Superman at his weakest

[gooddragon1]

I've heard of superman doing incredible things and that his power level fluctuates as the story requires. So I wonder, what is the weakest he has ever been portrayed as with respect to the following attributes:
-Strength (Was he ever shown to not be very strong)
-Speed (Was he ever shown to not be very fast)
-Toughness (Was he ever shown to not be very tough (did gunfire ever take him down))
-Extra Super Powers (any examples of versions without super sight, heat vision, freezing breath)

I ask so that I can compare this to him.

I've been thinking of just saying he's as powerful as the story requires and he's "unlocking hidden potential" as he levels up.

[Soras Teva Gee]

You're looking for Action Comics #1 and other Golden Age vintage stuff for the first couple of years.

No flight, toughness is rated at IIRC "nothing less then a bursting shell" so artillery, lobs cars and not planets.

Linkara did a review of it if you want a simple way to cover it.

[comicshorse]

I vaguely remember in the Superman/Aliens crossover he was seperated from earth's un and drained his powers to the extent he had to use a spacesuit to survive in space and a gun to fight the Aliens

[Fan]

I've heard of superman doing incredible things and that his power level fluctuates as the story requires. So I wonder, what is the weakest he has ever been portrayed as with respect to the following attributes:
-Strength (Was he ever shown to not be very strong)
-Speed (Was he ever shown to not be very fast)
-Toughness (Was he ever shown to not be very tough (did gunfire ever take him down))
-Extra Super Powers (any examples of versions without super sight, heat vision, freezing breath)

I ask so that I can compare this to him.

I've been thinking of just saying he's as powerful as the story requires and he's "unlocking hidden potential" as he levels up.

Well, even the earliest Superman had his heat vision (After issue 1 of course.) and gale breath, Super Sight and Hearing (but to much lesser extents) were also exampled in Golden Age.

Golden Age Superman ALSO was capable of lifting up to 15 tons, running as fast as a WW 2 Era Jet Plane, and managing quite a number of feats that make him quite twinky by DnD standards.

If anything his tankiness is his worst stat in Golden Age, but given that he can handle a WW 2 era artillery shell (And catch them.) with artillery shells being capable of cratering the ground down to a foot or two (That means a minimum of DR 50 / Cold Iron in this case given the toughness of rock in DnD for 2 six inch chunks.)

[Killer Angel]

So I wonder, what is the weakest he has ever been portrayed

whistle innocently...

yes, I know this wasn't what you were looking for...
The weakest I can recall is Supes in the Dark Knight, where Batman beats him up with missiles, acid, and electricity (although we could debate on the fact that superman was probably holding himself, during that fight).

[Tectonic Robot]

Superman had a silly career, didn't he?

[Closet_Skeleton]

He gets taken out of action for several seconds by mere alien lasers in some of the Justice League cartoons.

[Fan]

whistle innocently...

yes, I know this wasn't what you were looking for...
The weakest I can recall is Supes in the Dark Knight, where Batman beats him up with missiles, acid, and electricity (although we could debate on the fact that superman was probably holding himself, during that fight).

And a Kryptonite arrow, and Superman was explicitly not trying to kill Batman the entire time (And kept asking Bruce to stop, the entire time.), and Batman had years of prep time, and Superman was MUCH weaker in that medium and had just recovered from being nearly destroyed and completely drained of solar energy by a Nuclear Missile.

Batman did not beat Superman without Kryptonite.

[endoperez]

Didn't Superman lose his superpowers for a while, so he took a sabbattical and the comics were about the adventures of Clark Kent the reporter? I think it was related to the whole "52" thing. Or "Infinite Crisis". One of the recent events where the world was recreated any way.

[Fan]

Didn't Superman lose his superpowers for a while, so he took a sabbattical and the comics were about the adventures of Clark Kent the reporter? I think it was related to the whole "52" thing. Or "Infinite Crisis". One of the recent events where the world was recreated any way.

That happened post the events of 52 yes, but he regained his powers in the succeeding story line "Up, up, and away!" by Geoff Johns.

However again, he is "Clark Kent" then, not Superman.

[Tavar]

Superman at World's End, perhaps?

He gets killed by mere bullets!

[gooddragon1]

Looks like I'm gonna go with a "red sun"/"unlocking potential" justification.

[Metahuman1]

Arn't there stories floating around that are else-worlds about him in universes where he has approximately NO powers beyond a man of his height, weight, build and excersize and study patterns?

[Senator Cybus]

As others have mentioned, there've been Elseworlds powerless/powered-down versions of Supes and certainly kryptonite and red sun radiation can weaken him - but the weakest I've ever seen Superman depicted without any external force sapping his powers was back in a series (All Access?) that span-off the big D.C./Marvel cross-over event back in the 90s, in which Venom punched him out! Yeah, as in 'Spider-Man baddie' Venom.

Okay, not punched out as in unconscious, but definitely hit (too slow to dodge) hurt (less than his usual tougness) and knocked backwards (definitely not as strong as normal). IIRC later in the same story, Supes has to catch a falling girder that Venom chucked off the side of a building, and it seems to take actual effort to do so - which is weird for someone who can usually catch falling jumbo jets.

Supes was nerfed pretty damn hard to make that story work...

[Senator Cybus]

Superman had a silly career, didn't he?

That's not really accurate.

Superman still has a silly career!

[Soras Teva Gee]

Seems nobody has managed to get below the bar I set so far.

Okay, not punched out as in unconscious, but definitely hit (too slow to dodge) hurt (less than his usual tougness) and knocked backwards (definitely not as strong as normal). IIRC later in the same story, Supes has to catch a falling girder that Venom chucked off the side of a building, and it seems to take actual effort to do so - which is weird for someone who can usually catch falling jumbo jets.

Supes was nerfed pretty damn hard to make that story work...

That's really not that unusual, Supes has been knocked around quite a bit as just about any story will have him take a few hits. And super speed is almost never used to its nominal fullest in comics.

Drama preserving handicap? Inconsistent power levels? A statement that maybe he isn't as powerful as all that?

You decide.

[Killer Angel]

and Superman was MUCH weaker in that medium and had just recovered from being nearly destroyed and completely drained of solar energy by a Nuclear Missile.

All good points about the fight against Batman, but indeed, that nuclear missile almost killed him... this alone tells that Superman, in that comic, was not so SUPER.
As a comparison, in Kingdom Come, we have a warhead specifically designed to take out the superhumans, that killed a large portion (80%?) of the super "heroes", and Superman was not even scratched.

[Devonix]

That's not really accurate.

Superman still has a silly career!

What's more accurate is that comic book careers as a rule are silly.
And a good thing too.

[Kitten Champion]

Speaking of silly careers.

Is Superman still a reporter? Or has the dwindling printed news medium finally hit the Daily Planet.

[Devonix]

No longer working at the Daily planet There were troubles between him and the new person in charge treating the news like sensationalism. Touching on how things are sort of turning from investigation to entertainment.

Though he's not always worked at the planet in the past either He's held many jobs.

[Traab]

No longer working at the Daily planet There were troubles between him and the new person in charge treating the news like sensationalism. Touching on how things are sort of turning from investigation to entertainment.

Though he's not always worked at the planet in the past either He's held many jobs.

Ugh, he probably would have hurled J.J. Jameson through a plate glass window if he ever had to work for that man then.

"Cape Wearing Pervert With His Underwear on the Outside Terrorizes New York!"

/Clarks eye starts twitching

[Go!Go!Go!]

As a comparison, in Kingdom Come, we have a warhead specifically designed to take out the superhumans, that killed a large portion (80%?) of the super "heroes", and Superman was not even scratched.

in KC, the supervillains discuss supes, and they conculde that after years of apsorbing yellow sun rays, hes at the hieght of his invunerability. they dont even think that kryptonite would work on him anymore. that supes is at the far of the power scale, while were talking about the neer end.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Ugh, he probably would have hurled J.J. Jameson through a plate glass window if he ever had to work for that man then.

"Cape Wearing Pervert With His Underwear on the Outside Terrorizes New York!"

/Clarks eye starts twitching

I want this.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Though he's not always worked at the planet in the past either He's held many jobs.

Television news anchor is my favorite.

Clark Kent, in front of millions of people. Every. Day.

Honestly 70s DC. And I normally defend the glasses thing since most people will never know a journalist's face so it keeps the suspect list of people that really should know down to a bare handful.

Ugh, he probably would have hurled J.J. Jameson through a plate glass window if he ever had to work for that man then.

"Cape Wearing Pervert With His Underwear on the Outside Terrorizes New York!"

/Clarks eye starts twitching

Almost a shame he doesn't wear the red panties anymore isn't it?

[Traab]

Television news anchor is my favorite.

Clark Kent, in front of millions of people. Every. Day.

Honestly 70s DC. And I normally defend the glasses thing since most people will never know a journalist's face so it keeps the suspect list of people that really should know down to a bare handful.



Almost a shame he doesn't wear the red panties anymore isn't it?

Yeah, almost. :p Come on though, admit it, you could easily see JJ doing something just like that if superman had made new york his home. Him being an alien on top of it? Hoo boy! He would have had a field day with all that. As for the glasses thing, yes, in most scenarios he wouldnt be noticable enough for people to spot superman with glasses on. But considering the person he saves 100 times a year is his coworker, and is a world famous investigative journalist. . . . yeah.

[MLai]

Superman is like 6 ft 7 ins or something, correct? Is that canon? Because that's how everything depicts him. If not that huge, he's at least as big and tall as The Rock.

What gets me is that he has no shrinking powers... so he's just as huge and imposing when being Clark Kent.

[Marnath]

Superman is like 6 ft 7 ins or something, correct? Is that canon? Because that's how everything depicts him. If not that huge, he's at least as big and tall as The Rock.

What gets me is that he has no shrinking powers... so he's just as huge and imposing when being Clark Kent.

He slouches, and wears baggy clothing that conceals his muscles. Presumably he gives off enough "this guy is a wuss" cues that people don't see past that to realize how tall and big-framed he is.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Yeah, almost. :p Come on though, admit it, you could easily see JJ doing something just like that if superman had made new york his home. Him being an alien on top of it? Hoo boy! He would have had a field day with all that. As for the glasses thing, yes, in most scenarios he wouldnt be noticable enough for people to spot superman with glasses on. But considering the person he saves 100 times a year is his coworker, and is a world famous investigative journalist. . . . yeah.

Oh totally JJ could and would. Supes wouldn't even need to be in NYC methinks.

And Lois well, I will accept as simply a thing that Lois will not figure it out. Ever. Its one of those psych things like how Lex once had an analysis that proved Superman was Clark Kent, and flat out refused to believe it. Not the most realistic thing maybe, but for the handful of people that have ever interacted with both Superman and Clark Kent its okay.

And either careful art or good acting can sell it.

[Traab]

I vaguely recall the old Lois and Clark tv show, she figured it out on several occasions but they kept walking it back with things like amnesia, head wounds causing short term memory loss, magic whoosiewhatsits and things like that.

[Pink]

Superman is like 6 ft 7 ins or something, correct? Is that canon? Because that's how everything depicts him. If not that huge, he's at least as big and tall as The Rock.

What gets me is that he has no shrinking powers... so he's just as huge and imposing when being Clark Kent.

I really don't have the comic knowledge to be in this thread but...