# What does it take to hurt Superman (ASIDE from Kryptonite)?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 25, 2012, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039 "2012-11-25T04:33:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2012, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/41 "2012-11-26T09:04:01Z")
He’s photosynthetic. Total darkness over a period of several days. Let his batteries run down.
Then again, I think Byrne had something about him being able to completely metabolize the food he eats. Maybe he could supplement his energy reserves with random organic matter. So, total darkness and nothing which he could use for chemical energy.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/42 "2012-11-26T17:29:55Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#):
>
> He’s photosynthetic. Total darkness over a period of several days. Let his batteries run down.
Yes, but how do you restrain him in the meantime? Seems to me that if you have the tech to confine him in one place, you have the tech to kill him outright, and doing so quickly is a better idea than dragging things out, thus giving him the opportunity to suss out a way to escape.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/43 "2012-11-26T17:48:31Z")
Luthor did a number on him with the powerstone back in Superman #17 (which volume I have safely stored in my vault.) He did it again in Action comics #47 (which sadly I lack a genuine copy of.)
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### Author:  [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/44 "2012-11-26T17:52:36Z")
Screw around with the memory crystals in his Fortress of Solitude so when he goes to talk to his mom, she’ll tell him that mixed marriages never work so he’ll get in the power removing chamber so he can sleep with Lois lane and then POW!
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/45 "2012-11-26T17:56:35Z")
> [@Balance](#):
>
> A spell to turn him into an aardvark, on the other hand, would probably work…though it might leave you with a super-strong, invulnerable aardvark.
So…[like this](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9a/Cerebus155Cover.jpg/250px-Cerebus155Cover.jpg)?
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/46 "2012-11-26T18:03:49Z")
How about getting him to sleep in a closed room in Korea with an electric fan running?
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/47 "2012-11-26T20:05:21Z")
Bet him that he can’t rip his own head off.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2012, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/48 "2012-11-27T00:33:04Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Quoth **Lochdale** :
>
> Post-crisis you just need some magic or someone more powerful like the Silver Surfer.
The Silver Surfer would have an extremely difficult time defeating Superman. The reason why is left as an exercise for the reader.
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### Author:  [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2012, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/49 "2012-11-27T02:07:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> The Silver Surfer would have an extremely difficult time defeating Superman. The reason why is left as an exercise for the reader.
The Surfer would agonize and introspect until Superman just flies away?
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/50 "2012-11-27T02:42:49Z")
The five point palm exploding heart technique.
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/51 "2012-11-27T03:06:12Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#):
>
> He’s photosynthetic. Total darkness over a period of several days. Let his batteries run down.
>
> Then again, I think Byrne had something about him being able to completely metabolize the food he eats. Maybe he could supplement his energy reserves with random organic matter.
Heck, as far as I can tell that’s what Miller has the big guy do in THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS.
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### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2012, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/52 "2012-11-27T21:51:15Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> Yes, but how do you restrain him in the meantime? Seems to me that if you have the tech to confine him in one place, you have the tech to kill him outright, and doing so quickly is a better idea than dragging things out, thus giving him the opportunity to suss out a way to escape.
Restrain him? Snuff the Sun, and he won’t have the energy to escape the Solar System in time. In a week or so, he’s down to being merely a large muscular corn-fed farm boy. Look, do you want to keep the Sun going, or do you want Kal-El dead?
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### Author:  [@Richard\_E.Nixon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_E.Nixon)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2012, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/53 "2012-11-27T22:11:56Z")
This begs the question. How did he get hired at the Daily Planet without a TB test? And why doesn’t somebody just collect Clark’s fingerprints and match them against Superman?
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/54 "2012-11-28T03:43:35Z")
> [@Richard\_E.Nixon](#):
>
> This begs the question. How did he get hired at the Daily Planet without a TB test? And why doesn’t somebody just collect Clark’s fingerprints and match them against Superman?
_Does_ Superman leave fingerprints?
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### Author:  [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/55 "2012-11-28T03:56:08Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> _Does_ Superman leave fingerprints?
Yes, but he makes a super-speed pass with a handkerchief over every smooth surface he’s touched before he switches back to Clark.
Alternatively, from the invulnerability-as-a-forcefield writers: no, because he never actually touches anything directly while his invulnerability is in effect.
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2012, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/56 "2012-11-28T12:11:17Z")
Note–gravity-based attacks have also been effective in the past.
Match Krypton’s old gravity, multiply by 20, and you can put him in a bad way.
Psionic abilities can and do work.
The extraterrestrial parasite Starro can control his mind.
Diseases from Krypton could be quite effective.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/57 "2012-11-28T14:44:05Z")
One skanky Kandorian hooker could put him on the ropes pretty quickly.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/58 "2012-11-28T16:52:29Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> The Silver Surfer would have an extremely difficult time defeating Superman. The reason why is left as an exercise for the reader.
The Surfer loses fights he should win because he really dislikes fighting and has a hard time getting himself into the right headspace. Admittedly Superman is hardly a berserker himself (and spends most of his time dealing with natural disasters and so forth, not fistfights), so he’s more aggressive than the Surfer. The Silver Age Superman could probably defeat the Surfer. Their power levels were similar (though the Surfer has some extra abilities), but Kal is more aggressive than Norrin. Contrariwise, I think the post-Crisis Superman would lose (and has) lost against the Surfer.
I’m thinking now of times both of those have done really well in battle. They both shine against vastly numerical superior forces using technology, especially starships and robots; I can think of occasions in which each have destroyed entire alien armadas all by their lonesome. (I doubt Silver Age Supes would even call on the JLA for help against something like that.) With Supes and the Surfer you’re better off with single opponents who are clearly sentient beings, even if you have more powerful options available.
> [@foolsguinea](#):
>
> Restrain him? Snuff the Sun, and he won’t have the energy to escape the Solar System in time. In a week or so, he’s down to being merely a large muscular corn-fed farm boy. Look, do you want to keep the Sun going, or do you want Kal-El dead?
If you’ve got the juice to snuff out Sol, you’ve got the means to kill him by brute force.
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### Author:  [@GovernmentMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GovernmentMan)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/59 "2012-11-28T22:51:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> The Silver Surfer would have an extremely difficult time defeating Superman. The reason why is left as an exercise for the reader.
He could simply absorb all of Superman’s solar energy
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-to-hurt-superman-aside-from-kryptonite/642039/60 "2012-11-29T01:04:48Z")
Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of it being difficult for the Surfer to defeat him, because a prerequisite to that would be for them to be in the same universe. Which has admittedly happened occasionally, but it’s rarer than it is for Squirrel Girl to defeat cosmic forces.
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