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In literature, mythology, and comic books, heroes often have a "kryptonite" or "Achilles's heel", basically a weakness that makes them vulnerable. I'm curious, what would be considered Superman's "kryptonite"?

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[-] Pippipartner@discuss.tchncs.de 58 points 10 months ago

Obviously loss of glasses, making him recognizable in civilian life.

[-] ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world 20 points 10 months ago

Superman doesn't wear glasses tho

[-] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 22 points 10 months ago

Yeah, what a dumb thing to say. He's super, he'd never wear glasses.

Running out of hair gel is a big weakness though

[-] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago
[-] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Sure, he at least has the contact info of Green Lantern I think, maybe Wonder Woman

[-] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 52 points 10 months ago

Dats a shitpost alright

[-] TabbsTheBat@pawb.social 38 points 10 months ago

Superman's kryptonite is interesting writing

[-] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

As a life long Superman fan with like 4 notably good Superman stories to read in his 87 year history. Fuck you... but yes.

[-] Not_Dav3@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago
[-] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

The truly classic ones I've read are Red Son, All-Star Superman, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow, For the Man Who Has Everything, Kingdom Come, and the Death of Superman.

I also like the New Krypton/War of the Supermen storyline though.

[-] ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago

I wouldn't know, I haven't seen smallville

[-] CitizenKong@lemmy.world 25 points 10 months ago

Zack Snyder.

[-] Wilco@lemm.ee 24 points 10 months ago

Superman's kryptonite is the fact that he is popular and everyone thinks the character would make great media, but the character is way too overpowered to write good plots for.

Oh, that and actual Kyrptonite.

[-] Hoimo@ani.social 7 points 10 months ago

Superman makes for great stories, as long as you don't focus on his power. You can't beat him with physical strength, so stop trying to write strong villains. Probably stop writing villains at all. What Superman struggles with isn't physical embodiments of evil, it's the good intentions paving the way to hell. You can't punch a person with good intentions for their bad outcomes. It's hard being the ultimate arbiter of good in a world of complex morality.

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[-] leaky_shower_thought@feddit.nl 19 points 10 months ago

he needs a telephone booth to change?

[-] Twinklebreeze@lemmy.world 17 points 10 months ago

I'm pretty sure it's magic.

[-] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

yep, which is why a lot of the magic team ups in DC start with superman getting owned.

[-] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

Psychic abilities too.

[-] hactar42@lemmy.world 17 points 10 months ago

Per Glen Weldon in his book Superman: The Unauthorized Biography, kryptonite representing the destructive force of nostalgia and survivor’s guilt, reminding us that clinging to the past can undermine the present.

Siegel and Shuster had created the Man of Steel as the ultimate immigrant, the personification of the promise America represented to them. His abilities are metaphors for limitless potential and opportunity, for new horizons stretching out before us: the American Way.
It seems fitting, then, that the only thing capable of harming him would be a reminder of the Old World he left behind, a past that is irrevocably gone. Only the past—our past—can hurt us.
To this day, kryptonite functions in the Superman mythos as the physical manifestation of both survivor’s guilt and a particularly toxic kind of nostalgia, a reminder that when we dwell on what we’ve lost, we can kill what we have.

[-] Zero22xx 5 points 10 months ago

First time I've ever read of this interpretation and that's super fucking cool.

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[-] Sonotsugipaa@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 10 months ago

Superman's kryptonite is still unkown, unfortunately.
Scientists have speculated that understanding the physiology of Subman (Superman's greatest threat) may help us find it, but so far polite requests for non-invasive experiments have been declined and we cannot, in good conscience, forcefully subject him to them.

[-] helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

They got the wrong guy, subman is a breeze in the wind compared to subparman.

[-] harlyson@lemm.ee 13 points 10 months ago

I’m like 99% sure that he is afraid of bald people. Whenever the reoccurring token bald guy shows up he gets really scared. He could just be afraid of robots, I remember he was afraid of batman’s robots too, I don't believe batman is bald, but I’ve never seen batman without his suit. Superman has X-ray vision though, and I'm not sure he can turn that off so maybe he is afraid of batman because he is bald and not because he is afraid of robots.

Robots and bald people, final answer.

[-] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

His ultimate weakness: bald robots

[-] SuDmit 12 points 10 months ago

Trying to recreate that reddit post, huh?

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[-] Freshparsnip@lemm.ee 11 points 10 months ago

Reminds of when Barney on How I Met Your Mother was trying to remember the holy grail of cups

[-] DrBob@lemmy.ca 11 points 10 months ago

True heterosexual love between a biological man and a biological woman. It's why he never hooks up with Lois Lane and keeps sneaking peeks at Jimmy's junk at the gym.

[-] RandomVideos@programming.dev 9 points 10 months ago
[-] polderprutser@feddit.nl 8 points 10 months ago

Superman's Kryptonite is that he can never, ever be fed after midnight!

[-] zout@fedia.io 8 points 10 months ago

A mixture of: 15.08% plutonium, 18.06% tantalum, 27.71% xenon, 24.02% promethium, 10.62% dialium, 3.94% mercury, 0.57% an unknown element not found on the known periodic table. You could use tar instead.

[-] ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

What about using wet socks

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[-] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 10 months ago

He's super pee-shy, can we use that against him?

[-] ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

Superpeeshyman

[-] Kalothar@lemmy.ca 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Solid JJ the only real answer to this shit post

https://youtu.be/Yc6pkKXxZGs

[-] betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago
[-] No_Money_Just_Change@feddit.org 5 points 10 months ago

Preparation time?

[-] neukenindekeuken@sh.itjust.works 4 points 10 months ago
[-] ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Seems likely

[-] Karl@programming.dev 3 points 10 months ago
[-] ooli2@lemm.ee 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Now I wonder what the "Achilles's heel" would be for the immortal great hero Achilles

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[-] professormarshmallow@lemmy.cafe 2 points 10 months ago

Little blind girls.

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this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2025
149 points (100.0% liked)

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