. _The Mightiest Machine_ was one of the Aarn Munroe books, IIRC. Munroe grows up on Jupiter, I believe. E.E. “Doc” Smith had a race of people, originally Dutch, who grew up on some planet with heavy gravity who had super strength as well. They were the ones with space axes. > [@](#): > > But, as, I think, Jim Steranko argued in his “History of Comics”, although it looked pretty nifty in the comics, it looked kinda dumb in the cartoons, where Superman looked like an anthropomorphic kangaroo. Actually, I think he looks pretty graceful and balletic in the earliest cartoons, where he’s more jumping than flying. I own t[he Max Fleischer cartoons of Superman](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8jgrBjzPxQ), and paid attention during one of the 5,498, 202 times my son watched them. Superman definitely changes direction in “flight” during the introduction to the cartoon, and at least one point, Superman is flying, looks down to see something on the ground (a train, IIRC - starts around 21:50 in the linked YouTube vids) and then changes directions to land on the train. So I think he could fly in those cartoons at least. > [@](#): > > More likely, Supes walks around seeing everyone as wa;lking skeletons and the like. Seeing Lois’ panties? hah! If only he were that lucky! Rule 34, no doubt. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/31 "2009-12-10T18:17:17Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Superman’s ability to fly once was close to unique. Only a very few other heroes could fly and supervillains basically didn’t exist. Reminds me of [this bit of snark](http://www.jabootu.com/csfme.htm): > [@](#): > > As I watched the trio arrive at the swamp, I realized I was being overly kind when I commented earlier about how useless Hawkman’s presence was. In fact, he actually represents a detriment to his teammates. Superman, of course, can fly at super-speed. Black Vulcan, presumably, can travel at the speed of lightning. Meanwhile, what can Hawkman’s top speed be? A couple of hundred miles an hour? (To be generous.) For these two, having Hawkman come along must be like bringing one’s three year brother with you, forcing you to slow down to a crawl so that he doesn’t get left behind… > Similarly, if you could fly, that’s probably as far as they took it. The idea that Superman could fly faster than Hawkman perhaps wouldn’t even have struck them. This is probably lucky for Hawkman, since appallingly this means he’s even lamer than Aquaman. At least the latter has a couple of unique abilities, and is in theory handy to have around if going underwater is involved. Moreover, if one of goldfish in the Hall of Justice aquarium is ailing, hell, he can just ask it what’s up. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/32 "2009-12-10T18:29:51Z")
> [@](#): > > I own the Max Fleischer cartoons of Superman, and paid attention during one of the 5,498, 202 times my son watched them. Superman definitely changes direction in “flight” during the introduction to the cartoon, and at least one point, Superman is flying, looks down to see something on the ground (a train, IIRC - starts around 21:50 in the linked YouTube vids) and then changes directions to land on the train. So I think he could fly in those cartoons at least. > Quote: Yeahg, I own them, too, and just re-watched them recently. In the intro Superman actually (and I think, for the only time I can recall in cartoon or movie or TV show) actually _leaps_ over a building. But his motions in that first cartoon (which is easily the most cartoony of the bunch, with a parrot sidekick for the Mad Scientist, and all) are pretty gra ceful and more leaping than flying, even if he can stop and change direction a bit – I think of it more as “leaping with artistic license”. Compare it with the later cartoons, where he’s undoubtedly flying, and you can see a difference. By the way, I wouldn’t call them the “Max Fleischer Cartoons” (Despite the fact that it says that actross the top of the early ones – see link below) . There was considerable bad blood among the Fleischer clan about the apportioning of credit, as Leslie Cabarga learned when he wrote **The Fleischer Story** (and as he recounts in the second edition). Dave, in particular, felt he didn’t get enough credit. Besides, the Fleischer Studios were taken over and became Famous Studios during the course of churning out the Superman cartoons. wikipedia gets downright snarky about the attribution: > [@](#): > > The Superman animated cartoons, commonly but somewhat erroneously known as the “Fleischer Superman cartoons” were a series of seventeen animated Technicolor short films released by Paramount Pictures and based upon the comic book character Superman. > **[Superman (1940s animated film series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_(1940s_animated_cartoons))** > > The Fleischer Superman cartoons are a series of seventeen American animated superhero short films released in Technicolor by Paramount Pictures and based upon the comic book character Superman, making them his first animated appearance. > They were originally produced by Fleischer Studios, which completed the initial short and eight further cartoons in 1941 and 1942. Production was resumed in May 1942 by Famous Studios, the successor company to Fleischer, which produced eight more cartoons in 1... ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/33 "2009-12-10T18:59:52Z")
How does Superman fly? Very well, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/34 "2009-12-10T19:15:55Z")
Don’t forget about the Superman movie [serials](http://www.supermanhomepage.com/movies/movies.php?topic=m-serial). When Columbia, then a bargain basement cheapie movie studio, made the serials they discovered that their “special effects” for flying were so bad that they couldn’t be shown even in this context. So Kirk Alyn launched himself - and changed into a literal cartoon that flew across the screen, reappearing as a human for the landing. Is this the beginning of postmodernism? A side note: Before the internet made everything available, one of the most sought after Superman associational books was Kirk Alyn’s self-published \*A Job for Superman: The Original Superman of Motion Pictures \*. I found it in Canada for five of those phony Canadian dollars. Even a cheap copy goes for $75.00 these days. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/35 "2009-12-10T20:16:07Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Yeahg, I own them, too, and just re-watched them recently. In the intro Superman actually (and I think, for the only time I can recall in cartoon or movie or TV show) actually _leaps_ over a building. > > But his motions in that first cartoon (which is easily the most cartoony of the bunch, with a parrot sidekick for the Mad Scientist, and all) are pretty gra ceful and more leaping than flying, even if he can stop and change direction a bit – I think of it more as “leaping with artistic license”. Compare it with the later cartoons, where he’s undoubtedly flying, and you can see a difference. Yes, Superman does mostly short flights, darting here and there. I like this better. Superman is less of a demi-god who can do anything, and more like a Super-ior Man. Because **Steve MB** is correct - Superman doesn’t usually need anyone else, once he can fly faster than light and move planets and so on. I love _The Legion of Super-Heroes_, but only the ones where Superboy is out of the picture. It’s like the _World’s Finest_ team up - Superman can fly at super speed and resolve the issue in three panels, but never remembers to. > [@](#): > > By the way, I wouldn’t call them the “Max Fleischer Cartoons” (Despite the fact that it says that actross the top of the early ones – see link below) . There was considerable bad blood among the Fleischer clan about the apportioning of credit, as Leslie Cabarga learned when he wrote **The Fleischer Story** (and as he recounts in the second edition). Dave, in particular, felt he didn’t get enough credit. > > [Superman (1940s animated film series) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_(1940s_animated_cartoons)) The things you learn on the SDMB - thanks! Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/36 "2009-12-10T20:33:08Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I love _The Legion of Super-Heroes_, but only the ones where Superboy is out of the picture. > > Regards, > Shodan But what about Ultra-Boy and Mon-El and (depending on the era) Wildfire? All of them are easily in Superboy’s class and Mon-El is somewhat tougher. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/37 "2009-12-10T20:40:34Z")
It bugs me that Superman can fly but the Flash can’t. He’d look stupid, but he should be able to ‘swim’ through air (like underwater swimming), which is, after all, a fluid. He just has to swim _fast_. Superman could do that too, I guess, and it wouldn’t bother me like the propulsionless turn-on-a-dime, hover and do backflips flying he does. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/38 "2009-12-10T21:15:05Z")
You don’t want The Flash to Fly! Look at what happened to Superman when _he_ became the Flash – he flew right off the world and died in space: **The Day Superman Became the Flash** (Action Comics #314 July 1964) [http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/306/](http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/306/) (See the last panel and the cover) I read this when it was new, and thought it was pretty lame. Especially when the people can’t figure out that the foot-tall guy with a mask can’t be Kal-el, because he has super powers. Evidently that was The Planet of Really Stupid People. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/39 "2009-12-10T21:34:42Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Look at what happened to Superman when _he_ became the Flash – he flew right off the world and died in space: > **The Day Superman Became the Flash** (Action Comics #314 July 1964) > [http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/306/](http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/306/) Is it just me, or does Supes look a lot like Gil Thorpe when rendered by that artist? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676/40 "2009-12-10T21:47:05Z")
> [@](#): > > DC comics often acknowledge their roots. If you look on Hollis Mason’s\* bookshelf in Watchman, he’s got a copy of Philip Wylie’s Gladiator right next to Under the Hood. My favorite example of this is that there’s a Green Lantern named Arisia. Lens bracelet, power ring, what’s the difference? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-fly/520676.md?page=3)