Superman used to be just strong and sort of invulnerable, but now his powers are officially out of control. According to Superman II, he can erase your mind just by kissing you, not to mention his super-breath, super-hearing and super-ventriloquism. But Superman's out-of-control power really started with his super-peepers, which have a whole arsenal of eye-related powers. Check out our list of Superman's overcharged eyeball abilities.
It's no secret that Superman was so overpowered in the comic books that he used to move planets around, was extremely super-smart, traveled through time (without flying around the Earth backwards) on a regular basis, and had powers ranging from super-smell to super-mimicry. He outmatched nearly everyone in the universe, except God, so they had to retcon his ass a few times.
Chief among Superman's powers was his vision, which started out of just the ability to see things fairly sharply, but over the years he must have had laser-eye surgery, because things got a whole lot better for him:
- Probably the most-wanted usage of Supey's eyes was his 'x-ray' vision. What teenage boy (and possibly some girls) wouldn't have wanted to see through clothes? You could even order x-ray spex (that sadly did not work) from the back of comic books. He couldn't see through lead, and according to Kingdom Come he couldn't give you cancer either. No 'melanoma vision' for our hero.
- His 'heat vision' (which was originally a by-product of the x-ray vision) is portrayed as either lasers shooting from his eyes, fiery optic blasts, or the literal balls of fire which they seem fond of on Smallville. The comics later explain that he's able to shoot his stored-up solar energy out through his eyes.
- His 'telescopic vision' grew over the comics to eventually let him see not just distant planets, but what was happening on those planets. We wonder if he could flip that vision around so things just appeared very, very tiny.
- Superman used his 'microscopic vision' on many occasions in the 1970s, analyzing fingerprints, checking out atomic structures, electrons, and protons. In fact, he could have made a fortune alone just by checking houses for fleas.
- Superman could also see into the electromagnetic spectrum, which allowed him to do dorky things like follow broadcast signals back to their origins. You know, for when crooks go on TV to brag about their plans.
- Supey also sported 'radar vision,' which was apparently just low-powered infravision, allowing him to see in the dark.
- He could also combine these vision powers, like using x-ray vision and telescopic vision at the same time, so he could see those distant planets without an asteroid blocking his view.
- Ultra Boy from The Legion of Super-Heroes had abilities similar to Superman's, although his 'penetra-vision' could see through everything, including lead, and his 'flash-vision' burns twice as hot as Superman's heat vision. Oh, and it's blue.
- Speaking of blue vision, Superman developed a new 'electrical vision' power in Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman as an homage to the electric blue Superman from the 90s. Why you'd want to send a shout-out to that particular version of Superman, we'll never know.
- When Superman "died" and his "Superboy" clone appeared, he didn't have any vision powers. However, he later was given a pair of goggles that simulated most of Superman's vision abilities. Why doesn't Superman just give a pair of those to every cop on the planet?













Comments
... and this is why everyone loves it when batman kicks superman's ass
"penetra-vision"
That will get you in trouble!
He also has Super-VENTRILOQUISM:
[www.superdickery.com]
Yes. The famous Amnesia Kiss. Oy
To be fair, in All-Star Superman, he's suffering the effects of solar radiation overexposure and this has some untoward side effects (not to give anything away) as well as nifty new powers.
But yeah, his eyeball powers were always the least plausible, and that's saying something.
so, did he have faster-than-light vision, or did he see what was happening on planets far far away a long time ago?
@B: Good question.
Also, super mimicry? Does this make Frank Caliendo heroic?
@fiveinchtaint: It does it my book.
super mimicry with his eyeballs?
@the intrepid spaceman spiff: ...because when you have heat vision and can fly the first thing you'd do would be to land and let yourself be exposed to kryptonite. You'd never simply, fry him from a hundred feet up. But why ruin decades of fanwank with logic?
And they left off the "super-masonary vision" from Superman IV: The Quest For Peace."
He also had rainbow beams come out of him before. LOTS of great stuff and crappy powers at superdickery.com
Superman to me is a god superhero, shoot he could do anything he wants! I wonder if he can shoot his eyeballs like Mazinger's Rocket Punch... That'll be effed up.
Curse the writers and their "humanizing" Superman, it would be soo cool if he were the President or the King of the World. Nooo they have him dealing with mortal issues, bah!
But what color are they?
Since nobody else has, I'll post this link:
[www.mcsweeneys.net]
Someone email me when io9 gets to "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex."
@Freddie Freelance: Can I tell you how much I love that story? Kryptonite condoms! Sperm-holes!
@the intrepid spaceman spiff: You mean this is why Frank Miller fans love when he writes that story he keeps selling to DC.
I don't know about super eyes, but this is visionary work:
Well in Superman Returns (which is supposed to be Superman 3) Lois sure knows something happened. The love making should have erased all that as well. So in theory, the kiss did nothing.
Supes also had SUPER-HYPNOTIZING skills as well!
According to the pre-Crisis days of Clark-the-WGBS-news-anchor, Superman had the ability to hypontize people through subliminal suggestion, whether he meant to or not.
The most common use of this trick was that, while in disguise as Clark Kent, Supes would make everyone think he was a *little* bit older and a *little* bit frailer than he really was. This was one of the comic's main explanations for why people didn't see that Clark was obviously Superman as soon as they met him. And it had a few funny side-effects, as people who saw Clark from behind, w/out realizing it was him, wondered who the football player in the suit was. But as soon as they saw his face, the SUPER-HYPTNOTISM kicked in and then they thought they were looking at Tony Randall.
@Freddie Freelance: We've been there: [io9.com]
He can also hear and speak in radio frequencies. Seriously.
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