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Author Topic: A few random Superman Speculations  (Read 24826 times)
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JulianPerez
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« on: September 16, 2005, 07:24:58 PM »

Random Super-Thoughts

What is it we're seeing when Superman is underwater? Can his Flying "work" below the water? Or are we just seeing him swim at superspeed?

Does alcohol work on Superman (I ask in the theoretical, since it's our milk-drinking hero is too wholesome for that)? One would think not; it might quickly be metabolized by his superpowerful system.

Superman wears no gloves. Has it ever been explained why he leaves no fingerprints?


Superman's Lesser-Used Superpowers

There are several powers that Superman is not quite as known for using.

Super-Aim
I can only recall a few occasions of Superman using his Super-Aim; one of them was in a Lois Lane story where he took the identity of a dart-thrower temporarily. During the Legion's battle against the Sun-Eater, Superman managed to throw capsules containing messages for help to distant worlds using his Super-Aim. Is it possibly a manifestation of his super-brain, which can calculate arcs and trajectories instantly, combined with his impeccable vision, or is some hand-eye coordination power on its own?

Superman's Night-Vision
Superman has been stated on many occasions as being able to see in total darkness. Here's my question: what's the nature of this power? I'm guessing it's kind of based on his ability to see into the spectrum, which means it might have interesting limitations; for instance, as there is no ultraviolet light in caves or deep below the earth, it may not work there. If he's underwater, perhaps he does like Namor and switches his vision to the blue-green portion of the spectrum to see more clearly.

Superman's Alien Nature

The Martian Manhunter is more clearly "alien" than Superman is, having four hearts, nine senses, and his handsome beetle brow (which has gotten larger and larger as the decades have worn on, like Superman's S-shield). But here's a question: what are some ways that Superman differs from human beings physically (apart from the obvious, his amazing powers)? I know that Superman's blood type is identical or analagous to all four types, for example.
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RedSunOfKrypton
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« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2005, 07:44:19 PM »

Since his flying comes from an apparant ability to control gravity, I'd say yes  he does fly underwater, but he could swim at superspeed. I wouldn't think alcohol would work on him at all due to, like you said, an ultrafast metabolism not to mention superior organ filtering and just plain old ultra cellular hardiness.

I've often thought he has a sanitized metabolism, and doesn't release oils, no oils means no fingerprints. And at least partially we release oils to protect our non invulnerable hides, Superman doesn't have this problem. Also he could use his super bodily control to flatten out his finger tips maybe.

Quote
Is it possibly a manifestation of his super-brain, which can calculate arcs and trajectories instantly, combined with his impeccable vision or is some hand-eye coordination power on its own?
I'd say you hit the nail on the head, although coordination comes from the cerebellum so a super cerebellum would allow super coordination and super accuracy. This is part of the reason I claim he's at least as agile as Spidey.

In the old comics, it talks about how he sees in the dark with RADAR vision, which real world techies have actually used to create a haphazard form of "X-Ray vision". However infrared radiation is everywhere, so if he could see IR, he'd be just fine no matter how dark it was.
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"...and as the fledgeling Man of Steel looks for the first time over the skyline of this city, this, Metropolis, he utters the syllables with which history is made and legends are forged: This, looks like a job...for Superman."
JulianPerez
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« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2005, 09:50:30 PM »

Quote from: "RedSonofKrypton"
I've often thought he has a sanitized metabolism, and doesn't release oils, no oils means no fingerprints. And at least partially we release oils to protect our non invulnerable hides, Superman doesn't have this problem. Also he could use his super bodily control to flatten out his finger tips maybe.


This may make sense, except I've seen Superman sweat on several occasions. Perhaps it was artistic license to show that Superman is straining the limits of his powers.

I think your super-body control theory is a good one that would work, if not for the fact that fingertips are necessary to properly grip things, and Superman would NOT want to have butterfingers with some of the great things that he carries.

Perhaps Superman leaves no fingerprints because his skin cells do not "die," as he is invulnerable, which has interesting permutations; for one thing, they wouldn't need to dust the Fortress of Solitude too often, since most "dust" is actually dead skin cells.

Alternatively, maybe Superman does have "gloves" on, except they are totally transparent to the point of invisibility, sort of like the Atom's costume when he is fully grown (and he may have in fact gotten the idea from his buddy Ray Palmer).

Here's a seldom used Superman superpower that I just remembered:

Superman's Super-Touch
I recall on one occasion Superman was able to get the jist of a phone conversation just by holding his thumb and forefinger on the line. I think in the Golden Age issues he could also distinguish metals by touch as well.

Here's another, much more kiddie question and perhaps one that I *really* don't need an answer to that badly, raised by RedSon's super-question: does Superman "need" to go to the bathroom at all? He has a digestive system, and it has been shown that he CAN eat (as Ms. Lane asked in the movie), although like a plant, the suggestion is that most of his energy comes from the Sun, and so eating and drinking are not necessary for him. It may be the case that Superman does not have to use the Super Men's Room, for the same reason he probably can't be affected by alcohol: his super-metabolism uses every single piece of energy taken from food without waste; the mutant Quicksilver, whose superspeed is fueled by metabolic sources, has been suggested to have a similar trait, getting everything from food without any waste. Also, in all the plans of the Fortress of Solitude, we've never seen room for facilities - though it is likely Superman may have some installed for the comfort of his guests (possibly connected to the disintigration pit).

Quote from: "RedSonofKrypton"
In the old comics, it talks about how he sees in the dark with RADAR vision, which real world techies have actually used to create a haphazard form of "X-Ray vision". However infrared radiation is everywhere, so if he could see IR, he'd be just fine no matter how dark it was.


That makes perfect sense if his nightsight powers are based on Infrared; for one thing, on one occasion when he uses his Infrared Vision to see in total darkness, ADVENTURE COMICS #354 ("The ADULT Legion!") we see his eyes glow red slightly in pitch blackness. Although this implies a few weaknesses to IR too: it may not work in situations of extreme heat, for example.

Kirby in JIMMY OLSEN had Superman do a few other things with his Heat-Vision that were truly interesting: for instance, he could track a car by the heat of its engine leaving a trail, which was still visible to him even though the car had been turned off.

Superman's darkness vision can't possibly be based on detection of radar sources; for one thing, he could not be able to determine anything less than 20-30 feet in height (as pointed out by Wolverton's SCIENCE OF SUPERMAN).

Quote from: "RedSonofKrypton"
I'd say you hit the nail on the head, although coordination comes from the cerebellum so a super cerebellum would allow super coordination and super accuracy. This is part of the reason I claim he's at least as agile as Spidey.


Hmmm, this makes sense, though I don't know neurology. Any real doctors or people knowledgeable in medicine or brain science want to comment?

Though I wouldn't know about Superman being more agile than Spider-Man; perhaps in terms of raw coordination and agility, with the advantage even going to Superman, who can think and process information at vast speeds. But I understand that Spider-Man's ability to avoid obstacles comes from his "Spider Sense" giving him precognition about where an attack will hit; consequently, he is faster because he knows where an attack will hit before it is even made.

If Superman has a Super-Brain, it would stand to reason other portions of his brain would also function accurately, such as the portion related to eye-hand coordination giving him super-aim. I wonder, however, how differently Superman's brain would look if we were to examine it. Is Superman's Super-Intelligence a superpower on the level of Super-Strength or Heat-Vision, or is it due to his Kryptonian nature as a member of a mentally superior race (and from a family known for inhereted mental prowess even there)?

If it is a "superpower," how would his brain be different or work differently under a red sun and a yellow sun?
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llozymandias
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« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2005, 10:30:11 PM »

Superman (in the silver-bronze-age at least) does not sweat.  Nor does he need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep.  He does need to dream however.  He does have fingerprints, & does not wear gloves.  There were times when he did leave fingerprints behind.  Usually he does does not leave prints, because he does not sweat.  When he does leave prints, it's because of his super-strength.  


     His super-mental abilities ( memory, intelligence, etc.) are super powers.  His super-intelligence/genius makes him "more intelligent than an army of Einsteins".  When his powers are deactivated his intellect is at "ordinaray human genius" level.  Basically he is as intelligent as one to three Einsteins.  I tend to see Jor-El (on krypton) as equal to William James Sidis, Albert Einstein, or Thomas Alva Edison.
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RedSunOfKrypton
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« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2005, 10:56:19 PM »

Quote
I think your super-body control theory is a good one that would work, if not for the fact that fingertips are necessary to properly grip things, and Superman would NOT want to have butterfingers with some of the great things that he carries.
Why would he need to worry about this with his gravity controlling powers? PostC Superboy sticks to stuff using his Tactile TK/Gravity Control. Wink

Quote
Perhaps Superman leaves no fingerprints because his skin cells do not "die," as he is invulnerable, which has interesting permutations; for one thing, they wouldn't need to dust the Fortress of Solitude too often, since most "dust" is actually dead skin cells.
This has actually been suggested by a few folks, as his hair and nails don't grow either.

Quote
Here's another, much more kiddie question and perhaps one that I *really* don't need an answer to that badly, raised by RedSon's super-question: does Superman "need" to go to the bathroom at all? He has a digestive system, and it has been shown that he CAN eat (as Ms. Lane asked in the movie), although like a plant, the suggestion is that most of his energy comes from the Sun, and so eating and drinking are not necessary for him.
PostC, his digestive tract converts matter into pure energy, allowing no waste and much fuel. PreC I imagine probably would have used the same reasoning if they had thought about it.

Quote
Although this implies a few weaknesses to IR too: it may not work in situations of extreme heat, for example.
Most heat that extreme would present itself in other visible ways, with his other visual powers it wouldn't be much of a weakness.

Quote
Superman's darkness vision can't possibly be based on detection of radar sources; for one thing, he could not be able to determine anything less than 20-30 feet in height (as pointed out by Wolverton's SCIENCE OF SUPERMAN).
Like I said, there's been a device built that does this without objects having to be so big. CK pointed out an article about it to me but I can't seem to find it again.

I actually wrote an essay on Spider-Man's powers that pseudo-scientifically covers spidey-sense without the aid of psionics if you're interested. And interestingly enough, Superman has a "super instinct" that mimics certain effects of spider-sense, plus with his superior strength, speed, reflexes, and gravitationally adapted tissues, he'd be every bit as agile as spidey IMHO, if not moreso.
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JulianPerez
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« Reply #5 on: September 16, 2005, 11:41:02 PM »

I just realized that Superman wearing transparent gloves theory would not work, because on many occasions Superman has been shown to use his fingernail to slice things, like Sheet Metal on submarines and his Super-Diary that he inscribed in Kryptonese. He could not use his thumbnail through indestructible, invisible gloves.

Quote from: "llozymandias"
Superman (in the silver-bronze-age at least) does not sweat.


Where was this stated? Just curious.

If this is definitive, then apparently the writers were not consistent with this, as there are stories that conflict with that. I can recall many occasions where Superman is visibly sweating: for instance, in SHOWCASE #9 (1957) "The Girl in Superman's Past" which had the return of Lana: Superman, as Clark Kent had droplets on his head to show his extreme worry about Lois and Lana meeting and making mischief (...jeez, that would get ME sweating too!).

Perhaps this behavior can be ascribed to the fact Superman is in his "Clark Kent" identity and Clark would need to sweat on hot occasions as a part of his "disguise." But that does not explain why Superman was sweating in that particular instance - it would break character if he has "Superman" worries (like Lois and Lana) impugn on Clark Kent's facade.

I can also recall (without consulting my comics collection) other occasions where Superman strains his powers to the utmost and there is sweat upon his brow from this (for example, in the Jim Shooter-penned SUPERMAN/SPIDERMAN crossover where he had to disable Dr. Doom's device - which arguably is not really "Superman" as he lives in a merged DC/MARVEL Earth, but he did everything Superman could and would do, making it nonetheless insightful). Like I said, maybe this is artistic license used to show strain.

Quote from: "llozymandias"
Nor does he need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep.  

 
Well...yeah.  Cheesy

The notion of Superman not getting tired is an interesting one; if he has a constant stream of energy from a Yellow Sun. Though one wonders why he does not develop fatigue poisons that impair his function after a little while.

Quote from: "llozymandias"
He does have fingerprints, & does not wear gloves.  There were times when he did leave fingerprints behind.


Where was this stated, and what was the context of it? I'd be interested in knowing. Also, does it provide an explanation for why Superman does not normally leave fingerprints behind, at least if he has them?

Quote from: "llozymandias"
His super-mental abilities ( memory, intelligence, etc.) are super powers.  His super-intelligence/genius makes him "more intelligent than an army of Einsteins".  When his powers are deactivated his intellect is at "ordinaray human genius" level.


Ahhhh, I see. So his brain (possibly because of heredity, partially because of Superman's own self-improvement) is extraordinarily well developed, however under the Yellow Sun something extraordinary happens to it.

One possible thing (one I'm sure that the Superman stories have been fairly inconstant about) is the idea if Superman has far greater creative potential than ordinary humans - after all, having a "Super-Brain" means more than just doing math really, really fast; there's a whole other hemisphere to it too. Is Superman "Super-Creative" as well as "Super-Intelligent?" Superman's resourcefulness and cleverness fueled by "outside the box thinking" supports this in a circumstantial way. Superman has indulged in creative hobbies like painting, for example, but this is not entirely support for this. Could Superman write a poem greater than any earth poem? Clark Kent has a "punchy prose style," but he is not winning awards for it - then again, Clark Kent's literary sufficiency may just be a part of his disguise; it wouldn't do to have Clark win the Pulitzer.

Quote from: "llozymandias"
Basically he is as intelligent as one to three Einsteins.  I tend to see Jor-El (on krypton) as equal to William James Sidis, Albert Einstein, or Thomas Alva Edison.


Sure - look at all the stuff Jor-El invented.

Quote from: "RedSonofKrypton"
I actually wrote an essay on Spider-Man's powers that pseudo-scientifically covers spidey-sense without the aid of psionics if you're interested. And interestingly enough, Superman has a "super instinct" that mimics certain effects of spider-sense, plus with his superior strength, speed, reflexes, and gravitationally adapted tissues, he'd be every bit as agile as spidey IMHO, if not moreso.


I am interested in reading it, actually. Peter David's "static electricity" wall clinging was an interesting idea, but it...just wasn't Spider-Man. Spider-Man as a human electrical battery? I can't see it. I'd like to see someone else try another approach to that. Although Spider-Sense was clearly some sort of future-predicting power, because it could in fact, predict the future on some occasions.

What exactly IS Superman's Super-Instinct?
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llozymandias
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« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2005, 03:21:24 AM »

Superman not sweating is something that was mentioned in the comics numerous times prior to 1986.  It was not said that he couldn't sweat, just that almost all the time he didn't sweat.  Emotional stress/worry would probably make him sweat on rare occasions.  In the second Superman/Spiderman crossover, Dr. Doom's device was a nuclear fusion reacter.  It was almost an artificial red-sun.  Supes was sweating because the reacter was weakening his invulnerability.


   The times Superman left fingerprints were mostly when he was Superboy.  As i said when he does leave prints it's because of his super-strength.  It's when he presses on an object a little too much.  Kind of like you or me pressing our hands on wet cement.  


    In the silver-broze-age Superman learned kryptonian science & technology by studying (reverse engineering) any kryptonian artifacts that he found.  Like Kru-El's cache of forbidden weapons. Just think Luthor's intellect is greater than Superman's super-intelligence.  Many if not most of the prisoners in the Phantom Zone are scientists.  I imagine them almost being Lex's fan club.   Come to think about it maybe this is one reason why Superman almost never used his super-hypnosis power.  And why he seemed to downplay the full potential of that power.  The Zoners have all of Superman's powers whenever they escape from the zone.  Whenever he used he powers he was potentially training any & all phantom zone prisoners in how to use those powers.
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RedSunOfKrypton
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« Reply #7 on: September 17, 2005, 03:28:49 AM »

This very site describes super instinct. "In September 1947, Superman is described as having a super-instinct that alerts him to the fact that someone is watching him." Spidey does this a lot. As for my essay, which anyone moderating will have to excuse due to it's sheer off topicness because this is a Superman board afterall, here it is in its second draft:

Building A Spider-Man
By RedSunOfKrypton

This is an essay I'm writing (or I wrote if you're reading this after I'm finished) about my theories regarding how being bitten by a spider would turn a man into a Spider-Man. Within it you'll find all kinds of my insanity no doubt, and probably will be inspired to ask questions like "Does this guy have a life?". While I do, I just happen to love science and sci-fi and combining the two is just ducky for me. So without further stalling to make this essay seem longer (unless you just wanna sit there for a few minutes and hum the Spidey theme to yourself over and over to get in the mood), here it is.

The Biting

The transgenesis that occured when Peter Parker was bitten by that spider is, well, so improbable that it would probably never happen, even if you used a billion irradiated spiders on a billion skinny white nerds, all you'd end up with is a huge drop in kleenex sales as they'd probably all die. Assuming however that it did work, here is how I surmise it would slap his genetic code into making his powers work in a real world scenario using proven and theoretical science.

Spider Strength

Firstly, his strength. Spider-Man is strong, hella strong. Most official sources cite him as being able to lift 10 tons, although unofficial sources and some demonstrations in the comics have him go as high as 30 on occasion. Now how most people use pseudo science to classify his strength is that he has the proportionate strength of a spider, this is wrong. Spiders (and other arthropods) are all "super" strong proportionately because of the law of cubic proportion, this law is also their undoing if they are ever to become human sized (or bigger, I'm open minded). Y'see when something gets proportionately bigger, it doesn't just get 10 times taller and 10 times wider for example, it also gets 10 times deeper thanks to our living in 3 dimensions. For a good and simple example of this go here:

http://www.ftexploring.com/think/superbugs_p2.html

The bigger something gets the more its weight outdoes its strength, ergo by the time it got to be as big as a human the spider would be no stronger than a human. Not to mention that spiders have generally simple hydraulic muslces, which would require a total reformatting of Pete's muscle structure that would probably kill him, so that's out. So where do we look to the origins of Spidey's strength? The strength is in the webs.

Spider webbing is a proteinaceous (read: it's made of protein) fibre, some types of which are stronger than steel. Human muscles are also proteinaceous fibres so, if by chance the rewriting of Parker's DNA led to his already present muscle protein structure being rewritten to be more like spider webbing, his puny human muscles could maintain their puniness while gaining the titanic strength of Spider-Man.

Spider Speed

The next thing we're going to look at is speed. Speed is directly related to the strength of muscle. We can say that in as good a shape as he's in, a powerless Spidey can probably bench a fair bit more than his own 165 lb weight, so let's say he could bench 200 lbs without his powers. This means that his powers make him 100 times stronger. And to quote a friend "Increasing the energy/strength available increases the speed by the square root of that figure." Therefore his powers would only make him 10 times faster. Which given even the average for his physical accuity, puts him at approximately 100mph for short sprints.

Spider Reflexes

The OHTMU cites Spidey as having reflexes 15 times faster than normal folks, Tom Defalco says 40 times in his book Spider-Man: The Ultimate Guide. I've seen both quoted in numerous other sources, but I'll go with 40 times as I think it works best with Spidey and is the most accurate. There are a number of ways to have a higher nerve conduction velocity, more efficient myelination for example, but it seems to me that the most likely explanation, as pointed out to me, is that his sheer energy reserves make this possible. Spider-Man's physiological efficiency was enhanced many fold, it surmises that the enhancement would go down to metabolic intracellular processes. This would make him at least 40 times faster with regards to his reflexes.

Spider Agility

Agility is not so much an attribute as it is a combination of attributes, many of which Spider-Man has at vast levels. His super strength and speed allow him to do the movements necessary. The fact that his "web based" tissues would have much higher elasticity despite their strength would give him amazing flexibility. His super human reflexes would help him adapt to any changing environment with vast rapidity. They would also allow him to find equilibrium almost instantly in any given situation. This enhanced nervous efficiency could also probably be applied to his cerebellum, allowing him super human co-ordination and aiding his balance. Also an increase in proprioreceptors and an increase in their sensitivity would aid his co-ordination and balance even moreso. All these things combined would give our hero Spider Agility.

Spider Toughness

Spider-Man's a tough guy. He'd haveta be to withstand the force of his own strength. Fortunately the his web like tissues are very tough too, especially when they're woven into the meshes of the human body. This would give him a great deal of shock absorbing capability and general resilience.

Enhanced Health

The sheer hardiness and efficiency of Spider-Man's body explains his enhanced health, he tends to heal really fast (though not as fast as Wolverine), and he's seemingly resilient to poison and disease. His aging seems slightly retarded as well, as in the MC2 universe, even after he's passed middle age he's still able to fight crime and websling, although he's officially retired from it.

Wallcrawling

Spider-Man sticks to stuff, it's one of his staples. Spiders stick by using tiny hairs on their feet, except they can't stick to smooth surfaces. Geckos stick using much tinier hairs and they can stick to smooth surfaces with huge ammounts of force, recent advances using carbon nanotubes have increased gecko sticky force by 200 fold. I think Spidey's stickiness works combining these 2 principles. In the movie, Spider-Man sticks to things using retractable hairs on his hands and feet, I propose the same thing, only that the hairs retract hydraulically in a similar manner to how spider legs work. Now the ends of these retractable setae could be covered with the spatulas that gecko setae are covered in and allow Spidey to stick to anything with vast force. This could be done along the carbon nanotube lines to allow even greater adhesiveness.

Spider Sense

Here's the fun part, and the part that actually inspired me to write this whole thing: Spidey sense, with scientific theories to back it up. "No brainer" you say, "It's psionic". Now I like psionics, I think it's a cool concept, but I don't like using it to explain the science of my favorite superheroes, especially when it's not needed. With that said, the secrets of spidey sense lie within 3 factors, Electo/Magnetoreception, extreme sensitivity to atmospheric vibrations, and super fast reflexes.

Recently scientists are working on a sensor that uses ambient energy to see through objects, this principle is the mainstay for how I propose spider sense works. Suppose Parker's entire dermis acted as one of these sensors, almost like omni-directional x-ray vision. Now this would be too much info for the normal human conciousness to process, so you leave it to the subconcious to do the work and only alert the concious mind to things of importance.

Spider-Man can't be snuck up on because of the omni-directional "sight" of his sense, it always alerts him which direction danger comes from.

Weapons (Guns, knives, brass knuckles etc.) have their own distinct reflective signatures from ambiant energy due to their shapes and compositions, so spider sense would pick them up within range and warn Spidey, whether they were hidden or not.

Research also shows that everyone has their own unique biochemically generated electromagnetic aura; if the subconcious used spider sense to see the EM aura of a super villain in costume and remembered it, and then happened to see the same aura surrounding a civillian, it would warn Spidey that the civvie was the villain out of costume. Most likely by giving him a bad feeling about that person. This also allows Parker to spot people (villains) in disguise. It also allows him to sense people in hiding.

Spider sense also acts as radar due to its omni-directional nature, allowing Spider-Man to sense his surroundings even when he's blinded or in total darkness, because there's always some form of radiation present.

Spider sense warns Spidey if he's about to step on a creaky floorboard when he's trying to be quiet. This works because his subconcious knows he doesn't want to make noise and is scanning for any way he might, this includes sensing if the structural integrity of the board he's about to step on isn't as sound as the one he just quietly stepped on.

Spidey knows when he's being watched too, so he doesn't accidently change in front of someone he doesn't want to know his secret. With spider sense constantly "x-ray viewing" in all directions, it knows when he's being looked at because it can see the looker and warns him accordingly. This same reason is how he knows he's being aimed at with a weapon, his sense is literally "looking down the barrel".

Combining its sensitivity and penetrating abilities, with the subconcious mind's problem solving skills it can sense and show him the way out of any mazes he might find himself in.

When disarming a bomb, his subconcious using his spider sense scans the entire design of the bomb, including which wires current is flowing through and using Parker's affinity for science, figures out which wires to cut, then alerts him accordingly.

Its omni x-raying abilities also warn him of what he would consider a potential danger even on the other side of a wall or door.

Dr. Doom was once able to send Peter a message over his spider sense, no doubt broadcasting on a frequency his spidey sense would "see" and then his subconcious would let him hear knowing that is what he wanted conciously.

This also explains his spider tracers, he has them emit a frequency he knows will draw the attention of his spider sense.

It's highly likely that astral projections cause disturbances in surounding EM fields and deep down Spidey would want to know if he was being looked at by someone astrally so his sense alerts him when Dr. Strange drops by.

Spider-Man once sensed the Young God Calculus while Calculus was hiding in a phase shift invisibility field, no doubt because of the slight EM distortions the field created.

Spidey sense once allowed him to read a faint text imprint that was too faint to see normally, probably because even faded ink is still visible in spectra outside visible light, this is how archaeologists read old faded documents that have long since faded.

When moving through an area, residue of your unique EM field is no doubt left behind briefly, this could be how Spidey tracked Kraven through Central Park.

His spider sense is also able to alert him to the hostile attitudes of people due to the changes in EM aura that occur with changes in emotional states.

A supreme dermal sensitivity to vibrations would only aid the EM aspect, allowing movement to be felt from quite a distance. This combined with his ultrafast reflexes kicking in instinctively, makes his spider sense possible without hailing psionics.

Organic Webbing

This I put in for the sake of completedness as comic Spidey now has organic webshooters. Sphincter like sacks that produce the web fluid could form on Spider-Man's wrists. The super strong sphincter muscles could propel the fluid at high speeds. I imagine the fluid comes out very tiny, but somehow absorbs a lot of air causing it to expand to the size and lengths we see and it uses that "oxydizing" effect to increase its strength (possibly by causing the "long chain polymer knitting" the comics claim). That way, he could have "a lot of it" without really having to produce a lot of it. It also could be that the compound uses carbon out of airborn carbon dioxide to knit itself into webs, this would allow for vast strength as someone once pointed out to me. As to the dissolving of the webs after a half hour or so, it could be that the compound continues to absorb elements from the air after forming, and eventually gets to the point of super saturation and keeps absorbing till it crumbles, all in a process that takes about a half hour.

Summary

Well there you have it, my essay on the science of Spider-Man. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Additional Credits and Inspirations

CaptainKal
Entropy
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Also, not because I don't believe you, I'm just wondering, when did Spider-Sense predict the future? I was sure I had all its feats covered. Smiley
Logged

"...and as the fledgeling Man of Steel looks for the first time over the skyline of this city, this, Metropolis, he utters the syllables with which history is made and legends are forged: This, looks like a job...for Superman."
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