Superman stands as one of the most powerful characters not only in DC Comics, but in modern fiction. Fueled by yellow sunlight, Superman possesses infinite strength, speed, and durability, along with other potent abilities such as flight, heat vision, freeze breath, and X-ray vision. Yet, despite possessing enough power to shatter universes and topple omnipotent gods, Superman constantly finds himself broken and on the verge of death. This isn’t a contradiction — to raise the stakes and give the Man of Steel legitimate challenges, DC writers have deliberately given Superman numerous weaknesses that his enemies can exploit to push him to his limits. The effects of these vulnerabilities on Superman can range from removing his powers to causing a slow, painful death.
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There have been many times over the years when Superman has been beaten by opponents who take advantage of his laundry list of weaknesses. These are all the Man of Tomorrow’s weaknesses, ranked by how vulnerable they make him.
10) Lead
Unlike other vulnerabilities on this list, lead is treated more as a minor nuisance to Superman than a legitimate threat. Lead is well-known for being the one thing that his X-ray vision can’t penetrate, which has allowed enemies to conceal their secret lairs or mask their movements. Of course, Batman also coated his Batcave and several of his vehicles in lead to keep them away from the Man of Steel’s prying eyes. Still, lead does nothing to hamper Superman’s super-hearing, so he still has a method of locating people. Superman can also tear through lead like tissue paper. The Man of Tomorrow has even used lead to protect himself from Kryptonite radiation.
9) Electricity
Despite being able to withstand planet-busting attacks without a scratch, Superman is shockingly –quite literally– often injured or incapacitated by electricity. Granted, it takes the voltage necessary to power a city to hurt Superman significantly, but one of his villains has that capability. Made of living electricity, Livewire uses her powerful bolts to make the Man of Steel fall to his knees in agonizing pain. To prevail, Superman will often resort to exploiting Livewire’s weakness to insulated material and water, which blocks or shorts-out her electrical powers. Still, while electricity hurts Superman, it’s not enough to seriously maim or kill him.
8) Alien Viruses
With his heightened immune system, Superman can’t get sick from any normal Earth disease like the flu. However, there have been several instances where the Man of Tomorrow is confronted with a virus of extraterrestrial origin that he can’t defend himself against. Luthor infected Superman with a Kryptonian plague called Virus X that made the hero’s skin scaly green and nearly killed him. Another time, while fighting Doomsday, the monster released spores that infected the Man of Steel, transforming Superman into a giant, mindless, bloodthirsty monster, just like Doomsday. In both instances, Superman only recovered when others provided him with cures for his ailments.
7) Telepathy
Superman learned the Kryptonian martial art Torquasm-vo to strengthen his mind and shield it from psychic attacks. Unfortunately, this technique tends to fail him when faced with telepaths with superior mental powers. Villains like Maxwell Lord, Starro, and Queen Bee have used mind control to brainwash Superman into being their loyal puppet. Lord even had the Man of Tomorrow attack Wonder Woman and try to kill her. He has also been left powerless when the telepathic alien parasite, the Black Mercy, trapped him in a utopian dream world while it fed on his life force. Oftentimes, Superman can only break out of these psychic prisons with outside help from heroes like Batman and Wonder Woman, who combat the telepaths directly.
6) Super-Hearing
Superman’s heightened senses are both his greatest strength and his greatest weakness. While it’s helpful to be able to hear sounds across galaxies, it also means that Superman’s far more sensitive to high-pitched noises. Sonic weapons from villains like Lex Luthor and Brainiac can leave the Man of Tomorrow writhing in pain as he fruitlessly tries to cover his ears to block out the noise. Wonder Woman has slammed her bracelets into a brainwashed Superman’s ears to injure his eardrums, leaving him screaming in agony. This weakness is especially problematic because his longtime enemy, Silver Banshee, has a primary method of attack: unleashing a magically charged sonic scream that can topple buildings.
5) Atomic Radiation
Superman gets his powers from absorbing the radiation of a yellow sun, but nuclear or atomic radiation can leave him on death’s door. Although Superman can survive a nuclear blast, the real danger lies in the fallout. As seen in Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, when Superman crashes a nuclear missile to prevent it from hitting its intended target, the blast reduces the impenetrable Man of Steel into a withered husk suffering from extreme radiation poisoning. Only by absorbing sunlight radiation from the surrounding plant life did Superman heal himself. Radioactive villains like Atomic Skull and Neutron also exploit this weakness by firing powerful blasts of energy that can weaken and even kill Superman if he doesn’t recover in time.
4) Red Sunlight
Krypton was bathed in the light of a red sun, leaving its population powerless and unable to escape the destruction of their planet. In contrast, Superman’s arrival on Earth allowed him to absorb yellow sunlight, which grants him incredible powers. Still, if the Man of Tomorrow ever finds himself exposed to red sunlight, within moments, he loses all his powers and becomes as weak as any regular human. Many characters without superpowers, like Batman and Lex Luthor, have replicated the red sun’s radiation to even the playing field against Superman. General Sam Lane even used red sunlight to kill dozens of Kryptonians by taking away their powers while they were flying in the vacuum of space.
3) Magic
Even with the power to destroy galaxies, Superman is just as vulnerable to magic as anyone else. Magic doesn’t necessarily weaken the Man of Steel. However, unlike bullets and bombs, he has no natural defenses against spells or enchanted weapons. Any skilled sorcerer like Zatanna or Circe could injure Superman with a mystic energy blast or turn him into a Guinea pig. Mystical weapons like swords, regardless of strength, can cut through Superman’s flesh as if he were a regular human. Other characters who draw their strength from magic, like Shazam and Black Adam, also have an easier time contending with Superman in a straightforward brawl.
2) His Loved Ones
The entire point of superheroes having secret identities is to prevent supervillains from using their families and friends as leverage against them. Superman has found himself in many situations where Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Krypto, or someone else close to him was held hostage by a maniacal villain. Such tactics ensure that the normally infallible Man of Tomorrow is pushed into making more mistakes, driven by panic and rage at the thought of his loved ones being in mortal peril. Twisted evildoers like Lex Luthor, Cyborg Superman, and Manchester Black have all played these kinds of psychosocial games on the Man of Steel to hurt him emotionally rather than physically. In the Injustice Universe, the Joker’s killing of Lois Lane is what drove Superman to become a tyrant.
1) Kryptonite
No weakness is more iconic in modern fiction than Superman’s vulnerability to the green rock known as Kryptonite. When Krypton exploded, the irradiated remnants of his home world, Kryptonite, were launched to Earth. The radiation Kryptonite emits instantly weakens Superman, searing his body with agonizing pain. If he is exposed for too long, it will unquestionably kill him. And when it’s crushed and turned into a gas, Kryptonite can make Superman more susceptible to mind-altering toxins like Scarecrow’s Fear Gas. Almost every villain Superman has ever fought has at some point used Kryptonite because it’s the fastest and easiest way to hurt and potentially kill the Man of Tomorrow.
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