New 52 Superman wasn't Invulnerable.

[Lokimaru]

It was the Suit that took a lot of the damage hense the armor. It wasn't lack of Sunlight he just wasn't as invulnerable as his previous self was. Strong yes but not as invulnerable kinda like Mr. Incredible. Mr. Incredible is strong but can be hurt if you can get past his suit which if going by the demo Edna gave Helen must be made of f-ing vibranium. It protects his hands when he hits something cause with his strength and no natural invulnerabilty would hurt or cause injury to himself. Incredible I think had Wonder Woman level durability. If you put her in Clark's armor suit she'd be a Tank just like Bob is with his supersuit on. So I think Morrison intended Superman to be at Golden Age level with out the Suit on and Silver Age with it on. The desciption for it even said it helped metabolize solar radiation better making him stronger and it kept him from losing as much energy in red sun conditions. But it had a collar so it was trash. Boohoo.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

The suit helped at first when his powers were still developing, and even by the end of Morrison's run Clark mentions it's still occasionally useful in the present as a little extra protection, but he's clearly still about as tough without it - he lifts the world in Lobdell's run on his own for instance, and I believe fights H'El in the t-shirt and jeans with about as much difficulty as he had while wearing it.

But it had a collar so it was trash. Boohoo.

The in-story functionality of the suit - a vague descriptor that could just as easily be stated about any other (since it...well, has been an aspect of previous versions of the suit) - doesn't have anything to do with the value or lack thereof of its aesthetics.

[Sacred Knight]

This is not accurate, if what you're trying to say is that he was never as powerful as his prior incarnation. This is categorically proven false on multiple occasions in the present day. In current day New 52 continuity he was actually more powerful than his previous incarnation. His Golden Age level period ended late into or shortly after his year one. That's the only time when he was lesser powered than his previous incarnation. During that time though he had a power spurt where he grew in power exponentially.

All that said, it was still never a problem in regards to why he kept wearing the New 52 costume. It didn't provide any necessary protection for long as far as the standard purpose of armor goes, as he didn't need it for that anymore, but it was still a suit from his home world designed for battle. Why would he NOT continue to wear it while superheroing? It was form fitting, it was portable, and it held sentimental value. In that continuity it made perfect sense that he'd continue to wear it as his costume regardless. It never needed justifying in the first place.

[Lokimaru]

The suit helped at first when his powers were still developing, and even by the end of Morrison's run Clark mentions it's still occasionally useful in the present as a little extra protection, but he's clearly still about as tough without it - he lifts the world in Lobdell's run on his own for instance, and I believe fights H'El in the t-shirt and jeans with about as much difficulty as he had while wearing it.



The in-story functionality of the suit - a vague descriptor that could just as easily be stated about any other (since it...well, has been an aspect of previous versions of the suit) - doesn't have anything to do with the value or lack thereof of its aesthetics.

You know damn well people hated the collar. I think Morrison wanted him to stay at Golden Age level it was other writers that made him more powerful without it. How else could he go from bumps and bruises without it to completely fine with it in the span of a day? Guy had been on earth for twenty years absorbing solar radiation yet he still was vulnerable until he put on that suit. Why?

[Lokimaru]

This is not accurate, if what you're trying to say is that he was never as powerful as his prior incarnation. This is categorically proven false on multiple occasions in the present day. In current day New 52 continuity he was actually more powerful than his previous incarnation. His Golden Age level period ended late into or shortly after his year one. That's the only time when he was lesser powered than his previous incarnation. During that time though he had a power spurt where he grew in power exponentially.

All that said, it was still never a problem in regards to why he kept wearing the New 52 costume. It didn't provide any necessary protection for long as far as the standard purpose of armor goes, as he didn't need it for that anymore, but it was still a suit from his home world designed for battle. Why would he NOT continue to wear it while superheroing? It was form fitting, it was portable, and it held sentimental value. In that continuity it made perfect sense that he'd continue to wear it as his costume regardless.

It's only natural he'd become more powerful. You try eating clean while working out and see what that does to your body. The suit helped him eat Clean plus Lift Heavy.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

You know damn well people hated the collar.

That's...what I said. The arbitrary in-story functionality of the suit doesn't mitigate it looking bad.

I think Morrison wanted him to stay at Golden Age level it was other writers that made him more powerful without it. How else could he go from bumps and bruises without it to completely fine with it in the span of a day? Guy had been on earth for twenty years absorbing solar radiation yet he still was vulnerable until he put on that suit. Why?

Morrison has him get stronger in his own run: Lex mentions in the first issue Superman's visibly gotten much more powerful since his debut, by the end of that arc he's flying, the last arc opens with him being able to fly to Mars and shows him fighting a monster that's killed Supermen throughout the multiverse. There's simply nothing at all to suggest he hadn't gotten exponentially more powerful over time, just as the post-Crisis Superman went from being on the lower end power-wise at his debut and needing an oxygen mask in space to being able to fight Superboy Prime across the galaxy. If you think of it as the suit making him stronger even in the present that's fine, but there's no textual evidence to suggest it's canon.

[Superlad93]

Hardly any version of the character is actually invulnerable. This current version isn't even invaluable. Supermen are almost always just so durable that it'd take a near incalculable amount of force to harm them in any real way.

[Kuwagaton]

Invulnerable is a tricky term. Just like unlimited strength, it's technically not possible because sooner or later it reaches an obstacle to meet it. But he resists things his strength doesn't enable him to resist, so that's invulnerable, as opposed to being like Aquaman and only tough as his physiology or indestructible.

That's...what I said. The arbitrary in-story functionality of the suit doesn't mitigate it looking bad.



Morrison has him get stronger in his own run: Lex mentions in the first issue Superman's visibly gotten much more powerful since his debut, by the end of that arc he's flying, the last arc opens with him being able to fly to Mars and shows him fighting a monster that's killed Supermen throughout the multiverse. There's simply nothing at all to suggest he hadn't gotten exponentially more powerful over time, just as the post-Crisis Superman went from being on the lower end power-wise at his debut and needing an oxygen mask in space to being able to fight Superboy Prime across the galaxy

He didn't need an oxygen mask just for space, but yeah. There was a subtle power creep over years and then a power retcon to huge levels pre flashpoint. And it was similar to the deliberate power jumps from Morrison, whereby flying to Mars showed a distinctly high power level.

[The Learner]

He was invulnerable to almost every kind of attacks that aren't magic or Krypyonite based. The suit might have helped him to survive some high end attacks, and it had the purpose of processing sunlight more efficiently as well iirc. Where did this as durable as WW come from? Based on his feats, he is far more durable than Wonder Woman or anyone on new52 Earth. Also he isn't as durable (or powerful) as post crisis Superman.

[Sacred Knight]

Post-Crisis Superman is a relative term, but if we're talking the time period of 1986 up until Zero Hour, he was absolutely weaker than New 52 Superman. Because frankly outside of the original norms of his absolute earliest years, that was the weakest Superman incarnation ever by design. The nerfing gradually started to be let go around then.

But even before the reboot hit it looked like they had made a point to make the New 52 version stronger than what had even immediately come before. But that's at least splitting hairs territory.

[Kuwagaton]

The weakest Superman ever by design couldn't fly and got knocked out by Luthor's bolt gun.

He was invulnerable to almost every kind of attacks that aren't magic or Krypyonite based. The suit might have helped him to survive some high end attacks, and it had the purpose of processing sunlight more efficiently as well iirc. Where did this as durable as WW come from? Based on his feats, he is far more durable than Wonder Woman or anyone on new52 Earth. Also he isn't as durable (or powerful) as post crisis Superman.

He took damage as well as anyone if not better, but the one thing I would note is that this was the only Superman to scar permanently.

[The Learner]

Post-Crisis Superman is a relative term, but if we're talking the time period of 1986 up until Zero Hour, he was absolutely weaker than New 52 Superman. Because frankly outside of the original norms of his absolute earliest years, that was the weakest Superman incarnation ever by design. The nerfing gradually started to be let go around then.

But even before the reboot hit it looked like they had made a point to make the New 52 version stronger than what had even immediately come before. But that's at least splitting hairs territory.

He was weaker pre zero hour, but since then his powers went up. There is no denying that PC Clark at his early years was weaker than new52 Superman. At their most powerful level, new52 Superman had superior lifting strength and ... nothing. Post Crisis Superman is more durable, much faster, strikes harder, has superior senses, heat vision and is a way better fighter.

[The Learner]

The weakest Superman ever by design couldn't fly and got knocked out by Luthor's bolt gun.



He took damage as well as anyone if not better, but the one thing I would note is that this was the only Superman to scar permanently.

Which incident are you referring to?

[Sacred Knight]

He was weaker pre zero hour, but since then his powers went up. There is no denying that PC Clark at his early years was weaker than new52 Superman. At their most powerful level, new52 Superman had superior lifting strength and ... nothing. Post Crisis Superman is more durable, much faster, strikes harder, has superior senses, heat vision and is a way better fighter.

I don't recall any instances in the New 52 that would lead to such conclusions. In the present day of the New 52 era I can't recall any situation where he was shown as less durable, hit with less force, had lesser senses, or had inferior fighting skills than his previous incarnation. This of course outside of Truth when he lost most of his inherent power. But that aside, the only time anything was brought that could even remotely qualify was the first issue of Rebirth Action, where it was noted, without any evidence, that Convergence Superman was more "confident" than the one that had recently died. But again, there was absolutely no evidence to support such a thing, it was just said to boost up the currently living and only version of Superman yet in a pretty transparent moment, writing-wise.

[The Learner]

I don't recall any instances in the New 52 that would lead to such conclusions. In the present day of the New 52 era I can't recall any situation where he was shown as less durable, hit with less force, had lesser senses, or had inferior fighting skills than his previous incarnation.

We take their individual feats into consideration and analyze them. That's how we do the comparison. There is no other way of comparing them since they didn't exist at the same period. For example, PC Clark has moved and perceived things in the span of a nanosecond multiple times. He has also reacted to people who are much faster than anyone new52 Superman has reacted to. That's way faster than anything new52 Superman has done as far as speed is concerned. PC Clark was trained in combat by Batman and could use pressure points to subdue his enemies. He has done it to beings almost as power as him. Superman had terrible fighting skills. In similar way, we can compare their other stats as well. I'll say this one though, among the new52 version of JL members, the only member who is even comparable to their post crisis/pre flashpoint versions is Nuperman.