Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Maybe Jor-L did something to prevent Kal from having his full powers untill he was "ready" for them.  Why would Jor-L do that?  Maybe he knew something about the extent of the power Kal was about to gain on earth.  Jor wanted his son to be able to protect himself.  But no responsible scientist would entrust an infant with the power to easily destroy entire star systems.  How did Jor do it?  Probably some form of magic.  Something that limitted his access to a tiny fraction of his power untill he reached adulthood.  After that his access to his power increased the more he mastered his abilities.  The story where Metalo caused Kal to return the appearance (& power level) he had in the late 30s?  Maybe Metalo found a way to use Kal's supermind against him.  Like the way Lex Luthor used Kal-El's supermind against him.

Perhaps the yellow sun had a strengthening effect on his abilities that took him reaching adulthood to really take, and which doesn't fade away (or if so, doesn't fade quickly) as a result of being exposed to a red sun as Earth-1's Superman does?

I've posted this before.  The official explanation according to Julius Schwartz is based on the difference in ages between when baby Kal-L arrived on Earth vs baby Kal-El.

Kal-El was two years old and had learned his motor reflexes in Krypton's extreme environment so he learned about his powers fairly rapidly.

Kal-L was a babe in arms with virtually no experience of Krypton's environment.  He learned to walk and develop his motor reflexes on Earth so he only gradually discovered the full scope and breadth of his powers.  He hadn't discovered the full extent of his powers when he first donned the cape.  He didn't fly since he didn't know he could and never had tried before.

The E-2 retcon of Kryptonians had them with some powers, most notably super-senses, on Krypton but the heavy gravity restricted their physical prowess.  Just the same, they were capable of hurdling buildings on their homeworld.  They were capable of much more on Earth with our puny gravity.

So why didn't all the superpowered Earth-2 Kryptonians survive the explosion of Krypton?  Is invulnerability hit by the extreme G?

You should read the official origin of  Superman of Earth-2


http://superman.nu/tales2/e2-origin/

Love the Boring artwork, and the first pages are a fine beginning of the GOLDEN age Supes...LOL... :lol:

Sorry, I tune the 70s and 80s out...in some ways, I hold them responsible for the Iron Age...I guess I tune out on more than the master mesmerizer or the Sand Saga...

Ah, not really... 8)  I read 'em now...

Still feelin' the Silver Age love, though... :P

The problem I have is that it's clear that the Earth-2 Superman eventually becomes nearly as strong, if not as strong, as Earth-1 Superman, far more powerful than the Earth-2 Kryptonians and early Earth-2 Superman.  Why?

Selective continuity?

SeCon...

No he doesn't. He was defeated by Superman of Earth-1 the times they fought, and was defeated by Captain Marvel.

Where is it clear?

The first time the two Supermen fought (in a JLA/JSA crossover), it was a draw. I recall them collapsing simultaneously. Of course, that issue doesn't really jibe with later depictions; the two looked exactly alike, with no apparent differences in costume or age. It would stand to reason that Kal-l was a little less powerful, but this was not consistently stated, as far as I can tell.

There were certainly some continuity problems with the two Supermen.  Later on they depicted the Earth 2 Superman as looking much older.  Personally I think they should have stuck with the explanation that the Earth 2 Superman has lesser powers.

Because it's really really cool. 8)

Plus, he's older, wiser, more experienced - it comes with the territory.

:s:

My understanding is both Kryptons had red suns so they both had invulnerability derived from our yellow sun.  Siegel established early on in Action Comics #14 that the GA Krypton's sun was red.  Also, whatever anti-grav capability they evolved to help counteract Krypton's pull was likely 'unloosed' when free of that gravity to provide an anti-grav aura of protection like Lana Lang's 'gravity' belt did for her.

"Negative Crisis on Earths One-Two" was indeed the JLA/JSA story where the two Supermen fought to a standstill.  When they faced Krogg in the 1970s, they still were considered equal. Even when Kal-L was later in the 1980s depicted as somewhat weaker than Kal-El, he still was in the same range (the difference between two men not a man and a gnat).  Kal-L was still capable of super-speed time-travel and notably knocked out Kal-El and dealt the final blow to the Anti-Monitor during the Crisis.

E-2 Superman is arguably much more powerful than the Byrned Superman since he's almost as powerful if not as powerful as the E-1 model.

BUT....

You are missing a point there and how the different universes worked back then. Remember crisis on Earth-3! JLA could not defeat the Earth-3 Villains on Earth-3, since they were more powerful there, but when they went to Earth-1, the JLA was able to defeated them since they were more powerful on that Earth.

So the heroes power levels changes depending on which Universe they are in.

Another fan wrote in that 'different universes' bit and Schwartz rejected it.

E-2 Superman was obviously flying and staggered the powerful Aquarius on his native Earth-2 in that story.

Also, the theme of Earth-3 was that natives to a universe are kind of fated to win.  The CSA would win on E-3.  The JSA would win on E-2.  The JLA would win on E-1.  Only on E-2 could the JLA and CSA face each other on even terms for a definitive battle.

For example, Starman didn't become 'more powerful' on E-2 when he defeated Ultraman.  He simply was fated to win on his native Earth.  Conversely, Ultraman didn't become less powerful on E-2 or E-1.

That's why Schwartz concocted the different baby ages angle on E-2 vs E-1 Superman.

It doesn't work out that way ALL the time, though.  

Captain Marvel had gone to Earth-2 during World War II, and defeated Superman in closed combat.  

I seriously doubt Superman could have defeated Captain Marvel on another Earth.  Marvel's magically-based strength was greater than Superman's, at least during that point in the heroes' lives.

As of November-December 1977 in Superman Family #186, E-2 Superman was still being portrayed as E-1 Superman's equal (Battle with Krogg).  That's decades after "Negative Crisis on Earths One/Two" for that JLA/JSA team-up.

It wouldn't be until 1980 or so under Wolfman that E-2 Superman would start being portrayed as weaker than his counterpart.  Even then, it was not that dramatic a difference as Wolfman scripted Kal-L knocking out Kal-El in COIE.  He also dealt the final blow to the Anti-Monitor, thus giving a figurative and literal closure to the Pre Crisis era -- the super-hero who started it all is the same guy who closed that era.