There’s an even more basic question along these lines: Why doesn’t he learn martial arts? He’s actually a terrible fighter, at least in most incarnations, and gets by only because he’s so ridiculously powerful. He takes a lot of hits he doesn’t have to, including hits that can actually hurt him, and his own attacks are not as efficient as they could be. He knows some top-notch martial artists, and even if they won’t teach him, he could surely arrange to learn from someone (though he might have to train under a red-sun lamp or whatever will power him down enough). Even a modest amount of training would make him much more effective when he throws down with someone in his weight class, or someone with a kryptonite weapon, or any other fight where he’s de-powered.
The only justification I can think of is that at some level, he’s terrified of his own power. He doesn’t trust himself with what he’s got, so he’s not going to do anything that might give him more. Basically, he agrees with Batman.
He’s already dead before that happens. Or, at least, he would be if they’d remain consistent on what green-K does. The second he’s incapacitated, you kill him, before the JLA has the ability to notice that something is wrong. (Not that having to have your friends come in is actually “being prepared.”) I’ve seen how long it usually takes them to notice that something is wrong with a hero–usually long enough for there to be an initial one-on-one fight. That’s long enough for the villain to kill Supes.
The only reason green-K is not a threat is that, for some reason, they decided to depower it immensely, giving Superman the ability to shrug it off. He’ll survive long enough for help to arrive, even though he should be dead from what the villain did after hitting him with the kryptonite. He’s got main character immunity, rather than anything logical to keep him alive.
And it’s all something they could deal with easily by having Superman superdodge everything instead of just letting it hit him. Hence why I said it the way I said it. Superman is often quite cocky when dealing with villains who don’t look like they are a threat, and his cockiness is his undoing. Any decent villain should be able to use that against him.
And, anyways, you can deal with Flash pretty easily, and he’s pretty much the only JLA member fast enough to even have a chance of helping even if they found out about it instantly. So all you need is a plan that also keeps the Flash busy.
Finally, kryptonite is sparse precisely because it’s such a big threat. If it were no big deal, there’d be no problem in having a ton of it. It’s only by making it sparse that Superman stands a chance. In the Smallville universe, for example, where Green-K is everywhere, they had to constantly depower green-K so Clark could deal with it. (Just as well, since blue-K would probably be the better strategy there. You could depower him and cause lethal damage with one bullet. Green-K does not affect Clark’s invulnerability at all in that universe.)
It’s Kryptonian kungfu, called Torquasm-Rao. He knows it well enough to have taught Lois in it. He’s also studied boxing with Batman, Wildcat, and, yes, Mohammad Ali. He started studying martial arts in his Fortress of Solitude after being taken down a peg by an early version of Zod.
You are correct. The greatest invulnerability Superman had was the Comics Code Authority injunction that you can’t kill him (and let him stay dead more than an issue or two). And that’s why Metamorpho would just happen to be in the area, and turn to lead to contain the Green K radiation, or Zatanna would magic it away, or the Atom would bounce around in the shooter’s brain before he could fire. Superman won’t die because he’s the franchise.
I dunno… near the end of the Bonze Age (Action#544, June 1983, to be precise), Luthor greatly enhanced his power suit with lost Lexorian tech, presumably to Iron Man levels, capable of facing Superman head-on.
Is that a post-Crisis name? I thought the known Kryptonian martial arts were “Klurkor” and “Horu-Kanu”.
That pushes the question forward a step, then. Now the question is why he apparently forgets all of that when he gets in a fight, and stands there slugging and getting slugged like a two-bit bar brawler.
So that the issue runs more than three pages. Let’s face it, there aren’t too many adversaries Supes couldn’t wipe out with his power, his kungfu, his Phantom Zone projector, his friends, his dog and all the other imaginative additions to the canon over the last 80 years. Selective amnesia makes for more action, and some writers probably just don’t care to include every element.
They did a cute story where Superman (in a non-powered body) had to fight a master practitioner of the martial arts (in Batman’s body).
So his foe goes for the incapacitation-by-pain-strikes before wrapping our hero up in a chokehold; our hero responds by slamming the guy into their surroundings before getting the knockout with an exhausting series of classic big swings. Superman spells out – in between panting for air – that he’s an experienced fighter who’s developed, through trial-and-error, a style that (a) may look ungainly, but (b) gets the job done.
(Superman also helpfully explains how he gritted through that pain to get the win: it’s nothing compared to the razor-blades-in-the-stomach effect of Kryptonite.)
Yeah, one time Big Blue went up against O’Deadly Darkseid, who hit him with his Omega Beams. Supes pushed through because he’d experienced K radiation which, he said, was much worse.
IIRC, Superman came up against a real wizard in the 60s. I think named Mordru/Modred, something like that, who was kicking Supe’s butt all over the place.
All of a sudden, the White Witch came from the 3rd Dimension, and took the bad guy off. All is well!
I guess Luthor doesn’t want to end up just being hauled off by the White Witch. (Or, whoever it was.)
He’s even got more powerful help: Karma, the anthopomorphic, living presence of the DC Universe, has on occasion disguised herself as Superwoman. I mean, if the entire universe allies with you, what chance does Luthor have?
