Has there ever been an explanation (in the comics) for Superman’s ability to fly?
Is he just really light and is able to push himself far? Does he tap into some crazy electomagnetic forces in the Earth’s magma? What’s the story?
First off, remember that Superman is a fictional character, so he can do pretty much anything the writers and artists decide he can do.
Smartassedness aside, his power of flight comes from his super strength and the powers he receives from Earth’s yellow sun.
The super strength came from from his Kryptonian heritage. Krypton, as you recall, was a massive planet, many times the size of earth. When little Kal-El landed on Earth, he gained super strength as a result of Earth’s comparatively low gravity. That makes him “able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.”
Once he gets in the air, it’s the power given to him by the Sun that keeps him up there. Krypton had a relatively cool red sun. Now if you ask the writers what specifically about a yellow sun gives Superman extra powers (rather than just a really bad case of skin cancer) you’ll get a lot of hemming and hawing, but it does.
For further explanations, consult the opening paragraph. By the way, I’m following the 1940s-1960s canon. The explanation may have gotten a little more sophisticated in later years.
If you look very closely, you can see that he is powered aloft by his flapping cape.
Match the punchline!
“Then the bartender turned around and said, ‘Superman, you are one mean drunk.’”
but IIRC, in the original comics he didn’t actually fly–he just jumped really, really high & far.
What you should ask is: Is it necessary for Supes to fly in that prone, arms-in-front position, or does he do that because he’d look goofy flying in a sitting position?
(can’t remember who first said the above…Dave Barry?)
In his earlier days, Superman didn’t fly, he was just a really good jumper. Hence the “able to leap tall buildings” line. Somewhere along the line, this mutated into the ability to fly. Go figure.
…Wonder Woman says, “What was that?!”…and the Invisible man says, “I dunno, but my ass hurts like hell!”.
Probably Jerry Seinfeld, considering.
Based on past questions of this nature and the mod’s responses I’ll try to get these links in before Manhattan uses his mod-ray vision to detect this little discussion and comes busting through the screen door and closes the thread as being insufficiently GQ “because they’re fictional characters”.
SUPERMAN FAQ
http://www.kryptonian-cybernet.com/net/chappell/superman.html#Q11
newsgroups rec.arts.comics.dc.universe, rec.arts.comics.misc, and alt.comics.superman. The LOIS & CLARK television series is covered in rec.arts.sf.tv, rec.arts.tv, alt.comics.superman, and alt.tv.lois-n-clark.
The Superman FAQ is regularly posted to alt.comics.superman and rec.arts.comics.info.
Two guys are sitting in the bar at the top of the Empire State Building (there is actually no such bar, but for the purposes of this joke, we shall pretend there is) getting drunk. Eventually, it comes time to go home, but neither is sure if they can make it all the way down the stairs and/or elevator. So, finally, one guy says, “Hey, I bet if we jump out the window, since we’re so drunk, we’ll float down safely.”
The other guy, dumbfounded, says, “Yeah, right. You go first.”
So, he does. And he floats slowly down to earth.
The other guy, impressed, leaps from the window, and quickly plummits to his death.
The bartender says, “Man, Superman is one mean drunk, eh?”
Superman was flying around one day when he gets a little horny. Just then, he spots Wonder Woman sunning herself nude on back porch. Superman decides to go down there and bang her at lightning speed, and he’ll be done before she knows what happens. So he flies down, fucks her like a jackhammer, and flies away. Just then, Wonder Woman says, “What the hell was that?!” and the Invisible Man says, “I dunno, but my ass is killing me!”
( 
)
Dunno who said it, but, actually, based on recent (Cartoon - I haven’t bought a comic book in 2 years…) glimpses of the Future Superman, no, he doesn’t need to fly like that. Future Superman flies in an upright posture. This is at once less aerodynamic looking (doesn’t seem to effect him) and more menacing, so I can see why Present Superman doesn’t do it. But, DAMN, it looks cool for Future Superman.
If you re-read the OP, you’ll note that the question actually asks whether there was ever an explanation presented in the comic books. Superman is fictitious, of course, but the comic books about him are real entities, so it’s possible to ask a factual question aout them.
Superman has the capability of generating an anti-gravity field around him, allowing him to propel himself as he wishes.
Also, he can negate his mass, allowing him to achieve the speed of light.
He’s a fictional character…I can endow him with whatever powers and abilities I (and whoever else) chooses
But wait, there’s more.
He can cut through a tin can and still slice a tomoto with the accuracy of a razor blade!
Kal-el has very strong telekinetic abilities, limited mostly by his lack of an imagination. For instance, he can psychically negate the mass of a battleship, but he must be in physical contact with said battle ship to do it. His flight is just bootstrapping his “superstrength”.
???
I know that was the explaination for Superboy’s powers (Bost Reign of the Supermen Superboy)… Since when are Superman’s supposed to work like that?
AFAIK, since Byrne redid Supes back in '86 or so. I’m not sure if it was specifically stated, but I do know that his “heat vision” was identified as a “telekinetic excitation of molecules” by one of the surviving members of the GLC in an Action Comics team-up during that time period.
Powdered… Toast… Maaaaaan!
Hmm…post Crisis. So the Crisis retcon can’t explain my memory not jibing with this… IIRC, Superboy’s Tactile Telekenesis was one of the points of evidence used that he wasn’t actually a clone of Superman. Could be wrong, though… And SB certainly can’t use his TT to simulate heat vision… (He gets to fly, and has superstrength…and he’s used it in much more creative ways than Kal-El ever did… Tying up Brainiac 5, for instance…)
Curiouser and curiouser…
The whole Superman thing changes with the times. I think an old issue of Action Comics stated that the inhabitants of Krypton had achieved some kind of peak of physical ability. Then I think it was handed off to the premise that Krypton had a stronger gravitational field than that of Earth - in the very old issues, Superman leaped everywhere he went. Then later when he could fly instead of leap, it was given the ambiguous red sun/yellow sun thing. Then in the 80’s in those Who’s Who in the DC Universe books, I could swear I read his flight was due to his ability to control gravitons. Now I think it is chalked up to his telekenesis. Personally, I like to think he propels himself like Howard Stern’s Fartman.