1. He just has them

2. He gets his powers from the sun

He gets them from being from a insanely advanced civilization which has tweaked their DNA for generations to be closer(kinda like we do,but a million times better),plus krypto s gravity is shit tons more than ours,so Clark can go all John carter,and last the sun is absorbed into his body,and fuels him(like everything on earth, just to a SUPER level)which he processes and stores,and uses for his Demi godlike abilities.

There you go

@stephens2177: What ?

i would prefer a third option: "he gets super-charged by the sun but he is far stronger and faster than a human even without it since his body can take the immense gravity of Krypton".

That's my favorite but it is the same with the astronauts when they go to space, their muscles atrophy. Superman muscles should antrophy because Earth's gravity is lower than Kryptons :-( I would though accept it as Kryptonians are already stronger due to physiology rather than gravity.

I always loved to think that Golden Age Superman was just Kal-El before he starts absorbing sunlight :-)

the same!

That's how I always seen it too

Actually I like that option too.

I think it should have always been explained like this. The source of his powers are that Kryptonians are just naturally stronger and tougher than humans and yellow sunlight enhances these natural abilities and causes new ones to form. So even if Superman is under a planet with a red sun or is battling against red solar energy he can still lift around 50 tons, go from zero to 200 mph, and leap pretty high as well as being bullet proof. With yellow sunlight he's at classic levels.

This of course means that red sunlight isn't much of a weakness anymore, but it's enough to bring him down to where he's more vulnerable since he's just bulletproof and high-powered explosions would be enough to kill him.

naw I hate humans just being weaker then EVERY alien race 'just because'

I think aliens would pretty much be like humans because the theme's of evolution would be the same everywhere

I like the idea that his super genius parents genetically made him like this and any hero/villain from space or earth are special(exceptions) to the rest of the universe

I'm cool with advanced(as in age of their culture) aliens but their pretty much green humans for invasion themes lead by their special leader.

@kasino: You DO realize that only a handful of aliens in most comic universes are superhero level right? I mean in DC very few members of the various Lantern Corps' are what could be considered superpowered. I can think of one Green Lantern that has superpowers that don't come from his ring and that's Sodam Yat. The people of the planet R'an are basically the same level as humans, as are many other races, give or take a few things.

Even in Marvel, the Kree as a race can lift 2 tons barring the superhero members of the race like Mar-Vell, Genis-Vell, Noh-Varr, and Ronan the Accuser. The Shi'ar and Spartoi are basically human-level, minus the longer life-spans. Xandarians, the creators of the Nova Corps are human level as well.

Even in other sci-fi genres such as Star Trek, there's a LOT of races that are basically indistinguishable from humans in many ways. In Doctor Who, Time Lords are identical save for the regeneration and two hearts.

@kasino: what has any of that got to do with superman ?

@z3ro180: I explained how I like Superman having his powers and specified what i think of aliens and there powers

@smart_dork_dude: not really going through the entire list would take too long. while they all aren't Superman but most can and have invaded. we have many that are heroes on earth now. their are more invading capable aliens to those that are pretty much on human level(on our strength and technological level, Rannians are all geniuses in comparison). the give or take of a few things is a huge difference.A bull-man is much more powerful then just a human for example of the GL corps members, their physiology just makes them inherently stronger then humans. We meet most of these aliens by being invaded and very few that we needed to go save(even then most are technologically superior that they could be major heroes on Earth). Shiar's are way stronger then humans by the way.

many Legion members are heroes just because of their alien abilities

This.

@kasino: Hmm.....................................................................You're a xenophobe aren't you?

...This is so wrong on so many different levels of evolutionary biology that it makes my head hurt.

Go to fail. Go directly to fail, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars.

Evolution is very much subject to the butterfly effect. Small shifts in conditions can have radical alterations in the end product.

Had humanity developed in Europe rather than Africa during the waning years of the quartenary period we'd be very much different than what we are now.

Nevermind another god damn planet.

While it is possible that there may be a planet in the universe where a species identical to humanity may form, the chances are so low that the nearest one would be on a planet...outside the observable freaking universe.

Were I a teaching professor rather than a lab scientist and you were under my tutelage and you put those words in one of my exams I'd fail you without looking at anything else.

I prefer him getting his powers from the sun.

I prefer Superboy NOT getting his powers from the sun,same as the hulk,or any other self sustaining powerful being.