The source of Kryptonian powers

[Alpha]

The Sun only produces 1400 watts per square meter on Earth at most, that is not enough to power the things Superman and his kin do. I have a better theory, nanites infect Kryptonians and the red sun of Krypton suppresses them, the yellow rays of of our Sun releases them and they tap into dark energy when activated by the Sun to power those abilities, but the Sun does not power them directly.

Super hearing also doesn't make any sense. So what? It's about thematic and tonal cohesion. The truth is that there is no actual scientific way for Superman to work the way he does. But granting only a "sense of science fiction" is more than enough to solidify the character

[Alpha]

All i was saying is that,we use imagery to strengthen text or whatever story we are going for.You can't say he is some kind of sun powered being without all the connotations of being a sun god being attributed to the character,naturally.Have ever heard of icarus?Your story remarkably feels like that of icarus.

Those connotations can be there without us having to actually pretend he is a metaphor or a reinvention of those things.

In my case, I would like Kryptonians to actually have a deep connection with the sun and for the explosion of the sun to have something to do with their beliefs and what they did with their technology. The story of Icarus is famous yes. I'm not trying to create a meta textual comment on Icarus via Superman.

[manwhohaseverything]

Those connotations can be there without us having to actually pretend he is a metaphor or a reinvention of those things.

In my case, I would like Kryptonians to actually have a deep connection with the sun and for the explosion of the sun to have something to do with their beliefs and what they did with their technology. The story of Icarus is famous yes. I'm not trying to create a meta textual comment on Icarus via Superman.

Keep in mind,those connotation can influence perception and how audience views a character even if we don't reinvent.it won't be just good perceptions.But,any bad perception connected with those connotation of the original will come through will be likely attributed to the character as well.for example,a Sun god in many cultures is seen an authority figure.Now,that could be seen as good thing or bad thing by different people.That also means,those who view it as a bad thing will put it down if they get to write the character.

[Tom Kalbfus]

Super hearing also doesn't make any sense. So what? It's about thematic and tonal cohesion. The truth is that there is no actual scientific way for Superman to work the way he does. But granting only a "sense of science fiction" is more than enough to solidify the character

If sunlight contained the energy for Superman to do what he does, it would vaporize you. You have to decide on how dumb you are willing to be in order to enable suspension of disbelief. I prefer to be a little smarter, that's all. I prefer to see sunlight more as a catalyst than as a source of energy for Superman, his energy is actually cosmic, the sunlight simply activates it.

[Alpha]

If sunlight contained the energy for Superman to do what he does, it would vaporize you. You have to decide on how dumb you are willing to be in order to enable suspension of disbelief. I prefer to be a little smarter, that's all. I prefer to see sunlight more as a catalyst than as a source of energy for Superman, his energy is actually cosmic, the sunlight simply activates it.

If it's in terms of preference you have every right to desire that yes.

[achilles]

Super hearing also doesn't make any sense. So what? It's about thematic and tonal cohesion. The truth is that there is no actual scientific way for Superman to work the way he does. But granting only a "sense of science fiction" is more than enough to solidify the character

True enough. Kryptonians are basically fantasy character wrapped in sci-fi trappings. They are impossible, like frankly most comic book characters with powers, and to be totally honest, even ones without powers like Batman. The best thing to do is give them an explanation for the powers that is plausible enough that you just accept it and don't think about it further.

[achilles]

If sunlight contained the energy for Superman to do what he does, it would vaporize you. You have to decide on how dumb you are willing to be in order to enable suspension of disbelief. I prefer to be a little smarter, that's all. I prefer to see sunlight more as a catalyst than as a source of energy for Superman, his energy is actually cosmic, the sunlight simply activates it.

Which is sort of how I envisioned a dark energy power source working. It keeps the solar thing without depending on it as a power source.

[PCN24454]

I'm ok with the sunlight. I just dislike how it's used as an excuse as to why he doesn't need any other bodily functions.

He should still need to eat, sleep and go to the bathroom, even if it still doesn't make sense.

[13th Superman]

Or they could go with the Viltrumite biology using smart atoms. Add on broad based clair sensory abilities and pyrokinesis.

[Alpha]

Some of you guys are kind of missing the point. I'm not asking "How do Kryptonians fuel their powers". I'm asking why do kryptonians have these powers at all if they never manifested on Krypton?

Is it a natural reaction to the planets enviroment like in the golden age?

Did they engineer their own physiology to give them these powers and then at some point became blocked for some reason? (which is my prefered explanation, especially if we tie that with them turning their own sun red)

Or do you want them to also have had the same powers on Krypton that they have on earth?

[manwhohaseverything]

Some of you guys are kind of missing the point. I'm not asking "How do Kryptonians fuel their powers". I'm asking why do kryptonians have these powers at all if they never manifested on Krypton?

Is it a natural reaction to the planets enviroment like in the golden age?

Did they engineer their own physiology to give them these powers and then at some point became blocked for some reason? (which is my prefered explanation, especially if we tie that with them turning their own sun red)

Or do you want them to also have had the same powers on Krypton that they have on earth?

original take had kryptonians being super-beings on krypton itself.Also,first explanation had nothing to do with environment.Superman had Physiology that enabled him to do things.

[Alpha]

original take had kryptonians being super-beings on krypton itself.Also,first explanation had nothing to do with environment.Superman had Physiology that enabled him to do things.

Yeah nevermind I got my history all mixed up. Like I said, I don't know the different versions of kryptonians very well.

[13th Superman]

Some of you guys are kind of missing the point. I'm not asking "How do Kryptonians fuel their powers". I'm asking why do kryptonians have these powers at all if they never manifested on Krypton?

Is it a natural reaction to the planets enviroment like in the golden age?

Did they engineer their own physiology to give them these powers and then at some point became blocked for some reason? (which is my prefered explanation, especially if we tie that with them turning their own sun red)

Or do you want them to also have had the same powers on Krypton that they have on earth?

The golden age kryptonians were already super powered. I would return to them being a race of supermen.

wZGFa.jpg

[Jon Clark]

original take had kryptonians being super-beings on krypton itself.Also,first explanation had nothing to do with environment.Superman had Physiology that enabled him to do things.

The problem with that is that once you reached a certain power level having Superman be the sole survivor made less sense.

A planet full of guys who can leap an eighth of a mile, outrun a train and be unharmed by anything less than a bazooka shell will still die if the planet goes boom. A planet of guys who can fly through airless space and shrug off atomic bombs are less likely to all die when the planet goes boom.

That's the main reason for things like the solar power- it explains why Jor-El would die when Krypton blew up but Kal-El could seemingly survive/escape the same situation. There was some factor (color of the sun, amount of gravity , ...) that lets them be near unbeatable on Earth but utterly able to die by the thousands/millions/billions on Krypton.

Stuff like dark energy or cosmic energy might make a better power source, but you then need to explain why 99.9% of Krypton isn't able to escape their planet's death while Superman drawing on the same power source seems to easily escape or survive things on that scale (black holes, the core of stars).

[Jon Clark]

Some of you guys are kind of missing the point. I'm not asking "How do Kryptonians fuel their powers". I'm asking why do kryptonians have these powers at all if they never manifested on Krypton?

Is it a natural reaction to the planets enviroment like in the golden age?

Did they engineer their own physiology to give them these powers and then at some point became blocked for some reason? (which is my prefered explanation, especially if we tie that with them turning their own sun red)

Or do you want them to also have had the same powers on Krypton that they have on earth?

The take i described earlier is a sort of cross-section of all those.

Their abilities on Krypton were superhuman. A guy on Earth can lift 100lbs with a small effort. But on the moon the same effort would let him lift well over 500 lbs. And on Krypton the same effort might be needed to lift a baseball. So if a Kryptonian can throw a baseball on Krypton as easily as I can throw a baseball on Earth, he can throw a 100 lb object with the same ease on Earth. So guys who naturally leap an eighth of a mile on Earth are superhuman even if on Krypton they seem no more powerful than you and me.

The powers on Earth are natural reactions to the differences in environment. They are designed either by nature or genetic manipulation to be be able to do things on Krypton that other humanoids cannot (like maybe just stand up under that planet's gravity).

Think of them as armored cars. They are built on a physical level out of stronger materials than Earth-people. They have design elements that prevent them from being damaged to enhance the durability of that material. So no matter where you compare them the Kryptonians are simply going to physically more durable (the original/pre-yellow sun origin). But their engines are designed to run on gasoline and a regular car battery. Under Earth conditions they are suddenly getting ultrarefined gasoline that improves their fuel milage and their car batteries now could power whole cities. (the red sun vs yellow sun origin).