How Superman Works

How Superman Works - Flight

I wrote an article years ago on how Superman's powers of flight MIGHT operate. This was done in an article I wrote called "The Weird Science of Super Powers." I was just getting into the 2006 Television series “Heroes” and my favorite character was the guy with the power of flight. I mean come on, WHO would turn down THAT power, right? I even wrote an alternate ending, a continuation of the end of the first series. Yeah, I was hooked. But one thing this fascination did, is it forced me to think about how a material being could achieve the power of unaided flight. This means the ability to fly if say one was a complete physical being and completely naked would still retain the ability to fight. When I say science, I mean we would have to use the physical world we live in and, its available energies and matter. I will list magic, although it is disqualified being used in this writ since the qualities of magic do not apply in our physical world according to the National Academy of Sciences, at least not yet.

So, the means available to us (Comic fans) are below:

1. Gravity

2. Wind

3. Mass Manipulation

4. Teleportation

5. Psionics

6. Flame

7. Sonics

8. Magnetism

9. Wings

10. Photonics

11. Magic

For our purposes, since the subject is so broad let’s go with just one, the first one, Gravity, and with our favorite Superhero, Superman.

I was so glad years later that Reed Richards explained how Gladiator's powers work. Marvel Comic's Gladiator is the leader of a team of alien royal guards. He is, of course, one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe, and of course, modeled after Superman.

It was similar, on the point of what I tendered with the functions of Superman’s powers, that there is a lot more going on behind the scenes we don't see, but we pass off as Super-Strength.

Reed Richards asserted that based upon his observations, Gladiator's powers functioned through psionics, meaning, he was mentally manipulating the physical world around him. Gladiator lifted the entire Baxter Building by one corner which was physically impossible unless the building's structural integrity was being held in place telekinetically. 

WILD Huh?

We have Super-beings like Gladiator, Superman, Blue Marvel, and Sentry, who are considered god-class superheroes. But what many don’t consider, is that most of these beings, on many occasions, operate, live, work, and yes love, in close proximity to us regular human beings.

Now, taking only Superman into account, for example, it took many years for the Kents to help Kal-El, (Clark) develop the necessary control to live and work among human beings. I would imagine the same could be said for Blue Marvel, Sentry, and Gladiator, otherwise simple tasks such as:

Putting on the delicate pieces of fabric we call clothes, shaking hands, riding in a taxi, waving goodbye would be, well, problematic. We humans don’t give a thought to controlling a simple hand-wave but done without thinking, these beings could cause a sonic boom. So many normal tasks we take for granted, as NORMAL, must be severely governed down while in the vicinity of normal humans by these super-beings.

NONE of the mentioned heroes have accelerated mass like Charlie 27, of Marvel Comics Guardians of the Galaxy, the Hulk, or Juggernaut. No, these beings have a comparable human mass for their physical statures. We have to remember the three, Gladiator, Superman and Blue Marvel have the power of beings possibly hundreds of times there visible physical mass, however, this mass and power is controlled. Why do I say it's controlled? Because they could not operate, perform or live in close proximity to normal humans if it wasn't. These beings must have a way to govern or turn down their incredible power when it is not needed in its fullest incarnation.

How do we know this? It’s simple, have you ever seen anyone try to get dressed while wearing a suit of armor? Even if you get extra large clothes, large enough to give in, the steel sections of armor won't, and it would still create an utterly ridiculous sight. What I am saying, is that for all of Superman’s vaunted strength and power, his skin is, at times supple. When I say supple, I do not mean weak, I mean supple. The skin of Clark Kent holding Lois Lanes' hand, getting a slap on the back by Perry White for a job well done and getting his hair ruffled as a prank by Jimmy Olsen, all feels like everyone else body parts. Remember, this is the same hair that flies through space and the surface of suns. What’s the difference? The difference is, it's not highly stimulated and agitated by massive amounts of gravitons. This hair is attached to the same being plowing through a solid iron meteor in outer space. So how does the same being fly through the heart of a star, the magma of a volcano, the Marianas Trench, and then goes over and joins his mother and sits in a fragile wooden rocking chair on her front porch?

Superman’s primary power is gravimetric in nature, he controls and manipulates gravitons.

Superman controls his mass via what must be gravitons, (Formerly, Theoretical particles of Gravity) that we in the real world just discovered that might actually exist. Like “Vision”, of the Avengers, Superman must constantly walk a fine line between floating away and breaking his chair at work when he sits down. When standing in front of a speeding Army Tank, his mass is totally different than that of floating in the sky. He is still invulnerable to injury while floating, but hit with sufficient force he can be moved. This all makes sense if Superman is manipulating gravitons.

In-flight, he asserts his gravitons in the opposite direction he wants to travel. Using these abilities for flight in reverse, he increases his mass possibly again, via the manipulated gravitons. 

These graviton particles drawn in massive amounts, in and among his living cells in great quantities in effect create a kind of force-field effect on a cellular level. This is why we see when Superman or Clark is unconscious, a hypodermic needle can press and bend his skin before the needle breaks. However, when he is conscious and has willed a near maximum amount of graviton agitation, we get the invulnerability we seen in the “Superman Returns” movie where a 50 caliber round bounces off his fully exposed open eye! When Clark is giving Martha Kent a hug, she does not feel like she is hugging the metal body of “Cyborg” of the Teen Titans.

So, we get to the magic question. How do we know Superman has the ability to consciously shunt his power levels, or if they can be shunted at all? We see this when he, Kryptonians, are exposed to the effects of Green Kryptonite.

GREEN KRYPTONITE: Krypton is a real chemical element with the symbol Kr and atomic number 36. While not the comic book version, Krypton is an actual substance on earth. 

This comic book substance, one of the few materials able to interrupt Kal-El's alien mutation. I call Superman's affliction an Alien Mutation because this is exactly what is it. His abilities are solely the result of him, and his metabolism, being placed in an entirely different galaxy his race evolved in. As with all living organisms, his metabolism was forced to either adapt or perish. Since we have surmised that Superman's primary power might be the manipulation of graviton particles, particles he has voluntarily control over how much of it saturates his cells. This agitation must be painfully interrupted when exposed to Green Kryptonite. This may also cause rapid cellular decay in Kryptonians as well. Much like, but worse than x-rays cause in cells in normal human beings. The closer proximity this radiation is to a Kryptonian, and higher the adverse affects. If you can imagine the immediate, involuntarily expulsion of all the gravitons from a Kryptonian body all at once. Where each living cell had it's on force-field torn from it, yikes!

Superman's other abilities are, of course, derived from our yellow sun. Living organisms consciously controlling their body's functions on a cellular level is not unheard of. Take the control cephalopods (Octopi) have over the specialized cells (Chromatophores) covering their outer bodies. These cells are controlled and can change both shape and color. Who knows, maybe having evolved in a system with a red sun, Kryptonians developed and the ability to do the same. With so little yellow sun radiation present, they may have gained the ability to extract or shield the radiation from the red sun consciously using this ability. Much the same way we human extract vitamin D from our yellow sun, times a thousand. This excess energy a Kryptonian gets from a yellow sun is, of course, manifested in the abilities we see in Superman.

Again, like all living organisms, even plants and humans, there exists an electromagnetic field. It would not be too far a stretch to suggest that Kryptonians also have one. If Superman willed his strength, or gravitonic agitation high enough, the effect could transcend out around the locality of his body. This means any tight-fitting clothing he wore would also afford some protection. This could explain why it's terribly difficult to damage his uniform while in combat, as it too is enveloped withing this field. 

For all of these great powers and abilities, these beings, some of them, have opted to live among us Normies instead of on Mt. Olympus. When they choose this life, they had to have a plan, and method to live among us, without accidentally KILLING us.

When these super-massive beings are interacting with regular humans they must issue forth a conscious effort for continuous control of their powers. Clark cannot take the Daily Planet's elevator up to his office while having the SAME mass he uses when stopping a tank. When catching a falling airliner, or carrying a battleship, Superman spreads his gravitons over the large object he is carrying, thereby making it lighter as well. Adjusting this force, he can align with the earth's gravity, or that of a nearby stellar body, and instantly be pulled along in what looks like flight at instantaneous speeds. He can, for instance, do a handstand on the Rock of Gilbraltar, and draw in gravitons in such amounts, he can create a gravimetric wave. This process can passively dislodge earth or any other planet from its orbit.

By the same token, Blue Marvel is not going to walk around with his cohorts, in a non-threatening situation, with the mass he uses to smash a meteor. They MUST evoke some sort of governing-down of their powers while with friends and family. And while they are with friends and family they CAN be taken by surprise and even tripped. 

I can remember back in the 1970s a Superhero Martial Artist called Karate Kid, took a young Superman by surprise by turning Superboy’s own super strength against him. Now could Superboy have defeated him? Of course, he could have. But like anyone, being tested and jibed in a non-threating act by someone we know, we can be caught off guard. 

Clark's time as Superboy is also very interesting. As the youthful exuberance seen in human teens can be seen in this era. In short, young Kal-El had not yet mastered full controls of his powers. Regularly Kal-El broke the time-barrier to visit his friends in the far-flung future. This could have been done by pushing his control over gravitons to the peak stressors his youthful cells could muster. In other words, if our present science said that Gravitons were only theoretical and turn out to be real, then could another now theoretical particle also be found to exist? 

The particle I speak of is faster than light, its called the Tachyon Particle. Could gravitons and tachyons be related? Both of them are part of the great Electromagnetic Spectrum that governs the physical fabric of our reality? So did Superboy temporarily transform himself into light when he made those runs into the future? Is this why he had to wrap in his invulnerable cape, (Made by Brainiac 5) any normal person he took with him in that fashion through his time barrier? Whoa, ok, even my head is spinning now.

Believe it, Superman CAN be flipped, if caught off guard, while in public, and by a regular person. Of course, this regular person will have to have the strength and expertise to say, flip a human that weighs two hundred plus pounds. This weight can be arrived at by taking into account Clark's physical dimensions, and the kinetic movements and interactions he must evoke on a daily basis. We must remember, in order for the Clark Kent persona to work, one cannot bump into him at the office or on the street and feel like they bumped into a marble pillar. Clark is a solid and robust man, he does not always feel like steel.

However, Superman CANNOT be hurt by the impact of the flip. With Superman's size height and girth, he must govern his powers down to give him a near-normal and comparable human-mass. Just as fighters, warriors, law enforcement and others who have a heightened sense of security and or warfare. These defenses are also governed down when at home, with friends at outings. When Superman is relaxed he is not in the physical state he would be in say fighting Doomsday. This may also explain why it takes Superman so long to build up to his full superhuman levels when fighting opponents that are his match. Most of his time is spent around normal humans and therefore, his powers, during that time, remain shunted.

I hope this makes sense in a theoretical light.

Thanks.