# Mundane aspects of Superman's powers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 19, 2014, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909 "2014-09-19T04:54:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/41 "2014-09-19T19:29:47Z")
Extreme sports are no challenge to him. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/42 "2014-09-19T19:34:04Z")
> [@Osiris\_the\_1st](#): > > It is, however, really bad for the door. > > It’s kind of mind boggling how careful he would have to be all of the time; moving through the world for Superman would be like living in a world full of sentient soap bubbles. [Why Superman kinda likes fighting Darkside.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ywo6F4xYTvA) ---
**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:** [September 19, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/43 "2014-09-19T19:59:39Z")
No B.O. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/44 "2014-09-19T20:10:27Z")
Never unable to break a $20 bill. Pen never runs our of ink. Always knows where the hell his keys are. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/45 "2014-09-19T20:25:24Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > [Why Superman kinda likes fighting Darkside.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ywo6F4xYTvA) [jackass] It’s _Darkseid_. I’ve long thought that, since Kirby intended the old gods whom the New Gods replaced to have been been the Norse deities (and presumably giants), that the “seid” part of his name was an allusion to seidr, but I can’t prove it. [/jackass] ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/46 "2014-09-19T20:38:04Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > No B.O. I’m not confident that that was one of Superman’s powers. Do you have a cite or a reason for believing that this would be among his abilities? ---
**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:** [September 19, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/47 "2014-09-19T20:46:47Z")
> [@](#): > > He is never bothered by mosquitoes. Not true! He’s seen all of the human pain and suffering caused by malaria and other mosquito-vectored illnesses. Much of it in person, on charity trips to tropical third-world countries. Nobody who stands for Justice (and Truth, and the American Way) could see that and not be bothered by mosquitoes. ---
**Author:** ![JimmyPalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@JimmyPalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimmyPalin)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/48 "2014-09-19T20:47:50Z")
He can’t even see through lead ? And we call him Super ? And his inexplicable aversion to any bit of his home planet, his allergy to Krypton, makes him appear weak. Still, he is a handsome and cheerful fella’ and polite as hell. And there’s the saving of Earth he does all the time. So, he’s not ‘too’ smart, on the other hand. I like the guy. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/49 "2014-09-19T20:48:32Z")
One of the most forgotten, but several times \* established, power is super-ventriloquism. Imagine the sick practical jokes he could play on random people. Man’s face gets slapped, and a coworker threatens him with a workplace sexual harassment charge. “WHAT?! You just invited me to your jacuzzi for some drinks!” :eek: * * * I mean in pre-Crisis time. I don’t recall it ever being brought back after that. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/50 "2014-09-19T22:22:44Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I assumed he controlled the rigidity of his body. Otherwise anyone who touched Clark Kent would think they were touching a statue. I recall a comic from years ago, I think it was that Wildstorm one with the teenagers and the big redhead, and she was saved from something by Superman (obviously some kind of crossover), and she described touching him as being like warm marble. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/51 "2014-09-19T22:42:44Z")
He never has to fool with sunscreen at the beach. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/52 "2014-09-20T14:05:38Z")
Since everything is so easy for Superman, it’s impossible for him to get a decent workout. Superman becomes super-flabby super-quickly. ---
**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:** [September 20, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/53 "2014-09-20T16:32:10Z")
Not necessarily. He could get a pretty decent workout every other day by pushing the planet a thousand miles further out from the sun. And on alternate days, he could put it back. Just so he doesn’t get into the habit of forgetting what he did the day before… ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/54 "2014-09-20T17:08:25Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > When he steps on a Lego barefoot in the middle of the night…_it doesn’t bother him at all!!_ Great Ceaser’s ghost! ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/55 "2014-09-20T17:13:19Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Since everything is so easy for Superman, it’s impossible for him to get a decent workout. Superman becomes super-flabby super-quickly. There’s no biological reason that other species should require either good diet or regular exercise to maintain peak physical condition. An intelligently designed species 😃 would have a metabolism programmed to keep you fit and muscular no matter what you ate or how much you exercised. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/56 "2014-09-20T18:11:43Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > He’s not bothered by a stone in his shoe. > > He can eat sugary snacks all day and not worry about cavities. > > (although…could his diet affect his body in any way? I mean, Clark Kent eats…what happens to that food?) I had always assumed that when he eats a massive amount of matter, it converts to energy. Same as with Matter-Eater Lad. Since E=mc squared, that might cause quite a problem. Neutrinos to the rescue! Of course one problem is growing from a toddler on planet Earth. Some of the food Kal-El ate, at least prior to adulthood, somehow got converted into more of Kal-El. It’s a “[misty](http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/walter-de-la-mare/miss-t/)” mystery. There’a pun here, but you won’t groan until you click on the link. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/57 "2014-09-20T21:27:17Z")
> [@FUTBOL!](#): > > Since E=mc squared, that might cause quite a problem. Neutrinos to the rescue! On second thought, that would not be a problem for Supie, since he could always use the extra energy, and it could be argued that his invulnerable body would be up to the task of storing it harmlessly, without potentially disastrous leakage, in the meantime. [Tenzil Kem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matter-Eater_Lad) would be another matter [del]eater[/del]. While there are no doubt multiple problems with what he can do, without ever (normally) displaying invulnerability, super-strength or super-speed, it is practically canon that he has “nuclear furnaces” inside. Neutrinos would seem to be the best explanation as to how he can dissipate the huge amount of energy harmlessly. Exactly how you can arrive at neutrinos as the full output (or nearly so) of some kind of “nuclear” process is something I would leave to the reader as an exercise. (I’ve always thought of this sort of thing as pleasant meanderings. But it’s silly to take it seriously. For instance, at what point does an “explanation” become too weak even for the “science” of comic books?) ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/58 "2014-09-20T22:54:21Z")
Can always get ketchup out of the bottle with just a single shake. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/59 "2014-09-21T00:50:25Z")
He can beat Chuck Norris. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/60 "2014-09-21T01:14:54Z")
Over the past decade or so I have only see Powergirl and Supergirl use freeze breath. Is this a no longer used power by Superman. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909.md?page=4)