Clark Kent's powers and abilities

From Smallville Wiki

Main article: Clark Kent

"This is just the beginning, Kal-El. You have no idea how powerful you'll become." - Lindsey Harrison, to Clark Kent, Covenant

The general trend of Clark Kent's powers and abilities is that they grow more powerful each season. Each new Kryptonian power generally manifests itself suddenly and uncontrollably, and Clark must establish control without exposing his secret.

The Smallville series begins with Clark aware only of his super strength and super speed. Within each season, the highest limits of Clark's abilities are used to describe the gradual evolution of these powers. The failures and limitations of these powers will also be noted when discovered.

Clark has yet to master four of Superman's most common abilities: flight, the arctic version of super-breath, telescopic vision, and microscopic vision (although Clark has been noted to see across long distances with X-ray vision).

Clark's powers are linked to the Earth's sun. Baern mentions that Clark's powers are the result of the Earth's yellow sun. He can absorb and store solar energy, which means he can grow increasingly powerful. If Clark's powers have upper limits at all, it is currently unknown. Clark recovers from any wounds more rapidly when he is exposed to sunlight. (Pilot, Perry, Fallout, Nemesis, Bizarro, Odyssey)

Although Clark took over a decade to develop powers beyond strength and speed, other Kryptonians arriving on Earth as adults have in most cases developed nearly the full array of Kryptonian superpowers in a very short time, including Kara Kent, Raya, and the Disciples of Zod. This is likely due to Clark's age, whereas other Kryptonians have arrived on Earth when they are much older.

Contents 1 Super Strength 2 Super Speed 3 Super Dexterity 4 Invulnerability 4.1 Metahumans 5 Healing Factor 6 Flight 7 X-Ray Vision 8 Telescopic and Microscopic Vision 9 Heat Vision 10 Super Hearing 11 Super Breath 12 Memory 13 In the Comics

[edit] Super Strength

"OK, that's doable, but then how are we gonna get the PIN? I mean, they keep those things under lock and key at the dealership. What are you gonna do, break in and rip open the safe?" – Chloe Sullivan, Recruit

Clark can lift trucks and machinery, and punch through reinforced steel. Most of the time, he uses his super strength to take care of the Kent Farm. Clark has been seen lifting farm equipment, plunging fence posts into the ground, or driving nails into wood with his thumb. (Sneeze) He seemingly had this ability when the Kents first found him. Note that Clark's power is magnified if he is in direct sunlight.

It is possible that Clark's strength also contains a component of kinetic energy transfer or contact-telekinesis (or tactile-telekinesis as it is called in the comics), as he has performed feats such as lifting a tractor by its front bumper and catching a car by its hood without the objects denting, bending or breaking under their own weight or momentum. He has also caught numerous people falling from significant heights without those people being injured by the sudden deceleration.

Childhood: Jonathan told Roger Nixon that, as a toddler, Clark crawled under a 500-pound bed frame and lifted it off the ground and over his head when Jonathan tried to get him. Clark is also said to have put some holes in the walls during temper tantrums, and he was kept away from other children for fear that he might hurt them. When he was three, he broke the dining room table in half. When he was six, Clark threw a nine-year-old through a door, tearing the door off its hinges and reducing it to splinters. (Leech, Vortex, Zero)

Season 1: Clark was shown to be strong enough to stack three pickup trucks on top of each other. He stopped a runaway bus just by bracing himself. (Pilot, Rogue)

Season 2: Clark lifted an entire bungalow in order to find his father Jonathan Kent. (Vortex, )

Season 3: Clark exhibited vast super strength during an enormous solar flare. He threw his father's tractor into the air and the vehicle made a crash-landing far from the Kent Farm. He picked up a Ford Thunderbird from one corner of the bumper, lifting the entire car five feet off the ground and swinging it around a 90-degree arc.(Perry, Truth)

Season 4: Clark jumped from the top of a bridge onto an 18-wheeler. Clark was strong enough to catch a speeding car in mid air showing very little strain. (Lucy, Pariah)

Season 5: Clark was able to pull himself out the Phantom Zone Portal (although he could have been flying). Clark is able to crush a lump of coal into a diamond, also in the same episode he was able to leap to a higher part of the fortress with Lana Lang. He was strong enough to overpower Brainiac at the Fortress of Solitude and a physically enhanced Lex Luthor at the farm. (Arrival, Solitude, Reckoning, Vessel)

Season 6: Clark leaped across Metropolis from the Daily Planet building to Queen Tower with Lois Lane in his arms, after which she first stated the well-known line, "Leaping tall buildings in a single bound". Clark defeated Phantom Zone escapee Titan in a mortal combat. He managed to fight Bizarro to a standstill until Lionel Luthor unintentionally supplied the latter with green kryptonite. Only Aldar, a Zoner with vast super strength, was shown to be clearly stronger than Clark. (Static, Crimson, Combat, Phantom)

Season 7: Clark was able to, with just one punch, send Bizarro into the upper atmosphere. At the time he was powered up from being in direct sunlight. Clark ripped a steel refrigerator door off its hinges to save Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen. (Bizarro, Descent)

[edit] Super Speed

"I do realize it's a lot to ask, but I mean, you do run faster than a speeding bullet and I know you don't want to disappoint all of those underprivileged children." – Chloe Sullivan, Lexmas

Clark can run at speeds faster than the eye can see. He makes the trip from Kansas to Honduras in under 10 seconds and can make the trip from Smallville to Metropolis instantly. So far, Clark, and other characters with superspeed, have never been shown causing a sonic boom even when moving at speeds far higher than sound. He is able to carry others while moving at such speeds without them being harmed by inertia of sudden acceleration, or by the friction and massive wind resistance of supersonic movement.

Childhood: From a story he tells Martha in Transference, it can be assumed that Clark developed this ability when he was six, during a game of tag. Clark claims that he suddenly found himself in the woods, all alone. However, he showed signs of enhanced speed as a toddler. (Lineage)

Season 1: At age 14, Clark's super speed was depicted as a fast-moving blur. He was barely fast enough to save Jonathan from falling and being sliced. Clark dodged bullets for the first time. He proved to be faster than a speeding handgun bullet (approximately 500 meters per second) when he saved Kyle Tippet's life. He jumped in front of a bullet to save Lana Lang. (Metamorphosis, Rogue, Hug, Obscura)

Season 2: Clark's super speed is still visible to those conscious of his movement, but not to those standing further away. He was able to steal the kryptonite Key without detection from Lionel Luthor, but Pete Ross saw the blur. Clark used his super speed underwater to try and save a drowning classmate. He ran 425 miles from Smallville to Hub City in less than 4 minutes to find a doctor for his friend Ryan James. Clark's mind is fast enough to recognize the moves of Emily Dinsmore who is certainly faster than the human eye can see. (Redux, Ryan, Accelerate)

Season 3: Clark's super speed is now too fast for the human eye to see him. Clark ran through the Metron lab and snatched a vial of serum so fast that Lex Luthor and Lia Teng couldn't see him. Pete says that Clark can run to Metropolis in ten minutes. The combined use of super speed and heat vision enabled Clark to stop Emily Dinsmore during their second encounter. (Resurrection, Truth, Forsaken)

Season 4: Clark's super speed is shown to be somewhat on par with Bart Allen. However, Bart is faster; Clark stopped at the shore, before finding out if he was able to run over water as Bart did. Clark ran across a football field, into a building, down a hallway, and into a room where he disarmed Mikhail Mxyzptlk and freed Chloe, then he ran back to his position on the football field in time to get hit by another player and without being seen. He used his super speed to create a vortex by twirling his coat over his head which smothered a fire. (Run, Jinx, Bound)

Season 5: Clark is fast enough to run vertical distances. He saved Lana from a C-4 explosion at Warehouse 15 what makes him evidently faster than 8.5 kilometers per second. Clark was even capable of running from Kansas to Honduras in under 10 seconds. He ran from Smallville to Metropolis before Chloe could finish the sentence, "I think you'd better get over here". Clark also swam at super speed, surpassed only by Arthur Curry. (Aqua, Lexmas, Lockdown, Void)

Season 6: Clark's super speed is now depicted as instantaneous reappearance at his destination. Clark traveled from South America to Metropolis in a matter of minutes, but, at his own admittance, was still slower than an older Bart Allen. Clark made the trip from the Kent barn to the Luthor Mansion instantly after Chloe was trapped in the wine cellar. Clark retrieved a button from several yards away and returned without Chloe even realizing he had left. He is much faster than a speeding bullet. (Justice, Promise, Progeny)

Season 7: Clark ran from LuthorCorp Plaza to Smallville in a few seconds to rescue Pete Ross from Lex Luthor. While approaching a weakened Brainiac in the season finale, Clark moved considerably faster than ever before since the (visible) flow of electric charges came to a literal standstill. It could mean that his speed is now somewhat on par with the speed of accelerated electrons. (Hero and Arctic)

Season 8: Clark was easily fast enough to save Chloe from Bette; notably, he left a red after-effect during this scene similar to Bart Allen. He also had a blue effect after him when saving Tess Mercer from a revenge seeking cirminal as well as running to Brazil and back in time to save Oliver.(Plastique, Toxic)

[edit] Super Dexterity

Clark is extremely dexterous, and is able to perform athletic feats with perfect accuracy. However, exposure to kryptonite decreases his dexterity.

[edit] Invulnerability

See Also: Clark Kent's vulnerabilities

"Clark, you don't hesitate to run into a burning building or jump in front of a bullet because nothing can penetrate that iron flesh of yours." – Chloe Sullivan, Promise

Clark's invulnerability has increased with his age, most likely to a degree that even his parents did not notice, suggesting he might not have possessed this power as a young child. Clark is currently unharmed by bullets fired at point-blank range, and he is also able to deal with extreme temperatures. It's not yet confirmed if Clark is vulnerable to the aging process. According to Jonathan Kent, Jordan Cross, and Martian Manhunter, Clark will probably never die of old age. (Hereafter, Legacy, Cure)

Clark is also immune to human illness unless kryptonite is involved or he is in the Phantom Zone. Clark's invulnerability seems to sometimes extend partially to his clothing, as well, but this has not been portrayed consistently. In addition he has a great degree of durability as shown while battling aliens.

Season 1: Jonathan was shocked when at age 14, Clark stuck his arm into a running wood-chipper and then removed it without harm. Clark can walk through fire. He survived having a generator dropped on him and a bus exploding around him. Clark commented to Chloe that the cold didn't really bother him, it being well below 20 degrees. Clark was shot with an automatic weapon and the bullets only left large bruises all over his body. He deflected a bullet with his bare hand. Clark survived when Roger Nixon tried to blow up his truck with Clark inside, but Clark commented that he almost didn't even feel the heat from it. Nevertheless, Clark is not depicted as completely indestructible, because Tyler Randall could cause his face to turn darker for a moment. (Pilot, Hothead, Rogue, Cool, Hug, Kinetic, Reaper, Obscura, Tempest)

Season 2: Clark didn't sweat during a heat wave that hit Smallville. Clark demonstrated his invulnerability by shooting his own hand with a handgun at pointblank range. Other than superficial gunpowder marks, no injuries were seen. (Heat, Red)

Season 3: Clark's body is now strong enough to take dozens of bullets with ease. He was able to block a bullet with his chest, and did not suffer any injury. (Exile, Crisis)

Season 4: Clark was able to repel bullets fired from point-blank range. He is immune to alcohol. Also, Clark was immune to paralysis. (Lucy, Recruit, Commencement).

Season 5: Clark was able to survive in the vacuum of space for a short amount of time, atmospheric re-entry from orbit, a distant nuclear explosion, and the effects of heat vision from another source. (Arrival, Hidden)

Season 6: Titan made him bleed after repeated punches, but he showed little pain. Wes Keenan's super-powered punch didn't cause Clark to bleed. (Combat, Prototype). Clark was invulnerable to Baern's radition blast, he was stunned for a few moments (Fallout).

Season 7: Intensive exposure to sunlight enabled Clark to endure Bizarro's best punch unharmed. Clark entered Lex's mind within the framework of Project Intercept, but Clark's central nervous system proved to be immune to the fatal side effects of the procedure. (Bizarro, Fracture)

Season 8: Clark was unaffected by Bette's energy blasting powers, the blast deflected back at her knocking her to the ground. (Plastique)

[edit] Metahumans

Although some metahumans get their power from kryptonite, Clark is sometimes immune to them.

• Physical immunity
  • He was mostly unaffected by Jeremy Creek's electric shock. A more intense voltage threw him back a bit, but he was not hurt. (Pilot)
  • When Sean Kelvin first absorbed Clark's heat from his body he suffered hypothermia, but regained consciousness in a few minutes. The second time he was vastly unaffected.
  • Tyler Randall was able to temporarily bruise or darken his skin, but could not reduce him to ash. (Reaper)
  • He was immune to Geoff Johns ability to paralyze people. (Recruit)
  • Brendan Nash was unable to turn Clark to wax. When he touched Clark, his power was reflected and Brendan himself was turned to wax. (Forever)
  • The powers of the Weather Girls did not affect Clark until they unearthed kryptonite.(Fierce)
• Mental immunity:
  • Neither Kyle Tippet nor Bob Rickman's persuasive handshake affected Clark. (Hug)
  • Clark was immune to Ryan James's mind-reading ability. (Stray)
  • Desirée Atkins' pheromones had no effect. (Heat)
  • Chloe's truth-telling abilities had no effect. (Truth)

[edit] Healing Factor

Due to remarkable regenerating abilities, Clark can heal from virtually any wound instantly, as long as he is not exposed to green kryptonite. If Clark is wounded due to the presence of green kryptonite, he heals automatically once it is removed.

If it is a severe wound, Clark might remain unconscious for several hours before waking up, fully recovered.

While fighting an enemy who can somehow damage Clark (e.g. Aldar, Titan, and Bizarro), Clark's healing factor is especially critical.

Season 1: When his powers, stolen by Eric Summers, were returned to Clark, a wound on his forehead closed instantly. (Leech)

Season 2: Thugs overpowered Clark with green kryptonite and threw him into a furnace, but after they left, Clark was able to recover, break out of the furnace, and heal himself. (Witness)

Season 3: Clark healed immediately after exposure to kryptonite bullets. He remained unconscious for a while after the bullets were removed, before recovering fully. Clark was blinded by a combination of kryptonite and his own heat vision, but it didn't begin to heal until a blowtorch passed over his eyes. (Extinction, Whisper)

Season 4: The citizens of Smallville are affected by a deadly LuthorCorp experimental toxin, and Clark is infected as well. Unlike the other victims, Clark eventually recovers and wakes up from his nightmare. (Scare)

Season 5: While Clark's powers are gone, Clark is shot and killed. However, he revives and his bullet wound heals after he regains his abilities. (Mortal, Hidden)

Season 6: After being thrown into a field by General Zod, Clark wiped blood clean from his face, revealing he had completely healed. He completely healed in a few seconds after being impaled in the abdomen by Gloria's deadly vines. (Zod, Wither)

Season 7: During his battle with Bizarro, Clark demonstrates that his healing factor is tied to, or at least augmented by, exposure to direct sunlight; in their second encounter in Reeves Dam, Bizarro caused Clark to bleed, but Clark healed almost instantaneously upon moving into direct sunlight. Edward Teague surrounded Clark with kryptonite and carved symbols into his chest. But when Chloe Sullivan removed the kryptonite, a yellow glowing light surrounded Clark and he was instantly healed. (Bizarro, Quest).

Season 8: After he was shot through the heart by a mind-controlled Green Arrow while temporarily powerless, the Martian Manhunter took Clark all the way to the sun, where its radiation allowed Clark to both regain his powers and recover from his injuries (Odyssey).

[edit] Flight

"I know it could've been the wind, but all of a sudden I was moving toward the truck and it felt like I was willing myself to do it. It felt like I was flying." - Clark, to Jonathan, Vortex

In Crusade a mind-controlled Kal-El at age 17 could fly, but currently, 21-year old Clark cannot. However, he can jump very high. It has been implied that Clark cannot access this ability due to some form of mental blocks that exist within his mind. It has further been implied that these will be removed once he has accepted his Kryptonian destiny. Also, it has been hinted that Clark can't fly because he is simply afraid of heights. This last assertion is unlikely since he does jump up to and from great hights very often. If he was Acrophobic he most likely wouldn't be able to do even that. It is probably more likely that like X-Ray vision and Super breath and other powers it has to be physically developed. It is possible that his childhood spent on Earth under the influence of Earth's yellow Sun, which gave him his powers, also hinders their development. In addition, flight amoung Kryptonians does not seem to be universal. Some Kryptonians can fly, like his father Jor-El when he was on Earth in 1962 in Relic. His cousin Kara Kent can fly as did the replicant of his uncle Zor-El in Blue. General Zod when he possessed Lex Luthor's body in Zod could also fly despite the body not being biologically Kryptonian. However, other Kryptonians couldn't fly. The Disciples of Zod Aethyr & Nam-Ek in Arrival didn't demonstrated an ability to fly and like Clark ran everywhere at high speed to get anywhere quickly. Raya didn't fly in Zod, Reunion, or Fallout but ran with Clark. Humans who possessed Clark's powers couldn't fly as well. Eric Summers in Leech and Lana Lang in Wrath both got their powers directly from Clark through nearly identical manners (electrocuted while simultaneously holding onto Clark and Kryptonite) but neither of them flew. This suggest strongly that it is a physical inability that presently prevents Clark from flying and not a psychological one.

Season 1: After dreaming of flying and floating, Clark awoke several inches above his bed, and immediately fell and destroyed it afterwards. When he saved Jonathan from being sliced, he fell faster than his father and seemingly broke the law of terminal velocity. (Metamorphosis)

Season 2: While being blown about in a tornado, Clark felt as if he might be flying. He dreamed of flying to the Kawatche Caves. To save his mother from a siege at LuthorCorp Clark leapt from the Daily Planet roof to the LuthorCorp building. This was a real test of the limit of his powers and was a step closer to flying.(Vortex, Dichotic, Rosetta, Insurgence)

Season 3: During his stay on Earth, Jor-El once demonstrated the power of flight. It foreshadows that Clark will eventually obtain this ability. Clark was able to fly only with the help of "Kara" (the previously deceased Lindsey Harrison). (Relic, Covenant)

Season 4: After Jor-El "reprogrammed" Clark into Kal-El, perhpas in a similar manner he programmed Linsey Harrison. His Kryptonian talents were increased, and also gave him the ability to fly. When Kal-El was defeated, however, Clark explained that he was still "earthbound".(Crusade)

Season 5: Clark jumped very high onto a missile and onto an upper level of the Fortress of Solitude with Lana Lang in his arms in an alternate timeline. Before his leap onto the missile, force is seen gathering around him, just like it was right before he flew as Kal-El in Crusade. (Hidden, Reckoning)

Season 6: Clark leaped across Metropolis from the Daily Planet building to Queen Tower with Lois Lane in his arms, after which she first stated the well-known line, "Leaping tall buildings in a single bound". Bizarro's flight out of Reeves Dam perhaps indicates Clark's potential to fly, since the wraith extracted a sample of his DNA to create a Kryptonian host. However, the wraith had the power of flight in its native form already and could just as eaily transfered its flight power to Clark's body. (Phantom, Crimson)

Season 7: Clark's cousin Kara Kent tried giving Clark flying lessons, but Clark was nervous and said that he hadn't developed those abilities yet. (Action, Veritas)

[edit] X-Ray Vision

"Hold on a minute, are you telling me that you can see through solid objects?" – Chloe Sullivan, Blank

Clark developed this ability at age 14 shortly after starting high school. Clark can see through any solid object except for lead. The exact mechanism by which he does so is not yet known. His X-ray vision has been depicted to function at varying degrees. Originally, he was depicted as being able to control whether he saw an x-ray like image of the skeletons of those he was looking at, or simply saw through solid objects. The latter has only been seen in the first and second seasons.

Season 1: Clark first discovered his X-ray vision when he saw a bank robber with green bones. Later, he saw Pete Ross' muscular structure and saw through the wall into the girls' locker room. Finally, it settled down and consistently manifests itself (at least to the audience) as images similar to x-ray photographs. (X-Ray)

Season 2: Clark used his X-ray vision to identify Tina Greer. Although she has disguised herself as Whitney Fordman, he recognized her kryptonite-infected bones. Clark read through the cover of his teacher's grade book to peek at Pete's shop class grade. Clark was able to see a birthmark through Chloe Sullivan's clothing, while observing both her and Lana through their clothes (Note: This is the last time that Clark's x-ray vision has been depicted onscreen as not resembling x-rays, but this is only implied). He used his X-ray vision to see a metal plate in a masked robber's head, and later, was able to identify the robber without his mask. (Visage, Dichotic, Red, Witness)

Season 3: Clark can now zoom in over large distances, when he tried to find Lana and rescue her. (Slumber)

Season 4: While at the top floor of a hotel, Clark used his X-ray vision and looked down an elevator shaft all the way to the ground and focused on a particular object. (Bound)

Season 5: While about to rescue Lana again, Clark zoomed in and scanned the area in a matter of seconds. Clark was able to see Victor Stone's internal robotic parts.(Lockdown, Cyborg)

Season 6: Clark X-rayed Chloe to get the tracking device out of her. He also found a tiny tracking device on Lex's car by X-raying it. (Freak, Progeny)

Season 7: Clark did not use his x ray vision this season

[edit] Telescopic and Microscopic Vision

"I thought you said that telescopes were for geeks and stalkers." - Clark Kent, to Lois Lane, Lucy

Not much is said or confirmed about these abilities. It can be inferred that Clark's vision has evolved gradually over the course of time. Neither telescopic nor microscopic vision has been established as a newfound ability that Clark had to "master" within an episode. Therefore, it is difficult to exemplify the usage of these abilities.

Clark has yet to master the full scope of Superman's destined telescopic and microscopic vision.

Season 3 Clark telescoped his X-ray vision to find Lana at a great distance. He looks through the trees to find her in her car about to be blown up by Nicholas Conroy. (Slumber)

Season 4: Clark can focus particular objects from a greater distance, as seen in an elevator where he scans the floor several meters under his feet (see X-Ray vision). Clark can perceive various details from outer space by looking through an ordinary telescope, whereas a human (Lois Lane) can just see a cloudy picture with clusters of stars. (Bound, Lucy)

Season 6: Unlike Chloe Sullivan, Clark was able to recognize Raya on a satellite-image that shows a crater in Australia. (Reunion)

In some versions of the comics, Superman has mastered the ability to telescope his vision to interstellar distance, and zoom his microscopic vision down to even subatomic particles. His eyes could also perceive the full electromagnetic spectrum including infrared and ultraviolet frequencies of radiation, abilities that Clark has yet to demonstrate.

[edit] Heat Vision

"I started to feel hot. And my eyes started to burn. All of a sudden, the spot I was staring at burst into flames." – Clark Kent, Heat

Clark has the power to focus solar energy and project it as heat rays from his eyes by shifting his optic lens. He can cause objects to combust or melt, and can also deflect moving objects, possibly by causing rapid expansion of the heated air in the objects' path.

This power first manifested at the age of 15 and was linked to Clark's level of sexual arousal. Since developing this ability, Clark has also learned to control the temperature for varying tasks. He has used it to pop popcorn, light candles, and warm up hot chocolate and baby bottles, but can also increase the temperature enough to vaporize bullets, fix leaky drainpipes, and weld metal. He can shoot a steady beam of heat or intermittent blasts. The heat can effect only the surface of an object like a laser, or heat it evenly throughout like a microwave beam. By season 6, his control is pinpoint-accurate enough to destroy a microchip implanted in Chloe's shoulder without causing her serious injury. Over the years, Clark has learned to use his heat vision while acting at superhuman speeds, as evidenced in the episodes Forsaken, Prototype and Bizarro.

Season 2: It first manifested itself during a summer heat wave. Humorously, Clark's first brush with heat vision occurred while watching an education video about reproduction; Desirée Atkins, an attractive teacher, taught the class. During a practice session at the Kent farm, Clark whispered "Lana" to himself, and he ignited the scarecrow serving as a target dummy. Within a short time, his control becomes precise enough to light candles and pop popcorn. Clark used accurate heat vision when he saved Lex from Jonathan's gunshot by vaporizing the bullet. (Heat)

Season 3: Clark learned how to adjust the focus of the heat beams. He melted a 5' x 10' section of asphalt in a single pass in order to trap Seth Nelson's getaway car. Clark used short blasts of heat vision almost like bullets; unfortunately, one "bullet" is reflected back at him by a piece of kryptonite. (Magnetic, Whisper)

Season 4: Clark used his heat vision to knock away hurled handheld manual tools, And he managed to only heat the bottle of milk for baby Evan in Ageless. When he lost all of his memories and saw Lana again for the first time, his heat vision was triggered uncontrollably. (Spell, Blank)

Season 5: Clark used heat vision to weld a diamond onto a ring in order to propose to Lana. While it's true that those events never happened in the current timeline, it's reasonable to suppose he could do something similar again. (Reckoning)

Season 6: Clark's heat vision is powerful enough to shatter Kryptonian metal; he destroyed the Kryptonian black box that General Zod was using to transform Earth into a new Krypton. Clark's heat vision is also now assuredly pinpoint accurate. He burned a small hole in Chloe Sullivan's shoulder in order to extract a GPS location microchip that had been implanted under her collarbone. Clark ripped a door off its hinges in the Luthor Mansion and welded it back so as to avoid suspicion. Clark used heat vision that is apparently of greater intensity, with increased reddening effect in his eyes and more concentrated beam, in order to break through Wes Keenan's force-field. (Zod, Freak, Promise, Prototype)

Season 7: Clark's heat vision is powerful enough to stop a tidal wave of water dead in its tracks. Bizarro, who replicated a body using Clark's DNA, exhibits heat vision, although his heat vision also shot bolts of electricity out of his eyes, as though heating the air to the point of ionization. Clark demonstrated a diffused, mild form of heat vision to unfreeze and revive Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen after they were trapped in a freezer. (Bizarro, Descent)

[edit] Super Hearing

"It's like someone turned on a giant stereo full blast. Suddenly all the sounds were magnified." – Clark Kent, Whisper

Clark developed this ability around age 16. He can hear both sides of telephone conversations from several yards away, or even through rooms, and while in his loft, can hear his parents talking in the house. On screen this is showed by close-ups of whatever is making the noise with soundwaves rippling away from it. On occasion a close-up of Clark's ear drum is shown. In Season 7, however, this effect is changed and Clark's ear faces the camera with a bright light all around him.

Season 3: Super hearing first manifested itself when Clark is temporarily rendered blind. Judging from the show's earlier depictions, he is able to consciously activate and deactivate it, like his X-ray vision and heat vision. However, other times it appears he is using the power without conscious awareness. (Whisper)

Season 4: Chloe Sullivan whispered Clark's name to him from outside a room, activating his super hearing without him consciously listening for her. (Blank)

Season 5: When relocated in the Arctic, Chloe Sullivan triggered Clark's super hearing with minimal volume and Clark even unaware of her suffering. Clark located Graham Garrett by listening to his heartbeat in a crowded room. Presumably, this means Clark can discern individual breathing and heartbeats (because he once did Lana Lang), or he could track Graham by maintaining focus on him. (Arrival, Splinter, Fade)

Season 6: Clark was able to hear Tobias Rice whispering on the phone from blocks away. (Freak)

Season 7: Grief-stricken by Chloe's temporary death, he lost control of his super hearing, it focused on everything including Chloe's cry for help, he then came to her rescue. Clark is able to hear subsonic noise and it can hurt him. Bizarro was able to use his super hearing to detect the beeping from a bomb and save Chloe and Jimmy. He could also hear the frequency from Lana's cell phone when she called Clark to warn him of his presence. Clark uses his superhearing to hear Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen trapped in a refrigerator. (Bizarro, Gemini, Siren, Descent)

Season 8: After the bus exploded, Clark was able to hear the policemen talk about how there was no bomb used on the bus. (Plastique)

[edit] Super Breath

"I sneezed." – Clark Kent, to Chloe Sullivan, Sneeze

At age 19, Clark did not have his powers in the Phantom Zone and upon returning to Earth, developed a head cold which manifested itself as super strong sneezes. The accompanying illness also shorted out his other powers, but eventually, he was able to restore them and control this new gift. Clark has yet to show the arctic version of his super breath, which is usually referred to as "Freeze Breath" or "Arctic Breath".

Season 6: Clark's sneezes could blow doors off their hinges. Clark used his new power to put out a warehouse fire and blow clouds away. He also learned how to control the intensity; he used it to simply blow some papers around to distract Dr. Bethany to steal his laptop. (Sneeze, Freak)

[edit] Memory

Season 7: Chloe mentioned that Clark never forgets anything, that his mind is like a titanium trap. This suggests that Clark has an eidetic memory. (Persona)

[edit] In the Comics

Superman's powers have undergone many changes in the comics and other media over the decades; originally, in Action Comics #1, he was described as having merely super-strength, speed greater than a train, the ability to leap "1/8th of a mile", and "nothing less than a bursting artillery shell" could pierce his skin. However, these abilities were constantly upgraded throughout the Golden Age. By the time of the Max Fleischer cartoons in the early 1940s, he could fly, had x-ray vision, and was able to withstand far greater destructive forces. These abilities were attributed to the "highly evolved" nature of the people of Krypton.

By the 1950s, his powers had grown to the point where not even a nuclear bomb could harm him, he could see farther than the best telescopes and resolve smaller objects than the best microscopes, fly faster than light, project heat (originally described as an alternate use of his x-ray vision, later as a separate power), see the entire energy spectrum and move planets. His hearing and even his breath became vastly amplified. The explanation for these powers were a combination of the facts that Krypton had high gravity, requiring great strength and durability just to survive, and that all lifeforms originating under a red sun developed superhuman abilities under a yellow sun, including analogues of apes, dogs, dinosaurs and other animals similar to Earth life. Often this even extended to inanimate materials such as cloth and glass from Krypton being indestructible on Earth.

However, as the Silver Age of comics drew to a close, an emphasis on realism made it harder to write believable foes for an all-powerful hero. In the 70s, writer Elliot S! Maggin attempted to reduce the Man of Steel's abilities, but this move proved unpopular and was soon forgotten by other writers. When the Crisis on Infinite Earths event wiped the slate of established DC comics history, it was seen as a new chance to make Superman seem less unbeatable.

John Byrne's revamped Superman was still one of the most powerful heroes on Earth, but not in the entire universe. His abilities were described as a consequence of Kryptonian evolution; since a red sun produced little energy, the plant life of Krypton just didn't have enough food energy to allow animal life to thrive, so a means of absorbing energy directly from the environment evolved. Kryptonians had an electromagnetic aura surrounding and permeating every cell in their bodies that absorbed and stored radiant energy, and under Earth's yellow sun, Clark absorbed far more than any Kryptonian had ever been exposed to, supercharging his body's natural abilities such as strength, speed and sensory perceptions, and giving him powers that no Kryptonian had ever manifested, like the power to fly, and project heat from his optic nerves. The energy density of the field also made him nearly invulnerable.

In recent years, Superman's abilities have again been written back up to near Silver Age levels.