Superman's powers and abilities

The powers of DC Comics character Superman have changed since his introduction in the 1930s. Many other DC Comics characters have Superman's abilities from Kryptonian DNA, such as Zod, Kara Zor-El, and even the hybrid Superboy. The extent of Superman's powers peaked during the 1970s and 1980s to the point where various writers found it difficult to create suitable challenges for the character. Lex Luthor described Superman as a "living god" on Earth. As a result, his powers were significantly reduced when his story was rebooted by writer John Byrne after the Crisis on Infinite Earths series. After Byrne's departure, Superman's powers were gradually increased again, though with greater in-story explanation than his Pre-Crisis incarnation.

His powers include flight, super strength, x-ray vision, invulnerability, speed, heat vision, freezing breath, super flare (a recently added massive, omnidirectional heat blast that obliterates anything within a quarter mile radius), and superhuman senses.Superman can travel at the speed of light on par with the Flash. He has the ability to break seven planks at a time, into pieces just with the kick of his leg onto the ground. The limits of these abilities vary depending on the writer. However, as his name suggests, Superman has frequently been depicted achieving feats of immeasurable magnitude.

Over the course of the character's existence of 75 years, Superman has, at one point or another, had various combinations of the following powers and abilities. The levels of those individual powers and abilities have also changed in intensity, from "merely" enhanced above that of normal humans to truly god-like. Some added as the character evolved, others toned down and restricted in later eras.

Superman gets the majority of his powers from Earth's yellow star, effectively making him a giant solar battery; when he uses Super Flare he expels that stored up energy in the form of a giant blast of energy.

Superman's powers rely on his cells' ability to absorb and metabolize solar energy from yellow stars like Earth's sun or a blue star. His Kryptonian body is a living "solar battery" that absorbs solar energies and converts them to fuel for vast superhuman abilities that wouldn't otherwise be afforded under Rao, Krypton's red supergiant. His cells also store yellow sun energy so he can use his powers under objects, at night, in dark places, and in space.

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Wikipedia