# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/81 "2014-09-23T23:01:11Z")
Spitting into the wind is no problem for him. And he doesn’t even need to pull the mask off the ol Lone Ranger, he can just see right through it. He still doesn’t mess around with Jim, though. Not because he can’t. Just he’s a nice guy and generally doesn’t mess around with anyone if he doesn’t have to. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/82 "2014-09-24T00:13:57Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > Superman fans always point to this as an awesome moment, which it kinda is, but it’s funny because he gets his ass handed to him right after this and has to be saved by Luthor. Superman was always getting taken out by energy blasts or electricity or whatever, leaving it up to somebody nonpowered (Batman, usually) to save the day. It got annoying. I should probably mention it in the “Worfed” thread, if nobody else has. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/83 "2014-09-24T00:21:04Z")
> [@FUTBOL!](#): > > thank you! 🙂 My pleasure. Question: How did the SD Quote function change all but the last three of my uppercase letters to lowercase? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/84 "2014-09-24T14:35:16Z")
Being immune to all forms of infection, he never has to worry about STDs. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/85 "2014-09-24T16:02:19Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Since everything is so easy for Superman, it’s impossible for him to get a decent workout. Superman becomes super-flabby super-quickly. As a consequence, he actually has to put up with curlbros asking him “Do you even lift?” (Well, he doesn’t **have** to, but he’s technically a good guy, so he does. Because it’s only a 50-50 proposition whether a court of law would consider heat-raying a curlbro into an ash pile “justifiable homicide”.) ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/86 "2014-09-24T20:22:57Z")
> [@oft\_wears\_hats](#): > > He can watch TV with the volume almost at zero, so he doesn’t wake the neighbors. Sure! He could actually watch any of the neighbors’ TVs so long as the volume is above zero, and they’d never be creeped-out by that _someone’s looking over my shoulder_ feeling. [See also Post #26] –G! ---
**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 24, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/87 "2014-09-24T21:01:06Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Question: How did the SD Quote function change all but the last three of my uppercase letters to lowercase? Superboy punched reality. ---
**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 24, 2014, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/88 "2014-09-24T23:22:07Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > But does being perved by x-ray vision hurt the girls? Is it like getting exposed to x-ray radiation? Did all the girls in Smallville High develop breast, butt, and crotch cancer? If one wanted to fanwank an explanation for x-ray vision, it would be more plausible that Superman is simply able to detect naturally occuring low-level x-rays and how the interact with the objects around him, rather than that he emits them himself. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/89 "2014-09-25T07:03:05Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > If one wanted to fanwank an explanation for x-ray vision, it would be more plausible that Superman is simply able to detect naturally occuring low-level x-rays and how the interact with the objects around him, rather than that he emits them himself. That’s how I usually think of it, but in the Golden Age when his heat vision was first introduced, it was explained that he focused the x-rays emitted from his eyes with his x-Ray vision until the energy caused the object focused upon to heat up. And in the New 52, Grant Morrison in the first run of Action Comics has Superman fry a bunch of computers while explaining that his eyes emit radiation as well as absorbing it. I don’t remember if they specify that he’s using x-rays, but his eyes glow blue, which is how they usually depict his x-ray vision. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/90 "2014-09-25T14:00:54Z")
Superman doesn’t need a leaf-blower. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/91 "2014-09-25T16:34:57Z")
He can go through every possible bathroom access code in a split-second. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/92 "2014-09-25T18:08:40Z")
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. I don’t think so. ---
**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 25, 2014, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/93 "2014-09-25T18:29:51Z")
He would never need go clueless if someone stole from or vandalized his apartment, office, or possessions, even in the absence of recording devices or his own super-senses monitoring. Perhaps he would want to play detective, and add up clues. But if he chose not to, he would have one very powerful tool at his device: Time-travel. Usually the Silver Age Superman would use a “phantom” option when visiting a time he already existed within. He could then observe the past, without becoming part of it, including being observed. The other option, also constructed to avoid existing two places a once, is that he would switch places with himself. There was a Justice League of America story with a cover showing himself triumphant over all the other Leaguers. During the story he found a reason to advance a year (or ten?) into the future, with that Superman catapulted to the present. Another story showed Superboy changing places with his adult self, who was then able to rejoin his deceased parents in his subjective present. It has also been established that Supie can monitor the past with a time-viewer. Finally, he and Supergirl have been shown able to overtake light rays. I hesitate to mention this because it is so egregiously silly on so many levels, even for little kids to swallow. I’ll just mention one of the more obvious problems: People and objects observed would have to be outside in the first place. ---
**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 25, 2014, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/94 "2014-09-25T18:35:53Z")
He can totally see through disguises like two kids in a trench coat pretending to be an adult or an ex-husband who is dressing up like an old nanny so he can see his kids. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/95 "2014-09-26T01:47:16Z")
He always knows when it’s the Jehovah’s Witnesses at the door. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/96 "2014-09-26T04:19:03Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > He can totally see through disguises like two kids in a trench coat pretending to be an adult or an ex-husband who is dressing up like an old nanny so he can see his kids. His X-ray vision is not involuntary though (I think). So he actually needs to be checking out his elderly nanny, or the oddly-proportioned guy in the trench coat, to notice something is amiss. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/97 "2014-09-26T05:38:55Z")
He knew which girls in his jr high school classes stuffed their bras. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/98 "2014-09-26T05:46:40Z")
Oh, he never had any trouble unscrewing the lid off a pickle jar. ---
**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 26, 2014, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/99 "2014-09-26T15:07:13Z")
When Superman pees in the bushes, the resulting tunnel, once the super urine has leaked out, provides a home for many wild animals. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-aspects-of-supermans-powers/698909/100 "2014-09-26T16:04:00Z")
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