Superman should be black.
Black superman (Shutterstock)
Superman derives his powers from the sun, which scientific research suggests he should be black, and not white — as he’s depicted in comic books, TV shows and movies.
The biologist JV Chamary lays out his case for a dark-skinned superhero in a lengthy post at Forbes Science, which he bases on a wide variety of research.
Superman’s biological father, Joe-El, explains in the movie “Man of Steel” that he’s more powerful than humans because his cells have absorbed radiation from Earth’s sun, which is younger and brighter than his home planet Krypton’s — strengthening his muscles, skin and senses.
Other movies demonstrate that Superman is indeed powered by solar radiation, which Chamary argues would be a similar process to photosynthesis.
So night is his Kryptonite?
Hell if I know. I’m not a Superman fan, and I’m certainly no scientist, of any kind.
richardelguru
According to canon, Superman acts as a sort of power buttery. He quickly recharges during day-time, but if he uses a lot of his power (heat vision) and/or the sun is concealed for a very long period (years), he will lose all of his powers until he is bathed in the sun again.
In some cases his lose of power was extremely prolonged (again, years) even after the sun returned.
Alexander @ 3:
A typo, I know, but do I ever love the imagery that evokes. :D
LOL.
Time to hit the sack and dream of a well-buttered Superman.
If the fictional being were born on another planet, why would it look anything like human beings? A land-traversing animal like a scorpion would be just as likely.
left0ver1under @ 6:
You’d have to take that up with people in general, who like their aliens to be people.
It’s a scientifically proven fact that humanoid-shaped critters are easier to butter. Take your average porcupine, say, or that hypothetical scorpion — quite painful to even attempt to butter.
Melanin turns 90% of the UV radiation that hits it into heat, which is pretty good. It’s great evidence of “intelligent design” -- oh, no, sorry, it’s not. An intelligent designer would have made people from sunny parts of the world have titanium dioxide in their outer layer of skin, instead of something that heats up.
(It’s an interesting thing I discovered back when I was doing wet plate ambrotype photography. Dark skinned people come out contrasty because they absorb UV instead of reflecting it. When I did a few portraits of a dark skinned friend it all clicked together and I was able to confirm my prediction with a bit of research. Simply by looking at the tonal range difference between most-lit piece of skin and least-lit I could estimate melanin’s effectiveness -- and it was obviously ‘absorb’ not ‘reflect’)
Kal-El’s father’s name was Jor-El, damnit.
And this guy Chamary bases his analysis on secondary sources, the movies. A real scholar would go to the original texts.
Those make it clear: Kal-El’s strength comes from his ancestry & birth on the high-gravity planet of Krypton. His other powers come from the influence of our local sun being a yellow star (Krypton’s sun was red, which is why Jor-El, Lara, and the rest did not survive Krypton’s explosion) (in one notable adventure, the forewarned dictator of a distant planet totally eliminated Superman’s powers by having a giant orbiting blue lens ready to swing into place, turning the local sunlight green and making the noble orphaned Kryptonian his slave).
Try again, JV Chamary!
Pierce:
Um, Chamary is a biologist, not a scholar. I’d focus on the movies too, really, because they have an impact outside the core of comic book fans.
Caine @ # 11 -- We know what the resident scientist would say about those speculating outside of their specialty…
Pierce:
He isn’t, though. A biologist is perfectly qualified to discuss how skin works. You’re under no obligation to like his work, or his methods, or his conclusion, but it’s ridiculous to say he isn’t qualified.