Superman is a major superhero, and member of the Justice League.
Description[]
Appearance[]
Superman is one of the main characters in the series and appears in two-thirds of the episodes. He has dark hair and is tall (taller than Batman), being one of the more heavily built superheroes. This could indicate that he is middle-aged, but his voice would suggest that he is a lot younger. His costume is the traditional blue one with red boots, yellow belt, large red cape, and 's' symbol across the chest, but with no red 'trunks'.
Personality[]
As a person, Superman is mild mannered, friendly and agreeable. He is more likely to sympathise with the plight of a villain than either Batman or Wonder Woman and will sometimes try negotiation to avoid a fight. He can 'talk tough' when he needs to but is not convincing when he tries to be nasty.
Powers[]
Superman's main characteristic is that of sheer physical power, but he has many additional traits.
Solar energy: Superman talks of his "home world", with Darkseid calling him "Kal-El of Krypton" and other aliens saying he is a "Kryptonian", so we know he is from the planet Krypton (which has been destroyed). Now that he now lives on Earth, the yellow rays of the Sun (in contrast to those of the red sun of Krypton) have caused his body to become a "battery" for solar energy, greatly amplifying his physical powers and senses.
Super strength: He is one of the strongest of the superheroes, with his fights sometimes being long and furious, causing damage to the surroundings, and he is tough enough to win a fist fight with the god-like Darkseid. An unusual type of blow is delivered when he claps his hands together to send a foe reeling.
Invulnerablity: His body is impervious to bullets and resistant to most other harms. When he is hit by a continuous blast, not only can he absorb the force but can beat it back to the source with his fists.
Super speed: He can move with fantastic speed that is equal to that of the Flash though the latter is more subtle in its use. He does not use it very often.
Super breath: He is able to blow with immense force to knock down foes and can also suck a large volume of gas into his lungs and blow it out again. By using the cooling effect of his breath, he can cause things to freeze and ice over.
Super hearing: Superman's senses are also greatly enhanced. His hearing is acute and can detect very quiet or very distant sounds even over intervening noise.
Super sight: He can see things at immense distances and also down to microscopic levels, as well as being able to see through solid objects. The pupils of his eyes turn blue when he does all these.
Heat vision: His eyes can be used to emit his solar energy as red heat-beams to assault enemies and burn or melt objects. He frequently uses this ability, and his pupils turn red when doing so.
Flight: More unusual is his ability to fly through the air and hover in it, though the propulsion method is not explained. He can use it to get a long run up - even to the North Pole and back - to deliver extra force during a fight. Superman can also 'fly' through space, where he is not affected by the lack of air, and can travel to other star systems, presumably by employing his super speed as well. He says it will take him "several hours" to reach Earth when a couple of galaxies away.
Fallback: If it so happens that he loses his powers temporarily, he is still able to call on the scouting skills of his youth to help combat his foes.
Weaknesses[]
For someone who appears indestructible, Superman has a surprising number of vulnerabilities.
Kryptonite: He is agonisingly incapacitated by exposure to the green variety of kryptonite (the radioactive remains of Krypton) of which there appears to be a never-ending supply to be used by his enemies. The other, rarer varieties of it have more unusual effects: red induces anger, gold causes amnesia, black splits him into two copies with opposite personalities, and pink flips his gender. A lead-lined suit is available for him to use which can block kryptonite rays.
Red sunlight: When exposed to the rays of a red sun, Superman loses his powers (but not immediately), and this can even lead to broken bones. Weapons based on these rays can inflict injury on him, but he can recover by "recharging" in yellow sunlight.
Nano-bots: He can be infected by nano-bots or nanites (microscopic machines) that can drain his super energy and threaten his life. Another type will use his energy to create a force that is a danger to everyone and everything around him.
Mind control: As practised by the Martian Manhunter and Amazo, mind control can be used, for instance, to make him lose consciousness.
Magic: Like most non-supernatural beings he is largely helpless against the magic of opponents like Mister Mxyzptlk and Black Adam.
Super opposition: He has difficulty getting the better of other super-powered Kryptonians and can be punched and knocked out by an equally powerful foe like Mongul.
Family and residences[]
Although originally called 'Kal-El', Superman has adopted the family name of his foster parents (both of them are still living) to become Clark Kent and has grown up on their farm near Smallville in Kansas. We occasionally see him in this everyday identity and he currently works in Metropolis for the Daily Planet newspaper alongside Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and others.
In his superhero guise, he makes use of a private retreat at the North Pole, the Fortress of Solitude. Of his original Kryptonian family, only his cousin Supergirl survives, and he still has his pet Krypto. The people of the bottled city of Kandor are his fellow Kryptonians, as are the three criminals (Zod, Faora, Quex) imprisoned in the Phantom Zone.
Relationships[]
Although Superman/Clark says that he likes Lois, he does not have a full, romantic interest in her as elsewhere, and although she appears to be attracted to Superman this does not extend to Clark. Instead his affections are for Wonder Woman (and Diana Prince) and they are heartfelt, though this is not maintained for the entire series and is only seen in a few episodes. She can address him intimately as "Clark" or "Kal".
He has many personal enemies, but the most persistent is Lex Luthor, who despises him.
Appearances[]
- 2. Power Outage
- 3. Night of the Bat
- 4. Abate and Switch
- 5. Follow that Space Cab!
- 6. Nuclear Family Values
- 8. Galaxy Jest
- 10. Under a Red Sun
- 11. Play Date
- 12. Repulse!
- 16. Luthor in Paradise
- 17. Plastic Man Saves the World
- 18. Field Trip
- 19. Rage of the Red Lanterns
- 21. Inside Job
- 22. The Trouble with Truth (brief)
- 24. Battle for the Bottled City
- 25. Garden of Evil
- 28. The Fatal Fare
- 29. Mxy's Mix-Up
- 32. Booray for Bizarro
- 33. Best Day Ever
- 35. Superman's Pal, Sid Sharp
- 36. Superman Red vs. Superman Blue
- 37. The Ringer
- 38. Forget Me Not
- 41. Harley Goes Ape!
- 42. Phased and Confused
- 44. System Error
- 45. Race Against Crime
- 46. Party Animal
- 50. Keeping Up with the Kryptonians
- 51. Unleashed
- Short 2. Beep Beep!
- Short 4. Good Cop, Bat Cop
- Short 5. It's a Trap!
- Short 7. Quality Time
- Short 13. True Colors
- Short 15. Plastic Man of Steel
- Short 19. Skyjacked
Links[]
Notes[]
- In Play Date, he says "Truth, justice, and the American way" which is a reference of his original catch-phrase from the old comics.
Video excerpts[]
Gallery[]
