# Supergirl and cornstarch **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 12, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746 "2016-03-12T16:21:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/21 "2016-03-14T01:02:53Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Jesus, guys. Next thing you’ll be telling us is that Supergirl fanfic porn exists on the Internet. Leave us not be ree-dickle-dockle! (Yes, there’s also some very nice Pogo porn out there.) re Kryptonians not being able to “turn off” their powers, there’s an oldie where Myxyzptlk gives Superman a sneezing powder, and Supes must fly into space, lest his sneeze destroy the earth. He would have been unable not to sneeze with the full power of his super-strength. There’s a lot that John Byrne did wrong…but his re-design of Superman was one of the best things that ever happened in comics. ---
**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:** [March 14, 2016, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/22 "2016-03-14T01:22:36Z")
Eh, I can almost maybe buy that, since sneezes aren’t really under voluntary control. And how many re-designs of Superman did Byrne did? Because the only one I’m aware of was the stupid, idiotic “it’s all psionic” nonsense he foisted. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/23 "2016-03-14T01:50:05Z")
> [@Slade](#): > > “At some point in the Superman comics’ history, the explanation was that Superman’s costume was made from special indestructible fabric that was sent along with baby Kal-El on his spaceship.” > > As I recall, it was the red and blue baby blanket Jor-El and Lara wrapped him in before launching the rocket from Krypton. What more explanation do you need? One for Supergirl? Actually, I’m old enough to remember the original Superman baby blanket explanation. Martha unraveled the threads of the blanket and reknit them into a costume. Does anybody see some possible problems with that scenario? Was the blanket one continuous thread (as was implied)? If so, how did she cut it? If she couldn’t cut it, how did she fashion a supersuit exactly the right size? How did the suit, meant to fit Superboy, also fit Superman perfectly? Where did all the extra fabric come from something the size of a baby blanket to begin with? Why didn’t the indestructible thread rip her fingertips open? The mind boggles. (Yeah, I know. It was conveniently super-elastic; there were enough blankets to create a circus tent; and heat vision. Superboy comics were the worst.) > [@Trinopus](#): > > There’s a lot that John Byrne did wrong…but his re-design of Superman was one of the best things that ever happened in comics. I’m with Chronos. I don’t understand this at all. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/24 "2016-03-14T03:37:26Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Leave us not be ree-dickle-dockle! (Yes, there’s also some very nice Pogo porn out there.) :eek: I am pretending you never said that. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/25 "2016-03-14T05:06:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Eh, I can almost maybe buy that, since sneezes aren’t really under voluntary control. > > And how many re-designs of Superman did Byrne did? Because the only one I’m aware of was the stupid, idiotic “it’s all psionic” nonsense he foisted. The really key thing in the re-design was that Clark Kent was the real man, and Superman was just a job he did. Instead of Clark Kent debasing himself and being meek and mild, Kent was assertive and brash and a highly skilled reporter. In the olden days, he was a nonentity. In essence, in the old days, Kent was the mask, and Superman was the real man. Byrne had the genius to reverse that. The rest is just window-dressing. The psionics was a way to deal with the invulnerable costume and cape issue, or why he could fly carrying a greater weight than he could lift. Those were established; Byrne just made up reasons for them. When we first saw Clark Kent in the gym, doing fitness exercises, that was a moment of absolute sheer genius. He has a great body. Why pretend otherwise? Why spill milk on himself and then, all flustered, back away (so he can change costumes) instead of saying, professionally, “Let’s go see if we can get some coverage of this incident” and running on ahead so fast he loses the others (so he can change costumes)? Brilliant, and it (almost) pays for all the crap Byrne has barfed up over all the years. (Also “Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor.” Absolutely brilliant Star Trek background story.) ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/26 "2016-03-14T06:36:31Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The skin situation is impossible to explain away realistically. Supergirl works in an office, rides in an elevator, walks in a crowded modern city. Every adult has had hundreds of minor bumps because of crowding. Bumping into Supergirl would like hitting a lead wall. You couldn’t not notice it. People would literally be falling at her feet. I’m a pretty big guy, and people do tend to bounce if they run into me. If I’m not moving when it happens, they only have their own momentum to deal with, so there’s no reason they’d fall down. Still, I learned long ago how to move through a crowd without making contact with anyone, despite my size. I would think a relatively petite girl with access to superspeed and the associated reflexes should be able to do it rather better than I can. Even so, there would often be situations where it would be noticeable if her skin were hard as diamond. Of course, if it’s weren’t pliable…how would she move at all? > [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Jesus, guys. Next thing you’ll be telling us is that Supergirl fanfic porn exists on the Internet. Are you suggesting she’s sometimes depicted as a non-Newtonian floozy? ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/27 "2016-03-14T06:49:29Z")
Does Supergirl ever make love, and how does this work? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/28 "2016-03-14T07:11:08Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > Does Supergirl ever make love, and how does this work? The only way she could do that and not have it be, in essence, bestiality, would be to do it with another Kryptonian. Which, in normal course of things, means Superman. And [that’s “unlawful”.](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1263/1852/1600/superpass.jpg) Otherwise Kal-El would, apparently, be totally up for it. Granted, he did say “marriage”. MAybe boffing is still on the cards. Oh, and I’m trademarking “Thixotropic Girl” poste-haste… ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/29 "2016-03-14T21:46:04Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > The only way she could do that and not have it be, in essence, bestiality, would be to do it with another Kryptonian. I don’t understand this claim. Sure, if we were dealing with superintelligence, we might have supersapience, with Kryptonians being as far away mentally from humans as humans are to animals. But Superman’s superintelligence has mostly been retconned out, and, when it does show up, it’s not not that much smarter–at least until the end of his life. If Superman becomes Dr. Manhattan, there’s not much more for him to do. So they’re just mentally normal people in superstrong bodies. I don’t see how that makes it bestiality. ---
**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:** [March 14, 2016, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/30 "2016-03-14T22:10:46Z")
It depends on whether you consider the relevant aspect of bestiality to be the difference of species, or the difference of intelligence levels. In our world, we’re the only species with our level of intelligence, so we’ve never really had the need to distinguish between the two concepts. In a world with sapient aliens, though, it’s a perfectly relevant distinction. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/31 "2016-03-14T22:32:53Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > The really key thing in the re-design was that Clark Kent was the real man, and Superman was just a job he did. Instead of Clark Kent debasing himself and being meek and mild, Kent was assertive and brash and a highly skilled reporter. In the olden days, he was a nonentity. In essence, in the old days, Kent was the mask, and Superman was the real man. Byrne had the genius to reverse that. There were many times in the 50 years before Byrne that Clark was “assertive and brash and a highly skilled reporter.” Jimmy Olsen used to worship him as a reporter. The Superman TV show had a Clark who was more imposing than the guy in colorful pajamas. I don’t see Byrne as being at all innovative. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/32 "2016-03-14T23:44:55Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > At some point in the Superman comics’ history, the explanation was that Superman’s costume was made from special indestructible fabric that was sent along with baby Kal-El on his spaceship. Ma Kent couldn’t use her sewing machine to turn it into a costume; Superboy had to use his heat vision to weld it together. > > Which **should** theoretically mean that a Kryptonian villain with heat vision – or any sufficiently intense heat source, for that matter – should be able to mess up Superman’s costume. Yet these same comics sometimes mention that Superman flies through the core of the sun (while still wearing his costume) to give himself a refreshing bath\*. Go figure. > \*) It was before _Crisis on Infinite Earths_. Back then, Superman could shrug off hydrogen bomb blasts at ground zero, and toss black holes around like juggling balls. Since the sun powers him up, it would also power up either his force field (post crisis) or baby blanket costume (pre crisis), thus flying through the (yellow) sun would only make his costume more indestructible. Do note that his cape was not protected by his force field post crisis, and would often wind up damaged (but pretty much only when the artist wanted to have it ripped so it would look cool). Of course post crisis Supergirl wasn’t Kryptonian anyway, she was a gentically modified shape shifting clone of the Lana Lang of a pocket universe (she was created by that universe’s heroic Lex Luthor) that later merged with a human and became an earthbound angel (whatever that is). Then Superboy Prime started punching reality and things got confusing. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/33 "2016-03-14T23:56:58Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > . . . Do note that his cape was not protected by his force field post crisis, and would often wind up damaged (but pretty much only when the artist wanted to have it ripped so it would look cool). . . . This was particularly effective in the long story cycle where he went off planet, into deep space, and had grand adventures among alien empires, including being a gladiatorial slave. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/34 "2016-03-15T00:33:35Z")
Perhaps I’m misremembering, but I vaguely remember that Ma Kent had the toddler cut the threads with his heat vision. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/35 "2016-03-15T05:08:14Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > So they’re just mentally normal people in superstrong bodies. They’re not really people. > [@](#): > > I don’t see how that makes it bestiality. Interspecies sex, then, if you feel the need to be coy. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/36 "2016-03-15T06:10:18Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > They’re not really people. . . . Why not? They walk and talk and have beliefs, which they can communicate successfully to others. They can do and keep jobs. If you say, “Can you fry me an egg, please?” they can fry you an egg. (The big difference is that they don’t need a stovetop.) (If we had robots as sophisticated as C3PO of Star Wars, I’d say he’s “people” too.) ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/37 "2016-03-15T06:11:26Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Interspecies sex, then, if you feel the need to be coy. It’s called [rishathra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rishathra). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/38 "2016-03-15T08:26:33Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Why not? They walk and talk and have beliefs, which they can communicate successfully to others. They can do and keep jobs. If you say, “Can you fry me an egg, please?” they can fry you an egg. (The big difference is that they don’t need a stovetop.) > > (If we had robots as sophisticated as C3PO of Star Wars, I’d say he’s “people” too.) They are sapients or sophonts, but not people - people in this case meaning members of the species _Homo sapiens_ (including its subspecies\*, _sapiens_, _neanderthalis_, _denisova_ and any others) > [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > It’s called [rishathra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rishathra). No, that’s inter-species sex between variously-diversified members of genus Homo. It’s still within-clade, as your own cite acknowledges: “sexual practice outside one’s own species\*\* but within the intelligent hominoids\*\*”. Common descent is the key. Someone fucking Speaker-To-Animals would not be doing _rishathra_. Or Nessus _shudder_. Kryptonians are not [hominoids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape), they just look like us. Unless panspermia is a thing in DC-verse, I would expect to be closer to a bristlecone pine, genetically, than I would to a Kryptonian. \*IMO, not settled science. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/39 "2016-03-15T08:34:56Z")
Note - IMO, Kryptonians _are_ persons, as would C3PO be, but not people. Which is weird since people is the normal plural of person (but note the existence of “persons” - and “peoples”) ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746/40 "2016-03-15T12:06:26Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > No, that’s inter-species sex between variously-diversified members of genus Homo. It’s still within-clade, as your own cite acknowledges: “sexual practice outside one’s own species\*\* but within the intelligent hominoids\*\*”. Common descent is the key. > > Someone fucking Speaker-To-Animals would not be doing _rishathra_. Or Nessus _shudder_. > > Kryptonians are not [hominoids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape), they just look like us. Unless panspermia is a thing in DC-verse, I would expect to be closer to a bristlecone pine, genetically, than I would to a Kryptonian. In certain continuities, Lois and Clark can have kids, which is close enough for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supergirl-and-cornstarch/748746.md?page=3)