I would like to know if the energy Superman pours out of his eyes is just intense heat energy or actually solar energy. I understand it could be solar energy, with heat energy as a byproduct. I also understand some things could have been retconned, or the ability varies between versions. Please explain.

I am also interested in that.

IIRC in Post Crisis continuity Prof. Hamilton explained it as radiant heat.

It is heat energy, or a form of high energy laser.

I think the explanation might fall more on the excess solar radiation from Superman's cells that can be expelled through his eyes with radiant heat as a result. But I'll try and find some specific images which talk about how Superman's heat vision works.

Superman could absorb his own heat vision when Amazo used it, so it's probably solar energy with high intensity heat.

He has access to the em spectrum and can use it. Heat energy that we get from the sun is just infared light. So to answer your question he focuses his infared vision into high intensity laser vision. by using his solar energy.

I think Morrison said in the first arc that his eyes emit many different kinds of energy. He definitely can emit x rays so why not solar and thermal as well?

When was this?

It's solar energy. The simple fact that it was, specifically, Superman's heat vision that evolved into the solar flare power should more than prove that his heat vision was solar-based the entire time.

Supermans cells are like little furnaces each and every one of them.

@kenshima15:

Has I see it could be one of two hypothesis.

The first one is that Superman can control/manipulate the energy his body produces in specific ways. And heat vision is basically a form of Superman releasing that said energy. The same for his x-rays vision, aren't really x-rays but Superman releasing his energy in a form that allows him to see through object. And it's only called like that because of what it looks like and not what it really is.

This to me is the safest way to assume his energy powers work.

But there's another hypothesis. That as he can see in the entire EM Spectrum he also can release energy inside that same spectrum. And although that works fine for heat vision (that would be nothing more than concentrated infrared radiation particles). For x-rays vision now that's a problem, seeing that if he really used X-rays in the range and intensity he's shown using. Then he'd be giving lethal doses of it to everyone. Superman would be a mass murderer.

Take your pick.

@heavenlydarkdragon: There's nothing about x-ray vision that makes sense. If you've ever taken an X-ray you might notice that the X-ray emitter and the X-ray receiver are on opposite sides of you. This is because human flesh and bone have virtually zero X-ray reflectivity, so the X-rays don't bounce back to the original source the way light from a flashlight would. This is a problem for Superman, because his eyes can't simultaneously be on both sides of of the person he's looking at.

A viable alternative would be Superman emitting radio waves to cause magnetic alignment of a person's water molecules, then pulsing the radio wave to knock the alignment off kilter, and finally sensing the different magnetic flux induced by molecules returning to realignment at different rates in different tissues. This would mean Superman technically has MRI vision rather than X-ray vision. Unfortunately, Superman pre-dates MRI by several decades so this is definitely not the canon explanation.

@dasabi:

In the end it goes back to the hypothesis I prefer.

That heat and x-ray vision are just Superman way of oversimplifying what he actually does.

It makes much more sense that he's manipulating his body energy and releasing in other forms. Forms that he doesn't really chooses. It's just what he does.

Because if heat vision was really highly concentrated infrared particles then it would only be visible if he choose to make it visible. For the most part at least normal people wouldn't even see the energy coming out of his eyes. And x-rays would give such high dosages to everyone and everything on his vision path he simply couldn't help but hurt or kill people everytime he used that power.

The same goes for example for his artic breath and flying powers. There's nothing natural about the ability to freeze air in one's lungs to basically absolute zero or close enough, that that air doesn't solidify inside his lungs and only does so outside his body. Flame breath from the Bizarro makes much more sense, because it would make more sense for Superman to be able to ignite the oxygen he intakes. Has for flying, the use of a kind of bioelectrical aura also makes much more sense than that gravity control nonsense.

Also if Superman ability for his vision powers were based on seeing and releasing energy in the EM spectrum then he wouldn't be limited by infrared(heat) and x-ray vision. But everything from microwaves to gamma or even Tera.

Ok it's a common misconception that superman has heat vision he doesn't, when in fact his beams are made up of microscopic rainbows, puppy's and kittens ridding robot unicorns. Since these tiny thing are so close together they appear to be beams of heat when in fact supermans eyes are portals to the ZONE OF FREINDSHIP and they charge at what ever superman is starting at.

@z3ro180:

Really? No theory of your own?

Usually you can be quite creative when you want to.

P.S: Please spare us the "It's a comic book. Who cares how it works. It works." answer. Peace!

@heavenlydarkdragon: I usally just go by he shoots plasma

Why can't we just say whatever he takes in,he can unleash.