# Superman **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 21, 2000, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568 "2000-01-21T02:55:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WIGGUM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WIGGUM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WIGGUM)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/1 "2000-01-21T02:55:00Z")
I was flipping through the channels today, and I happened across an episode of “Lois and Clark”. During one scene Superman walks into a fire, and as expected walks out unscathed. My question though, is why he didn’t walk out of the fire nekkid with his Super-member blowing in the breeze for all of Metropolis to see. Why didn’t his suit burn up? I mean I doubt he was sitting around the Kent farm and decided to sew himself a flame retardent leotard? It just struck me as odd, that’s all. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/2 "2000-01-21T03:05:00Z")
Old answer (what I grew up with): His super-suit is made from the blankets he was rocketed through space with as a baby. Being made of Kryptonian materials, his long-johns are as impervious to damage as he is. Newer answer (John Byrne I believe, mid-80s or thereabout): One of Kal-el’s powers is a psychokinetic “shield” around his body to a distance of an inch or so. He can extend this force field to offer wind protection to persons he carries during flight and similar exercises. ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/3 "2000-01-21T03:06:00Z")
It’s been 20 years since I picked up a copy of “Superman” but I seem to remember that Ma Kent made the costume out of the blanket the young Kryptonian was wrapped in when they discovered his spaceship. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/4 "2000-01-21T03:09:00Z")
IIRC, Superman’s costume was made out of clothing and materials that had been salvaged from the rocketship he arrived upon Earth in. I’m not sure if those clothes have their super absorbent/resistant powers because they were advanced Kryptonian materials, or because of the same yellow sun effect that gave Superman his powers, but I bet Ma Clark had a _bitch_ of a time trying to sew an S onto super-resistant long-johns. BTW- a related question, now that I’m thinking of Superman; which came first, Kryptonite the mythical anti-Superman material, or Kryptonite the name of the element? Did the creators of Superman just steal a funky name from the periodic table, or did some Superman-fan scientist discover a new element and name it such? Yeah, yeah, I know, just go look in an encyclopedia under “kryptonite.” Sigh. * * * JMCJ _Curmudgeon Of The Day_ Winner, 1/19/00 As Selected by RTFirefly ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/5 "2000-01-21T03:22:00Z")
The element is Krypton, not kryptonite. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/6 "2000-01-21T03:22:00Z")
I remember one Superman comic book that showed how Supe cleaned his outfit: with an acetylene torch. I wonder if that bit of trivia is taking up some brain space that could otherwise be used for _useful_ information. ---
**Author:** ![Sycorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/7 "2000-01-21T03:27:00Z")
Reminds of a Superman question of my own: I had always assumed that the big red S on his chest stood for “Superman.” But in the movie (Chris Reeve, Margot Kidder), when she interviews him for the first time on her balcony, and he flies away, she says to herself “what a super…man.” So I took this to mean that that was the birth of his earth name of Superman. But then what does the big red S stand for? ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/8 "2000-01-21T04:10:00Z")
As far as Superman is concerned, don’t accept anything you see in the movies or TV shows as Gospel. One must peruse the True Word to know the Man of Steel. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman as a newspaper comic strip character in 1936. No syndicate was interested. They managed to sell it to National Periodical Publications as a comic book in 1938, as the cover story in the first issue of _Action_. Superman’s home planet had no name in this first story. Neither did his Kryptonian family, nor his adoptive Earth family. He also had no career as Superboy in these early stories. All of this came later. Krypton comes from the Greek word _kryptos_, meaning “hidden.” It’s also the name of an element that, at room temperature, is an odorless, colorless tasteless gas that is three times heavier than air. S&S were thinking “hidden” when they finally gave a name to Supe’s home planet. Superman’s family name was, originally, simply, “L.” “El” came later. Superman’s Earthly parents have always been named Jonathan and Martha Kent. In the original continuity, they both died of a rare illness that Superman could not cure, teaching him that even he had his limits. Superman’s costume was made from his baby blankets. He cut the threads with his heat vision and Martha did the rest. In the first issue of _Action_, he could not fly, he could “leap an eighth of a mile.” He was not totally invulnerable; the text says that “Nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin.” An illustration shows a doctor futilely trying to give him a shot, only to have the needle break. He was very strong, but he had no vision powers whatsoever. Scholars and scientists theorize that constant exposure to the rays of Earth’s Sun has strengthened Superman and given him these additional abilities. In the 1950s, Jerry Siegel revealed that Superman had been a Superboy in his youth. Strangely, this youth had powers that he should not have had at the time. It was later revealed that these were the adventures of a parallel-Earth Superboy. The Crisis on Infinite Earths in the 1980s caused all of these parallel Earths to unite into one, resulting in the Superman we have today. * * * \>\< DARWIN \> \_\_ **L\_\_\_L** ---
**Author:** ![JoeBlank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/41988e/32.png) [@JoeBlank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeBlank)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/9 "2000-01-21T13:14:00Z")
For more info on the man of Steel see: [http://www.fortress.am/welcome.phtml](http://www.fortress.am/welcome.phtml) Pardon my ignorance of codes, you may have to type this link into your browser using your fingers. ---
**Author:** ![JoeBlank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/41988e/32.png) [@JoeBlank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeBlank)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/10 "2000-01-21T13:15:00Z")
Screw the codes, all I did was go to the site and copy the address, then paste it into my reply. Works for me. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/11 "2000-01-21T15:30:00Z")
For a VERY interesting investigation of the more earthy details of the life Superman and Lois would lead, read the short story written by Larry Niven entitled _Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex_. It discusses the various paradoxes of life as a ‘super man’ on Earth in terms of reproductive ‘difficulties’. WELL worth the read. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cap\_n\_Crude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Cap\_n\_Crude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Crude)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/12 "2000-01-21T15:42:00Z")
Sycorax – as far as the Reeve/Kidder movie is concerned, the “S” is explained if you watch carefully. It’s not actually an S at all, but a Kryptonian symbol that represents Jor-El’s family. You’ll see Marlon Brando wearing the symbol (in black and white, not red/gold/blue) during his 10 minutes of screen time. Presumably, that symbol was on the blankets that they packed young Kal-El into when they shot him off the planet. It’s just a huge coincidence that the El family crest looks like an S, which is the first letter of Superman. QED. The current explanation for Supe’s invulnerability is a force field which is powered, like all of his other abilities, by what’s essentially an organic solar battery – his body. When he’s away from Earth and its yellow sun for extended periods his powers fade, as well as when he’s really exerting himself. Remember “The Death of Superman?” Doomsday couldn’t really hurt Supe initially, but Supe was “holding back,” as he always does, so as not to risk killing this freak. By the time he realized that he had to go all out, he’d already depleted his reserves, and was open to harm. When he “died” after killing Doomsday, he was really just in a coma due to dead batteries. When they buried him in the tomb in Metropolis, he almost died for real becuase he couldn’t recharge. the Eradicator (aka the Elvis Superman) stole Supe’s body and recharged him. * * * –Da Cap’n “Playin’ solitaire 'til dawn With a deck of fifty-one.” ---
**Author:** ![Keeves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f05b48/32.png) [@Keeves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeves)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/13 "2000-01-21T16:26:00Z")
The above-mentioned “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex” is available at many places on the 'net, such as [http://www.blueneptune.com/~svw/superman.html](http://www.blueneptune.com/~svw/superman.html) ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/14 "2000-01-21T16:45:00Z")
So how come when a guy shoots him with a gun, bullets bounce off that super suit, but then they throw the gun at him, he ducks? ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2000, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/15 "2000-01-22T06:26:00Z")
Kryptonite pistol-grips ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2000, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/16 "2000-01-22T06:56:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by handy: > \*\* > So how come when a guy shoots him with a gun, bullets bounce off that super suit, but then they throw the gun at him, he ducks?\*\* [fan worship] Science fiction writer Steven Barnes used to ask that same question on the local radio talk show, _Hour 25_. Steven lives near Seattle now. Haven’t heard his voice in years. That’s the same Barnes who collaborated with Larry Niven on the novel _Dream Park_, among others. Steven has a website: [www.lifewrite.com/](http://www.lifewrite.com/) [/fan worship] * * * \>\< DARWIN \> \_\_ **L\_\_\_L** ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/17 "2000-01-21T19:27:00Z")
Keeves, thanks for that web site reference! I didn’t know that you could find it that way, I just assumed you had to get the now out of print (IIRC) collection in which it was printed. ---
**Author:** ![torq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@torq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torq)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/18 "2000-01-21T19:32:00Z")
Niven wrote a pretty good humorous take on it. Of course, he left out the most obvious solution (probably because it’s not funny): take Lois to Kandor. She’d be fine there (Jimmy Olsen has been there several times), and Superman has no super-powers there Krypton the element was discovered, and presumably named, in 1898, several decades before Superman was created. I don’t know if S&S were influenced by the name of the element or not; my guess is that they were, because -n isn’t the most obvious ending for the name of a place (I’d have expected Kryptia or Kryptos if they’d independently decided to use the root word). ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/19 "2000-01-21T20:03:00Z")
The choice of Krypton follows a certain logic. Mercury is also the name of both an element and a planet. Perhaps physicists took their cue from S&S when they named elements 92, 93, and 94, Urainium, Neptunium, and Plutonium. * * * Elmer J. Fudd, Millionaire. I own a mansion and a yacht. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568/20 "2000-01-21T20:41:00Z")
I was told that Kryptonite first appeared in the radio serial version of Superman. In those days the serial was a live, daily show. Apparently, the producers had forgotten that the actor playing Superman had a vacation requirement in his contract. They were suddenly faced with how to run the daily Superman serial without Superman. (It was live radio so they couldn’t record two weeks in advance.) ## They came up with Kryptonite. For two weeks they had another actor moan while Lois and Jimmy searched for Superman. After two weeks Superman “recovered enough strength” to free himself. “Drink your coffee! Remember, there are people sleeping in China.” Dennis Matheson — [dennis@mountaindiver.com](mailto:dennis@mountaindiver.com) Hike, Dive, Ski, Climb — [www.mountaindiver.com](http://www.mountaindiver.com) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman/6568.md?page=2)