# Superman's lapsed powers. What old school powers doesn't he use any much anymore? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 24, 2008, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004 "2008-06-24T02:17:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/1 "2008-06-24T02:17:14Z")
I remember super ventriloquism and haven’t see that used in a while. IIRC he could also "super shout (ie yell real loud) but haven’t see that used much either. What are some other lapsed “super” powers? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/2 "2008-06-24T02:21:42Z")
[Leaping.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/49822584@N00/450372929/) It’s how he got around before he got his flying license. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/3 "2008-06-24T02:29:31Z")
In some early comics, he had super telepathy and could mold his face to impersonate others. I saw it once in an old reprint from the 40s, but it’s may never have been used again. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/4 "2008-06-24T02:40:11Z")
I’d think it would be anything other than flight and punch the fuck out of everything. What else do you need? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/5 "2008-06-24T02:43:16Z")
[QUOTE=astro] I remember super ventriloquism and haven’t see that used in a while. [/QUOTE] He doesn’t call it that, but he does use pretty much that power fairly often - typically to talk to Lois or Batman. He doesn’t use (or have) his Super-Hypnotism any more. He still has, and uses, his X-Ray/Heat vision, but most of the really creative applications thereof have stopped. He’s recently recovered it, but his Super-Intellect was dropped for some time. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/6 "2008-06-24T03:33:50Z")
He hasn’t picked up a man like a javelin and hurled him to his death lately. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/7 "2008-06-24T04:33:39Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] [Leaping.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/49822584@N00/450372929/) It’s how he got around before he got his flying license. [/QUOTE] I guess he had to kill Mortimer Shoop to protect his secret, right? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/8 "2008-06-24T05:12:59Z")
[super-mathematics](http://superdickery.com/images/stories/oneshot/1007supermathematics1iw.jpg) [super-weaving](http://superdickery.com/images/stories/stupor/1506superweaving4go.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/9 "2008-06-24T05:23:33Z")
Does he still travel through time? ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/10 "2008-06-24T05:30:19Z")
[QUOTE=Tengu] He doesn’t call it that, but he does use pretty much that power fairly often - typically to talk to Lois or Batman. [/QUOTE] He does? I don’t recall that happening in **decades**. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/11 "2008-06-24T06:19:55Z")
[QUOTE=Tengu] He’s recently recovered it, but his Super-Intellect was dropped for some time. [/QUOTE] Yeah… I see what you mean. [super-mathematics](http://superdickery.com/images/stories/oneshot/1007supermathematics1iw.jpg) 20x16x10 = ? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/12 "2008-06-24T09:31:21Z")
[super landscaping](http://superdickery.com/images/stories/stupor/ac22404superlandscaping0jl.jpg) [super friction](http://superdickery.com/images/stories/stupor/j1805superfriction9uf.jpg) [super makeup](http://superdickery.com/images/stories/stupor/3206supermakeup9px.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/13 "2008-06-24T10:27:20Z")
He super-oscillated his way through a wall in an early TV episode to shift a clock. Si ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/14 "2008-06-24T10:46:53Z")
[nitpick] He did it to arrest a villain who was hiding in a cube to avoid the statute of limitation. However, once his henchmen kidnapped Lois, he went to plan B: asking the Naval Observatory to speed up their atomic clock so the bad guy emerged five minutes earlier[/nitpick] Oh, and in the TV show he once was able to split himself into two Supermen – each with half his power. ---
**Author:** ![Soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/15 "2008-06-24T12:07:39Z")
And **Peter Morris** quietly wins the thread. Super weaving, super landscaping? Marvelous! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/16 "2008-06-24T12:15:16Z")
Really obscure ones: It wasn’t his normal super-hypnotism, but Superman was able to make Jimmy Olsen forget his identity as Clark Kent by using x-ray vision and heat-vision together somehow. Conveniently, he knew that he couldn’t do this very often or he’d “short-circuit” his super-vision abilities. AFAIK, it never showed up again. When Superboy was changed into a super-girl through the action of the ever-convenient Red Kryptonite, he ended up with Super Feminine Intuition. I wish I was making that up. Everyone seems to have forgotten that episode, or to have agreed to ignore it. Supergirl and Power Girl have never, as far as I know, shown any Super Feminine Intuition abilities. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/17 "2008-06-24T12:42:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Everyone seems to have forgotten that episode, or to have agreed to ignore it. No doubt due to a combination of X-ray vision and heat vision. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/18 "2008-06-24T12:50:56Z")
[QUOTE=si\_blakely] He super-oscillated his way through a wall in an early TV episode to shift a clock. Si [/QUOTE] Dam it…I wanted to mention that one. Was it super hypnotysm when he made Lois stiff as a board to stop the closing walls so Jimmy could climb out and save them? Was it super levitation? ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/19 "2008-06-24T16:26:40Z")
One of the reasons I have so much trouble getting into to Superman is because of his inefficient use of his powers, most especially his superspeed. Dude, you’re just about as fast as The Flash. No bad guy should even see you coming. They should be knocked the hell out before they even realize you’ve come and gone. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004/20 "2008-06-24T17:38:51Z")
Of the five senses (all of which are, presumably, super-senses in Superman): Super-vision he uses all the time Super-hearing also Super-smell, super-touch, super-taste seem to be rarely, if ever, used. I do recall him using super-smell in the past, but never the other two. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermans-lapsed-powers-what-old-school-powers-doesnt-he-use-any-much-anymore/454004.md?page=2)