Does Superman's Supe-Hearing Make Him Overpowered?

[Timothy Hunter]

I've never been one to buy into the argument that Superman is not a compelling character because he's too powerful. There are countless characters in the comics that can stand toe to toe with Superman.

However I feel like Superman's super-hearing should be toned down. Being able to hear everything on the planet would make him privy to the conversations and schemes of any villain. I give Bendis credit for addressing this issue by having the Invisible Mafia operate out of a hideout made of lead, but there's only so many times you can pull that card as a writer.

Personally I would just retcon Kryptonians only having their super-hearing extend to a couple miles radius.

[Restingvoice]

During Tomasi's run, he can only hear Batman's heartbeat up to a certain distance. Don't remember though.

Wait, lead can block super hearing? How about a simple soundproof wall, buried in the basement? Wouldn't that be the equivalent of hearing heartbeats?

I think the Legion of Doom HQ has protective magic against that? Luthor should be able to employ that kind of thing in his building

[Jon Clark]

I always thought that Superman's senses were a bit too fluctuating. One writer makes it so Superman can pick up a conversation halfway around the world without even trying while another has him clueless about things he should be able to hear if he made the slightest effort. He can overhear a cry for help in Smallville from Metropolis if the story calls for it but just as easily be surprised by an opponent hiding although their heartbeat should be a dead giveaway.

Around the time Byrne was writing him I remember it coming up how basic physics didn't change except as they impacted Superman himself One of the points was that sound still only travels at around 700-1000 mph. Superman might hear sounds from miles away but only after enough time passed for the sound to travel to him. Shoot a man in Chicago and even if Superman came the second he heard the gun fire- he'd arrive hours too late.

I'd love it if that type of logic came up more often.
Superman can evesdrop on Lex halfway across the city, but inly if he is consciously filtering out other sounds in the same range. So it's not as if anyone saying "Superman" somewhere in Metropolis (like a debate over whether Clark is stronger than Kara) automatically gets his attention.
And beyond a certain distance he might be able to hear something but it is going to be time delayed like that Chicago gunshot. Or hard to pick out from other sounds (like telling the conversation of a celebrity apart from a professional impersonator).
Or things like hovering at the edge of the atmosphere would lack enough air to let him hear "all those people crying out for help around the globe".

[SuperX]

This is why Imo kryptonian Superhearing is part natural and part psychic. Bryne, to 90s superboys TTK, to new 52 superboys whole powerset(which is the concept taken to the extreme)..he hears (and sees) as far or as good as physics will allow, the rest is a remote viewing/psychic sensitivity. It works, doesn't matter if those believe it doesmt "feel" like superman. Same with half his physical powers, his bio aura lends invulnerability,lifting anything, flight, and in my opinion heat vision and super breath (super fusion cells being pushed out by the aura, and super lungs being pushed out by his bio aura.

[NaVi]

in my fanfiction, superman can not only hear everything that happens on the planet, he can even further (I think in a comic I hear a green lantern in another galaxy), but he has a small problem, unlike WW who was trained since he was a child, Superman was raised as a human, that is why he unconsciously maintains his senses at a human level, to use them he must concentrate, this problem disappears over the years (acceptance of himself, experience), I think he fits with the character of Superman . Instead of making Superman weaker, why not make his enemies more powerful, I mean that the DC universe is supposed to be infinite, it makes no sense to limit powerful characters to a planet, let alone a city.

[exile001]

No, it doesn't make him any more OP than his other abilities but it is one that can be negated somewhat.

I feel the best way it makes sense is if he has to consciously set the catching distance (I apply this idea to his super-vision, too).

So, say that if he just listens naturally he can hear everything on Earth. It's just noise because even he can't differentiate every single sound from everywhere on Earth all at once. It's no different to my standing in a room with 20 stereos on full blast playing different music. It's too much to process so becomes a meaningless racket.

He has to focus on what he wants/needs to hear.

For example, in Rucka's run Supes was listening to Lois' heartbeat halfway cross the world because he knows exactly what that sounds like so can pinpoint it. He wouldn't be able to listen to one specific random person at that distance because he couldn't sort through all the noise to find it.

I think in those terms for everything, so when he's in Metropolis living his daily life he has to mentally adjust his hearing down to a relative distance or, again, everything becomes a meaningless barrage of sounds.

This also accounts for enemies attacking him with high-pitched sounds. His inner ear is as durable as the rest of him so a loud noise doesn't hurt. But if he is specifically focusing in on an area and THEN someone hits him with an impossibly loud and specific sound, that could hurt.

I'm not a fan of him landing on Earth as a baby, looks at the sun and boom - fully powered. I like the thought that as his body matured so did his ability to process/store yellow sun radiation and his powers grew along with that. He learned to regulate this naturally as he grew and his powers grew with him.

[Ascended]

I see it the same way exile001 does. Clark's senses are vast, but that doesn't mean he can sort, identify, and process all that data. He has to sift for what he wants, assuming he even knows what he's looking for.

I figure his senses offer the most leeway in the entire powerset. You can't have one story where a tank hurts him, and then in the next have him walk out of a nuclear blast like it was nothing. But with his senses, you can say "he didn't hear this thing two blocks down because he was focusing on something else. He *did* hear this other thing halfway around the world because he was listening for it, or a pitch much like it."

And I don't care that his senses don't follow the rules of physics. None of his powers do. He can hear a gunshot on Mars almost before the bullet is fired? Why the hell not, he can catch someone falling at terminal velocity without cutting them to pieces. Science isn't even in it.

I still think the man is actually a quantum level psychic, subconsciously pulling the strings of physics to suit him and manifesting it mostly in physical augmentations only because that's what Clark himself believes his powers are.

[DochaDocha]

Super-hearing is fine by me, but I don't necessarily like stuff like "Sacrifice" when Lois is on the opposite side of the globe and as soon as she gets shot, Superman hears it and flies over there in milliseconds. That probably makes Superman somewhat OP, but that could've been solved if they put some practical limitations, like how fast sound travels, how far sound can travel, etc.

On a similar note, Superman once used his super-vision to see what was going on lightyears away, but in real-time. If you want to say Superman has powerful telescopic vision, I'm all for that. But his vision should have some practical constraints, like whatever images he sees 20 lightyears away are 20 years old.

It's all just a way of balancing Superman's powers while simultaneously putting limits on the applications of those powers. And as I like to repeat, it wouldn't hurt so much if a kid (or even an adult) reading a Superman comic or watching a Superman movie learned a little bit of science.

EDIT: I posted before reading the thread (bad idea) and it's neat that we are citing many of the same ideas, concepts, or citations from the books.

[Jim Kelly]

What people mean by over-powered usually applies to the visually impressive stuff. Like how his heat vision has been turned up to eleven and he uses it for destructive purposes. Or how he can lift such huge objects without breaking certain rules of physics.

But I only wish that Superman's other powers would be used to their full potential. If he can x-ray someone--can he also do a sonogram?

When he uses the powers in ways that defy logic--hearing something so distant that the lapse in time would make this delayed, seeing things light years away--that makes me think that the powers really aren't what we think they are. He has an ability to warp time and space--he just doesn't admit to it or maybe he doesn't know how it works (people can do a lot of things without understanding how they can do them), so he just says it's telescopic vision or super-hearing or whatever.

In the 1960s comics, Superman and Supergirl used super-ventriloquism which would seem impossible. Ventriloquism isn't real, it's just stagecraft--it's making people think your voice is coming from somewhere else when it isn't. But the Super-Cousins literally made their voices come from somewhere else and carry over vast distances. So maybe "super-ventriloquism" is just the name they've given something that they don't understand--just like "x-ray" vision can't really be that, since it works different from how x-rays are taken. They actually do have the ability to cast their voices to other places--which is almost a psychic power but I don't want to call it that, because it's too easy to say everything is some spooky mental trick. Maybe they have the power to create sonic vibrations at great distances which mimic the human voice.

[JAK]

I see it the same way exile001 does. Clark's senses are vast, but that doesn't mean he can sort, identify, and process all that data. He has to sift for what he wants, assuming he even knows what he's looking for.

I figure his senses offer the most leeway in the entire powerset. You can't have one story where a tank hurts him, and then in the next have him walk out of a nuclear blast like it was nothing. But with his senses, you can say "he didn't hear this thing two blocks down because he was focusing on something else. He *did* hear this other thing halfway around the world because he was listening for it, or a pitch much like it."

And I don't care that his senses don't follow the rules of physics. None of his powers do. He can hear a gunshot on Mars almost before the bullet is fired? Why the hell not, he can catch someone falling at terminal velocity without cutting them to pieces. Science isn't even in it.

This.

I still think the man is actually a quantum level psychic, subconsciously pulling the strings of physics to suit him and manifesting it mostly in physical augmentations only because that's what Clark himself believes his powers are.

I LOVE that, actually.

[DochaDocha]

He has an ability to warp time and space--he just doesn't admit to it or maybe he doesn't know how it works (people can do a lot of things without understanding how they can do them), so he just says it's telescopic vision or super-hearing or whatever.

I'm cool with that, too, in the sense that it makes Superman less of a flying brick and something more unique.

[Johnny Thunders!]

I don't think anything really makes Superman overpowered. For me, the point of Superman is not whether or not he is smart enough, fast enough, or strong enough. The challenge for him is, when you can do anything, what do you do to create the best, most elegant possible outcome? In fact, though I only have 3rd rate science backing me up, I think he should be able to manipulate matter on the atomic level by using his vision powers. I also think with "Super breath" and "Super Hearing", he is able to act as both a telekinetic and a type of psychic powers. I bet he could memorize the electrical impulses in a person's brain so that he can "read their minds". Kind of like Daredevil being a lie detector, but you know, Superman size.

[SuperX]

I don't think anything really makes Superman overpowered. For me, the point of Superman is not whether or not he is smart enough, fast enough, or strong enough. The challenge for him is, when you can do anything, what do you do to create the best, most elegant possible outcome? In fact, though I only have 3rd rate science backing me up, I think he should be able to manipulate matter on the atomic level by using his vision powers. I also think with "Super breath" and "Super Hearing", he is able to act as both a telekinetic and a type of psychic powers. I bet he could memorize the electrical impulses in a person's brain so that he can "read their minds". Kind of like Daredevil being a lie detector, but you know, Superman size.

Superman has all of daredevils super senses, just Suped up to another level. Daredevils radar sense is like new 52s superboys TTK sense, where he could sense thru micro vibrations everywhere.

Kryptonian powers are half physical (golden age like) and half passive mental powers (flight, invulnerability, lift better) and a combo of the 2 for super lungs to super breath,and solar fusion cells to heat vision.

[Restingvoice]

I don't mind him can hear cries of help but there needs to be a consistent level. Open field, yes. Inside building, harder. Inside soundproof wall, even harder.
The purpose is so he can save as many people as soon as possible, but there are other signs, like for example burning buildings have smokes so you don't really need to hear the cries from the sky. Once he gets near and investigate, then the hearing and x ray can be handy.

[Stanlos]

I've never been one to buy into the argument that Superman is not a compelling character because he's too powerful. There are countless characters in the comics that can stand toe to toe with Superman.

However I feel like Superman's super-hearing should be toned down. Being able to hear everything on the planet would make him privy to the conversations and schemes of any villain. I give Bendis credit for addressing this issue by having the Invisible Mafia operate out of a hideout made of lead, but there's only so many times you can pull that card as a writer.

Personally I would just retcon Kryptonians only having their super-hearing extend to a couple miles radius.

It is a superhuman form of hearing which he can leverage to hear stuff miles away. This exists in the animal kingdom.

However they lose me when they do stuff like in For Tomorrow where he hears a lantern calling for help light years away. Sound doesn't work that way. That doesn't make him overpowered but it does make me question the writer's understanding of basic physical principles.