Ok, so Superman is essentially a humanoid with flesh and blood and bone like the rest of us, so I am wondering how his invulnerability works? Is it simply that his skin, bone and flesh is mega times tougher than normal humans due to the effects of solar radiation on his body? If so, what exactly does kryptonite do to him? Does it remove the solar powered supercharging of his body and therefore render it equivalent to a normal human? I mean, its a bit strange that a normal human being would break their hand hitting Superman in normal circumstances but can knock him out if he is attacked by kryptonite or red son radiation.

It's Kryptonian physiology. I ain't gotta explain sh*t.

@bezza: Kryptonian physiology brah! However, even though kryptonite makes him weak, I don't think it's the same as rendering him equivalent to a normal human. Kryptonite radiation is poisonous for a kryptonian, it takes away Superman's life force and being exposed to kryptonite radiation for a large amount of time would kill him. Only way to take his powers away is to remove solar powered supercharging from his body/ take him away from the yellow sun, which doesn't seem to have the same impact as him being exposed to kryptonite radiation.

@fuzzylittlerodent: this

Comics :D

Seriously Superman's powers make as much sense as a scientist transforming because of a gamma bomb or a family by "cosmic rays".

I feel this answer is gonna become a classic in the forums :P

@bezza:

Alright I'll try to explain has best has I can using facts I've learned from two decades of reading Superman comics.

Kryptonian physiology hypermetabolises sunlight from stars above M class (aka red dward stars). How it does that and why is unknown. What is known is that process grants kryptonians godlike powers. One of those powers is invulnerability.

How his invulnerability works has been shown in two ways. First it was said that the immense energy stored in his body created and incredible far more powerful version of the bio-electric aura that all living beings have. But in Superman case it was so strong and compressed around his body, that his body became impervious to any physical harm. It was like each cell reinforced the cell next to it, to the point it created a kind of force field that gave the impression that his body was extremely dense.

In most recent versions it has been shown however, a different case. Where the immense energy he has stored inside him actually makes each cell in his body more dense, in order to store and process that energy much more efficiently, until it reaches the maximum it can achieve while exposed to a G class star, but if exposed to more powerful types like A or B and he gets much more powerful. To which point no one knows exactly because it has never been truly explored. Either way although he still possesses an aura that seems to give extra resistance to normal human fabric, truth is that it no longer makes normal fabric tissue near indestructible like in the bio-electric aura theory. In fact that's why they introduced the kryptonian bio-armor in the New 52.

And even in the pre-flashpoint version he used either a costume made from kryptonian fabric or he would use diamonds mixed with other extreme durable materials, to create his suits.

So the first theory says that he possesses a kind of force field that gives the impression his body is extremely dense and invulnerable. While most recent stories right next to the Crisis on Infinite Earths to current New 52, shows it's more likely DC abandoned the bio-aura theory to something more credible like what's defended in the photonucleic effect. But not exactly the same.

If you wonder what that is, you can read it here http://superman.wikia.com/wiki/Photonucleic_Effect

Hope this helps you out.

I still can't figure out why Superman is so unique among the pantheon of superheroes in that everyone wants an encyclopedic answer on how each of his powers work

It shouldn't. Which is why, originally, while kryptonite rendered him weak to the point of immobility, he still retained his invulnerability. And why Morrison tried to go the blood poisoning route while having Superman still be able to get a beating from frickin' Superdoom without dying or having every bone in his body broken. Unfortunately, the lack of coordination and focus of Superman's editorial has yet again allowed kryptonite and its effects to spiral out of control, to the cheers of lazy and uncreative writers who can't fathom a way of using Superman in their stories without that ever-reliable green glowing deus ex machina.

That's Superman to you. He's unique like that.

@heavenlydarkdragon:

Brilliant explanation, thanks!

And yes, Superman does elicit curiosity. What has always intruiged me is how quickly he seems to become very vulnerable when exposed to red son radiation and kryptonite and I just wondered what changed in him. The Superman Returns film didn't help where we had Lex Luthor literally hurling Superman around like a rag doll and his henchmen giving Supes a really bad beating.

@reactor:

It does no harm to ask and wonder.

After all, isn't why we read comic books in the first place? To see and imagine worlds where the stuff that fills our imagination and dreams, gains life.

And besides Superman isn't the only character people question how his powers work. He's probably the character where fans question that the most, I'll give you that. But to me that's more due to the fact that from most super-heroes, he's the one we could believe the most to exist in the real world, if by some cosmic chance all things allowed for such race of beings to exist in the first place.

He's different that way from every other super-hero. When we look at the Lanterns, the Flash, Wonder Woman and even Batman, we're faced with "walls" that make it almost impossible to ever believe such people could exist in the real world. Sometimes it's even hard to believe in them in the comics let alone our world.

And honestly imo, any fan that has never stopped for a second, and wonder how Superman powers actually work, isn't really that much of a fan.

This of course is just my opinion.

@bezza:

The red sun stuff no longer affects him has it did in the past. At least not to such magnitude. Yes he does grow weaker but only at a slow pace, and of course if he doesnt push his powers to hard.

But the red sun to me was always a big mistake, because lets face it, DC can't defend that kryptonians can store immense amounts of energy in their bodies, and simply because they're exposed to red sunlight, that energy just fades away to nowhere. It goes against everything physics taught us, and goes against common sense. The only thing that makes any real sense -in a way I can believe in it- is that kryptonian physiology can't hypermetabolize red sunlight, and has such, every amount of energy spent can no longer be recharged because the adequate source of power is no longer available.

Has for kryptonite goes, in my honest opinion they take it a little to far in terms of isotopes that exists. Not only that, every single isotope of the original green-K has only negative effects on kryptonians. Hell, even Bizarro could make himself more powerful if exposed to green-K, and blue-K had the same effect on Bizarro that green-K had on Superman, so by logic thought process, one could say that blue-K should have made Superman stronger, but the fact was, that apparently it had no effect on him. All this of course (with the exception of the number of isotopes) in the pre-flashpoint timeline.

Kryptonite is very strange, and although in the past it was said the green-K reversed the hypermetabolism of a kryptonian, basicaly draining their bodies of all energy, which of course would lead to their deaths. But in more recent times its stated that what it actually does is change the energy they have stored inside their bodies, to a type that their bodies can't handle and actually damages their bodies. Which makes some sense. At least has green and red kryptonite goes, but when I'm presented with blue, black, silver and gold kryptonite, in my mind, I get the feeling that all reason seems to go out the window.

@heavenlydarkdragon:

Thanks again and as for Red Sun, I just think DC realised that having the one weakness, kryptonite was a tad boring and predictable, so introduced a second weakness, just for a bit of variety!!