Superman Through the Ages! Forum

I always hear of Supeman moving planets, and I know of one Superboy comic where he randomly dragged planets on a chain...in one frame! I'd like to document all the times that Superman has ever moved planets, in any media...so that I can debate fanboys. Can you help?

It was posted on this message board before, try doing a search.

In a Superfriends episode, Superman pushed Earth out of a black hole

In another Superboy comic, Bizzaro challenged Superboy and for a while people thought Superboy was doing a handstand, but it turned out he was moving the Earth.

This is all I could find:

Can Superman really move planets? (http://superman.nu/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=268)

and

When Superboy moved a solar system by dragging it on a chain (http://superman.nu/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1622)

but very few actual stories were mentioned.

One that comes to mind is actually somewhat recent:  In one of Grant Morrison's JLA issues, Electro-Superman-Blue moved the Earth's moon.  (Proof that with a good writer, even a bad idea can be turned into something really cool.)

:s:

Those were the two I was thinking of. :)

Here's a definite "planet-moving" story. In Superman #220 (October 1969), Supes moved the Earth out of the path of an alien seed that was going to burrow into the core and take over the planet. See cover here: http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=23014&zoom=4

Here's a case where the cover appears to show "planet-moving", but the story is . . . even weirder. In World's Finest Comics #208 (December 1971), Dr. Fate gives Superman mystical chains to pull the Earth's (Earth-Two's, actually) continents apart after some aliens speed-up the movement of the tectonic plates. See cover here: http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=24699&zoom=4

Early Legion story, first one with the Legion of Super-Pets. Brain-globes had made the Legionnaires betray Superboy, but they couldn't control animals. So Saturn Girl, when no longer under their control, gets together the Legion of Super-Pets. They were "kidnapping" earth, moving it slowly to their solar system. At the end of the story, Superboy notices the stars are slightly out of alignment, goes out to space, and with his super-breath BLOWS the Earth back into its accustumed place.
   Nevermind that wind expelled fast enough to affect all 6.6 sextillion tons of Earth would probably blow the atmosphere clear OFF....
   For the rationalists among you, I took it to mean that Earth was only very SLIGHTLY off its orbit, enough so that only Superboy or astronomers might notice any difference, and that with that gust it was back where it should be. Other references (including that Flash team-up) indicates that Superman needed to use all his strength to stop the world (again, 6.6 sextillion tons).
   I don't remember anything to indicate that Superman could MOVE suns, although there was a Jimmy Olsen story where Superman BUILT a solar system, including a sun, for a dying world. But since our sun has as much mass as 330,000 earths, I would venture to say even the Silver Age Superman couldn't move it (where would he find a solid place to do so, anyhow?) anymore than I could lift something weighing 33,000 tons.
    Both Superman and Supergirl could move the moon rather casually, but considering the moon's mass is 1/81 of earth's mass, 74 quintillion tons,
that would be like a two to three pound weight to a being who could move 6.6 sextillion tons.
---Al

Additional postscript. I used to keep notes on the outer limtis of the Silver Age Superman's powers---the fastest he's ever gone, the most he's ever lifted, etc. If I find them, I'll post them here.

I remember I DID find something indicating a reasonable upper limit to Superman's speed...and I remember it was something as mind-boggling as the 6.6 sextillion-ton limit on his strength. (I think one prelimiary thing was the span of the Milky Way, since Flash and Superman, in their second race, raced across the Milky Way, and I assumed a maximum of eight hours for the race, or else Barry Allen and/or Clark Kent would have had questions to answer for when they couldn't show up for work the next morning. Since we're 30,000 light years from the center of the Milky Way, and the whole Milky Way galaxy is 100,000 light years across, that would be a speed (in defiance of Einstein) of at least 7,777 light years PER HOUR. I want to say I found something ELSE that indicated an even greater speed.) Let me see if I can find my notes.

--Al
PS. Checking the description, the race was to the edge of the galaxy and back---20,000 light years there, and another 20,000 back. That would come out ---assuming it happened in under eight hours, a good assumption, since the whole Justice League was frozen, and even on the weekend, you would think SOMEONE would have to get back to work pretty soon---to 5000 light years an hour.
   That's for Superman AND Flash...by the way...
   That's pretty fast. That's....let's see....
   43,800,000 times c, times the speed of light. Almost 44 million times the speed of light.
   Of course, that's an AVERAGE of their speed. They might have to spend some time accelerating to that speed, which would mean their top speed was even higher...
    But at that speed, you could get to Rann---to Alpha Centauri...in three seconds.
   You could reach Thanagar, around Polaris, 430 light years from us, in a little over five minutes.
   On the other hand, as fast as it is, when you get into intergalactic distances, it's still a stretch. The Andromeda galaxy---the nearest galaxy to us--- is 16-17 days away at that speed. To reach where the nearest quasar is---or was, since we see light after it reaches us---1 billion light years from us---would take over 22 YEARS.
   Even at the Silver Age Superman's speed, it's a big, big universe.

Superman's heat vision was able to make stars go nova or even super-nova, depending on the type/size star.  His super-breath was able to "blow out" stars.  Those powers were said to be minor compared to his strength.  It did seem to take all of his strength to move the earth.  However he was able to move bigger planets with greater ease.  Of course it always seemed like he was keeping power levels in check when he was on earth.  Over time his "holding back" reflex probably became automatic.  Thus moving earth would seem to take all his strength.  To do it he had fight his own inhibitions & holding back reflex.  There was never (to my knowledge anyway) any real upper limit set to his speed.  In one story he flew so fast, he literally flew out of the Earth-1 universe.  If not the entire multiverse.

Of course this all changed from writer to writer and story to story, if a story called for Superman to snuff a Sun with a puff of his breath then he would, if another needed him to use all his strength to move the Earth he did. Another story could call for him to move 12 planets without straining, so he did. He could knock out a uber powerful giant Monster with a light tap in one story and get knocked around himself by another smaller monster who was far less powerful in another story.

There was never a cannon set power level for Superman Pre-Crisis.

What about the Ultra-Nikru Cannon  -- the most deadly weapon ever constructed on Krypton -- that fired "super-ammunition"?   :wink:

I question the first parts of your statement---or rather, would appreciate you citing a source. I've never known Superman's heat vision to ignite anything but an already artificial star, whose rules for working might be different from what we know. Nor do I remember him ever blowing out a star. (I do remember one story where Superman's powers were amplified by a near-omnipotent alien, where he was AFRAID something like that might happen.) I do remember Superboy moving a group of planets, threaded like beads on a string, but of course it depends on their size---several planets as small as the Moon or even Mars would be relatively easy to move for a being who can move the Earth with all his strength.)

   I'm not, of course, saying you're wrong. Would just appreciate you citing a source. Also the "moving bigger planets"---I can't recall a time when he moved a planet where he mentioned, specfically, it was bigger than Earth.

   Thanks!---Al

Oh, I DO recall the source for this one. The DC Presents where he's pursuing an unconscious Supergirl and meets the Spectre, right? Where the Spectre mentions that the only barrier he could cross next in his speed was the barrier to the Afterlife, right? But we know so little about that---just as he seems to be able to go back in time if he goes faster than light, there might be a similar effect throwing him out of the "living" dimentions into the land of the dead when he reaches a certain multiple of c. At least the length to the edge of the Milky Way I can measure.---Al

Superman No. 91

Much oblidged! I'll look it up!---Al

Actually it was never stated what that last barrier was.  It was only stated that Kal crossing that barrier would cause the destruction of everything.  Or something to that effect.  It was safe for Kara to cross that barrier (according to the Spectre, anyway) because she was unconscious.  Even if that "string" of planets Superboy moved was made up of moon or mars size worlds, that would still add up to moving something bigger than earth. :wink:

Are you sure? If one could move the earth, one could move literally 81 Moons---and of course, we have no idea if the planets themselves might have had some partial propulsion system to aid Superman/Superboy.

We have SEEN Superman stop the Earth in its tracks, in its orbit, without any additional power---so we're pretty sure on that one. (It seemed to take all his strength, though.) The rest there could be a LOT of variables.---Al

Blowing out a STAR with his Super Breath follow up.

More details:

Superman No. 91, August 1954: "The Superman Stamp!"

You can read a review of this story here:

http://www.supermanhomepage.com/comics/pre-crisis-reviews/pre-crisis-mmrs-intro.php?topic=c-review-pc-sup91

Something odd about that---simply blowing oxygen at a star shouldn't effect it, unless the speed of the expelled air is simply incredible---in whcih case it would literally disrupt the plasma the star is made from and blow it apart. Perhaps it was an almost dead-dwarf star with pockets of oxygen in it that literally caught afire before it's final collapse, and it was that which Superman blew out...

But I'll reserve judgement until I actually read that issue.---Al

Keep in mind that Kal is able to make his super-breath super-cold.  A star is basically a hot fusion reacter.  It needs pressure & heat to operate.  Kill the heat & its basically a dead star.  Imagine how the Phantom Zone Prisoners must have reacted when they watched Kal "blow out" a star for the first time.  Or make a star go super-nova.  Or move a "string" of planets accross Rao only knows how many light years.  I imagine them looking at each other all thinking the same thought.  We can do THAT?  Great Rao what limits do those powers have?  Kal mastered his powers as a child.  It probably never occured to him that many of the things he did were supposed to be impossible.  



      When Al said moon size worlds i was thinking of earth's moon.  He also mentioned Mars.  The moon & mars are smaller than earth.  But they are not miniscule in comparison to earth.  Moving 10-12 (or more) planets of those sizes would still add up to moving something bigger than earth.

Although from what I'm reading, Mars' mass is more or less one-tenth of Earth's, so moving ten Mars-sized worlds should be possible for Superman at his Silver AGe peak.

I go back and forth on this. I'm a big fan of the ORIGINAL Superman---Siegel and Shuster's original vision---but sometimes it's fun to play around with the mightiest version, and try to dream up things that would challenge even HIM.

By the way, I theorized that both heat vision and super-cold breath were heat regulators. Heat vision is a way of releasing excess energy when the internal "fires" are getting too great---super-cold breath could "leech" heat away from the enviornment to help Superman when his metabolism is running a little slow---

For him.---Al

Silver Age Superman's strength is many, many orders of magnitudes greater than Bronze Age Superman's strength.  

The most impressive showing of physical strength by the Silver Age Kal-El that I recall is when, as superboy, (in Superboy No. 172) he hurled a neutron star into another galaxy a billion light years away.   :shock: A neutron star is not only far more massive than any planet, it is more massive than our sun.  

The Bronze Age Superman moved Earth a few inches in DC Comics Presents #3.  It was pretty clear from the illustration of his face that he was pushing the limits of his strength to do so.

Superboy hurling a neutron star into another galaxy does imply a few things.  He can hurl massive objects through hyper-space.  He can do it in such a way that, they end up in a destination of kal's choosing.  Kal is (at least relatively) unaffected by the gravity of a neutron star.  The effort it takes for him to move earth, i attribute to his inhibitions.  The ones he built up over the years to prevent him from using too much of his power when he is on earth.