10 Superman Questions That Always Confused You

7. How Many Powers Does He Have Exactly?

One of the biggest reasons behind DC's first big Crisis was Superman. Yes, there was all sorts of continuity and additional characters they wanted to get rid of, but the Man of Steel was stuck slap-bang in the middle of it all, with the death of his cousin Supergirl the comic's defining image.

But Kara Zor-El wasn't the only aspect of Supes' comics that was destined for the chopping block - they were also concerned by the sheer array of powers he had on hand at any given time.

Up until 1985, Superman had been seen utilising the most absurd abilities ever. He could turn back time, hypnotise people, wipe their memories with a kiss and - in one story - could even project smaller versions of himself on command. Everyone loves a bit of goof in their funny books, but even DC realised this was absurd and brought Supes back to basics with that first Crisis.

Interestingly enough, Supes wasn't originally able to fly - that power didn't come to the comics until 1941, a whole two years after his original debut.

Either way, for now, the definitive list of Supes powers are as follows: heat vision, enhanced vision and hearing, flight, super-strength, super-speed and super-breath. More recently a new move was added to his arsenal, the 'super flare', which enables the Man of Steel to expel all the solar energy he's absorbed in one destructive blast.