How does Superman fly?

[Anton Furst]

I have a theory - its self telekinesis.

In Superman II, General Zod lifts a man into the air simply by pointing his finger at him. Is this an act of telekinesis? Is the White beam simply a visual representation of what would otherwise be an invisible occurrence?

Is this something that all Kryptonians can do, or only Zod, who has the mental willpower to impose his thoughts on others, as opposed to Superman who doesn't...

In the In the movies, Clark's clothes often appear to disappear from his body, revealing his suit underneath - Is this some kind of mental telepathy that enables him to 'mask' his true appearance from others?

Does this perhaps also explain how he is able to conceal his secret identity with a side-parting and a pair of glasses?

Perhaps Kryptonians are not only thousands of years ahead of us techincally, but mentally as well?

Maybe they use 20% of their brains as opposed to our 10.

 

[SuperFerret]

First off, if you're only using 10% of your brain, you're 90% ******ed.

Second, it's likely an individualized TK effect, but it's never explained to my knowledge.

Third, the movies took a stylistic approach to the costume changes, they aren't meant to be taken literally.

 

[Grommers]

That 10% brain quote was completely taken the wrong way.

You use 100% of your brain, but only 10% of its power, and that's only an estimate.

 

[KalMart]

For the last ^%$#ing time.....




Superman does not fly...he stays in one place and moves the Earth and space around him.

 

[metaphysician]

Actually, I think it derived from the fact that only about ten percent of your neurons are firing at any given time. If all of them fire at once, its called "epilepsy."

Self-TK is as good an explanation as any, re: flight, and has been used before. . . but really, most of the time, he just can.

 

[hopefuldreamer]

New 52 Action Comics issue #4/5 (I can't remember which number right now) attempted to say something about the different gravitys of earth and krypton being the reason, didn't it?

 

[Franklin Richards]

Byrne suggested that it was linked to his willpower similar to Green Lanterns.

 

[The Guard]

I like the idea of it being a form of will powered telekinesis. Superboy has tactile telekinesis as an ex tension of it. At least he did, before he died.

Where is Superboy these days?

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

Explaining how Superman flies takes the fun out of it.

 

[Octoberist]

he flies due to comic book power

 

[Thundercrack85]

Superman only flies because back in the day, the animators of the old Superman cartoon found it easier to draw him flying, than leaping. They never put much thought into it.

Just give him telekinesis.

 

[ЯɘvlveR]

initially it had something to do with the gravity difference between earth and krypton.

 

[Artistsean]

Science of Superman:
[YT]Kcj4TAvKxq8[/YT]
Somewhere in this they talk about how he might be able to fly, including possibly seeing certain types of airwaves that he can fly on.

 

[Union Jack]

For the last ^%$#ing time.....




Superman does not fly...he stays in one place and moves the Earth and space around him.

Hmm. I thought that was chuck Norris!?

 

[DrCosmic]

He has a powerful bioelectric field, which is what protects his clothes, people's he's carrying, and allows to lift things he doesn't have sufficient leverage for. It's not a far jump to say that he can't utilize these same electromagnetic forces to fly.

 

[Duke]

I like this answer best as wikipedia.

Flight: The ability to naturally defy and operate independently of gravity and propel himself through the air at will. Originally, he only had the power to jump great distances, as stated by the 1940s Superman cartoons ("Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound"). Has ranged from simply being able to jump great distances using his vast strength, to beginning in late 1941 being able to accelerate, float in midair, and change direction while traveling. Later he became able to traverse interstellar distances without stopping. Lex Luthor once theorized that Superman had to stem from a gigantic planet with enormous gravity, where his species had developed natural anti-gravity organs to be able to function; on Earth, this would allow him to control his own gravimetric field in order to fly.[1]

 

[Art_of_Crime]

I love it when we try to quantify something like this. Imposing our science upon a fantastic world. We get some really creative answers

 

[metaphysician]

OTOH, we sometimes get really embarrassing Gruenwald narration.

While I'm all for bringing Superman down somewhat from the more absurd silver age power levels, I think it would be a mistake for a movie to delve too much into the scientific underpinnings of Superman's powers.

 

[jonathancrane]

According to Jon Peters, he uses a jetpack.

 

[DrCosmic]

But what match is a jetpack for the fiercest killers in the insect kingdom?

 

[Art_of_Crime]

When in doubt refer to the age old answer. He is an alien.

 

[MarvelKnight]

He raises his fist in the air and says "up up and away!"

 

[Lead Cenobite]

New 52 Action Comics issue #4/5 (I can't remember which number right now) attempted to say something about the different gravitys of earth and krypton being the reason, didn't it?

That's one of the older explanations of his powers. Kryptonians are adapted to the higher gravity of Krypton, meaning they're much stronger than the native lifeforms on lesser-gravity planets. This explanation was originally conceived to explain why they didn't survive the destruction of their own planet, since the original origin said they were super strong even on Krypton. The extreme gravity weakens them to the point that they're only as strong as humans while on Krypton.

 

[batman44]

he flies due to comic book power

This

 

[KRIM]

That 10% brain quote was completely taken the wrong way.

You use 100% of your brain, but only 10% of its power, and that's only an estimate.

No, it's actually 100% bullcrap.