What (non-powers-based) skills does Clark have?

[daBronzeBomma]

A while back, this text meme got circulated:




Now, as a Superman fan, this disgruntled me. But it does ask the question:

Without his powers, what useful skills does Clark possess?

Like, just how good of an investigative journalist is he without his superhuman abilities assisting him?

Also, does he have any other skills that are not dependent on his powers?

I know he does (he's been literally de-powered so many times), but I'm drawing a blank right now.

Is Clark as useless without his powers as this fraudulent meme says???

(Of course not, but why not?)

[DrNewGod]

That's a hard one to answer because he's super-intelligent as well, and a lot of his other skills stem from that.

[Kuwagaton]

If you take away his super memory, then what he remembers still qualifies him as a genius level mechanic with profound knowledge of earthbound and intergalactic cultures across time. Is that cheating? Then if we take away the knowledge absorbed outside of natural limits, he's still a cultured college grad (traveled the world in his youth and worked as a foreign correspondent later) with an above average working knowledge of mechanics and a naturally talented ethics teacher and emergency rescue. His writing skills in fiction and journalism are at a level of winning awards.

As a journalist he rivals Lois as one of the best in the world, still. Although he's more likely to do human interest, he's just as good with an expose and best when those two aspects dovetail. Although he didn't actually turn his powers off, he made it explicitly clear in thought bubbles that he wasn't using his powers in Superman #60, when he infiltrated Happyland and put Intergang on blast for the second time with his journalism.

Physically he's essentially perfect. Roughly six foot three and 225 pounds, he's pretty much as good as it gets without professional training in a physical field. His unarmed combat skills are enough to take our several men, maybe even if they're armed. Batman had personally supplemented his brawling. His years of experience make him a good tactician, solid when it comes to improvising. We've seen him fight crime completely unpowered on many occasions and unless he's without just a few moments to think, taking his powers on the spot doesn't cripple his operation. There have been a number of times he's fooled people into not knowing that his powers weren't there.

Much of his thinking leads to his vast experience and resources. Confidentially, as a Doc Savage type he has his own "Ham." His ethics and charisma lead him to come across many useful people. Lois, Perry, Jimmy, Ham, amd Bibbo are in addition to the Metropolis SCU, Metropolis vigilantes, Cadmus, STAR, and the superhero community.

As for his will and personality... he wouldn't care. At worst he'll dive in without a plan because of the urgency and take a beating, but he would never call it a day.

Overall I'd say in response to the meme, Superman is a Gangbuster level crimefighter. If he never had powers I don't think he'd go that route but I'm sure he'd be capable of being a close rival to Ollie if he did make that decision.

[superduperman]

Well, I imagine he probably types a lot of words per minute. His father was a literal rocket scientist so I imagine he also has a pretty high intellect just from his genes alone. He is from a super-advanced race.

[Vordan]

Depends on the continuity. Just recently he took apart Kelex after the Oz Effect in order to figure out why he treated Oz like Jor-El, so he presumably has some engineering/tinkering skills. Sometimes he’s a super-genius on par with his Kryptonian father, and is a master of chemistry, engineering, biology, etc.

As the son of a farmer he is presumably experienced in matter of agriculture and horticulture. Probably knows a lot about animal care. A rural lifestyle would push him heavily towards self-sufficiency since a lot of rural folk I know pride themselves on being able to fix problems on their own.

[adkal]

To my mind, without powers, he is:

- a polyglot
- PhD-level in a range of areas
- can advise on various surgeries and emergency procedures (but will not (ordinarily) conduct them himself)
- tactician (but nowhere near his 'normal' level as he would be 'blind' to various elements he would otherwise consider)
- Nightwing-level acrobat


Some of the physical things I know certain people will disagree with - my position is that 'powerless' is not human. His basic physiology is not human and one of the rare occasions where it was human was when Mxy did it in the Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite arc. Basically, 'powerless' he would still be Captain America-level (and likely Ultimate Red Skull-level).

Also, 'powerless' doesn't take away his knowledge, intuition etc.

Rendered 'human' (by magic) and he would still have most of the above but would probably be only 'extreme athlete'-level physically and then have to do Bat-clan training to maintain or level-up, if his human-ness lasted more than a couple of weeks.

[Carabas]

- Nightwing-level acrobat.

Why would that be in his wheelhouse?

[Adekis]

In the Justice League Action episode "Under a Red Son", Steppenwolf traps Superman, er, under a red sun, and he still manages to take down more goons, including Steppenwolf himself, than either Batman or Barda. I mean sure he broke his leg, but he's a competent combatant even without his powers. Not Batman level, but certainly better than most people. He trained to box with Muhammad Ali, he's a genius, he's a world class journalist... I mean honestly, the meme at the top of the page is not only mean-spirited, it's straight up inaccurate, you know?

Though to be fair, "Red Kryptonite poisoning" could mean Superman has turned into an intangible wraith who literally cannot help, or a hive or termites, or into Jimmy, or anything else, so there is that. Losing his powers might be a side effect of some other primary Red K effect.

[Thor-Ul]

Acting abilities. And better than Batman, by the way.

Also, he is an investigative reporter, a side than surprisingly Bendis is exploring.

[DochaDocha]

I generally like those fake superhero text exchanges, but WTF is Flash going to do as a forensics analyst?

"It appears the cause of death was getting his head bitten off by a Parademon. Time of death, 35 seconds ago."

[marhawkman]

He isn't what Kryptonians would consider an expert in Kryptonian tech, but he knows more about it than most people. He's generally highly adept in science, though that often takes a backseat to other things he does. In some continuities he's the only person on Earth who knows how to build a Phantom Zone Projector from scratch.

He's actually recognized in several continuities as being an experienced martial artist, though this has the caveat of being alien martial arts.

[JAK]

Whoever wrote that needs their geek card taken away, for two reasons:

1: Superman has already fought crime without powers on multiple occasions - see "Superman: The Wedding Album" and "Superman: Convergence". He and Lois became basically a two-person CW team in the latter. Not to mention what everybody else said.

2: Red Kryptonite poisoning took his powers away, huh? I know it *can* happen because the effect is random, but they're most likely confusing Red K for Yellow/Gold K.

Soooo, yeah. Big fail, right there.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Well, since you said "skills," and not "powers," we can list:

- touch typing
- good speller
- good at getting details
- good writer
- good listener
- good multitasker
- good problem solver
- good at time management
- good people skills
- good father/son/husband/friend

[Jackalope89]

Current Supes did have an arc with Lex where they were trapped on a planet and Clark had no powers. Clark proved to be resourceful (learned some things from Bruce and his own past experiences), tactical, and strategic.

[HeroVladimir93]

All of this proves that Superman can be useful even without his powers. In fact, what's always been special about him is his humanity and willingness to do the right thing. Aside from being an award-winning journalist, he is also a trained fighter, has knowledge in Kryptonian sciences and is loving father and husband. Whenever Superman gets put into a situation where he doesn't have powers, he still has the ability to save the day. In the "Up, Up and Away!" storyline during the One Year Later initiative. Clark kept Metropolis safe with his journalistic abilities and was able to bring up legitimate charges against Luthor.