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The human colony on the planet Argo has long explored and exploited the technology left behind by an extinct alien race. But then an archaeology team accidentally activates a terrible weapon...
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Why does Superman have a Muscular Body?
December 16th, 2009
I am such a nerd. There is no reasonable answer to my question, except for the obvious “he’s an alien, that’s why” or “shut up and stop being such a nerd!”
(Why Superman should look like a human at all is another question I won’t ask for now, as is why doesn’t anyone see through his clever Clark Kent disguise.)
Astronauts living in microgravity very rapidly lose muscle and can have problems walking when they return to Earth gravity. They have to work very hard, hours of exercise per day, to stave off the negative effects of floating around all day without having to move a muscle.
Superman, as strong as he is, should suffer the same effects here on Earth. He barely gets a workout doing anything short of juggling cars or moving mountains.
If comics made any sense at all, it should be Super Stickman.
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It’s actually all fat. That’s the reason he has to wear all that Spandex; it’s just one big corset.
Actually, Jess Nevins just gave a talk at the IEET Biopolitics and Popular Culture seminar that (indirectly, at least) answers this very question. It has probably the single awesomest title of any academic talk anywhere: “Those Who Cannot Remember Doc Savage are Doomed to Repeat Him: The 20th Century Backlash Against Posthuman Bodybuilders”.
An MP3 is available here: http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/3586/ but the executive summary is: he had to become an alien because of a pop culture backlash against superhuman bodybuilders.
I know, metatextual geekery isn’t what you were going for, but it’s fascinating stuff (to me, anyway) nonetheless. Plus, there’s some interesting implications for genetically engineered superhumans, when/if we get around to it.
There isn’t a scientific reason (unless the fat suit thing is true!), so metatextual is definitely of interest.
I know nothing about superman but I thought he got his strength from the sun not from the decreased gravity of earth. If I’m correct then perhaps krypton had the same gravity as earth so he suffers no ill effects. As for strength, maybe for creatures from krypton the sun is like steroids, but for everything, including muscles. Maybe there’s something stars provide that things on krypton need & the composition of the planet limited the amount any living thing could absorb. So it would be like taking someone living on Mount Everest (krypton) & having them run marathons at sea level (earth). Except instead of increased oxygen content we’re talking about some unknown thing that stars provide. We (earthlings) are not adapted to need whatever it is so having it doesn’t benefit us & being around kryptonite doesn’t hurt us.
About the Clark Kent disguise I seem to remember seeing stories where Superman uses mass hypnonses (or more likely Super Hypnosis) to fool people all the time. Also I think he may have kryptonian lenses in his glasses but I can’t find anything to back me up at the moment.
This was in a very old issue so they may have changed the explanation or ignored it altogether. Or possibly a wizard did it?
And after posting on Clark Kents disguise AND a comparison between the 7 point scale for theistic belief (or lack of) and the alignment system in AD&D I’ll stop with the geekery for tonight. 😛 And sorry about the double post. I just needed to say that.
Alright, 3rd post and I’m done, promise: hypnonses was a typo, and not intended to look like hypnonsense. Though that does seem rather fitting now that I think about it.
I need an edit button and some sleep.
I always preferred to imagine that he can subtly alter the shape of his face so that, while others might occasionally notice that Clark resembles Superman, they don’t think he looks like his twin.