Sometimes he can and other times he can't. Let's decide once and for all!

@redwingx: At current times in the comics Superman can either breath or hold his breath in space.

I do think he should require either O2 or CO2, he needs to somehow break down energy, so no, but comics bra what you gonna do

I'm sure he can. He's been in space before with little to no problem. Though someone less could probably clear this up for you.

He should because we need more space adventures.

He can.

There's nothing to breathe, and you can't breathe in a vacuum anyway. I know comics doesn't care about science though. I guess it depends on the writer.

He shouldn't need to breathe, whether it be space or earth.

i don't think he needs to breathe. he is a human solar battery. i think that's why he can survive in space.

No he shouldn't be able to and hasn't been written as able to for a long time I believe. He can hold his breath comfortably for a very, very long time sure but does not breathe in the vacuum, so him casually going into orbit or spending time on the moon is kinda like a whale diving to the ocean floor; he can spend a long time there but needs to reach a source of breathable atmosphere eventually. That is demonstrated in Superman Unchained when one of his strategies when battling Wraith is to not give him a chance to breath and he knows this because Wraith is similar in certain parts of his physiology. In Action Comics I also remember him using an oxygen tank when he leaped to the Collector's ship so yeah he needs to breathe.

Long ago during that Imperiex War comic, Mongul trained him to be able to recycle his breath so he would be able to remain in the vacuum of space without breathing indefinitely but I suspect it was not canon and my memory of it is hazy.

Recycling his breath would make more sense imo, as it's not so much him negating the need to breath but rather using his cellular energy to convert the products of his breath back into a reusable form that can be metabolized again and just repeating the cycle. If he is to engage in more space adventures further out then this would be the way to go. Breathing in space without a solid, known mechanism is nonsense otherwise.

^^^ What he said. It was confirmed in Superman: Unchained that Superman still needs to breath to live, and he can only hold his breath in space and under water. I believe this is why Wraith took him under water.

Lmao! Superman flew from the edge of the Universe to Earth for 60 days in space! he doesn't need no damn air!

He does not need to breathe or eat, and thus can survive in space.

@redwingx:

In the new 52 not only can he breath in space but he can also talk in the vaccum of space.

In the pre-N52 since after his death in the fight with Doomsday and posterior resurrection and power upgrade, he started being able to breathe in space. Sometime afterwards he lost that ability only to regain it when he trained with Mongul to fight Imperiex.

After that point he pretty much maintained that ability to current date.

But if what you want is a reasonable answer has to why he can breath in space, or more precisely why he doesn't need oxygen to survive. Then we can simply look at how his powers work.

Even on Earth, Superman said a lot of times that he didn't needed to eat, drink, or sleep. Now if his kryptonian physiology when it's in super-powered mode can bypass such things, then it's only natural that something also has crucial has breathing can also be bypassed.

And at least Superman has a good reason why he can do what he does. He gains power from our G class star. But other super-powered beings like Martian Manhunter and Starfire, can also bypass the all breathing process, and has far has I can tell, I don't see any reason has to how they can do it.

Starfire gets her powers from ultraviolet radiation, and has such I can play ball, but Martian Manhunter gets his powers from, well... Who knows, where. And that's why when people say Superman is OP, I always like to remember them of Martian Manhunter.

Certainly. It makes the character look a lot more exotic and alien(in a good way) while fitting perfectly with his scope and adventures.

Better if we forget that :P

I personally don't want him to. He should also have a limit to long he can hold his breath like one hour or so. I just really want Superman to get a ship and go on space adventure<3

Also think of the nice Kryptonian space suits he could wear.

Yes , I think so he stores energy like a battery so what would be the issue. If he can sun dip but needed air it would be a strange combo.

Totally.

If he doesn't need to eat, sleep, or drink, then it'd be logical for him not to need to breath. Although he can breath, just not need to. Not to mention that it adds to the fact that he is an Alien.

To "breathe in space " is impossible,even for Superman.

1- Or Superman doesn't need to breath

2- or he needs to breathe but he can hold his breath for an extremely long period of time.

Also in the pre-52 continuity i fear.

@toptom: @squalleon:

True and true.

But my point is quite simple.

Time and time again we're told, that his powers allow him to not sleep, drink, eat, or breath. But we do see him sleep, drink, eat and breath, it's just that for Superman is a way to make Clark Kent real and for him to feel more close to humans.

And we can't forget, that fundamentally, a kryptonian like any living being needs the same things humans do, it's just when their powers are on, that they gain the ability to "bypass" what should be essencial life and death stuff.

Another question that could also be made, is "Should Superman be able to live longer or indefinitely?", after all we've all seen that at first he grows old at a normal rate, maybe so his body can develop naturally, but has he (or any kryptonian) grows older, the aging process slows down to a crawl or stops altogether, depending on who's writing the story.

So a kryptonian under a red sun, ages naturally and dies, while a super-powered kryptonian ages naturally until he reaches full maturity and then, depending on who's writing, they either age at an extremely slow rate or they stop aging altogether. In some stories the aging process is actually accompanied by a steady increase in their powers.

All of this, a proof has to how extent is the change brought about by their powers.

It's their powers that are the real mystery here. How they fundamentally work, we don't know. Even kryptonians themselves don't exactly know. We've gone from their powers being a result of extreme gravity, to extreme dense molecular structures, to having special organs, to highly complex dna.

The gravity, and special organs have been pretty much erased from the theories board. Extreme molecular structures.... long shot, but maybe. Highly complex dna, has a result of the unique exotic elements that existed on Krypton... Most credible possibility, or at least the one that we've no way to prove or disprove.

he i don't think he needs to breathe he just runs off the solar energy

Sure.

There's nothing to breathe in space -_- he can hold his breath, if that's what you mean

wish they would make Superman a Mutant even for the world he came from. Super for even them.

That would make him stand out more when others come from his world.

Why not?