Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Superman Comic Books! => Superman! => Topic started by: llozymandias on May 13, 2006, 08:14:00 PM



Title: Super-nuke.
Post by: llozymandias on May 13, 2006, 08:14:00 PM
Seeing that everything from krypton became super under a yellow star,  What if someone were to create a nuke using kryptonian materials?  They then take that nuke to a yellow star system where it becomes super.  At that point they detonate it.  How much destruction do tou think would result?  Keep in mind i'm thinking about silver-age where Superman was powerful enough to make stars go super-nova.


Title: Re: Super-nuke.
Post by: JulianPerez on May 15, 2006, 12:35:49 PM
Isn't it entirely possible that a nuclear weapon from Krypton wouldn't detonate at all? Nuclear weapons are based on splitting an atom; Kryptonian atoms are supposed to be invulnerable and it may be possible that they in fact, cannot be "split."

There is also the suggestion that nonliving objects from Red Sun worlds become proportionately tougher, but not as tough as living things. An example of this was the iron sphere trap from a Red Sun World Superman tore apart like paper. I wrote about this phenomenon heree:

Quote from: "JulianPerez"
Generally it was suggested that things from Red Sun worlds become PROPORTIONATELY tougher. That is to say, Superman could probably tear a piece of paper from a Red Sun world, but it is doubtful anybody else could. Remember, King Krypton was stronger than Superman was, because on Krypton, as a gorilla, King Krypton was stronger than Superman. Likewise, Superboy is stronger than Krypto, as a boy is always stronger than a dog.

How then, to explain the crushy ball trap in "Escape from the Fatal Five" (that's the story that you mentioned) in ADVENTURE COMICS #365 (1968)?

I mean, Superboy tore that thing like paper when he went all out despite the fact it was metal from a Red Sun world. The reason may perhaps be because of Krypton's higher gravity, living things get proportionately stronger when in lighter gravity conditions. Thus, despite the fact that Superboy could not tear metal on Krypton with his bare hands, he could because the lower gravity of earth (and, presumably, Talok VII, where this took place) gives him the proportionate strength to do so.

As nonliving matter does not need muscles to move on gravity conditions, living things from Krypton can perform feats of strength against even matter from Red Sun worlds.


Title: Re: Super-nuke.
Post by: Permanus on May 15, 2006, 04:42:37 PM
I'd like to preface this by saying that I'm not a scientist, so don't kill me if I have this all wrong.

Assuming that you could split a Kryptonian atom (and given the fact that Superman occasionally used the Justice League teleporter, which I suppose means he could be disintegrated, so why not?), well, the atom itself isn't composed of more particles than it was under a red sun system, is it? Shouldn't you just get a regular, everyday, walk-in-the-park nuclear blast?

I'm a bit shaky on my nuclear physics (and my brain surgery and rocket science aren't too hot either), but I'm sort of guessing that an atom needs to be compacted somehow to make the blast more effective -- the more matter you collect, the bigger the bang, and hence the Big Bang. To make things more dense, you have to pack more stuff into them, if you see what I mean, and you have to squeeze them together really hard. Now, as far as I know, when Kal-El travels from Krypton to Earth, nothing is added to him; he's not made out of more matter than he was back home: his atoms are still made up of protons, electrons and Olivia Neutron-John. He's fissible, if that's the word I want.

So what I'm trying to say is that when Kryptonian stuff comes to Earth, it gets tougher, but not on an atomic level; it's molecular or cellular or something. Split a Kryptonian atom, well, you get the same unpleasant result as when you split a Terran one.


Title: Re: Super-nuke.
Post by: MatterEaterLad on May 15, 2006, 05:21:10 PM
Any of these theories could be true in a comics sense, it is pretty problematic to deal with matter or energy becoming something different in another solar system...another thing I think it might have been better that the writers just sort of steered away from...


Title: Re: Super-nuke.
Post by: Russell on June 03, 2006, 08:28:59 PM
Huh, solid stuff guys.

There were weapons from Krypton that became capable of easily destroying huge mountains on Earth... And I doubt any special work was done on any of them to make sure they'd work on a yellow sun world. So a nuke very well could work.

The splitting of the atom would be done by the equally "super" objects from the yellow sun world. Kind of all relative, I guess.