Superman and Co*'s Ragdoll Effect.

There's a thread elsewhere about the ragdoll's gone mad on some baddies, where their heads are twisted to impossible (unless their necks were broken) positions.

To which I pointed out quite frankly... with all the stuff that the Heroes (and Villains, and Rogues and Vigilantes, but let's stick with Heroes) can do, it's rather impossible to think there WON'T be some broken necks. I say, let the ragdoll grotesqueness continue, but that's just me, and for that other thread.

But it did bring up an interesting set of thoughts, and it culminated in this:

How tired Superman must be of pulling his punches, right?

I mean, here is, in his Lore, the most powerful being on Earth. And almost in the Universe, sans a select few. You can take two giant slabs of depeleted uranium (if you could get enough of it), place him in between them, then violently throw them at him with the force of 10 nuclear bombs behind them (not discussing physics here, btw, just go with it)

He'd get sandwiched in between... and escape, UNSCATHED.

He can have a multi-ton train roll over his back and not get one scratch. He can have a bullet shot into his *EYE, and it bounces off. His HAIR can be cut one at a time with bolt cutters, and even then, it doesn't want to be cut.

And that's just his resistance. His power? Off the chart. He can literally move mountains. He can cut the rock through, pick it up, and plonk it onto a volcano to stop it from erupting (not discussing the pressures that would cause it to blow up again, so what is the point, and besides Superman 4 sucked. ) And we know that he got the better of Doomsday, and many other uberpowerful beings.

If it weren't for Kryptonite, the Universe should frackin' *tremble* at the mention of Kal-El... well, and the Yellow Sun power charging... which seems to be forgotten when he visits other worlds.

--

So when it comes to dealing with us punky humans... I mean... literally speaking... he would break any one of us in half without thinking about it. Just holding someones arm might entail that arm being accidentally amputated, if it weren't crushed into becoming a singularity first. And trying to stop one from running? Since Superman could effectively become a brick wall, and the resistance thereto, the dude running would either have arms ripped off, or be so much paste when he ran into Supes.

My point is... the fine motor controls that Superman would need to just *interact* with us pesky humans, and our fragile equipment, by the way...

"Man, you see happened to Clark's typewriter? Crazy... What I don't understand is how it got punched through his desk and 6 floors. Lucky nobody was in the copy room when it happened..."

This was due to Superman sneezing by the way. And think of that! If he sneezed and forgot to cover his mouth... people would DIE. His violent expectoration would impale everyone in the range of the cone, and that range would not be short. I'm surprised that Johnathan and Martha made it to his 5th birthday...

Which brings me to how impossible it would have been for the Kents to keep the kid secret. Every baby does it, that whole "oops, the little tyke peed before I could get that diaper on." would wind up being an investigation into just how Johnathan or Martha wound up dying from what appear to be wounds inflicted with a waterjet... The cops find the kid... "Oh, look, cute kid... zOMG MY FINGER'S CRUSHED!!!"

And off to Area 51 he went.

Come to think of it, he couldn't even have worn diapers, what would have been the point?

Anyway. Those were some of the thoughts I had. Being superpowered must be incredibly tiring in trying to 'blend in', I think. And dang near impossible until you were... oh... 17, maybe, when the adolescent urges to BE SOMEONE quit being the driving force.

....and this is what always got me with the whole Lois Lane romance/marriage.

How does he have relations with his wife??!

I mean, on Valentine's day the medics and police department are called to their apartment because Lois Lane apparently blew her brains out....but strangely, no gun powder residue, nor even a shotgun to be found ANYWHERE!!! Hmmm.


Mr. True Shot.

Obviously Superman and other superheroes generate a force field to protect the people they are helping or their criminal victims from severe harm. It is part of the superhero starter kit. Otherwise superheroes would have a ton of lawsuits against them.

Check out Larry Niven's "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" essay from 1971.

A world made of cardboard.




-np

If he takes super whizes, wouldn't Clark Kent and the Daily Planet have the highest plumbing bills in the city? Every time he pees he'd destroy the toilet/urinal. And possibly the wall/floor it was mounted on. And god help the people on the floor below if he gets a bit constipated...

There are a few ways to explain this, one is.. It's comic books!
Also keep in mind that most modern versions of superman have his powers slowly starting to develop after puberty or at least slowly building to the point where he was mentally old enough to be able to control himself around others.

Then we also have to consider that at his core Superman is vastly different from humans in all aspects except his physical appearance and some biological requirments. He looks human, he acts human, but in reality even his thought processes are different then us..afterall There's no way a normal human brain would be able to keep up with all of the things he has and can do at the speeds and levels he does. Think of how fast the flash has to process information when he's using his speed, then add all of the other things a being like SUperman also has to keep control of when doing the same thing.

I imagine most super strong characters first learn how to regain their fine motor skills. It could also be that they have an instinctive human-level threshold that the know that they exceed when operating at super human levels.

"Precise muscle control."

I have the sudden urge to quote Brodie Bruce from Mallrats but it'd probably get moderated for it.

As for the whole relations with Lois thing: Red Sun Lamp.

In one of the old genre magazines (Fangoria or an SF-based one) there was an excellent article that postulated that Superman's powers were psionic, and that his weakness to Kryptonite was psychosomatic.

Strength/Invulnerability/Flight/Breath = Telekinesis
Senses = Clairvoyance

In any case, it's pretty obvious that it's not muscles made out of cellulose that allow you to punch through a bank vault.

Why do people assume it's hard for Superman to pull his punches or handle people?

Do you do everything at full strength? Well neither does Superman. He just happens to have a higher threshold if he's ACTUALLY trying but his 'normal' range is pretty much the same as ours.

If I was picking something it's natural for me to do it with the minimum amount of force, not the maximum. This is why I don't end up throwing things about with wilful abandon, regardless of weight or size. Every living organism has evolved to do things with the minimum amount of effort because this is the best way to survive.

This is how I do it for Kumi, my super strong hero. Their involuntary reactions are the same strength as a regular humans, but the potential for stronger things is there. She didn't even KNOW she had superstrength until events conspired to give her the chance to actually try that hard.

Actually, Pre-FP Conner was very susceptible to K-nite.

Robin (Tim) used it against him the first time they met (World Finest III) when Poison Ivy possesed Kon. Made him sick as a dog and had his insides on fire.

Oh and Superman's "bio-kinetic aura," as it was called, was the inspiration for Cadmus to give Superboy his Tactile Telekinesis. they had to simulate kryptonians abilities (flight, superstrength, invulnerability) since it was impossible to clone Superman, at the time.