From: (No Email available)

Date: 2005-11-16 21:43:25

Comment:

1) Superman #54: survived, without any injury at all, a ground zero atomic bomb

2) Superman for all Seasons: Survived, without any injury whatsoever, a Russian thermonuclear warhead (from a submarine) at point blank range. Smiled afterwards. All Russian nukes from submarines are multi-megaton warheads.

3) Superman #40: Survived, at ground zero (the bomb was in his hands) a 40 megaton thermonuclear device. Then fell to Earth (he was in outer space at the time of the explosion). Superman was knocked unconscious for a half hour; he suffered no physical damage and was merely stunned.

4) In Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey, Superman survived, at ground zero, a blast equal to ?a million nuclear bombs? (according to the energy being Waverider). Superman did not suffer any physical damage, though was temporarily stunned and stated that he felt concussed. He then got up and boxed a little more with Doomsday, who also survived the blast.

5) Adventures of Superman #478. As part of the Time and Time Again storyline. Superman?s body was affected by chronal displacement such that massive explosions would displace him through time. His invulnerability was the reason why the Time Trapper selected him for this- only one such as he such survive the catastrophic explosions involved in this method of time travel. Some have argued that Superman did not absorb the full brunt of these blasts but only a threshold amount that would propel him through time. This is blatantly contradicted by the fact explosions of different magnitudes hurled him through time by different amounts; also the more massive explosions (see the Sun-Eater example) caused him greater distress, hence he WAS taking the full force of the blasts (or else all the explosions would have affected him equally.)
As part of this storyline, in Adventures #478, Superman survived- without so much as batting an eye- the nuclear destruction of the entire moon in the year 2995. He was actually within the moon itself when it was obliterated. He did not suffer any harm and did not lose consciousness. The explosion did not even register for him. Note also that two Daxamites, not affected by chronal energies, also survived. Daxamites are the genetic cousins to Kryptonians, and possess virtually identical powers under a yellow sun. Despite unsubstantiated claims that Daxamites are slightly ?more powerful? than Kryptonians, Superman was able to soundly and convincing defeat the supposedly ?more powerful? Daxamite Lar Gand in a fight in which the odds were stacked against Superman (he was deprived of oxygen before the fight and fighting an Eclipso-possessed Lar Gand).

6) Also part of Time and Time Again, in Adventures of Superman #477, Superman survived an exploding sun eater, from within the nucleus of the sun eater. A sun eater is an enormous gaseous cloud that literally eats both the energy and mass of whole stars.
Let my friend Captain Kal explain the physics of it:
Re: Sun-Eater
A supernova is the total fusion of an entire star's mass over a period of months. Fusing an entire star's mass all at once should be at least supernova level. Additionally, the Sun-Eater has eaten many stars and IIRC has consumed entire galaxies, so I'd put the Sun-Eater detonation at much greater than a mere supernova, especially since Wildfire's anti-energy was also involved and interacting in that explosion.
Although it should be noted that it was only the core of the sun eater that was exploded; however, the explosion was sufficient to blast the rest of the massive sun eater apart into the vastness of space, thus destroying it. Likely at least a supernova-level event anyway. Following the explosion, (Action Comics #664) Superman?s body is hurled across ?hundreds of light years of space? and crash-lands on Earth. He is unconscious but physically completely unharmed. He wakes up a day later and, after a brief moment of disorientation, regains his balance and is none the worse the wear.

7)Superman #3: survives the dreaded fire pits of Apokolips without any physical injury, but suffers a spell of amnesia.

8) Adventures of Superman #480; Superman: Last God of Krypton one shot; Superman Man of Steel #50: Superman survives immersion in the outer layers of the sun. He also escapes from the sun?s gravity. In the first reference, survival and escape is quite difficult. In the next two, he survives easily, gets a power boost from the sun, and very easily escapes the sun?s immense gravitational pull (more than 99% of the mass of the solar system is in the sun).

9) Action Comics # 782; Superman Man of Steel #64: very easily survives the core of the sun without any injury whatsoever. His powers are increased by the immersion in the sun. Each moment in the core of the sun, 600 billion tons of hydrogen is fused. Energy equal to literally trillions and trillions of hydrogen bombs are liberated. Since Superman does not blacken the sun by immersion in it, he must only be absorbing a portion of these energies. The rest of the energies do not destroy him because of his invulnerability. In addition to the energy liberated, the pressure at the core of the sun is equal to 250 BILLION Earth atmospheres. Such extreme pressure- literally, matter destroying pressure- does not harm the man from Krypton. In addition, he effortlessly escapes from the immense gravity at the core of the sun (gravity intense enough to fuse billions of tons of hydrogen every second). Superman?s escape from this gravity is effortless and virtually instantaneous as well- an amazing feat of raw flight power.

10) JLA #41, the conclusion of the World War III story: Superman absorbs the energy of the Mageddon Warhead, a device stated to be capable of vaporizing HALF A GALAXY(and was implied to be able to destroy all of Creation). This is Superman?s most extreme feat of energy absorption, and his body alone did it (no magic hammer needed). Although visibly quite distressed by the absorption, Superman suffers no harm whatsoever, and even smiles afterwards.

11) Actions Comics #586: His Omega Beams exhausted, Darkseid attacks Superman with an energy beam attuned to his ?precise molecular structure?, intended to destroy Superman. The blast causes him pain but absolutely no physical damage at all; Superman proceeds to beat down Darkseid and defeat him soundly ( a fact admitted to by Darkseid.)

12) Adventures Of Superman #595: This time its the real thing as Darkseid unleashes the full power of his disintegrating Omega Beams (one of the most feared forces in the DCU) upon Superman with the stated intention of killing him. Superman withstands repeated full force blasts at point blank range, and shrugs them off without any harm or pain whatsoever. Note that besides Darkseid himself, only two others have withstood the beams other than Superman: Doomsday and the Cyborg (whose body was made from Superman?s own Kryptonian DNA).

13)After his fight with Lobo, and lost in space, Superman survives passage through a cosmic wormhole- a catastrophic, matter destroying force, to say the least. Note that this was during his post-death power-up. Trying to track down the issue number for this, be patient.

14)Also part of his post death power up, in Superman Man of Steel #30, Superman survives a so called ?force twelve disintegration beam? fired from a ship the size of a small moon with absolutely no effect at all. BTW, Lobo also survived.

15) Though not exactly canon: in the Superman/Fantastic Four crossover, Superman shrugs off, ?like it was nothing?, a laser beam (designed by Reed Richards) capable of cutting through adamantium.

16)Withstands various particle beams from a planet-powered Cyborg, one of which was said to be sufficient to level a city. See Superman Man of Steel #52

17) In Kingdom Come, Superman was assaulted by Captain Marvel with lightning. Many see this as Captain Marvel ?almost killing Superman.?, as well as evidence of Superman?s extreme vulnerability to magic. An unbiased look at this event reveals otherwise. First of all, the lightning emanates from Shazam, one of the higher cosmic powers in the DCU. It is Marvel?s very power source and in fact conveys the power of Zeus, another higher power in the DCU. As an example of its power, Billy used it to crack open the Gulag in Kingdom Come. Said Gulag was designed by Scott Free, master escape artist, and constructed using New Genesis technology, which in past issues has been used to travel into the sun?s core. In addition the Gulag was constructed to contain literally hundreds of powerful and dangerous metahumans. Marvel busted open this Gulag with his magic lightning.

Superman withstood at least four (that we saw) of these bolts with the power of ZEUS. He likely withstood a lot more than 4 because it is implied that Marvel was reigning lightning down on Superman off-panel the whole time that the story cuts away to Batman and Wonder Woman?s exchange. Such an assault would have easily killed virtually anyone else in the DCU. Far from being dead, however, Superman required only a couple of seconds pause to gather his wits, used his own superspeed to match the speed of Mercury, and pull Marvel back into the lightning. (And thus win the fight, a often overlooked fact). A battering like that and still he could match the speed of Mercury. From there on, although obviously bloodied, Superman appears fairly intact. In fact, he is still conscious (actually far from out of it), talking comfortably and coherently as he erases the years of brainwashing from Billy, and doesn?t even have the gravelly, uneven word bubbles used to signify serious injuries in comics. He also survives the nuclear explosion, albeit from hundreds of feet away, yet it was still sufficient to kill almost every other metahuman not protected by the Green Lantern.
As an aside, note that in DC Vs Marvel, Thor absorbed a single hit of Billy?s lightning to the hammer- not even a direct hit- and needed a ?long pause? to recover. Contrast Thor?s long pause after just a single indirect hit with Superman?s couple of seconds to gather his wits after repeated direct hits to the torso. It should be noted however that DC vs Marvel is hardly canon and quite a lot of screwy nonsense was going on in that.

18)In JLA: Primeval, the League battles Disciple, empowered by the ancestral magical gods. Zauriel, literally an angel from heaven, finds Disciples divinities to be impossibly ancient, even older and more powerful than his own divinities. In fact, Disciple laughs off Zauriel?s attack. Wonder Woman, herself empowered by the Greek Gods, similarly found Disciples ancestral divinities impossibly powerful. And this was BEFORE the Elder Gods gave Disciple their full power. At that point, every Justice Leaguer, including the magical beings Wonder Woman and Zauriel, were completely incapacitated by Disciple?s magical blast. Only Superman was able to walk through the blast unfazed (Is that...the best...you?ve got??), actually made a coherent speech while overcoming the ancestral god-power, overpowered Disciple, and knocked the scepter from his hand. His power exhausted, Disciple was defeated single handedly by Superman.

19)At the last page of Superman Man of Steel #15, Superman is assaulted from all angles by hundreds of magical demons, and seemingly overcome. However, just moments later in Superman #71, Superman resumes his attack on Blaze (a powerful demon goddess) in her own dimension, in which reality bends to her will. Superman overcomes a magical blast meant to incapicatate him (Blaze: ?you can still move??) and physically restrains Blaze long enough for his ally Satannus to free the Daily Planet staffers from Blaze?s dimension. This was the first time Blaze was defeated in her own realm.

20)Superman fought in and survived the 1000 Year War in Valhalla (time was operating strangely in this magical dimension). Magic no doubt abounded here. There were many casualties amongst the gods including the DC version of Thor (though it hardly reflects on the Marvel version). See Action Comics #761.

21)Action Comics #587: Attacked by magical ?demon flame? from the demon Etrigan, Superman feels intense pain but notes that he is not physically harmed. He fights off the pain and beats down the demon.

22) Action Comics # 585: Superman military presses a magically animated mountain, almost (but not quite) big enough to ?crush Metropolis with one step.? Note that he does say ?unnggh!? when lifting it while land bound. However, he easily achieves flight with it (evidence that his flying strength is greater than his land-bound strength) and actually flies the massive chunk of Earth, weighing billions of tons, into Outer Space quite easily. (Leaving Earth?s gravity would require acheiving escape velocity, or 7 miles per second, with a mountain on his back.) Once there, he causally thinks to himself that he just will toss the mountain into orbit around the sun before being interrupted by the Phantom Stranger.
Contrast this feat of raw power with Hercules? towing of Manhattan Island. Military pressing a weight is far more difficult than towing it, and flying it beyond Earth?s gravity and tossing it into orbit around the sun requires vastly more raw power than towing it. Not sure if this mountain was quite as big as the Island (although if it kept growing it would have crushed Metropolis) but what he DID with it more than makes up for any ambiguity in the weight.

23)In Superman: The Earth Stealers, Superman propels a massive space station, cylindrical in shape and stated to be 600 miles in diameter (the length of the cylinder by the way was more than twice its diameter- maybe a mountain-range sized ship) by pushing against it. The weight was inestimable- it was constructed from all the natural resources of an entire solar system. That?s a lot of metal! A hyperspace portal was opened and Superman not only pushed it, he propelled it for 20 minutes through hyperspace (it was stated that they reached the halfway point at 10 minutes). Note that he had to exert the power to move it at the same time that he had to deal with the stresses of hyperspace unprotected. He seemed none the worse for wear by journey?s end. Note that the space station was also towing both the Earth and the Moon in a stasis field, however, being honest, I do not factor this weight into the feat as Superman himself theorized that the tractor beam was neutralizing the planet?s mass. Hence he merely resisted the space station?s weight, not the Earth and Moon?s.

24) In Kingdom Come, Superman burrowed through the Earth (entered in Asia and came out in Gotham City, America) in seconds.

25) In JLA: The Century War, ancient ?alchemical engines? were causing the moon to fall towards the Earth. Superman and Green Lantern took turns holding the moon back against a ?geometrically increasing? force. Superman got the longest shift before being called off to deal with an even larger threat.

26)In Superman #181, Superman and Bizarro (his imperfect duplicate) switched bodies. Superman (in Bizarro?s body) punched Bizarro (in Superman?s body) completely through the Earth and out the other end. Bizarro (in Superman?s body) went in through the ground in Metropolis and came out seconds later in China. He is seen ripping straight through the Earth and out the other end. Note that Superman?s body was completely unharmed, conscious, and totally unaffected by the blow.
Superman theorized that Bizarro?s body ?may be ? potentially stronger than his if Bizarro?s brain would work. However, this is highly unlikely since Bizarro was created as Superman?s imperfect duplicate and is probably at best equally strong. It is more likely that the lack of control over Bizarro?s body that Superman was struggling with the entire issue (due to Bizarro?s brain damage) had robbed that body of the usual fine control Superman has over his own body, and hence struck with greater force than would have liked to (the inability to control the extent of his strength was a recurring problem in that issue).
Note also that this was a single punch that sent him through the Earth- more impressive than flying dive through the Earth.

27) Superman Man of Steel #30: during his post-death power up, Superman easily grabbed, broke the forward momentum of, and easily throw in the opposite direction, a ship the size of a small moon.

28) Luthor 2000 special: Superman split one of Saturn?s moons with a single strike.

29)Superman #175: Superman for the first time, overpowers Doomsday in hand to hand combat, which he had never been able to do before, perhaps suggesting that he is now ?stronger than ever.?

30)Action Comics #782: Superman?s greatest ever feat of raw power. After flying through the sun for an increase in power, SUPERMAN MOVES A PLANET. Specifically, WarWorld, home of Braniac. But there?s more. Braniac has stolen the energy of Imperiex. Imperiex gained his power from the consumption of thousands of whole galaxies since the dawn of time. Hence his universal reputation as the ?Devourer of Galaxies?. It is argued that Braniac wasn?t resisting Superman?s push, and that Superman ws ?merely? moving a planet. This is directly contradicted by Braniac?s narrative: ?Full thrust counter-measure! How is he moving my planet? The Kryptonian does not have that power!? The panel clearly shows the blue Imperiex energies firing from WarWorld?s engines. Yes, Superman was resisting the awesome Imperiex-begotten force, and pushed WarWorld through a boom tube to the beginning of time (big bang).
Note that this example confirms what we?ve suspected all along: that whatever the role that metabolized solar energy stores play in granting Superman his powers, he is obviously accessing power beyond that of the solar energies he can absorb. A few minutes in the sun is piddling compared to galaxies of power. (All of Superman?s feats listed here exceed the energy he could have gleaned from 30 years of absorbed sunlight, BTW.) Apparently the solar energy is either ?hypermetabolized? (as per JLA scribe Grant Morrison), indicating energy generation via Unified Field/Big Bang, or the metabolized solar energy allows access to his deeper power, likely psionic in nature (as per John Byrne).

31) Superman #172: Under his ?normal? power level, Superman destroys an Imperiex probe. He also destroyed another Imperiex probe in Superman #153. Imperiex probes aren?t as tough as the real Imperiex. However, they are extensions of his being and Imperiex had been using them for billions of years, and not one probe had ever been destroyed before encountering Superman. Note that Doomsday also destroyed some probes and General Zod (another Kryptonian) destroyed two probes.

32)Superman #171: With three seconds to act, Superman flies from an about-to-explode Pluto. It?s not clear from the depiction how far away from the planet he is when it explodes (although he looks to be fairly close to the explosion). He is unaffected by the blast, which obliterates the planet. He suffers only temporary ?ringing in my ears.? This is either an invulnerability feat, or a flight speed feat, depending on how fast he got away and how far away he was from the planet when it exploded. Take your pick.

33) Superman Man of Steel #126: Superman holds a contest of strength against an immortal god, Baal the Thundering Destroyer, and stalemates him. The gods then call Superman ?magnificent.?

34) Superman is known to be the physical equal of Captain Marvel, a being possessing the strength of Hercules, the speed of Mercury, the stamina of Atlas, and of course, the power of Zeus.