Superman's New Power Feat Is His Greatest Of The 2000s, No Contest
Nicolas Ayala is a Senior Writer for the Comics team at ScreenRant, with over five years of experience writing about Superhero media, action movies, and TV shows.
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DC casually reveals Superman's biggest feat of power in decades, shutting down a fan theory about the Man of Steel's weaknesses. Sheer physical power and speed make Superman one of the most powerful heroes in the DC Universe, but he's also a living arsenal due to an endless array of secondary abilities. Superman's vision suite allows him to perceive the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and his microscopic vision grants cellular-level analysis on par with laboratory equipment, while his telescopic sight can locate targets across light-years. He also possesses a bio-electric aura that protects his suit from damage and allows him to lift massive structures without their own weight collapsing them.
During the Silver Age, Superman displayed super-ventriloquism, which allowed him to project his voice onto distant objects or mimic specific people thousands of miles away in order to throw off foes. He also showcased super-hypnosis to alter memories or compel cooperation. At some point, Superman's Kryptonian physiology provided incredible molecular control, which allowed him to phase through solid matter by vibrating his body at hyper-frequencies and temporarily alter his facial muscle structure to disguise his identity without costume changes. On rare occasions, his energy reserve granted him spiritual perception, meaning he could see souls.
Superman's power set is much more consistent in modern DC comics than it was in the Golden and Silver Ages, but it still reveals new abilities in very specific situations.
Superman Can Nullify A Nuclear Explosion
Batman / Superman: World's Finest #56; Written By Mark Waid; Art By Adrián Gutiérrez & Luis Guerrero
Nuclear warheads are one of the few weapons that have proved almost lethal to Superman, especially after a nuclear strike famously left him on the brink of death in The Dark Knight Returns. However, that vulnerable state resulted primarily from the warhead blocking sunlight and starving his cells of solar energy, rather than physical trauma from the impact itself. In Batman / Superman: World's Finest #56, Superman reacts to a nuclear explosion in less than a couple of seconds, and he crafts a strategy to contain the shockwave, freeze the expanding energy, and send it flying to outer space.
Superman himself admits scientists consider this feat nearly impossible and "superhuman," yet he achieves it without breaking a sweat. He compresses the radioactive gas into liquid form with his freeze breath and pushes the solidified energy out of the planet with the strength of his breath alone. This happens right after Superman fails to breath-freeze molten Uranium at 2,000° F, so he must already be out of breath by the time the explosion happens.
Batman / Superman: World's Finest #56 is now available from DC Comics
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