# Stupid Superhero question....
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 6, 2004, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301 "2004-09-06T04:07:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/1 "2004-09-06T04:07:34Z")
How do Superheros fly?
Superman for example…What is it about our yellow sun gives him the abillity to fly?
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/2 "2004-09-06T04:28:51Z")
It’s less well-defined for Superman than for most of the rest of them. John Byrne (and in the movies) presents him as a limited telekinetic who can mentally move himself and anything he’s in physical contact with.
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### Author:  [@ussentinel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ussentinel)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/3 "2004-09-06T04:34:29Z")
I thought Supes ability to fly was in part due to Earth’s gravity being much less than it was on Krypton. The yellow sun enhanced this, as well giving him his super-powers. Plus, it made him more of a Superman. A very early comic book origin said Superman could leap an eighth of a mile, not fly.
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/4 "2004-09-06T04:37:41Z")
To use three disparate examples: Archangel uses his wings; Jean Grey uses her telekinesis; and Storm uses her control over wind.
In other words, all sorts of different ways.
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/5 "2004-09-06T08:00:36Z")
Just remember that, originally, Superman _couldn’t_ fly – he just jumped in _reeeeeeeeeeally_ high arcs.
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### Author:  [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/6 "2004-09-06T13:36:24Z")
The non-flying Legion of Super Hero members were able to fly because they would wear flight rings, yet another reason I’m still pissed that I wasn’t born in the 25th century.
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### Author:  [@xvxdarkknightxvx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xvxdarkknightxvx)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/7 "2004-09-06T14:19:25Z")
One thing that I don’t get (sorry for the hijack): If yellow sunlight was able to make normal men into supermen, and Supes’s father knew about this (which is why he sent Kal to Earth), why didn’t he just develop a yellow sun filter for the whole planet? It would make much more sense than sending an infant off to a distant planet.
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### Author:  [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/8 "2004-09-06T15:32:27Z")
> [@xvxdarkknightxvx](#):
>
> One thing that I don’t get (sorry for the hijack): If yellow sunlight was able to make normal men into supermen, and Supes’s father knew about this (which is why he sent Kal to Earth), why didn’t he just develop a yellow sun filter for the whole planet? It would make much more sense than sending an infant off to a distant planet.
Once again, depends on which retcon you like.
Originally, ALL Kryptonians possessed super-powers, due to their “advanced status and greater evolution;” an early Siegel and Shuster version of Superman’s origin has Jor-El running home at super-speed, and leaping into his house through a second-story balcony. In that same story, another scientist derides Earth people because “they do not even possess X-ray vision!” Oh, yeah, and a parent is heard to worry about her four-year-old because he “does not yet know his calculus.”
Later, it was retconned; Kryptonians did not normally possess super-powers, but WOULD gain them under the yellow sun and lighter gravity of Earth!
Either way, the idea of a yellow sun filter for Krypton is a moot point; the chain reaction that caused Krypton to explode also converted most of the planet’s mass into Kryptonite, which kills Kryptonians no matter what color the sun happens to be. Their only hope would have been Jor-El’s proposed Space Ark… which the council turned down, because they didn’t believe Jor-El’s theories about the planet exploding.
…thus proving that the most common element in the universe is human stupidity, no? 😛
As to how Superman flies, I always just figured it was sheer force of personality. There is no other reasonable explanation, considering he seems able to do it on earth, in space, and pretty much anywhere else.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/9 "2004-09-06T17:21:32Z")
To expand the diverse list further, Magneto flies by putting a magnetic field on his costume (which is made of colored bits of iron), Green Lantern flies by encasing himself in a green forcefield which he can move at will, and one of the fire-based heros (the Human Torch?) flies by superheating the air behind him and effectively rocketing. There are probably some who fly by just plain magic, as well, but I’m not up on them.
As to Legion flight rings, what would really suck would be having the inherent power of flight in the 25th century. I mean, think about it: It’s supposed to be a really cool superpower, and now everyone and their dog can do it with just a dinky little ring.
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### Author:  [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/10 "2004-09-06T17:25:09Z")
> [@Krokodil](#):
>
> John Byrne (and in the movies) presents him as a limited telekinetic who can mentally move himself and anything he’s in physical contact with.
What, the Superman movies made this claim? I haven’t seen them in a long time, but I don’t remember that; in which one did they talk about it?
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### Author:  [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/11 "2004-09-06T18:06:39Z")
A couple of comments:
1. The Legion is in _30th_ century (31st now).
2. During the Silver Age, they explained that his flying comes from _both_ the yellow sun and the lighter gravity–he can “levitate” because of the lighter gravity, but the inertia-stuff (like making 90[sup]o[/sup] turns at near-light speed) is due to the super-charging effects of “yellow solar radiation”
3. little known fact–take a human, put them on a lighter gravity planet than Earth’s that circles around a blue-white star? They get the standard suite of Kryptonian powers. Kryptonians on that planet get their powers amped up to unusable levels.
4. Whatever “yellow solar radiation” and “red solar radiation” are, plain old light-filters won’t do it, or you’d have had crooks regularly use flashlights with red filters. Niven\* (IIRC…or maybe James Hogan? David Brin?) suggested that it was neutrino emission–Kryptonians get charged up via them and the more emitted (like from a yellow sun\*\*) the more powerful the kryptonians get. Which would also be why it takes a Lex Luthor or a Braniac to whip up a “red solar radiation projector”
Fenris
\*Not in “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex”
\*\*I’m not sure this is right–don’t reactions get _more_ intense, not less and don’t more neutrinos get emitted?
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/12 "2004-09-06T19:12:56Z")
As long as we’re cataloging how different super-types fly:
Thor “flies” by throwing his hammer and then catching it by its unbreakable thong. The force of the throw drags him along. He can also hover by spinning the hammer helicopter-style.
Graviton flies by manipulating gravity fields and attracting/repelling himself.
The Wasp has nifty wings that extrude from her back when she shrinks.
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/13 "2004-09-06T19:39:02Z")
> [@Fenris](#):
>
> 1. Whatever “yellow solar radiation” and “red solar radiation” are, plain old light-filters won’t do it, or you’d have had crooks regularly use flashlights with red filters.
Oh yeah?
In a _Supergirl_ comic put out by Radio Shack in the late 1970s/early 1980s to get people to buy their TRS-80s and acoustic modems, Supergirl was flying over a building with three giant “solar panels” on its roof, each of which was colored yellow. Suddenly, these “solar panels” turned red, which meant that Supergirl was now exposed to **red solar radiation** and instantly lost her powers.
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/14 "2004-09-06T19:41:10Z")
> [@Julius Henry](#):
>
> The non-flying Legion of Super Hero members were able to fly because they would wear flight rings, yet another reason I’m still pissed that I wasn’t born in the 25th century.
Yeah, but have you ever seen a member of the Legion of Super Heroes go to the bathroom?
There are just some things that aren’t worth the trade-off.
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/15 "2004-09-06T19:43:10Z")
> [@tracer](#):
>
> Yeah, but have you ever seen a member of the Legion of Super Heroes go to the bathroom?
They have a ring for that too?!
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/16 "2004-09-06T19:58:22Z")
> [@Otto](#):
>
> Graviton flies by manipulating gravity fields and attracting/repelling himself.
Geo-Force (one of the original Outsiders, brother of Terra of the Titans) does the same.
Superman’s telekinesis has been ignored/retconned out, but Superboy has it now (and uses it much more creatively than just aping Superman’s powers).
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/17 "2004-09-06T21:02:55Z")
> [@SkipMagic](#):
>
> What, the Superman movies made this claim? I haven’t seen them in a long time, but I don’t remember that; in which one did they talk about it?
Not in so many words, but look at the scene in **Superman** where he takes Lois flying. He doesn’t have to carry her; as long as their fingers stay in touch, she flies alongside him just swell. As soon as she loses contact, she drops like a stone.
He lifts a helicoptor by one of its runners. I don’t care how strong you are, if you try that in real life and have the requisite muscle, the runner will bend until it snaps. Limited telekinesis is the only explanation.
In **Superman 2** , the Negative Zone villains throw a bus across the street at Superman. It doesn’t travel in the sort of parabolic arc trajectory that any object you or I might toss would travel at a comparable speed or distance; it travels in a straight line until it hits its intended target. This tells us two things: Kryptonians use telekinesis to augment their strength, and the Negative Zone villains have had a lot longer to hone it than Ka-El has.
In **Marvelman** (or, if you prefer, **Miracleman** ), Alan Moore’s first extended take on the Superman archetype, he says outright that the hero’s main powers involve telekinesis and the manipulation of force fields. It’s the best explanation put forward yet, and he has a reputation for thinking these things out more than the average comic book writer.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/18 "2004-09-06T21:05:12Z")
Two of the flying Marvel characters, Northstar and Aurora from _Alpha Flight_, had their flying/superspeed abilities explained thus: they had the mutant ability (later retconned when it was revealed they were in fact demi-elves) to “steal” some of the speed from their own atoms and convert it into momentum, i.e. the electrons whirling around ther nuclei would get a little bit slower and their physical movements would get a _lot_ faster. This was also used to explain an increase in molecular “toughness”, which means as they stole such energy, their skin would become more rigid and thus able to withstand the effects of flying or moving at supersonic speeds.
Complete bushwah, of course, but if you were a proud Canadian and wanted to see some characters from your native land in print, you took what you could get.
Superman’s flying was actually used first on the 1940s radio show, [_The Adventures of Superman_](http://neylons.com/oldtimeradio/pages/rsi60-The%20Adventures%20of%20Superman.html) where a whistling sound effect was deemed more dramatic than a long of BOING! CRUNCH! BOING! The radio show also introduced kryptonite, during a two-week period where Clayton Collyer was on vacation and his distinctive voice could be replaced by an actor groaning in pain.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/19 "2004-09-06T21:09:05Z")
> [@Krokodil](#):
>
> Not in so many words, but look at the scene in **Superman** where he takes Lois flying.
No, thanks. That “can you read my mind” monolog makes me gag.
I’ll admit, though, the existence of someone with these abilities would inspire more religious contemplation than anything else. I remember one commentator noting that it would be perfectly logical for young Clark Kent to conclude that he was the second coming of Jesus.
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### Author:  [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2004, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-superhero-question/263301/20 "2004-09-06T22:03:29Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#):
>
> Complete bushwah, of course, but if you were a proud Canadian and wanted to see some characters from your native land in print, you took what you could get.
OK, but Wolverine (another Canadian) is a lot cooler, even if he can’t fly. At least he’s popular on this side of the border.
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