katey,
Plus, if Clark is vulnerable to Kryptonite radiation and human's aren't, and human's can be hurt by nuclear radiation and Clark can't that indicates something different on a microcellular level.
Well in Byrne’s version Kryptonite radioactivity is harmful to humans over extended periods of time. The human body just don’t absorb it as fast and efficiently as Superman’s.
I just fond another one of Superman’s weaknessess
High Energy Attacks or Radiation: High energy radiations of a particular wavelength can also cause injury by overloading the field at a single point, hence the reason he can be harmed by high energy weapons such as blasters, lasers and plasma weapons. Kinetic kill weapons with sufficient force can also overload the field at that point. His own heatvision can supposedly harm him for instance.
Classicalla,
Gods and extraterrestrial entities have has also been known to give him a beating, but this is the hard way to take him out.
Don’t forget that Darkseid killed him.
Darkseid is an alien and I don’t think he has killed Superman, perhaps you are thinking about Doomsday? Anyway he is an alien too.
I wouldn’t have known this if I hadn’t just read it in another thread. It’s STP for Stop the Presses. (It’s not Meet the Presses.)
Everything is Capes fault really
That doesn’t make sense to me. Is that what the wikipedia says?
It says this:
The most common explanations for Superman's invulnerability are him having a super-dense molecular structure and/or a supercharged bioelectric "aura" which acts as an invisible "force field" around his body just a few millimeters above his skin, and, presumably, within his body as well. Or this was what was there before.
Under a yellow sun, other factors contribute to invulnerability. First, cell membranes and organelles become more resistant to harm; secondly, a bioelectric field surrounds the cells, making them thousands of times tougher. This "aura" surrounds Superman's epidermis and teeth, and possibly his nails as well. His hair is invulnerable, too. Superman has been shown shaving and presumably cutting his hair by reflecting his heat vision off of a piece of curved, reflective metal from the rocket in which he landed. In fact, any type of highly heat-resistant reflective metal will work, as shown in Action Comics #663 (page 11). When his cells become "supercharged" under a yellow sun, a Kryptonian becomes super-powered. He is invulnerable to forces under 1 kiloton, and is harmed only by repeated blows of over 1 megaton. His brain and nervous system keep up with his enhanced speed, as they too are amplified by K-ATP.I’ve seen some argue that he could cut his hair normally since it consists of dead cells and extends several centimeters from his body.(Traditonally Superman’s hair and nails didn’t grow under a yellow sun.)
The bioelectrical forcefield was Byrnes explanation to Supermans invulnerability since even the most resiliant matter would disintegrate at ground zero.
If you think about it if it’s just the epitelcells that are invulneable why isn’t the rest of his body turned to jelly when the shock wave goes through his body?
And Superman’s resistance to toxins and disease are pretty well established. He routinely clear out rooms by inhaling poison gas for instance. And growing up he was supposedly never sick.
Also, canon (not LnC canon) says that once Superman has been exposed to a particular chunk of red kryptonite that he can never be affected by it again.
That is pre-crisis stuff. Kryptonite worked like a posion and by exposure he built up tolerance for it. Post-crisis that is not so.
