One of the challenges of writing for Marvel or DC comics is keeping your story germane to the fictional universe as a whole. And while endlessly nitpicking or obsessive compilation of battle statistics, whether for boosting or lowballing, can help to spoil otherwise fun or thought-provoking comics it's generally good for the writer to keep the capabilities of the characters fairly consistent.

Like most forms of media comics undergo an editorial process, in a perfect world this process would catch grievous errors in terms of powers and abilities.

DC really dropped the ball on Superman's combat speed, at least in terms of consistent portrayal. You would be hard pressed to conclude that Superman possessed consistent nanosecond reaction times (as so many do) based on these scans:

This is perhaps the most famous example of Superman having speed issues.

In many ways this scan serves as a perfect complement to the first. One could perhaps dismiss the first scan as an outlier, this scan puts that hypothesis into doubt though. This scene occurs in Superman/Batman at the time a hugely popular DC book. It isn't difficult to imagine a situation in which this issue would be someone's first comic, Batman and Superman carry a huge amount of cachet and the prospect of two of DC's heroes in one book would carry huge rack appeal. Why then would DC decide to represent the reaction speed of it's marquee hero in such a way? Surely a book of this magnitude received significant review from editors. It's worth noting that the bullet is made out of Kryptonite. It's also worth noting that the amount of Kryptonite is miniscule and that it is some distance away from Superman's body. If Superman had such great reaction speed why would he even allow Metallo to draw, aim and fire his gun in the first place? Superman would've known that Metallo would be likely to utilize Kryptonite ordinance.

Sorry that the scan is sideways. If you tilt your head or monitor you can see that Superman is taken aback by the sudden appearance of some gas and is then punched after Shrapnel announces his presence. This scan would preclude Superman having nanosecond reaction time. As a point of reference light moves roughly one meter in a nanosecond. One can't reasonably claim that either that either the gas or Shrapnel's punch was moving anywhere near the speed of light.

I culled all of these examples from recent Pre-New 52 stories. Editorial intent in terms of character power can be hard to gauge, despite the near unanimous conclusion that Superman possessed nanosecond reaction time, the case is hardly closed.

I would like to see which specific scans led to the nanosecond reaction time claim for Superman @lvenger do you have them?

Nice case. It's almost as if comics weren't wildly inconsistent or if Jeph Loeb wasn't a hack.

Edit: Let me be fairer; first off, there are three sets of scans for the nanosecond claim; the first from an issue of Action Comics Weekly, the second from a Superman arc featuring Ultraman and the Crime Syndicate, and the third from JLA: Black Baptism. I'm sure someone or the other will post them; if not, I'll do it later.

Secondly, you're posting scans from series which were notorious for their inconsistency. Superman was cut by titanium in For Tomorrow. Does that establish that everything you've heard about his durability is a lie? A lot of people hate Loeb's Superman/Batman because of how badly he wrote so many characters. In the same arc where Metallo shot Superman and nearly killed him, Katana cut off Major Force's arms. Major Force. Katana. If I start listing out all the stupid things that happened in S/B, I'll never be able to log off CV ever again. Comics, by their very nature as collaborative bodies of work featuring countless contributors who all have different points of view, are inconsistent. Every single character with superhuman speed has been hit by slower characters. The Flash isn't suddenly not a lightspeeder because Deathstroke has hit him. Shrapnel hitting Superman doesn't suddenly make him slow.

Finally, presuming legitimacy of the showings based on the idea that popular books are subject to greater editorial review and thus Superman's slowness is somehow editorially sanctioned is an absurd idea. Concepts like nanosecond reaction time and combat speed are battle forum ideas that the majority of creators and editors do not care about in the slightest. They're just telling stories.

@citizenbane:

Pretty sure only one of those scans was from Loeb. Even the Loebster (and for that matter most comics writers) are subject to editorial review.

Only his travel speed is FTL, but is combat speed is extremely fast nonetheless.

The mach number for light speed is 881000, so it would be in the hundreds of thousands mark.

But seriously, depends on the writer.

@godtriggerhulk: Edited post. Read above.

@citizenbane:

It's difficult for me to imagine that comic editors don't understand something as innate as reaction time, it's just common sense. If any writers or editors have done an interview in which the question of feats and managing powers has come up I'd like to read it.

It can be my early Christmas present, assuming of course that such an interview exists.

@godtriggerhulk: It's not that they don't understand it, it's just that it doesn't matter to them. These debates about who would win in a fight and why are things that a lot of writers and editors hate discussing because it's just not a priority to them. Check out the formspring/tumblr answer accounts of people like Brevoort and Hickman. They get very irritated when people start asking them these kinds of feat-related questions.

I don't recall Superman display nano-second reaction speed during Black Baptism, all he really did was get shot and allow Faust to use his powers

@dondave: He did say this though

Got one for you Bane.

@godtriggerhulk: To answer your question in short, it's less than FTL speed as these scans show

Gallery

but still incredibly fast by any combat speed standards to be certain. Superman is still one of the fastest fighters amongst fictional comic book characters.

And I'll post the other one I know of for the heck of it though I'm not sure what the Ultraman nanosecond feat is

@lvenger: That is the Ultraman feat. What I meant was that the feat was from a story featuring Ultraman.

@citizenbane: Do you have a scan of the Action Comics Weekly feat?

@citizenbane: Oh that's the feat in the story featuring Ultraman you were speaking of. Right thanks for that Bane. But I don't know of the third feat you speak of, the Action Comics weekly one. Do you have the scan for that by any chance?

Yeah, these are from ACW 642. Hal Jordan's ring dilates time down to a fraction of a nanosecond, freezing everyone else still; Clark moves fast enough to walk around and talk in that timeframe.

Gallery

@citizenbane said:

@dondave said:

@citizenbane: Do you have a scan of the Action Comics Weekly feat?

Yeah, these are from ACW 642. Hal Jordan's ring dilates time down to a fraction of a nanosecond, freezing everyone else still; Clark moves fast enough to walk around and talk in that timeframe.

Gallery

Oh this feat! You've posted it before I remember. A Post crisis issue I assume?

@citizenbane said:

@dondave said:

@citizenbane: Do you have a scan of the Action Comics Weekly feat?

Yeah, these are from ACW 642. Hal Jordan's ring dilates time down to a fraction of a nanosecond, freezing everyone else still; Clark moves fast enough to walk around and talk in that timeframe.

Gallery

Didn't know he was that fast. I thought Hal could only slow down time Pre-Crisis.

@dondave: @lvenger: It's from '88 or '89.

@citizenbane: Cool, added to my saved file of Superman feats now. Thanks for that Bane!

You have a big folder of Superman scans too?

fast enough to tag flash in the new52

Some my own but the rest are on a bookmarked site here: http://www.comicvine.com/profile/toptom/blog/pre-52-superman-capability-thread/84991/

it's nano Second Pre-new 52 it's faster than that in the SA but i think it's around the speed of lightning now?

http://www.narutoforums.com/blog.php?b=17328

It takes 3.3 Femtoseconds for light tot travel 1 micron, the next panel we see him throw the punch.

interesting.

@lvenger said:

@godtriggerhulk: To answer your question in short, it's less than FTL speed as these scans show

Gallery

but still incredibly fast by any combat speed standards to be certain. Superman is still one of the fastest fighters amongst fictional comic book characters.

And I'll post the other one I know of for the heck of it though I'm not sure what the Ultraman nanosecond feat is

actually you must have a nanosecond reaction time to be able to avoid something at light speed. Then Superman has avoided multiple laser beams in multiple occasions, even if he was weakened, so Dr Light was able to hit him probably because Superman wasn't ready. (0f course this is the silly explanation,the real one is that supes, just like every other super hero, is inconsistant with his power levels)

@toptom: Arthur Light is an expert on, well light. He had his intellect back and it's clear Superman was moving at combat speed, not light speed in my first two scans.

@lvenger: i was just saying that superman ,despite that scan, has avoided laser or beams of light multiple times. Dr Light may be an expert in his field but that doesn't mean he really knows the superman's limits.

@toptom: That's a fair point. But honestly, Batman's dodged Doctor Light's blasts and other street levellers have dodged energy blasts too. Does that mean they can move at FTL speeds?

@lvenger: i was going to use the same scan or the same argument against you. Since Batman can dodge dr light's beams i am simply going to assume that Clark can do the same with his eyes closed...if he is ready. Maybe that doesn't mean that he must have light speed reflexes to do so, but he has clearly showed to be able to avoid many laser beams at once despite not being in perfect shape. That's different from casually avoiding one or two blasts.

Then regarding some street levellers who have dodged a laser beam, i suppose that they could do that simply because they could anticipate their enemies's movements. With superman it's a whole different story.

@toptom: Perhaps upper tier characters can avoid more laser attacks than street levellers but they can still dodge the odd blast.

@lvenger: that's for shure. However superman could actually see some laser beams coming at him in slow motion, that should be more than enough to put him far above any street levellers.

Of course that doesn't mean superman doesn't get hit by people who even don't have super-speed but this things happen also tho the flash. I think that it was demonstrated clearly that he can dodge something coming at light speed if he is ready.

@toptom: He can react faster to those kinds of attacks than street levellers, that's for certain.

@lvenger: yes that is certain... but why do you believe he can not avoid an attack at light speed? i am curious. ( without sarcasm)

@toptom: Because he hasn't shown the capability to dodge attacks that come at him at light speed in his past showings.

@lvenger: a laser coming from a kryptonian space-ship is not a light speed attack?

@toptom: I meant light speed attacks from physical beings. He can'd dodge those.

@hero92 said:

It takes 3.3 Femtoseconds for light tot travel 1 micron, the next panel we see him throw the punch.

What comic is this from?

@buttersdaman000 said:

@hero92 said:

It takes 3.3 Femtoseconds for light tot travel 1 micron, the next panel we see him throw the punch.

What comic is this from?

Justice League of America #10

He should instantaneous reaction time & combat speed but due to plot needs and just plain inconsistency he's does not.

Hmmm, I'll take a try at this:

His combat speed is high, his reaction speed is not... Superman seems to need to speed up his perception, but can't accelerate like the Flash! So if he decides to Speedblit, he is fast, because he is the aggressor, but if attacked first and not really expecting or preparing for a fast attack, he can get tagged. But if he is expecting the attack and has revved up his perception he can react quickly.

That's my take on things.

Speed of plot.

very well said and would actually be a great explanation to why he shows such great reaction, combat, travel speed when he is ready or already in the middle of a battle. it also has plenty of support like wen sped up his perception to match the flash and everything around them stood still. this would also make it easier for writers to have ppl tag superman left and right due to the fact that "he wanst ready"

Aren't all characters?

Very good finds. Comic character ability is usually dumbed down for story sake, and ramped up to the point of hyperbole just to awe the reader. I mean, Superman has survived supernovas at different times & while granted he's only taking a portion of the energy (b/c it's a giant thing going out in all directions - not like a projectile hitting him)...just the fact that he's survived them means literally nothing else he's encountered should even scratch him. (No punch, no bomb, etc etc).

(Although part of me wants to create a pseudo-argument for how that makes sense...like he has some psionic/quantum ability to rob things of their energy & with an explosion in space he can prep this ability (even if subconscious) but punches in a fight catching him off-guard retain most of their energy...IDK, lol)

picoseconds at best.But regularly nanoseconds

Superman is massively FTL and his combat speed is massively FTL also. You cannot be massively FTL and not have massively FTL reactions.

Superman combat and reflexes are beyond imaginations . Superman holds back a lot of time

It depends on the who's writing.

Some writers write him as having supersonic reactions. While others write him as Massively FTL.

In the New-52, his reactions are relativistic and combat speed is massively hypersonic. Flight speed is faster than light.