It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!
Dear Kid,
Superman was designed by Jerry Siegel (writer) and Joe Shuster (artists) when they were high school students in Cleveland in 1933. They sold Superman to Detective Comics (guess where the name DC Comics came from?) in 1938.
You might have known all that. You might not have. But I’m pretty sure I have uncovered some super cool facts that you don’t know about the Man of Steel.
We all know Clark Kent wears glasses that Superman doesn’t need. Interestingly, they are not purely for disguise (although they do slightly change the color of his eyes). When he was a freshman in high school, Clark’s superpowers started to develop (apparently puberty and superpowers go hand in hand). Mama Kent (Martha to her friends) noticed that his heat-vision didn’t burn through the rocket that brought him to earth. So she took some glass from the rocket’s window and made them into glasses. Because everyone’s mom can make glasses that can prevent them accidentally burning people up.
In addition to the super glasses and slicked back hair, Clark has a different voice and different body posture when he’s not Superman.
The “S” Shield on Superman’s chest doesn’t just stand for “Superdude.” It is a Kryptonian symbol meaning hope. Upside down it means “resurrection.” Not clear what it means if Superman is just flying upside down.
Like many super people, the Man of Steel evolved over the years. He didn’t learn to fly until about 1941. He has very impressive hearing and vision, including telescopic vision, X-ray vision, and heat vision (making it very easy to heat up dinner without a microwave).
While his cape flaps around and is easily damaged (now you know why Edna got rid of capes in The Incredibles), Superman generates a force field for a fraction of an inch around his body which means his costume can’t be hurt. This is quite valuable since he is a boy who tends to get in a lot of scuffles and it would be embarrassing to lose vital parts of your outfit mid-scuffle.
While gravity is a mere inconvenience and bullets are meant to be dodged, Kryptonite poses a major problem as it will kill him within minutes. This makes no sense to me since he came from a planet just loaded with the stuff and one would think a lifespan of minutes would be problematic. But I’m not a fanatic reader of the comic, so what do I know.
Superman also has problems with magic (Harry Potter, meet not so superman) and with psionic power (I don’t know what that is, but Braniac has it).
Darth Vader and Superman. ‘Tis true. Christopher Reeve needed to bulk up in a hurry for Superman, so the movie producers brought in David Prowse, who played Darth Vader and had also played Superman in a TV commercial. Prowse fed Reeve tons of food plus five or six protein drinks per day, and helped him to gain 30 pounds of muscle in just six weeks.
Hope you have a Super Day.
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