In point of fact, the term “tactile telekinesis” (not quite “contact telekinesis,” but close enough), was the explicit comic book explanation of Superboy’s powers. Well, one of the Superboys (there are about 397 different versions of Superboy in DC comics history). I’m talking about the one who was introduced right after the much-ballyhooed “Death of Superman!!!” in the early 1990s. Originally he was supposed to be clone of Superman. I think they later retconned him to be a clone of Lex Luthor, genetically manipulated to have Superman-like powers (and look like Superman) just because.
Anyway, his strength, invulnerability, flight, etc., were all said to be the result of his “tactile telekinesis,” in exactly the way that Projammer suggests.
Of course, it was also explicit in those comics that this was different than Superman’s actual powers. That Superman’s powers didn’t work that way, but “tactile telekinesis” was as close as Superboy’s creators could get. Ergo, while it’s the correct explanation for that version of Superboy, it can’t be the correct explanation for Superman himself.
True in the 70s too. I recall at least one instance in which the air currents suddenly failed her so the villain could get away, she could plummet messily to the ground, and a misogynistic writer could make her look silly.
I just simply began to figure that the laws of physics just don’t apply to Superman. Its the worst explanation possible, but the easiest to use. That’s how, in the Superman movie, Christopher Reeve just “catches” Lois after she’s fallen most of the way from the building into his “steel” arms, and she doesn’t snap in two.
There’s something from the cartoon Justice League United, it may be the finale, when Brainic-reconstituted Darkseid decides to finally make Earth into Apocolips. Superman states, “Let me show you, just how powerful, I really am” And takes a flying punch to Darkseid, sending him airborne and crashing him through several buildings, only to arrive before he does, and adopt a vertical floating position, to overhead punch Darkseid into the ground. This writers got it – no rules of physics for Superman. Period.
It’s definitely the finale, and I both love & hate that scene, but it doesn’t support your otherwise-correct point that Supes has a note from Athena excusing him from everything Newton & Galileo ever wrote. Martha & Jonathan’s little boy wasn’t flying when he smacked Darkseid in the kisser; no reason he couldn’t take to the air and accelerate while Stoneface was hurtling through the air.
In the first place, the phrase “contact telekinesis” is silly. You mean psychokinesis.. By definition, telekinesis is the psychic manipulation of matter AT A DISTANCE.
In the second place, everything you wrote is a description, not an explanation. You’re just pushing the question back to “how does Superman’s contact psychokinesis work”.
In the third place none of this explains how Jor & Lara’s kid fits his uniform boots under his shoes, which is the real question.
If it’s automatic, how is Lois’s bubby not “actually” bulletproof?
Right from the first cartoon they showed that they planned to ignore this. The Mad Scientist’s* “Electrothanasia Ray” had carved out part of the base of the Daily Planet building and it started to topple over. Superman stood on another building and caught it as it fell. You’d think that the building would have simply continued to topple, leaving Superman-hand-sized hioles where he tried to grab it, and then a Superman-sized hole when it fell over him. At least there should’ve been some damage to the building he was standing on. But, no, there was no damage, and the Daily Planet building didn’t crack apart or anything.
He then pushed the building backl up, and when it threatened to fall back over the other way, he flew up and grabbed the top by its flagpole to stop it.
1.) That’s ONE STRONG FLAGPOLE.
2.) So what was Superman pulling against when he was pulling on that damned strong flagpole? It seems whatever force enables him to fly can also exert and otherwise unsupported pull on toppling buildings.
You can watch it here:
The thing I’ve always hated is how a kryptonite bullet will penetrate Superman’s skin. That just never made any sense. If a teeny bit of kryptonite is going to instantly turn off Supes invulnerability at the point of contact…how come no super-villain ever bothered to kill Superman when he was felled by a huge piece of kryptonite?
They thought that running away from an incapacitated Superman is a good idea. Given that they also thought that committing super-crimes in a world populated by Superman was also a good idea indicates that perhaps they are not the smartest villain in the lair.
I think there’s also a springboard involved.
Don’t get me started on “super-ventriloquism” or “super-hypnotism” or why nobody recognizes him when he has his Clark Kent glasses on.
If Superman’s so worried about killing people (as he says in that clip), then he might want to reconsider casually punching indestructible alien super-beings through three successive skyscrapers.
The first Superman radio show had an opening in which they said Supe could leap an eighth of a mile, part of a long list of feats used to introduced the character. They never used that again, and it didn’t seem to fit with the “Up in the sky! Look. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s Superman.”, which was also introduced in the first episode.
The seventh episode - The Atomic Beam Machine - has Clark sneak into a locker room. He hears people outside so he goes through the window. He narrates his movements: “Out and up, up… Higher we go, higher, and faster, faster, faster.” No question that he was flying, especially with the sound effects of him whooshing through the air. This was broadcast on February 26, 1940. (A 1940s-style whoosh? Yes, indeed.)
I don’t have every issue, but I checked some reprint stories from the comic in 1940 as well as the Sunday strips and they still have him leaping. In the text, at least; several poses look very much as if he’s flying. I suppose that helped the transition along. He was already jumping up to airplanes by the time, and that’s pretty close.
I wouldn’t be surprised therefore if the radio show introduced flight along with all the other things. Episode 7 introduces Lois Lane as well, who calls cub reporter Clark the “Boy Wonder”. Robin hadn’t been introduced yet in Batman, of course. Jimmy Olsen doesn’t appear in radio until April 1940. It was all so early. Anything was possible. They were making it up as they went along. The atomic beam reduces things to “atomic dust” because it focuses a beam of “vibrating infragamma rays.”
So how does Superman fly? Wrong question. It’s, Why does Superman fly? Because leaping looks stupid.
