A survivor of the planet Krypton, Kal-El grew up under Earth's yellow sun. As he grew and absorbed sunlight, he became Superman, one of the most powerful heroes on Earth. His strength and invulnerability proved top-tier. He's one of the fastest beings not connected to the Speed Force, and he boasted a variety of powers related to his senses.
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Superman isn't just a superhero, he is a paragon of goodness other heroes look up to. As a result, he has to use a significant amount of restraint when helping people or fighting super villains. Over the course of his career, it's clear he can use his powers in violent ways, but he chooses to hold himself back.
10 Superman Can Drop Someone From A Tremendous Height
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Superman uses flight to get from place to place, and it comes in handy when quickly transporting people out of danger. It's one of his most iconic powers, and many consider it passive in nature. However, Superman's flight can become a weapon.
Superman could simply swoop in, grab someone off the ground, and drop them. He wouldn't even need to throw a punch. The long fall would be fatal. Superman's been tempted to do this, and he pointed out that he could. Thankfully, it's a line he doesn't want to cross.
9 Punching With His Full Strength
Superman's gained a reputation for his super strength. When going up against immensely powerful villains, he charges fist first. Outside those situations, Superman has to pull his punches, especially since his usual villains aren't as strong as he is.
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A punch from Superman could take someone's head off, forcing the Man of Steel to devise creative ways to subdue his opponent. That could mean either tying them up or hitting them with a flick of his finger, which has enough striking force to take someone out but isn't lethal.
8 Attacking Superman Can Backfire
Even when Superman isn't actively fighting an enemy, an enemy who attacks him can end up injured. Superman's invulnerability is so strong it becomes a power itself, and it can produce disastrous results.
Superman’s invulnerability is generated through an aura he gives off from his body. This personal force field protects himself and even extends to his costume. An attack on Superman will backfire on anyone weaker than he is, as hitting him hard enough can bruise knuckles or break hands.
7 Superman Can Snap Someone's Neck
Superman has many super powered allies who escaped Krypton, from Supergirl to Krypto the Superdog. There are also enemies like Zod and other criminals who were imprisoned in the Phantom Zone when Krypton was destroyed.
Evil Kryptonians don't hesitate to kill those in their way and can easily snap someone's neck with their super strength. Superman is capable of this as well, but he has a no-kill code. It takes something like a no-win scenario, such as his encounter with Zod in the Man of Steel, before Superman resorts to snapping a neck.
6 Superman Can Produce A Solar Flare
Superman's body operates as a solar battery that absorbs sunlight and empowers him in various ways. This is all done automatically. Superman doesn't need to think about it or perform specific actions to maintain it.
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The most common use of Superman's solar power is his heat vision, but Superman has proven capable of using another form of heat output. When he discharges the solar power he's absorbed, it manifests as a solar flare more devastating than his heat vision. Because it can affect a wider area, Superman only uses as a last resort.
5 Superman Can Create Sonic Booms and Shockwaves
Superman is gentle by nature, but using his powers often brings violent and destructive side effects. Superman can run and fly fast enough to break the sound barrier, causing a destructive sonic boom. His landings can even break the ground if he isn't careful, or if he gets knocked out of the sky.
When Superman engages with an opponent whose strength proves equal to his, the fight causes destruction. When Superman battles Doomsday, they exchange blows with such powerful ferocity that they shatter nearby windows.
4 Superman's Freeze Breath Can Kill
From characters like Mr. Freeze to Captain Cold to Killer Frost, the DC Universe has portrayed a vast range of freezing powers, from the relatively harmless to the deadly. Superman's breath is so strong he can generate hurricane-like winds or chill the air to the point of freezing.
Superman limits his freeze breath to inanimate objects like guns or bombs about to go off. When he uses it on people, he freezes the entire area and leaves the frozen person safe, even though he can kill them if he wished.
3 Projectiles Bounce Off Him
Despite his legendary invulnerability, Superman constantly finds people shooting at him. Ordinary bullets can't harm him, but they can still do some damage. Someone like Wonder Woman uses her bracelets to deflect bullets, but all Superman has to do is stand there and get hit.
Superman can walk through a hail of gunfire, causing bullets to bounce off him and back at those shooting at him. However, he avoids doing this because it can cause further damage or kill someone. Instead, Superman prefers to catch bullets or melt them with his heat vision.
2 Superman Can Perform Lobotomies With His Heat Vision
Superman uses his heat vision to melt objects, weld things together, or perform ranged attacks. Heat vision can have violent applications, such as frying a person, but Superman can also use it to operate on someone's brain.
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When Superman fought the telekinetic Manchester Black, he used his heat vision to depower him. Focusing his heat vision through Manchester's retina, Superman removed the brain anomaly that gave Manchester his power. In the Justice League cartoon, the Justice Lord Superman lobotomized the League's villains.
1 Superman Can Encase Someone In Diamond
Superman proved himself strong enough to crush coal into diamond with his bare hands. Superman rarely needed to create diamonds, but it was a power that later proved effect during battle. The Kingdom, a sequel to Kingdom Come, saw the villain Gog traveling to the past to kill versions of Superman.
The Kingdom Come Superman teamed up with present day Superman and intercepted him. They throw the villain in a coal mine and, using their super speed and super strength together, they created a diamond shell around Gog.
NEXT:10 Marvel Characters Superman Would Fall In Love With
