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Clark Kent's powers and abilities

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Main article: Clark Kent

Clark catches a car in Pariah.

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

Smallville 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 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 direct 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.

Contents

[edit] Solar Energy Absorption

Clark's superhuman abilities derive from exposure to yellow sunlight. He has demonstrated the ability to use his powers while indoors or otherwise not directly exposed to the yellow sun almost all the time--this suggests that his body stores the solar energy within itself so he may have access to his powers for prolonged periods of time.
When Clark is directly exposed to sunlight, his strength levels are greatly increased. [1] He also heals faster when in direct sunlight. [2]
  • Season 3: Clark loses power during a solar flare. (Perry)
  • Season 6: Clark can't use his powers after exposure of kryptonite while trapped in the tunnels. After he escapes and is exposed to the sun, his powers are restored. (Nemesis)
  • Season 7: Bizarro knocks Clark down, but Clark lands under a hole in the wall, directly underneath a beam of sunlight. The sun heals Clark and he takes Bizarro's best punch, then uppercuts him high into the sky. (Bizarro)
  • Season 8: When Clark was without powers, absorbing a large amount of sunlight radiation in outer space regenerated his powers. (Odyssey)

[edit] Super Strength

Clark stacks three pickup trucks.

"Okay, 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. (Perry, Sneeze, Action) He seemingly had super strength when the Kents first found him. Clark's strength is magnified if he is in direct sunlight. (Perry, Bizarro)

  • Childhood: Clark was 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. Jonathan Kent told Roger Nixon that, as a toddler, Clark crawled under a 500-pound bed frame and lifted it over his head when Jonathan tried to get him. When he was 3, he broke the dining room table in half. When he was 6, Clark threw a nine-year-old through a door, tearing the door off its hinges and reducing it to splinters. (Leech, Zero, Vortex)
  • 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. He easily ripped through steel to save Ryan James. (Pilot, Rogue, Stray)
  • Season 2: Clark lifted an entire bungalow in order to find his father. He easily held a car up with both hands without any visible strain after catching it. (Vortex, Rush)
  • 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 was strong enough to catch a speeding car in mid air showing very little strain, though when re-adjusting it in his hands to put it down he dented it slightly. (Pariah)
  • Season 7: Clark was able to send Bizarro into Earth's upper atmosphere with just one punch; at the time, he was powered up from being in direct sunlight. He also ripped a steel refrigerator door off its hinges to save Lois and Jimmy Olsen. (Bizarro, Descent)
  • Season 8: Clark, with no effort, managed to rip open a metal bus to help survivors. However, Doomsday is shown to be more powerful, as he, like Aldar, is able to effortlessly catch one of Clark's punches, though Clark was strong enough to overpower him while Doomsday was in his human form of Davis Bloome; later, his strength got the better of him when he was frustrated about Chloe's situation with Davis. (Plastique, Bride, Beast)
  • Season 9: Clark was easily able to catch a monorail train with no apparent effort and put it down carefully. (Savior)

[edit] Super Speed

Clark dodges bullets in Rogue.

"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, Lexmas

Clark can run at speeds faster than the eye can see. He makes the trip from Kansas to Honduras in less than 10 seconds, and can make the trip from Smallville to Metropolis instantly. He is able to carry others while moving at such speeds without them being harmed. Clark has constantly shown that his mind works just as fast as he does when he super-speeds as he is easily able to dodge obstacles, among other things, while super-speeding, and he can also see others who can super-speed just as easily as he can while standing still. Sometimes, when moving at super-speed, he is visible as a blur to people observing him, although he is able to overcome this by going into a dead-sprint. As Clark gets older, he becomes faster.

As a humorous recurring theme, Clark frequently super-speeds away without any apparent concern that anyone present will notice his inexplicable disappearance.

  • Childhood: From a story Clark tells Martha Kent in Transference, it can be assumed that Clark developed this ability when he was 6, during a game of tag with his father; Clark claims that he suddenly found himself in the woods, all alone. However, he showed signs of enhanced speed as a toddler. (Lineage) When he first met Chloe at age 13, Clark used super-speed to retrieve a book that Chloe told him she lost. (Abyss)
  • 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; notably, he jumped from the loft and, even though Jonathan was already halfway falling, Clark was able to super-speed downwards to the ground, as if he were flying, or at least propelling himself somehow. Clark hints that he is able to make calculations at an incredible speed...or he's just good at math, but even then he made calculations at an alarming speed. Clark dodged a bullet for the first time when Sam Phelan shot him. 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. (Metamorphosis, Cool, Rogue, Hug, Obscura)
Clark runs to find Ryan a doctor.
  • 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, 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 four minutes to find a doctor for his friend Ryan James. Clark's mind and perceptive awareness is fast enough to recognize the moves of Emily Dinsmore who is certainly faster than the human eye can see. (Redux, Ryan, Accelerate)
Clark's movements make him invisible.
  • 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 Lazarus serum so fast that Lex and Dr. Lia Teng couldn't see him. Pete says that Clark can run to Metropolis and back 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 - all without being seen, even by the other player who had been right in front of him looking straight at him. 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 kilometres per second (the speed of the shockwave). Clark was even capable of running from Kansas to Honduras in less than 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, managing to swim fast enough to catch up to an escaping Arthur Curry who was also using super speed to swim. (Aqua, Lexmas, Void)
  • Season 6: Clark's super speed is now depicted as instantaneous reappearance at his destination. Clark travelled from South America to Metropolis in a matter of minutes, but, at his own admittance, was still slower than Bart Allen (whose speed had also increased somewhat during the intervening time). 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 from Lex. While approaching a weakened Brainiac, Clark moved considerably faster than ever before since the (visible) flow of electric charges came to a standstill from his point of view; this could mean that his speed is now somewhat on par with the speed of accelerated electrons. (Hero, Arctic)
  • Season 8: Clark is certainly too fast for people to see him, but as usual, the viewers can see the red/blue blur. He appears to be allowing this to happen, as he had demonstrated in the past that this was not unavoidable. Clark clarified that he can use his super speed to speed-read in Prey. He was fast enough to save Chloe from Bette Sans Souci, and easily ran to Brazil and back, apparently running over water to do so. When Lois was almost hit by a car, Clark saved her and all time seemed to be frozen, but when Jimmy took a picture, the flash still worked from Clark's point of view, and also managed to catch a picture of a blue/red blur. Lana, powered by the Project Prometheus suit, was capable of moving at a level of super-speed that rivalled Clark's at the present time and could possibly be even faster, though Clark was easily able to watch her movements in super-speed; to both of them, everything was at a complete standstill, even the bullet Tess Mercer had fired. However, judging by a few instances afterwards, Lana is a bit slower; Clark reaches destinations just a few seconds before Lana arrives, as seen twice. Apparently Clark has been slowing from top-speed so people can at least see the fast-moving blur on videotaped footage, and has also been working on changing between his Daily Planet work clothes and his usual red/blue at super speed. He was barely fast enough to attempt and stop Chloe from killing Davis. When Clark super-sped to save Jimmy, it seemed he was able to stay in super speed for a few moments while exposed to a massive amount of kryptonite, but once he was weakened enough, he slowed and fell over. Clark was fast enough to stop Davis from killing Oliver. Clark was fast enough to grab a little girl from Doomsday without it or anyone really seeing him. By the season's end, Clark seems to have mastered changing between work-clothes and his red-and-blue; when he super-sped to go and attempt to save Chloe from Doomsday, the blur changed-colours as he ran through the Daily Planet office. (Plastique, Toxic, Identity, Power, Requiem, Turbulence, Eternal, Stiletto, Beast, Doomsday)
  • Season 9: Clark was fast enough to run from the ground to the top of a building instantaneously. (Savior) . Clark was able to get coffee for Lois, put out a fire at the other side of Metropolis and run back to the Daily Planet all in approximately 2 seconds. (Rabid) Clark was barely fast-enough to, after locating Oliver and Lois who were being shot-at, run in front of them and take the bullets, heat-vision the gun, and quickly catch the last bullet just before it hit Oliver. (Crossfire)

[edit] Super Stamina

Super stamina is the ability to maintain continuous strenuous physical action for long periods of time. Superman like other Kryptonians does not get tiredand does not need to eat or sleep and can be sustained on Solar energy alone. He can also hold his breath for an undefined duration.


  • Season 5: A de-powered Clark is visibly sweating and tired while working on a barn-raising. (Mortal)


  • Season 6: Clark traveled from South America to Metropolis in a matter of minutes without getting tired. (Justice)
  • Season 8: Clark can run for long periods of time without getting tired. He demonstrated this in (Beast).

[edit] Super Dexterity

"You asked your father if we'd ever seen you trip before. Never. Not without kryptonite. I was so excited to see you get a chance to be like everyone else that I guess I forgot for a moment that you aren't. I didn't think anything of it when you tripped, but you've never had mishaps like other kids." - Martha, to Clark, Jinx

Dexterity is the ability to perform athletic abilities at a supreme level, and also having a mental quickness and being agile or witty. Clark is extremely dexterous, and is able to perform difficult athletic feats with perfect accuracy. However, exposure to kryptonite decreases his dexterity. No episode is dedicated to revealing dexterity, but it seems to be another Kryptonian power that develops overtime.

  • Season 2: While drawing his family tree, Clark uncharacteristically misses the bin when throwing a paper ball, which was likely due to his frustration and being distracted. He also misses the basketball hoop when playing basketball in front of Lucas Luthor but that might have been on purpose. (Rosetta, Prodigal)
  • Season 4: Clark trips due to the coercion powers of Mikhail Mxyzptlk. While trying to figure out what made him trip, Clark, Martha, and Jonathan all confirm that he's never tripped before. Martha also tells Clark that she's "never seen you miss before", after Clark fails to throw a football through a swinging tire. He opens his hand, revealing that he is holding a shard of kryptonite. Also the majority of passes Clark throws while playing football appear to be with 100% accuracy. (Jinx)
  • Season 8: When Jimmy Olsen is being attacked by Randy Klein, Clark throws a rubber car tire at him from distance with pinpoint accuracy as well as not throwing the tire too hard to kill him considering Clark's super strength. Later, Clark is able to perform a super-powered jump with perfect accuracy; while carrying Doomsday, Clark jumps from Metropolis to a distant LuthorCorp geothermal facility. (Prey, Doomsday)

[edit] Super Leaps

"Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound" - Lois to Clark - Crimson

Clark can combine his super strength and dexterity to perform highly accurate super leaps. The first time Clark jumped a vast distance, he displayed great hesitancy; since then, he's shown increasing amounts of confidence and control over his super leaps.

  • Season 2: To save his mother from a siege at LuthorCorp Plaza, Clark leapt from the Daily Planet roof to the LuthorCorp building, leaping his 'first tall building in a single bound.'
  • Season 4: Clark super-jumped from a bridge to the truck with the kidnapped Lois and the supposedly kidnapped Lucy Lane. (Lucy)
  • Season 5: Clark jumped very high onto a nuclear missile launching into outer space. (Hidden) Later, Clark jumped onto an upper level of the Fortress of Solitude with Lana in his arms in an alternate timeline. (Reckoning) Interestingly, before his leap onto the missile, force was seen gathering around him, just as it was right before he flew as Kal-El in Crusade.
  • Season 6: Clark leaped across Metropolis from the Daily Planet building to Queen Tower with Lois in his arms, after which she first stated the well-known line, "Leaping tall buildings in a single bound." (Crimson)
  • Season 8: When Clark was investigating an attack at the Ace of Clubs, he traveled from the ground floor to the upper balcony in a single jump. Clark leapt from the streets of Metropolis to the top of the Daily Planet easily; as seen in Crusade and Hidden, force is seen gathering around him before this super-jump. During his battle with Doomsday, Clark grabs the beast and takes a flying leap to a geothermal facility that has a deep tunnel where Doomsday is trapped. (Prey, Hex, Doomsday)
  • Season 9:

[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

Kal-El flying in Crusade.

In Crusade, a mind-controlled Kal-El at age 17 could fly, but currently, 22-year-old Clark cannot.

It is possible that like X-ray vision and super breath and other powers, it has to be physically developed. It is also 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 among Kryptonians does not seem to be universal. Some Kryptonians have flown, like his father Jor-El when he was on Earth in 1961. His cousin Kara Kent can fly as did the replicant of his uncle Zor-El. General Zod when he possessed Lex Luthor's body in could also fly despite the body not being biologically Kryptonian. However, other Kryptonians couldn't (or didn't know they could) fly. The Disciples of Zod in Arrival didn't demonstrate an ability to fly and, like Clark, ran everywhere at high speed. Raya didn't fly in Zod, Reunion, or Fallout but ran with Clark.

In Metamorphosis, Clark dreams of himself floating above Lana, and wakes up floating above his bed.

Despite the fact Clark has never truly flown, he has broken the laws of gravity often. In these instances, somebody has been pushed off a ledge and Clark has then jumped off after that person has already fallen a good-distance. Despite the fact Clark should be unable to reach the ground before the person that fell first, he has been able to will himself downward faster, allowing him to save that person. These instances are in red text. Instances where Clark has floated/flown or attempted to fly under normal circumstances are in blue.

  • Season 1: After dreaming of flying and floating, Clark awoke several inches above his bed, and immediately fell and destroyed it afterward. When he saved Jonathan from being sliced, he fell faster than his father and seemingly broke the law of terminal velocity. (Metamorphosis) It is possible that feats such as this are possible due to Clark being able to alter his own density and weight, though it is safe to assume that the audience is meant to think that Clark is able to defy gravity without really flying; instances of gravity-defying are most likely signs that he is beginning to learn how to fly and are arguably possible because Clark is, over time, accepting his destiny, if not only subconsciously.
Clark leaps 200 feet in Insurgence.
  • 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, and woke up in the middle of Route 8, apparently having flown there in his sleep. Also, he jumped off of the top of the dam to save Chloe after she was thrown off by Ian Randall, but Chloe had already been thrown off, so Clark must have been utilizing some kind of external force; gravity alone could not have pulled him down first. (Tempest/Vortex, Rosetta, Insurgence, Dichotic)
  • 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, 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 6: 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. (Phantom)
  • Season 7: When Lana was thrown off the top of Queen Tower, Clark jumped after her and seemed to have some control as he was able to fall faster to catch up with her. 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)
  • Season 9: Clark confronts Jor-El about not being able to fly. Jor-El informs him that his powers lie within him and that his physical composition is no different than Kara's, but that Clark still thinks of himself as human. Clark deduces that his inability to fly is all in his head. Later in a mental trial, he attempts to fly by falling from the Statue of Liberty with no apparent results. (Savior)

[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, 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. In addition, he has a great degree of durability against blunt impact as shown while battling aliens. Clark is also immune to terrestrial 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.



Clark is shot with an automatic weapon.
  • 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. Clark commented to Chloe that the cold didn't really bother him, it being well below 20 degrees. He survived having a generator dropped on him and a bus exploding around him. When a medieval weapon slammed into his face (by a fellow teenager who presumably had ordinary human strength), it shattered, but Clark seemed to show pain, though that might have been because the boy was covered in a kryptonite formula that made him invisible, though a moment later Clark exhibited super-strength enough to throw the boy flying (unless the paint dumped on the boy somehow cancelled out the kryptonite). Clark was shot with an automatic weapon and the bullets only left large bruises all over his body. Tyler Randall could cause Clark's face to turn darker for a moment. Clark 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. (Pilot, Hothead, Cool, Rogue, Shimmer, Hug, Kinetic, Reaper, Obscura, Tempest) Clark is not depicted as completely indestructible throughout most of this season (he was surprised to survive when Nixon blew up his truck, hinting that even in earlier examples when no visible injury is apparent, he might still feel pain on occasion), mostly when it comes to meteor freaks.
  • Tempest/Vortex: Clark mentioned later in Vortex that, while inside the tornado he ran into in order to save Lana, things were "bouncing off him"; however, he left the tornado without any visible injury.
  • 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 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 Clark bleed after repeated punches, but he showed little pain. Wes Keenan's super-powered punch didn't cause Clark to bleed. Clark was unharmed by Baern's radiation blast, though he was stunned for a few moments. (Combat, Prototype, 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)


Bullets bounce off of Clark.
  • Season 8: Clark was unaffected by Bette Sans Souci's energy-blasting powers, the blast deflected back at her and knocking her to the ground. He was also unharmed when Faora threw him through a brick wall and he fell several stories finally landing on top of a car. A bullet bounced off of Clark and apparently went back to the shooter at a speed capable of injuring the man. In the alternate timeline in which Clark reveals his identity, he was attacked by multiple gun-toting federal agents, whose shots prove completely harmless and display the same ricochet effect seen in Bulletproof. Assuredly, Clark was not harmed at all from jumping from a falling Queen Industries jet. When Clark took a bullet for Lois, he was severely injured due to the exposure to a vast amount of kryptonite. However, Doomsday was still able to overpower Clark and cause him to bleed. (Plastique, Bloodline, Bulletproof, Infamous, Turbulence, Stiletto, Doomsday)
  • Season 9: Clark was largely unaffected by the explosion created by the bomb after he used his own body to contain the effects of it. However he seemed slightly dazed after the incident. When Rick fires his gun at Lois and Oliver, Clark steps in and the bullets bounce right off his chest not leaving a scratch .(Echo, Crossfire)

[edit] Metahuman Immunity

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

[edit] Physical immunity

  • Clark 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 largely unaffected. (Cool)
  • Tyler Randall was able to temporarily bruise or darken his skin, but could not reduce him to ash. (Reaper)
  • 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)

[edit] Mental immunity

Clark is not seduced by Desirée Atkins in Heat.
  • Neither Kyle Tippet nor Bob Rickman's persuasive handshake affected Clark. (Hug)
  • Clark was immune to Ryan James' mind-reading ability. (Stray)
  • Chloe's truth-telling abilities had no effect. (Truth)

[edit] Tactile-Telekinesis

It is possible that Clark's invulnerability also contains a component of kinetic energy transfer or contact-telekinesis (or tactile-telekinesis as it is called in the comics), allowing him to transfer at least some of his invulnerability to separate objects or even people. This is evidenced when he lifts objects of considerable weight and length without them denting, bending or breaking under their own weight or momentum. Clark has also caught numerous people falling from significant heights without those people being injured by the sudden deceleration. Also, he is able to take ordinary humans with him whenever he travels at super speed without harming the one traveling with him.

  • Season 1: Clark was able to carry Kyle Tippet while moving at super speed. He was able to catch Lana from falling off the water-tower without her being harmed at all, though she was already unconscious when Clark caught her. (Hug, Nicodemus)
  • Season 2: Clark is able to leap off of a dam after Chloe is thrown off. He is able to accelerate to the ground before her and catch her without any damage being done to her body, despite the rapid deceleration of being caught. (Dichotic)
  • Season 4: Clark is able to lift a tractor by its front bumper, completely perpendicular to himself, as well as being over his head, without it breaking under its own weight. He is later able to catch a car by its front hood and lower it to the ground, while only slightly denting it due to the pressure of his hands. (Transference, Pariah)
  • Season 5: Clark was able to carry Chloe and super-speed to the Yukon without harming her through the rapid acceleration and deceleration. When saving Lana from the explosion at Warehouse 15, Lana seemed to be surrounded by the same ripples that Clark is in super-speed mode, and Clark was able to run back through the explosion while holding Lana. Clark is also able to catch an elevator while standing on the ground, after it had fallen several stories while carrying Lionel and Martha. The elevator was not pulverized on impact; instead Clark apparently absorbed all of the shock into his body. (Arrival, Lockdown, Mercy)
  • Season 6: Clark was able to pick up Javier Ramirez and super-speed him away without harming him before the police arrived. (Subterranean)
  • Season 7: Clark caught Rachel Davenport at super speed as she is thrown from her speeding car, and later Ben Meyers tossed Lana off the edge of Queen Tower and Clark dove after her, managing to catch her; once Clark hit the ground, the rapid impact to the ground should have been harmful to Lana. While possessing a portion of Clark's power, Lana caught a windmill which falls over, in its dead center, while lifting it completely off the ground, without it breaking apart under its own weight. (Action, Wrath)
  • Season 8: Clark caught a teenaged admirer from a fall that would have at least injured her without her being hurt at all; later on, he carried Lois from the Daily Planet all the way to Smallville and, of course, she easily survived. To save Tess, Clark jumped out of a falling airplane while holding her; assumedly, she was not injured by the sudden deceleration of hitting the ground. Since Davis Bloome was in human form, it is likely Clark contributed to Davis not being affected by being dragged from Smallville to the Fortress at super-speed. (Infamous, Turbulence, Beast)
  • Season 9: When Clark caught the train, there were absolutely no casualties even though the sudden deceleration should have injured everyone on the train. (Savior) Clark was also able to carry Dr. Hamilton across town at super speed without harming him. (Rabid)

[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, Gloria, Bizarro, Kryptonians, etc.), 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 was closed instantly. (Leech)
    Clark survives a fiery furnace.
  • 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 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. Assuming, he healed from being shot, though how he did so without Lois or Jimmy noticing is unknown. Clark also healed from his wounds automatically after Jimmy removed the kryptonite arrow from his shoulder. Later, he is able to heal from the massive beating he took at the hands of Doomsday. (Odyssey, Stiletto, Doomsday)
  • Season 9: Clark took damage from Alia's attack, while vulnerable because of blue kryptonite. Afterward, he healed quickly.(Savior)

[edit] Healing Others

  • Season 9: Clark's blood was used in part to cure an airborne virus that was created and released by Coats, which turned the citizens of Metropolis into zombie-like creatures. (Rabid)

[edit] X-Ray Vision

Clark sees Pete's muscles.

"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's 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)
    Clark recognizes Tina Greer's skeleton.
  • 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's clothing, implying that his X-ray vision is not exclusive to an X-ray-like image. 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 used X-ray vision to uncover Lana's secret viewing station at the Isis Foundation in Wrath.
  • Season 8: Clark used his X-ray vision to uncover Maxima's symbol underneath scorch marks on the pavement. He also detected Randy Klein who was trying to choke the life out of Jimmy. (Instinct, Prey)

[edit] Telescopic and Microscopic Vision

Clark finds Lana at a great distance.

"I thought you said that telescopes were for geeks and stalkers." - Clark, to Lois, 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. Although he can magnify his x-ray vision to see through objects at a greater distance away.

  • 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)
    Clark can see vast distances via telescope.
  • 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) can just see a cloudy picture with clusters of stars. While using X-ray vision, he was able to see a LuthorCorp ID chip under a dog's fur. (Bound, Lucy, Krypto)
  • Season 6: Unlike Chloe, Clark was able to recognize Raya on a satellite image that shows a crater in Australia. (Reunion)
  • Season 8: When Martian Manhunter was shot, Clark zoomed in on his hospital bed to see his face. (Bulletproof)
  • Season 9: Clark quickly zooms-in on the bomb under Oliver's feet with his X-ray-vision. (Echo)

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 sub-atomic 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

Clark's heat vision is out of control.

"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, Heat

Clark has the power to project heat rays from his eyes. 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 burn through Chloe's shoulder and stop directly in front of a microchip that was implanted there 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 episode it debuted (when Clark melted a bullet), Heat, as well as 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 sexual 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 in flight. (Heat
  • Clark melts the road.
  • 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 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's shoulder in order to extract a GPS 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 and Jimmy after they were trapped in a freezer. (Bizarro, Descent
  • Clark uses his heat vision to initial a baseball in Legion.
  • Season 8: Clark used his heat vision to break an electrical pylon so it would fall and hit Marcos to stop him from attacking Tess. He also used this power to burst some pipes in order to create a cover of steam so he could use his superpowers to overpower Macy and rescue Lois. Clark used his heat vision to sign a baseball that Garth Ranzz asked for. (Toxic, Committed, Legion)
  • Season 9: Clark seems to possess extreme control over this ability as seen when he burns the "Superman Symbol" into nearby walls, signs, to indicate the "Blur" was there. (Savior) Clark's heat vision has increased greatly as he was able to melt a lead plate in a matter of seconds and place it on Metallo's kryptonite heart. (Metallo) Clark uses his heat vision on Rick's automatic weapon to cause it to explode. (Crossfire)

[edit] Super Hearing

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

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 sound waves rippling away from it. On occasion, a close-up of Clark's eardrum 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 whispered Clark's name to him from outside a room, activating his super hearing without him consciously listening for her. (Blank)
  • Season 5: When re-located in the Arctic, Chloe 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 this while trying to find Lana in the Luthor Mansion), 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, Clark lost control of his super hearing, and 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 super hearing to hear Lois and Jimmy 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 and uses it to save Lois from Macy. Clark's super hearing picked up on Lana saying his name even without activating it consciously, though he could hear her more clearly and louder when he actually started super hearing. His super hearing was used just in time for him to hear Oliver being beat-up and almost killed by Davis Bloome. Later, he used his super hearing to hear Eva/Chloe's screams in a nearby forest and later to find Chloe and Davis in Edge City. Then he used it to hear Doomsday terrorizing the citizens. (Plastique, Committed, Power, Beast, Injustice, Doomsday)
  • Season 9: Standing vigil atop the Daily Planet rooftop early in the morning on patrol in Metropolis, Clark used his super-hearing to listen in on thousands of conversations in the city and then finally he heard a police call of a robbery. (Metallo). Clark seems to have much more control over his super hearing as of late, he used it to hear crys of help numerous times consecutively during his movie night with Lois Lane. (It's to be noted it was used while also watching a movie and maintaining conversation with Lois at the same time.) (Roulette) Clark could hear Lois was in danger through the ear-piece. (Crossfire)

[edit] Arctic Breath

  • Season 9: Clark Kent is beginning to show first signs of his ability of Arctic Breath when he used it to cool down Lois Lane's coffee as means of distracting her so that he can super speed off to save the day. Quoting Lois Lane, "Clark, this (coffee) is ice cold." (Rabid)

[edit] Super Breath

Clark using his super breath.

"Now huff puff and blow that door down." – Chloe, 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 super-cold version of his super breath, which is usually referred to as "Freeze Breath" or "Arctic Breath." He also has enhanced breathing as he is shown to hold his breath a lot longer than any human can.

  • Season 5: : Clark was able to hold his breath underwater for along period of time. (Aqua)
  • 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. Robert Bethany to steal his laptop. He quickly developed sufficient precision to blast a lead-lined steel safe door open while not harming Chloe, who was standing nearby, with the backlash of the pressure wave. (Sneeze, Freak)
  • Season 8: Clark used his super breath to smash open a door in order to save Lois, which was the first time he was seen to be using this ability in two years. (Committed)
Clark blowing away the sand.
  • Season 9: Clark used his super breath presumably twice in the episode Rabid. First it's assumed that Clark used his super breath to extinguish a fire in Metropolis, managing to do so in the time span of 2 seconds. Secondly he is visibly depicted focusing his super breath on a docile level to simply cool Lois Lane's coffee as means of distracting her so that he can super speed off to save the day. (Rabid) While in the desert with Oliver, Clark used his super-breath to blow away the sand covering his family crest. (Kandor).

[edit] Super Memory

Super memory is the ability of having a photographic memory or speed-reading. Clark has the ability to speed read, as quoted in Prey when he read the list of Chloe's Isis Foundation members but denies that he has a photographic memory. Chloe quotes in Season 7 when Bizarro, who is impersonating Clark, does not know the whereabouts of Dax-Ur's shield, "You never forget anything; your mind is like a titanium vault."

Other Kryptonians have displayed signs of having super memory, such as Raya. She mentions past memories on Krypton when she was just 5 years-old. At the present time in the episode Zod, she would be at least 22 years-old. Kara Kent also has memories of Krypton from a young age. However, as to whether this is a Kryptonian power is yet to be clear, although it is likely.

  • 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)
  • Season 8: Clark clarifies that he does not have a photographic memory, but can speed-read. (Prey)

[edit] Telekinesis

Clark also possess a telekinetic connection to Kryptonian devices.

[edit] Precognitive Dream

  • Season 1 Clark was able to see the same visions seen by a precognitive named Cassandra Carver while she held his hand, who stated that this had never happened with anyone else whose future she had foretold.
  • Season 3: Besides Sarah's dangerous situation, Clark dreams of skinny-dipping with Lana, missing a history test, and Chloe taking down her Wall of Weird. In Clark's dreams, Lana is perfectly fine with him abandoning her, Pete is inexplicably annoyed at him, and Chloe has decided to only report on news that can be backed with facts. Also in his dreams, his parents buy him a brand-new truck and decide that Lex's intentions are honorable. Lex, on the other hand, is angry and violent and eager to expose Clark's secret. Sarah appears in his loft and reveals that her uncle is keeping her asleep. Clark is driving home and dreams that Sarah is sitting in the seat next to him. Still asleep, he dreams of his and Sarah's encounter with the Traveler on the shore of Crater Lake. She faces her fear and Clark is able to wake up and save Lana.
  • Season 4: He has also had a possibly precognitive dream relating to the arrival of the second ship, though this is not clear. Although he has not been heard speaking it. Clark also had a precognitive hallucination about a second meteor shower in Scare when infected with a fear toxin.

[edit] Longevity

Throughout the series, it has been implied that, while under the rays of the yellow sun, Clark will at some point stop aging. It has been hinted at several times that Clark will live forever or at least live a greater lifespan than most, but he can be killed permanently if not resurrected by Kryptonian technology. This has never been officially confirmed.

  • Season 3: Jordan Cross, another person with precognitive abilities, with the ability to see people's eventual method of deaths, failed to see Clark die when he touched him. He speculated that this was because Clark will live forever. Jonathan later speculated that Clark will never die. (Hereafter, Legacy)
  • Season 7: The episode Cure deals with the issue of Clark's possible immortality, with the Martian Manhunter confirming that Clark will outlive all of the people he loves. Later, Clark meets a Kryptonian scientist named Dax-Ur who had lived on Earth for roughly a hundred years. At some point, Dax-Ur had donned a bracelet of blue kryptonite, which took away his abilities and allowed him to age like a human. (Persona)

[edit] Telepathy

Part of the many trials to come, Jor-El temporarily granted this ability to Clark, and said this power would activate due to feelings of doubt but would later dissipate in time. Clark was able to hear thoughts close around him, and it was mainly focused on Lois for the time being, and later to discover the identity of the bomber, later revealed to be Toyman. Clark, after learning the key points of Jor-El's trial was stripped of this ability, then using what he had learned to better himself when saving people.(Echo)

[edit] Trivia

The people that have possessed Clark's Kryptonian powers include:

  • Jonathan Kent - Phoenix - From Jor-El
  • Eric Summers - Leech, Asylum - Got the powers both times from Clark
  • Lana Lang - Wrath - Same way as Eric Summers, though in this case the transfer was 'incomplete', meaning both Clark and Lana had Kryptonian powers
  • Lionel Luthor - Transference, Hidden - The Crystal of Water transferred Lionel's soul into Clark's body. He was possessed by Jor-El, gaining Kryptonian powers in the process in order to save Clark. (See Notes below)
  • Lois Lane - Bloodline - from Faora the wife of Zod, while possessing Lois's body .
  • Rudy Jones - Injustice - Stole Clark's powers after he confronted Bette Sans Souci. He later returned them after experiencing the pain after being beaten by Oliver who was holding a green kryptonite ring.

[edit] In the Comics

Superman using his heat vision.

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 life-forms 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.
Superman lifts up a car in Action comics #1

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.

[edit] Notes

  • Clark has lost his powers nine times (with Jor-El, Eric Summers and blue kryptonite being the cause of it on two occasions each): after Eric Summers transferred them away in Leech and later in Asylum, during solar flares in Perry, when Margaret Isobel Thoreaux cast a spell on him in Spell, after he broke his promise to Jor-El in Arrival, when he put on Jor-El's blue kryptonite victory ring in Blue, when he uses blue kryptonite to combat Bizarro in Persona, when Lex Luthor used the Orb against him, the Fortress (controlled by Jor-El) stripped his powers in Arctic, and when Rudy Jones used his ability to steal Clark's powers.
  • Clark regained his powers each time: he transferred them back from Eric both in Leech and Asylum, the solar flares stopped in Perry, the Crystal of Fire restored his powers in Spell, he was resurrected by Jor-El in Hidden, he was able to destroy the victory ring when he shattered the blue crystal in Blue, after Bizarro explodes in Persona, the Martian Manhunter flew him near the sun in Odyssey, and when Rudy Jones transferred them back after getting killed by the exposure of kryptonite.
  • Clark has accidentally transferred his powers to others three times, using kryptonite and electricity: twice to Eric Summers and once to Lana Lang. His transfer to Lana was "incomplete", so they both had powers. In both cases, he transferred the powers back (again using kryptonite and electricity). In all cases, the humans involved appeared to be affected with kryptonite psychosis.
  • Clark worries that his powers will hurt his sexual partner. So far his only partner has been Lana, in the episodes Mortal and Hidden, both of which occurred when Clark didn't have his abilities. In Wrath and Requiem, Clark and Lana made love again when they both had powers. However, Bizarro demonstrated no such restraint when with Lana, and managed not to injure her in any way during their encounter (Bizarro), although this may have been due to his weakening under the yellow sun (Persona).
  • A human having the Kryptonian powers seem to have affected different people different ways.
  • Except for Jonathan and probably Lana (the latter wasn't exactly evil due to having Kryptonian powers, but she was perfectly willing to kill Lex), both Jeremiah Holdsclaw and Eric Summers became "evil" after getting the powers; this generally appears to be the result of them rapidly inheriting this power without being presented with moral guidance on how to use them, with Clark once commenting that Eric's main disadvantage when compared to him was that Eric had lacked the understanding parents that Clark had.
  • When Jonathan possessed the powers due to Jor-El, his heart condition had worsened, while in Transference, when Lionel and Clark switches bodies, Clark's powers cures Lionel. Of course, in this case, Jonathan got Kryptonian powers and kept his own body, but with Lionel, he and Clark switched bodies, and Clark's presence in Lionel's body healed him.

[edit] Reference

  1. ↑ This is shown in Perry & Bizarro
  2. ↑ This is shown in Nemesis and Bizarro.
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