Ignoring Morrison's addition of microwave vision in Action Comics #2 as well as Snyder giving Superman Gamma Vision in Superman Unchained #1, there's another notable moment where Superman got new powers in the mid 2000s. So no this isn't the Red & Blue Superman powers I'm talking about. During Up, Up and Away along with Busiek following it up in his Superman run, both Johns and Busiek gave Superman

• Increased super senses
• The ability to process information and sensory data much faster than he could before
• AND an eidetic memory too.

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Just some examples of what I'm talking about. Ironically Johns worked on Up, Up and Away with Busiek and yet he doesn't remember giving Superman increased Super senses and a Super Brain too, Oh Geoff tsk tsk...

Those are more of an upgrade rather than new :P

Also the DC image they had releashed listing Superman's power with their first appearance dates didn't have Super-breath in their list. I love Super-breath :(

I know this is an odd place to post this, but it really upsets me how poorly many people are reacting to the new power. "It's just a stupid marketing tactic to make Superman even more powerful in hopes of making him popular again" Yeah, so? Are you saying you want Superman to just stay the same? Because all he could do at first was be strong, fast and able to jump high. Like, is that really what you want?

I'd argue that Super Brain wasn't really emphasised until Up, Up and Away myself.

And agreed, I love Super Breath too. It technically makes more scientific sense than heat vision does when you think about it.

Very interesting

Meh, the Super-brain is an on and off deal. It is either used or not depending on the writer. Superman supposedly has a super-brain currently and I don't see him using it. Last time I remember was in Morrison's run but he still has it.

My particular favorite would be Freeze Breath. But it really doesn't make any sense :P

I'm pretty neutral on the whole situation. But honestly from what I can tell I don't see Superman using his new power that much since it leaves his cells depleted, and drain him him of his powers for 24 hours. So that power is going to be more of a last resort versus a regular thing like his heat vision.

Also I don't really think making Superman more powerful is going to necessarily sell better, stronger characters necessarily sale more or else Spider-man, Batman, Harley Quinn would be at the bottom, instead of consistently being in the top 25.

@squalleon: Arguably Snyder's Unchained showed off the Super Brain considering the tactics and strategies Superman was coming up with.

Well none of Superman's powers make much real scientific sense, I'd go so far as to say freeze breath is a logically more plausible power.

What he said.

@lvenger:

Well, we can't actually call those, new powers. He should already possess those abilities from the start, IMO.

Now, Morrison microwave vision and Snyder gamma vision, were thing's Superman never had before, with the one exception of the microwaves. After the events following Superman return to life, defeating Cyborg Superman, getting his powers back, and then later when they started to grow at an ever more increased rate, Superman got two new powers. 1st) He no longer needed oxygen and could survive indefinitely in space 2nd) He became able to see microwaves.

Not to mention Superman has been demonstrated to see souls.

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Except that the Super Brain was a clear addition during Up, Up and Away and allowed Superman to perform mental, intellectual and processing feats he hadn't been able to do before.

Yes exactly, I did point those out in my OP and Geoff Johns' Superpower vision under a Blue Sun is another power Clark gained less than a decade ago. I'm also very up to date on my Superman history too so I know about his 'survive without oxygen' powers. They've been inconsistently written based on the writers but technically they still apply.

@lvenger:

Yes there was clearly an increase in brain processing power. I remember it was like all of the sudden he could use his senses and his reasoning at a much higher degree. Not only that he could actually apply more power output to each of his powers, like when he disabled the kryptonian war ship. He said it himself, that before he would never have been able to concentrate his heat vision to that degree. Which proved to a certain point that his powers levels depend on his mental awareness/capacity.

It was a fun period, too bad DC never took it to its full potential.

Wow, that smarter superman seems awesome :O

I need to read some stories where he is like that.

@heavenlydarkdragon: I'd more say that it's a new power in of itself but I do recall times when Superman used genius level intellect or super speed processing of information in some of his appearances so you may have a point.

Didn't he also have some weird "super-hypnotism" power?

Waaaay back in the Silver Age, was just reading an issue of Justice League of America where he uses it to free the League from mind control lol.

Really? I remember it being more recent. Like late 90s/early 2000s

@lvenger said:

Ignoring Morrison's addition of microwave vision in Action Comics #2 as well as Snyder giving Superman Gamma Vision in Superman Unchained #1, there's another notable moment where Superman got new powers in the mid 2000s. So no this isn't the Red & Blue Superman powers I'm talking about. During Up, Up and Away along with Busiek following it up in his Superman run, both Johns and Busiek gave Superman

• Increased super senses
• The ability to process information and sensory data much faster than he could before
• AND an eidetic memory too.

Gallery

Just some examples of what I'm talking about. Ironically Johns worked on Up, Up and Away with Busiek and yet he doesn't remember giving Superman increased Super senses and a Super Brain too, Oh Geoff tsk tsk...

Superman's optical powers aren't really a new addition since he could see in the frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum. He'd already shown he could project the energies before (X-ray, heat vision, etc.) so it was actually pretty sensible that he could project the others. It was more like that territory was more unexplored than anything else. Same as when Supes pushed the x-ray frequency higher into the gamma frequencies. It's not a new power, just a different manifestation of the old one. Like zigging instead of zagging.

The same case is with the super senses. He could always see in microscopic and telescopic levels, could hear exceptionally well, so it made sense that his other natural senses were superhuman. Again, it was more like that avenue of his abilities were simply never explored. After all, in a Superman comic, most people would rather see Superman blast heat vision or hear a bullet miles away before catching it than use super-tasting or super-smelling.

Finally, Superman's brainpower seemed to be more of a natural trait inherited by the Kryptonian race due to their evolution as a species, as opposed to being a result of their cells being charged by g-sequence solar radiation. Granted, the rate at which he processes said information was due to his super-speed, a power he'd long already had, but his intellect and mental prowess wasn't so much a superpower as it was a natural Kryptonian ability.