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Old 01-05-2023, 03:58 PM   #41
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: experimenting with Villains and Vigilantes

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Originally Posted by ravenfish View Post
I think "ignored the physics because they didn't care" would be more to the point.
But that seems too simple a statement. Through most of the character's history, his creators have given rationales for his powers in the language of physics.

He's tremendously strong? His muscles and bones are adapted to the high gravity field of Krypton.

His skin can withstand impacts without being penetrated? The radiation of Earth's yellow sun has an effect analogous to tanning that makes his skin stronger than steel.

(Later) He has superhuman powers? The radiation of Earth's yellow sun has energized his Kryptonian metabolism.

What happens when he aims his x-ray vision at a solid object? It gets hot and perhaps melts. (This is how his heat vision originated; it was described that way in the 1950s when I first read comics about him.)

All of that is nothing but statements about physics. If the writers don't think physics has any relevance to his abilities, why are they rationalizing those abilities by appealing to physics? It's not like Captain Marvel (or "Shazam") who has the strength of Hercules and the speed of Mercury and so on, with no mention of physics at all . . .
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Old 01-05-2023, 04:42 PM   #42
johndallman
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Join Date: Oct 2010
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Default Re: experimenting with Villains and Vigilantes

They're making stuff up, using the language of physics without any particular care for the plausibility of what they say.
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Old 01-05-2023, 05:43 PM   #43
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
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Default Re: experimenting with Villains and Vigilantes

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Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
They're making stuff up, using the language of physics without any particular care for the plausibility of what they say.
Yes. "The writers who came up with beaming red solar output at him clearly didn't understand the physics." It's a huge game of Telephone.
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Old 01-05-2023, 07:45 PM   #44
Inky
 
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: UK
Default Re: experimenting with Villains and Vigilantes

Yes, you can see how it might make sense as a two-step mix-up. One writer has Superman lose his powers on a planet with a red sun because he isn't exposed to yellow light. Another writer vaguely remembers that plot and thinks it was because Superman loses his powers when he is exposed to red light, and so you end up with a lot of random vaguely-related things that contradict each other.

In a game, "only under a yellow sun" might be a limitation worth mentioning if it could be set off by the wide range of random vaguely-related things that Superman's apparently has been over the years!
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