How does Superman fly?

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.

“You know, you’re really an asshole when you’re drunk, Superman.”

I wish the radio series had kept him as a super leaper, with a super BOOOIIINNNNGGG as the SFX.

And doesn’t that make heros and villains whose power is that they can fly because they have wings look utterly pointless?

Because God made it so he could fly.

Sorry, Dio, I couldn’t resist.

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!

All right, do *you *want to be the one to tell him that he *can’t *fly?

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. :wink:

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.

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.

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.

Rule 34, no doubt.

Regards,
Shodan

Reminds me of this bit of snark:

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:

How does Superman fly? Very well, thank you.

Don’t forget about the Superman movie serials. 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.

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.

The things you learn on the SDMB - thanks!

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.

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.

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/

(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.

Is it just me, or does Supes look a lot like Gil Thorpe when rendered by that artist? :slight_smile:

My favorite example of this is that there’s a Green Lantern named Arisia. Lens bracelet, power ring, what’s the difference?