Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Some Questions Involving Superman: Part 1

Occasionally, something weird gets stuck in my brain. No, not my finger, but close. The other day I was thinking about comic books and the heroic figures one finds within. And then it occurred to me: if Superman can pick up an ocean liner, how does he manage to keep in shape?

I am not talking about simply being fit. Superman is buff with a capital BU. He has a pretty much perfect physique. How does he do it? No gym could hold enough weights to give him a workout. He can hurl tanks like baseballs and rip a skyscraper out of the ground and beat you with it.

One could easily suggest that a Kryptonian on Earth would automatically be buff. Possible, but Supergirl is not muscular and she is the only other true Kryptonian on Earth (as far as I know).

So how does he do it? With the correct diet and plenty of cardio (ie, laps around the world) he could maintain an athletic build, but he could not pack on the kind of muscle he is normally depicted with. Those of you who are more familiar with the DC universe might know of a super-gym in the Fortress of Solitude or something. If so, let me know, I am definitely curious.

Next: What happens when Superman sneezes?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Besides it being in a comic, it may have to do with his dna, and maybe he has some alien gym in his fortress of solitude?

Anonymous said...

Check out "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" by Larry Niven

http://www.rawbw.com/~svw/superman.html

Unknown said...

Talk about "blowing you away" *ick* Of course it makes no sense whatsoever. Guys like to see big bulky muscles drawn on their superheroes when, in my opinion, a tight tone body is infinitely sexier :)

Jason Janicki said...

Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex was very cool.

Yes, the obvious answer is that its a comic-book and the heroes need to look impressive to the (mostly) male audience. However, a bit of logic always makes things fun :)

Anonymous said...

We know that Superman has technology capable of building robots so realistic even Lois Lane can't tell it's not really him, but I think there's a better explination.

He's not Buff.

Whatever wierd Kryptonian mind control he uses to convince people that a pair of glasses contitutes an impervious design ((In the 70s it was called super-hypnotism, I'm not kidding)) also convinces them when when they see a man flaying around in blue spandex with his underwear on the outside, the see a musclebound specimien of human perfection, not a 90 pound looser who needs glasses.

Now I suppose if you want to say that he used the technology to build a Gravity increasing room, so that a pound is three tons, that would work. You could also just install a Red Sun-lamp. Though apparent;y since coming back from the dead, he's got a charging cycle, so this could take awhile.

And back in random Triva Land... Lex Luthor once kidnapped Supergirl, and hypnotised her into believing she was powerless, locked in a super-gravity room with a red sun lamp. She realised he was lying when a house fly landed on her. Had he REALLY built the gravity room,t he fly would have been a small red spot on the floor, crushed under its own Tank-like weight.