One of the things that makes Superman so fun is that a science geek can dissect his abilities and ruined everyone's fun by bringing up all the technicalities. It's also fun to try and explain how his powers should work, and there's even an entire book dedicated to that. Back in the day, the only explanation for his powers was that he came from a planet with greater gravity, which was all that was necessary for explaining his initial set of powers, which were limited to merely strength and speed. Nowadays, his abilities need more analysis as they get more complex, and perhaps making them more sensible would make them seem less generic. Upon closer inspection, many of his powers also have natural drawbacks that have long been ignored due to bad writing, which created a stereotype that I believe has really been creating the long-held prejudice against Superman. Behold the downsides to some of Superman's powers.

First, let's look at his speed. Superman cannot safely use his speed to its fullest extent. He can cause a powerful air current if he goes too fast that can damage nearby objects and knock people off their feet. He can create shockwaves when he goes at supersonic speeds. What happens when he hits a solid object going at ten thousand miles per hour? Considering that that's over ten times the speed of sound, there's going to be a lot of destruction. He simply can't do this on a regular basis if he's saving people in a populated area.

Then if he goes even faster, he'll ionize the air. Even faster, and he would actually cause the molecules in the air to undergo nuclear fusion. That little stunt he attempted at the end of Superman: The Movie would have destroyed the biosphere with radiation and burnt all life to crisp. He simply couldn't fly at velocities near the speed of light unless he was in the vacuum of space.

Furthermore, at one point or other I think we all know that if he were to save someone, whether by pushing/pulling them aside from an oncoming disaster or catching them while they fell, he would have to decelerate to be very gentle before he did it. And if he attempted to come in at ten thousand miles per hour and then slowed down, the person would still get his or her teeth knocked out by the blast caused by his sudden air displacement. From experience, I know what it feels like to be next to the gust of wind caused by an oncoming semi-truck along the highway. It really throws me off, and I can only imagine what the same force time a hundred would be like.

I must say, these particular scenarios have always been fun when doing problems in collision physics. In fact, my physics teacher would often use him to describe an unexplained, hypothetical force acting on an object.

Continuing on, I also believe that Superman would not have the ability to go into "bullet time". While I believe that to some extent his reflexes are much faster than a human's due to the advanced biology of the Kryptonian brain (perhaps their neuron signals travel at a dozen times the speed of a human's), and therefore he could be coordinated enough to run real fast and carry out other automatic motor functions with superhuman reaction time, I can't see him carrying out complex tasks at bullet-time. It seems that the new Man of Steel movie went with this particular depiction. I still think that time appears to go slightly slower for him, though. I mean, if his neurons send signals, as I say, at a dozen times the speed as those of humans, then his perception of time might appear to go one twelfth of the rate at which we see it. Sure, you might say that he could get bored with that, but I would imagine that his Kryptonian neural biology is hardwired to have a long attention span, and I think that he would instinctively see the slow passage of time as normal. I mean, it's all relative. Perhaps there are really slow beings that think our time goes by like a blur and that days go by like seconds. In any case, I don't think that this should be something that he can turn off. Biologically, that doesn't make sense to me.

So basically, I see his superspeed as being sort of a cross between the original movie and the new one. In Superman: The Movie, Perry White had to say that Clark Kent was "the fastest typist I have ever seen!" To me, that suggests that he can think fast enough to type at that speed, but I also like Man of Steel's emphasis on how he can move at extreme speeds, but usually for flying long distances in straight lines and not necessarily for carrying out complex tasks.

He's not the Flash; he doesn't have all of the required secondary powers to fully utilize his speed. The Flash is the one hero I look at who uses superspeed who I imagine that all of the technicalities are accounted for, since his entire persona is organized around it. He can move at the speed of light without dilating time. He can manipulate objects at lightspeed without damaging them. He can accelerate to his maximum velocity almost instantaneously in spite of insufficient friction. He can run at the exit velocity without flying off the face of the Earth. He can swiftly change directions and doesn't have to worry about centrifugal force. He doesn't have to worry about creating sonic booms, ionizing the air, or creating nuclear fusion. And, of course, he can carry out complex tasks while operating at full speed. That's the Flash, and I'll have to admit that makes him quite the force of nature, perhaps more than even Superman.

Even though it's no longer as rosy as it used to be, Superman can still use his speed. There's one power, however, that I think he should be completely stripped of. That's right, I'm talking about the ridiculousness of his superbreath. I understand that if he sneezed, he could blow your face off. It would be the ultimate air cannon. That being said, I never bought the proposition that he could inhale indefinitely and compress as much air into his lungs as he liked. How do his lungs compress the air? How does the air work its way into a compressed space? You can't do that simply by inhaling. It beats the principles of thermodynamics. I think he should be able to contain as much air as any normal human can. You can tell me that he can hold his breath longer, and that his diaphragm has a kick to it that could send the Wicked Witch of the East all the way back to Oz, but I really can't see him using his superbreath in anything but short, deadly bursts.

The only way I would change my perception on this is if his powers were explained by saying that the laws of physics were different inside of his body. Perhaps within him, entropy works in reverse. Which would actually explain a lot about his powers.

Back in the day, Superman's x-ray vision could give innocent bystanders cancer. The George Reeves Superman actually got that bit about his powers scientifically accurate. However, his powers didn't have the visual affect that they should have. His x-ray vision was simply an ability to see through whatever layers of matter he wanted. His x-ray vision wasn't treated like an actual x-ray until Smallville, as far as I was aware. However, that depiction never explored the effect the x-rays would have on people and never mentioned their danger. That would have been interesting.

I'll confess: I honestly don't mind that Superman can see through objects inexplicably. That's really cool, and it's fun fantasy. It's also real fun to try to come up with a scientific explanation. However, for this highly flawed version of Superman that I'm painting, a sketchier x-ray vision is more appropriate. Let his x-ray vision put people at risk of cancer, and let the images he gets not be very clear. Perhaps he could learn to control it later on to be more like the x-ray vision seen in all of the movies thus far, but I'm fine with the Smallville-type vision crossed with the health concerns of the George Reeves Superman being his starting point.

Speaking his vision abilities, let's move on to what is arguable one of his coolest powers.

Recently, I also noticed certain innovations touched upon by the Man of Steel movie, and I appreciate where it goes with his heat vision. It's subtle, but it appears that the new Superman needs a cool-down period after using his heat vision. That would explain why he didn't use it too often, since it would potentially distract him for a split second. In other variations, his reason for not using this ability as often as he should has been suggested to be that heat vision drains his powers fast and exhausts him if he overdoes it. However, I would like to take this all further. I believe in the two downsides mentioned before, but the implications of the heat vision interest me. First of all, I don't quite understand how anything about his Kryptonian biology would have prepared this side-affect of living under the sun. I really would like to know how Kryptonians evolved that would lead to this symptom of yellow sun exposure. That's a discussion for another day, however. What I would assume, however, is that using heat vision would hurt. I know he's supposed to be godlike and all that, and heat normally wouldn't hurt him, but this is the power of the sun in his eyeballs. It's something he's producing, so I assume he would feel it. So I have to imagine how much pain this would cause him. Maybe it would be like giving birth or passing a kidney stone. Maybe even worse. Who knows - maybe his Kryptonian neurons pick up more pain than we humans can imagine? Sure, if he were to do this often enough, his brain would neurologically rewire itself to build up a tolerance to this pain, and his eyes might eventually adjust and build a resistance to the damage, so like many of his abilities, this is a downside that would probably grow less significant as he grew old.

Yet, I can think of another effect that his laser vision could have, and one that would make it impractical and risky in certain situations. Imagine looking into the sun. That would, of course, have no affect on Superman, but perhaps his own heat vision could give him similar results. Using heat vision could temporarily blind him. Depending on the intensity and the duration, the after-effects could range from having spots in his eyes that last for a few minutes or being completely without sight for the full duration of a fight. I also doubt that he could even see while using his heat vision.

Therefore, he would want to be careful about when he was using it. It is certainly something he would want to avoid in close-quarter combat against another superbeing or someone with kryptonite, magic, or electricity, and save for those occasions where he would want to strike from a distance.

I still definitely appreciate the heat vision. It says a lot about who he is. Batman once said that "Clark is ironically the most human of us all. Then he shoots fire out of his eyes, and it is difficult not to think of him as a god. We are fortunate that it does not occur to him." Heat vision is to Superman as lightning is to Zeus. I mean, this is a guy who has the power of the sun running through him, and if the eyes are the windows to the soul, then I would think that when he truly pulls back the curtains you'd see the sun behind them. I think of the cover for Superman: Earth One, where he's surrounded by destruction and his eyes are glowing red, and that's a pretty powerful image that can send chills down you. It's just plain cool, so I definitely wouldn't take it away.

If anyone can think of other technicalities, go ahead and mention them. I am convinced that this analysis is incomplete, and hardly definitive in spite of how thorough I attempted to be. Meanwhile, tomorrow I will return with my final entry in this series, which will consist of proposals for new weaknesses altogether that are both in keeping with his character while also adding whole new dimensions to him. Tune in!