Does Superman have telekinesis?

Yeah, I just saw Chronicle and I gotta say a) that movie was badass and b) it got me thinking about Superman and how his powers work.

He's got super strength, can fly, can fly faster, and is damn near invincible. Could it be that maybe the last son of Krypton has telekinetic powers, but just doesn't know he's got it?

I mean it makes sense. With telekinesis it's possible to:

• Simulate immense strength. Has Superman ever shown that he can lift things with his mind from far away? No, but he has shown incredible feats of strength without breaking a sweat. Perhaps he forms some TK force field around the heavy objects he lifts?
• Flight. With TK, you can easily levitate yourself, stimulating self-propelled flight.
• Flying faster/super speed. I can accept the fact that the Man of Steel can fly, but how does he fly faster? He's got no way of propelling himself (unless I missed something). In Chronicle, the more they used their TK to fly, they used it in such a way that they were flying at pretty commendable speeds.
• Simulate invulnerability. With TK, anyone could simply put a barrier, or force field, around their body to make themselves invulnerable to harm. In Byrne's Man of Steel, he described Superman having a force field around him that's only millimeters thick. Not saying it's TK, but that'd be pretty damn clever.

Plus, this would explain how Superboy has TK (again, unless there's something I don't know about). Hopefully Morrison will go into greater detail on how Superman's powers work, but you gotta admit, telekinesis sounds plausible, right?

Nope, Supermans physioligy is explained (horribly most of the time), 

@Gambit1024:

God don't wish Morrison to do anything other then get off Superman as quickly as possible

I highly doubt we will ever see Superman use T.K in our life time.

Nah. Superman shouldn't have telekinesis.

@cattlebattle said:

Nope, Supermans physioligy is explained (horribly most of the time),

@AtraCruor: Why don't you like Morrison on Superman? Frankly i think its what he was born to do.

@SuperShafe: Everything he did with Magneto, Final Crisis, what he's doing with Talia Al Ghul in Bats Inc, bringing in Damian Wayne into the mainstream canon...

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that he had a telekinetic force-field around is body which prevents his costume from getting dirty or torn.

@jrock85 said:

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that he had a telekinetic force-field around is body which prevents his costume from getting dirty or torn.

That was the explanation following Crisis on Infinite Earths, that his body was surrounded by a telekinetic field, that stopped his skin from getting dirty and his costume as well due to it being skin tight. They moved away from that pretty quickly though.

@Gambit1024: Post-Crisis it was stated that Superman had invulnerability, could fly and could lift heavy things without them crumbling under their own weight because his body was surrounded by an invisible telekinetic field. They were calling that tactile telekinesis. And this is why this was Conner Kent's primary until he started developing the more traditional kryptonian powers.

@ComicMan24 said:

@Gambit1024: Post-Crisis it was stated that Superman had invulnerability, could fly and could lift heavy things without them crumbling under their own weight because his body was surrounded by an invisible telekinetic field. They were calling that tactile telekinesis. And this is why this was Conner Kent's primary until he started developing the more traditional kryptonian powers.

Really? When did they state that?

@Gambit1024 said:

@ComicMan24 said:

@Gambit1024: Post-Crisis it was stated that Superman had invulnerability, could fly and could lift heavy things without them crumbling under their own weight because his body was surrounded by an invisible telekinetic field. They were calling that tactile telekinesis. And this is why this was Conner Kent's primary until he started developing the more traditional kryptonian powers.

Really? When did they state that?

Some time after Crisis on Infinite Earths. But I have no idead if this is true anymore, especially after the reboot.

@ComicMan24: I gotcha. Did he know that he had it?

@Gambit1024: Don't know about that. Sorry.

@AtraCruor: You're gonna throw what he did on non-superman titles as your reasoning? He has occasionally been flaky in other title but looking at All Star Superman and what hes done on Action so far , there is nothing better for him or Supes than them working together.

Neh

@SuperShafe:

Flakey doesn't describe how badly he's messed things up in the past because he doesn't care about anything other than what he wants. All Star was a good read, but it was its own things not directly tied into any set history or universe so it didn't matter as much what he watned to do. And yes I'm going to throw his track record as my reasoning. When a writer has consistently screwed things up one tends to expect it every time.

@AtraCruor: Let's just agree to disagree

@nightwing91: that whole bio shield thing for superman was realy dumb i never liked it. I always liked the idea of his skin being inpenatrible and haveing a dumb shild.

@Gambit1024 said:

@ComicMan24: I gotcha. Did he know that he had it?

He knew he had it, as on Apokolips when he attempted to disguise himself he mentioned how he was unable to as the telekenetic field he had around his body prevented dirt from being rubbed on his skin. And it started with the John Bryne revamp Man of Steel mini, and subsequent issues of Action Comics, Adventures of Superman, and Man of Steel.

@Z3RO180: I agree, but I understood why they did it. They were attempting to differentiate him from Pre-Crisis Superman, and I suppose in a way make him more believable.

@nightwing91: yea well its good that they have ditched the idea

@Z3RO180: Yeah but getting rid of it, also got rid of the reasons why large objects don't fall apart as he lifts them.

@nightwing91: inever really notiched that before but oh well good ridins to a crappy power ill take indestrucable skin over a lame bio- thing any day.

@Z3RO180 said:

@nightwing91: inever really notiched that before but oh well good ridins to a crappy power ill take indestrucable skin over a lame bio- thing any day.

It really wasn't entirely lame, it was skin tight so he still had the same inherent powers. And it did make sense that large objects didn't break apart, as it extended to the objects he was carrying.

@nightwing91: well i think it just personal opion and the power did make sence like you said i just always since a little kid think that his skin was well you know and the shild thng i just dount like.

Nope, it's his own physiology that grants him his incredible powers.

You're thinking of Superboy.

Superman also used telekinesis in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.

NO

@NetSpiker: Silve Age feats dude

"Superman", aka Superboy of the Tomorrow Titans, was able to externalize his tactile TK.
 
Tactile TK is the reason Superman can lift objects by irregular angles and allow them to remain intact.  If you were to try and lift a cruise ship from one corner, the hull would buckle under its own weight out of the water. 

@MrMiracle77 said:

"Superman", aka Superboy of the Tomorrow Titans, was able to externalize his tactile TK. Tactile TK is the reason Superman can lift objects by irregular angles and allow them to remain intact. If you were to try and lift a cruise ship from one corner, the hull would buckle under its own weight out of the water.

That's disputable. It's simply because the bioelectric forcefield surrounding his body extends outward to allow him to lift planetary sized objects(the same forcefield that gives a kryptonian their invulnerability under a yellow sun).

Well, I dont know if he does. Only thng I know is that Superboy has Tact TK and Supes had the force field thingy to explain why his suit never gets destroyed or why he can lift things without destroying them or catch people without breaking them into two (the field extends to things that he touches or something)

What I find curious is: How come Superman doesnt have TK? The character he was based on had TK, and it seems like a pretty obvious power for a powerful hero, specially if it's the first in comics with super powers....

I think that pre New 52 Superman did possess some sort of bioelectric aura that protected him from all harm, making him virtually indestructable. I've heard some people say that the bioelectric aura can be uncosciously extended by Superman to objects he is holding which is why any large objects he may be carrying aren't torn apart by his superstrength. Without that aura, any object Superman is carrying would be torn apart by his immense strength.

He can fly without wings. Logic dictates that it must be tk in a way. But what the hell do I know?

I've heard the TK theory several times. As far as I know, DC's never addressed/elaborated on it. And if you want my two cents, I liked the aura. It was a nice way of explaining a bunch of laws of physics that -- let's face it -- comic book writers just aren't going to stop breaking. I can't say I blame them. Also, I know bronze-age Superman had "super-hypnosis" as an explanation for people not recognizing Clark Kent as Superman (also subconscious). Given that there's never been a good explanation for his flight, and that people have finally stopped giving Superman random, one-time powers, "subconscious TK/TP" seems a safe enough explanation for Supes' abilities.

Better than "amnesia kisses," anyway.

@Kallarkz said:

I highly doubt we will ever see Superman use T.K in our life time.

I understand why fans would reject the concept of TK and an imperceptible field around his body as it's almost like

you're taking something away from the character, i.e. - it's not him, it's some universal power that he controls.

However, I have to say I agree with batfan1939.

If you think about it - it's the only 'realistic' way of 'explaining' his powers. Take his Strength; although this is not

necessarily canon I have read around the subject and believe these to be quite interesting and engaging answers: Tactile TK - This adequately explains both how Kal can lift unbelievably large objects while managing to control their inertia and hence their centre of mass - if this wasn't true then the building/ship/plane whatever would collapse under/over him, etc. Imagine falling over and the only thing you had to stop you hitting the ground was a piece of cutlery like a fork - it's not gonna end

well is it?! This tactile TK also explains how his strength seems arbitrary. By this I mean how he is able to act like a human in interacting with day to day objects, without smashing them to pieces or ripping someone’s arm off, and then

lift insanely massive objects with little or no perceptible effort.

The outward effect of Kal's powers look like super strength, speed and flight, etc, etc but they are based in a very safe zone of believability. I personally hope that the new film will display a version of this bas it's a fantastic explanation and rather than taking anything away from the character I believe it enhances him greatly - it's still him - he's unique and in effect nothing is outwardly different and doesn’t even have to look any different. I just watched the extended Man of Steel Trailer and cannot describe how excited it makes me; at last!

i never knew he did

@gambit1024:

yeah but its not fair though I mean if you have enough strength like him then you don't need it

As an alien he possesses several organs whose functions are not yet disclosed or understood but are believed to be part of and perhaps even the source of his biomatrix force field and reclamation aura. Superman's body also stores energy actively within his bio-cellular matrix as an energy pattern that is linked to his body's electromagnetic field. This energy powers most of Superman's electromagnetic capabilities such as flight and heat vision. It also supplements his physical strength by a factor of 12,000 times or so.

Gold Superman has telekinis

@njones5: Byrne used the personal TK(which later was used for superboys TTK) as the reason why all the huge things superman lifts doesn't collapse under its own weight,which would happen in the real world.

Superboy has tactile telekinesis, but not Superman. But like others have said, it seems as if he does have TTK.

Superman can fly without rocket boosters, wings, or magic. Yes, Superman "supposed" to have telekinetic abilities and past versions have shown his telekinetic abilities. However, DC usually tries to stay away from addressing this because they don't know how to apply telekinesis to the Superman character without hurting his character. Why is that? Imagine Supe with all of his current powers and now introduce telekinesis. In other words, he would be able to move heavy/large objects and do manyother things by just thinking about it.

Some would think this will make him too powerful but I personally think it would finally address the obvious reasons why he's able to fly and do other things. They also like to play around with Superman's "capability to place mental blocks on his abilities"....it's likely that Superman's telekinetic abilities are being "partially" blocked which would explain why his clone (Superboy) has these telekinetic abilities even though he's not a full Kryptonian like Kal-El.

"Pretty much" lol. If you want to explain the physical environment reacting in a manner that is closer to obeying physics (like, as mentioned, heavy objects not crumbling under their own weight) - there's got to be some extension of energy beyond his person.

Read Irredeemable or google the powers of The Pultonian (it'll take you a thread here, I just don't know where it is) & that's a pretty 'sciency' explanation for Superman-type powers. All has to do with mentally (albeit subconsciously) altering/subverting the laws of physics (practically a small-scale reality warper). This helps with the issue of "the sun doesn't provide enough energy (even if he could store that much...which he couldn't) to pull off the feats Superman does".

He's already overpowered enough

He does in smallville

@gambit1024: look for post crisis Superman ** http://superman.wikia.com/wiki/Superman%27s_Powers_and_Abilities ** under tactile telekinesis. also Superman II shows General Zod using telekinetic abilities.