10 Superman Questions That Always Confused You

10. Why Do His Power Levels Change All The Time?

Superman Dc Comics
DC Comics

Superman's powers are notoriously difficult to pin down, but while the range of abilities on display currently are easy to explain (more on that ahead), the character's supposed invulnerability is a different matter altogether.

Many see the Last Son of Krypton as effectively a god-like being. He's super-strong, immune to bullets, and can take on any given threat - sans Kryptonite or magic - with relative ease. But surely if that were the case, no villain who lacked those materials would ever challenge him? What would be the point?

The fact of the matter is that Superman's resilience varies from reboot to reboot and sometimes from story to story. Before Crisis on Infinite Earths it was probably fair to say that the character was effectively invulnerable, with that version boasting an almost limitless array of abilities and shrugging off blows with relative ease. This wasn't how things had started out - in fact the Superman of Siegel and Schuster's early comics wasn't all that invincible at all - but over years that's just how things panned out.

After Crisis, DC adopted a different approach. Supes would react to punches, bleed and even get wounded. Various stories have retained or divested from that edict in the years since, but the point is that Superman's impervious nature varies based on who might be writing him on a given day.

Though, in this case, the DC Animated Universe did offer an explanation as to why their version of the character wasn't as powerful as his comics self, and it's simply because he was always holding back. Put him up against an enemy who can take him when the gloves are off, and you'll be treated to a completely different kind of battle.

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.