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  1. #1
    Mighty Member Lokimaru's Avatar
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    Default Kryptonian aging

    I had an interesting thought whilst watching Man of Steel again. Since Kryton was bigger the earth and had a heavier gravity it must take longer to travel around the sun plus the people were engineered which made me think of the Star Wars clones who aged at twice the rate of a normal infant and it got me thinking how old is Clark really?

    How long was a Kryptonian day, a month, a year that it would match up with human aging? Is Clark really 32 years of age?

    What if he's actually half that age. It would explain a lot but why does he look so old? Ape young age faster then human infants as a survival instinct. Krypton was said to always have been a harsh evironment and they have shown that Kryptonian children are smarter and have a higher awareness then human children.

    This leads me to believe that Clark in the classroom was actually two and a half years old by Kryptonian standards, six and a half during the bus accident and eight and a half during the tornado. Cognitively he'd have the maturity of a human twice his age but emotionally he would still be his physical age.

    All this means is that at 32 human years of age Clark is really only a 16 year old boy by Kryptonian standards. This is why Zod and the other Kryptonians treat him as inferior because he is just a child to them. This would put Jor-El in his physical twenties at the start of the movie and why he's kicking ass so much. And why Zod is still such an emotional a hot head.

    It's like Grogu who is fifty years old but still a child by his races standards. It also means that Lois is robbin the cradle. Hell it would explain why he's so fixated on her too. He's an pubescent emotional sixteen year old in love (He'd probably have teenage acne if he wasn't under a yellow sun). Hell you can transfer this to comics and the cartoons and it'd line up perfectly.

    Take Batman Beyond where he's supposed to be 80 yet looks like a 40 year old. This should mean that once he hit his physical peak he stop aging visibly thanks to the sun or it was just natural stopping point cause he's from an alien race of Supermen. Where you shocked when Aragorn said he was in his 80's. Same thing except he IS forty by Kryptonian standards.
    Last edited by Lokimaru; 01-02-2021 at 07:56 PM.

  2. #2
    Fantastic Member llozymandias's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lokimaru View Post
    I had an interesting thought whilst watching Man of Steel again. Since Kryton was bigger the earth and had a heavier gravity it must take longer to travel around the sun plus the people were engineered which made me think of the Star Wars clones who aged at twice the rate of a normal infant and it got me thinking how old is Clark really?

    How long was a Kryptonian day, a month, a year that it would match up with human aging? Is Clark really 32 years of age?

    What if he's actually half that age. It would explain a lot but why does he look so old? Ape young age faster then human infants as a survival instinct. Krypton was said to always have been a harsh evironment and they have shown that Kryptonian children are smarter and have a higher awareness then human children.

    This leads me to believe that Clark in the classroom was actually two and a half years old by Kryptonian standards, six and a half during the bus accident and eight and a half during the tornado. Cognitively he'd have the maturity of a human twice his age but emotionally he would still be his physical age.

    All this means is that at 32 human years of age Clark is really only a 16 year old boy by Kryptonian standards. This is why Zod and the other Kryptonians treat him as inferior because he is just a child to them. This would put Jor-El in his physical twenties at the start of the movie and why he's kicking ass so much. And why Zod is still such an emotional a hot head.

    It's like Grogu who is fifty years old but still a child by his races standards. It also means that Lois is robbin the cradle. Hell it would explain why he's so fixated on her too. He's an pubescent emotional sixteen year old in love (He'd probably have teenage acne if he wasn't under a yellow sun). Hell you can transfer this to comics and the cartoons and it'd line up perfectly.

    Take Batman Beyond where he's supposed to be 80 yet looks like a 40 year old. This should mean that once he hit his physical peak he stop aging visibly thanks to the sun or it was just natural stopping point cause he's from an alien race of Supermen. Where you shocked when Aragorn said he was in his 80's. Same thing except he IS forty by Kryptonian standards.



    It could turn out that a powerless kryptonian ages a lot slower than earth humans. But, when their powers are active they are basically immortal. And don't forget that the stronger the gravity gets, the slower time passes for you. This is relevant because for one thing krypton is a lot bigger than earth. The other thing is Kal's body's density has been compared to white dwarf star material. If that is the case, then the components of krypton itself should be quite a bit denser still.
    John Martin, citizen & rightful ruler of the omniverse.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by llozymandias View Post
    It could turn out that a powerless kryptonian ages a lot slower than earth humans. But, when their powers are active they are basically immortal. And don't forget that the stronger the gravity gets, the slower time passes for you. This is relevant because for one thing krypton is a lot bigger than earth. The other thing is Kal's body's density has been compared to white dwarf star material. If that is the case, then the components of krypton itself should be quite a bit denser still.
    I would say growing up and growing old are two different things. Clark Kent grows up at the normal rate as a human, if he didn't he'd have trouble passing as a human and keeping his identity, as for growing old, aging is a kind of damage that accumulates with time, I would say Superman's invulnerability would prevent that from happening and as a consequence he would get to watch Lois Lane grow old while he does not, Wonder Woman has the same problem in relation to Steve Trevor. Some versions of Superman do grow old, but usually they reboot the franchise before that happens because there are a bunch of superheroes that do grow old and they don't want to lose them, so they start everything anew every few years, so the question of whether Superman ages is often not answered.

  4. #4
    Astonishing Member Tzigone's Avatar
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    I like Superman (and Wonder Woman, when not on the island) aging as humans do. For various reasons - it's less depressing than them doomed to watch everyone they love die (including kids, grandkids, etc. if human-hybrids), it was also the version I first knew so feels right to me, and I really hate the god-angle so often used with Superman (nor do I like Diana being Zeus' child, but that's not really connected to this) that this further leans into. I also don't think it especially intuitive/logical for Clark to age a human rate and then stop aging at human rate once maturity is reached (not impossible, but so convenient the aging rate was consistent with humans for so long, then completely not) . That said, both aging-as-normal and non-aging have been much used in the comics, with the latter more used recently, I think. I have the impression more people prefer it, but maybe sometimes you just notice things you don't agree with more than ones you do?

  5. #5
    Extraordinary Member Prime's Avatar
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    I like Superman aging slow. By the time Lois is of old age he still should look exactly the same. In fact IIRC, it was going to be revealed at the end of COIE that Earth 2 Superman has been using makeup and he hasn't aged in a while.

  6. #6
    Extraordinary Member Zero Hunter's Avatar
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    I have never been a fan of immortal Superman. My fav ending for him is still the finale of Thy Kingdom Come story from the JSA where Clark is still alive 1000 years latter but he is a very very old man. Him aging slowly but still again is always my choice.


  7. #7
    Mighty Member Lokimaru's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tzigone View Post
    I like Superman (and Wonder Woman, when not on the island) aging as humans do. For various reasons - it's less depressing than them doomed to watch everyone they love die (including kids, grandkids, etc. if human-hybrids), it was also the version I first knew so feels right to me, and I really hate the god-angle so often used with Superman (nor do I like Diana being Zeus' child, but that's not really connected to this) that this further leans into. I also don't think it especially intuitive/logical for Clark to age a human rate and then stop aging at human rate once maturity is reached (not impossible, but so convenient the aging rate was consistent with humans for so long, then completely not) . That said, both aging-as-normal and non-aging have been much used in the comics, with the latter more used recently, I think. I have the impression more people prefer it, but maybe sometimes you just notice things you don't agree with more than ones you do?
    I just prefer to make the Alien have some Alien traits besides powers. How can us humans learn to meet him where he is (A Joining him in the sun kind of thing) if we're always expecting him to come down to our level? That I think is one of the failings of the Brand. You can't be Aspirational and go to new places if your always looking behind you all the time. It's why I have a problem with the Conservative and Centrist mindsets. Instead of choosing to do something Bold or "Radical" on there own they prefer to rest on the laurels of the people who already so in the past.

  8. #8
    Mighty Member Lokimaru's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Prime View Post
    I like Superman aging slow. By the time Lois is of old age he still should look exactly the same. In fact IIRC, it was going to be revealed at the end of COIE that Earth 2 Superman has been using makeup and he hasn't aged in a while.
    Remind of this.


    Best practical effect ever, He just took off the Make-up they'd used to make him look 80.
    Last edited by Lokimaru; 01-03-2021 at 05:36 PM.

  9. #9
    Astonishing Member Tzigone's Avatar
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    I just prefer to make the Alien have some Alien traits besides powers.
    By that logic, he could just as easily turn 25 and then age to death in ten years as his natural lifespan.

    How can us humans learn to meet him where he is (A Joining him in the sun kind of thing) if we're always expecting him to come down to our level?
    Ah, there we differ. To me, that's just another "Superman = Jesus" thing. He's a person. A alien being with powers, to me. Not inherently greater in morality or vision by birth or DNA. His job isn't to lead us. He wasn't sent to earth to save us. He was sent to Earth to save him, as he would otherwise have died. He has powers humans can never hope to have, but should never be thought of (in a meta sense) as a being for humans to to follow to greatness. He's not a prophet meant to guide humanity. He's just as much as any human hero doing their best to help the world and do what's right. He's a great example of heroism, certainly, and one worth humans trying to emulate, to the degree they are able. But he should not be thought as fundamentally "above" humans in any sense but power. There are plenty of amazing human-dna superheroes who take the same risks, try to help people, etc. just as much as he does.

    I notice you use the movie quote. And Superman Returns and the 1978 movie were big on the Superman-as-Jesus themes, too. One of the really irksome thing about the movies, to me.
    Last edited by Tzigone; 01-03-2021 at 05:52 PM.

  10. #10
    Black Belt in Bad Ideas Robanker's Avatar
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    I'm probably the only person on this forum who prefers a Superman that ages with us; I like that the one thing Clark has zero advantage over is time and that it comes to even the strongest of us.

    I don't hate a Superman who ages slower or even nigh-immortal based on the takes, but I think his story is more powerful (and lets other aspects of the DCU exist without him mucking them up, such as Legion or even Kamandi) if Clark is allowed to gracefully be removed from the table.

  11. #11
    Mighty Member 13th Superman's Avatar
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    I'm a fan of his aging slowly. Having him age like us, you may as well just make him human instead of Kryptonian. Plus in my mind his powers and physiology would either halt his body's degradation or is highly resistant.

  12. #12
    Astonishing Member The Kid's Avatar
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    I like the slow aging as well. I just like the idea of Superman being the Earth (and maybe even the Universe's) protector for many years to come. Generally I like when they focus more on SUPERman as opposed to superMAN

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tzigone View Post
    I like Superman (and Wonder Woman, when not on the island) aging as humans do. For various reasons - it's less depressing than them doomed to watch everyone they love die (including kids, grandkids, etc. if human-hybrids), it was also the version I first knew so feels right to me, and I really hate the god-angle so often used with Superman (nor do I like Diana being Zeus' child, but that's not really connected to this) that this further leans into. I also don't think it especially intuitive/logical for Clark to age a human rate and then stop aging at human rate once maturity is reached (not impossible, but so convenient the aging rate was consistent with humans for so long, then completely not) . That said, both aging-as-normal and non-aging have been much used in the comics, with the latter more used recently, I think. I have the impression more people prefer it, but maybe sometimes you just notice things you don't agree with more than ones you do?
    The movie Wonder Woman didn't age when she was off the island either. Thermiscara is not Neverland, you won't find Peter Pan or Captain Hook there!

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Robanker View Post
    I'm probably the only person on this forum who prefers a Superman that ages with us; I like that the one thing Clark has zero advantage over is time and that it comes to even the strongest of us.

    I don't hate a Superman who ages slower or even nigh-immortal based on the takes, but I think his story is more powerful (and lets other aspects of the DCU exist without him mucking them up, such as Legion or even Kamandi) if Clark is allowed to gracefully be removed from the table.
    what sort of thing would you wish an elderly Superman to do?

  15. #15
    Extraordinary Member superduperman's Avatar
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    I like the Kingdom Come model. He lives a long long time but he's not immortal. I think that works well enough. I imagine in that picture up there he's strong still enough to defend himself from muggers but his days of saving the world are long over.
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