10 Different Ways Superman Has Been Defeated

6. Being Deprived Of Sunlight

Superman€™s powers are given to him by the yellow sun of Earth; his home planet of Krypton had a red sun, and there his people had human-like qualities. So, if Krypton€™s last son is deprived of sunlight, he loses his abilities. Like in the Flashpoint storyline, where the government kept the alien visitor isolated underground, making him a weak and feeble boy until he was given access to the sun. The fact that trapping Superman in a dark room for a long period of time will bring him to the same level as ordinary humans is a key weakness - sure, it is hard to keep Superman subdued in a subterranean cavern, but if this can be accomplished then the character is as good as dead. Superman€™s dependency on sunlight means that he is powerful on earth, but in other environments - alien worlds and deep space - his powers are unreliable and he is easily defeated. Although in the Flashpoint storyline the government had kept the Kryptonian underground since he arrived on Earth, the fact that Superman requires a yellow sun makes him more vulnerable than you can possible imagine. This doesn€™t mean that a dark room will defeat him, but it means that with enough thought and planning, villains and governments have managed to exploit this weakness.