Results 1 to 30 of 103
Thread: Superman at his weakest
-
2013-02-24, 09:50 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2005
- Location
- In the playground
Superman at his weakest
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.There is no emotion more useless in life than hate.
-
2013-02-24, 10:27 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2009
Re: Superman at his weakest
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.
-
2013-02-24, 10:42 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2006
- Location
- England
- Gender
Re: Superman at his weakest
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
All Comicshorse's posts come with the advisor : This is just my opinion any difficulties arising from implementing my ideas are your own problem
-
2013-02-24, 11:00 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2007
- Gender
Re: Superman at his weakest
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.)
-
2013-02-24, 11:25 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2009
- Location
- Lustria
- Gender
Re: Superman at his weakest
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).Last edited by Killer Angel; 2013-02-24 at 11:41 AM.
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes. (W.Whitman)
Things that increase my self esteem:
-
2013-02-24, 11:26 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2011
- Location
- The States
- Gender
Re: Superman at his weakest
Superman had a silly career, didn't he?
-
2013-02-24, 02:41 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2005
- Location
- Ēast Seaxna rīc
- Gender
Re: Superman at his weakest
He gets taken out of action for several seconds by mere alien lasers in some of the Justice League cartoons.
"that nighted, penguin-fringed abyss" - At The Mountains of Madness, H.P. Lovecraft
When a man decides another's future behind his back, it is a conspiracy. When a god does it, it's destiny.
-
2013-02-24, 03:37 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2007
- Gender
Re: Superman at his weakest
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.
-
2013-02-24, 03:51 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2005
- Location
Re: Superman at his weakest
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.
-
2013-02-24, 04:40 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2007
- Gender
-
2013-02-24, 07:12 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2009
Re: Superman at his weakest
Superman at World's End, perhaps?
He gets killed by mere bullets!He fears his fate too much, and his reward is small, who will not put it to the touch, to win or lose it all.
-James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
Satomi by Elagune
-
2013-02-24, 09:44 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2005
- Location
- In the playground
Re: Superman at his weakest
Looks like I'm gonna go with a "red sun"/"unlocking potential" justification.
There is no emotion more useless in life than hate.
-
2013-02-24, 10:24 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
Re: Superman at his weakest
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?
"I Burn!"
-
2013-02-24, 11:12 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2009
- Location
- Ferelden
- Gender
Re: Superman at his weakest
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...Last edited by Senator Cybus; 2013-02-24 at 11:13 PM.
I have a cookie now! (::) I've licked it, so no backsies.
-
2013-02-24, 11:15 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2009
- Location
- Ferelden
- Gender
-
2013-02-24, 11:32 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2009
Re: Superman at his weakest
Seems nobody has managed to get below the bar I set so far.
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.
-
2013-02-25, 03:30 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2009
- Location
- Lustria
- Gender
Re: Superman at his weakest
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.Last edited by Killer Angel; 2013-02-25 at 03:31 AM.
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes. (W.Whitman)
Things that increase my self esteem:
-
2013-02-25, 04:16 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2006
- Gender
-
2013-02-25, 09:16 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2012
Re: Superman at his weakest
Speaking of silly careers.
Is Superman still a reporter? Or has the dwindling printed news medium finally hit the Daily Planet.
-
2013-02-25, 10:21 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2006
- Gender
Re: Superman at his weakest
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.
-
2013-02-25, 03:03 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2010
- Location
- right behind you
Re: Superman at his weakest
"Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum"
Translation: "Sometimes I get this urge to conquer large parts of Europe."
"If you don't get those cameras out of my face, I'm gonna go 8.6 on the Richter scale with gastric emissions that'll clear this room."
-
2013-02-25, 03:17 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2013
Re: Superman at his weakest
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.
-
2013-02-25, 03:25 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2008
-
2013-02-25, 05:37 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2009
Re: Superman at his weakest
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?
-
2013-02-25, 06:27 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2010
- Location
- right behind you
Re: Superman at his weakest
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.
"Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum"
Translation: "Sometimes I get this urge to conquer large parts of Europe."
"If you don't get those cameras out of my face, I'm gonna go 8.6 on the Richter scale with gastric emissions that'll clear this room."
-
2013-02-25, 06:51 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
- Location
- Expat in Singapore
- Gender
Re: Superman at his weakest
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.
-
2013-02-25, 07:05 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2010
- Location
- Argonth
Re: Superman at his weakest
Witty sig here nosey, aren't ya?
Avatar by Hacktor
-
2013-02-25, 07:28 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2009
Re: Superman at his weakest
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.
-
2013-02-25, 07:35 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2010
- Location
- right behind you
Re: Superman at his weakest
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.
"Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum"
Translation: "Sometimes I get this urge to conquer large parts of Europe."
"If you don't get those cameras out of my face, I'm gonna go 8.6 on the Richter scale with gastric emissions that'll clear this room."
-
2013-02-25, 07:58 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2006
- Location
- Yorkton, SK, Canada
- Gender
Re: Superman at his weakest
Let's Play: Pokemon Leaf Green (Nuzlocke)
Let's Play: LIMBO
Let's Play: Home [Complete]
Let's Play: Cthulhu Saves the World [Complete]
GM of the Yorkton Gamer Guild at:
Pink Ameiko Kaijitsu Avatar by A Rainy Knight
SpoilerAvatars