Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Wonder Woman #8Superman is one of the world’s greatest heroes and wields one of the most iconic power sets in the DC Universe. From his incalculable strength to his incredible hearing, Clark Kent wields abilities far greater than those of any mortal man. And while the Man of Steel is still faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive, his ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound no longer holds much weight.
The “World’s Finest Pt. 5” backup story by Tom King and Belén Ortega in Wonder Woman #8 highlights the outdated nature behind the world-famous Superman saying. Discussing her “uncles” with a samurai during a time-travel adventure, Lizzie Prince is unable to complete Clark’s fan-favorite slogan and says, “I forget. It’s like, a jumping thing, but he flies? I don’t know, I don’t get that one.”
While this is meant as a tongue-in-cheek moment to establish the new Wonder Girl’s closeness with her superhero family, it does raise a valid point. After all, Superman doesn’t do much leaping these days.
As the ultimate superhero, Superman’s physical attributes are arguably the strongest in the DC Universe. With his powers only having grown since his debut in Action Comics #1 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, describing Clark as “faster than a speeding bullet” or “more powerful than a locomotive” are arguably vast understatements, but it’s his leaping ability that really sticks out. Even if he couldn’t fly, Superman still wields powers that can shatter planets. With that in mind, it’s no wonder that the Man of Steel would have strong enough legs to hop over a skyscraper.
In his initial debut, leaping was Kal-El’s main mode of transportation, and his ability to fly wasn’t officially stated as canon in the comics until 1944’s Superman #30 by Don C. Cameron, Ira Yarbrough, and Stan Kaye. But in the decades since, Superman’s power has grown exponentially to the point where he’s one of DC’s strongest beings. When considering how he has abilities like microscopic vision and his solar flare in his arsenal, Lizzie Prince is totally right that Superman’s incredible leaping abilities simply aren’t as notable as they once were.
Interestingly enough, this shift with the times actually stands at odds with most of Superman’s colleagues and peers. Typically, the industry-wide trend has seen publishers and comic creators taking the mystical, fantastical, or simply ‘magical’ and concocting more modern, scientically sound explanations (understandably ‘misunderstood’ by previous incarnations). But in the case of Superman’s ability to fly, the opposite is arguably true.
Originally, most of Superman’s superhuman strengths and abilities were credited to his Kryptonian heritage. Born to a bigger, denser planet, the forces of both genetics and gravity meant Kryptonians were tougher, stronger, and more hardy than human beings of Earth ever had any need to be. Take one survivor of this crucible and toss them into the easier environments and gravitational forces of Earth, and a man becomes a god.
In this specific context, those original claims make perfect sense as a trio: Superman’s body was effectively made to move through water, so take him out of the pool, and his speed becomes unthinkable. Be bred strong enough to even survive the colossal forces battering Krypton, and he packs the potential energy of a freight train on our world. Evolve muscle tissues to simply stand upright against Krypton’s gravity, and on Earth, a jump could send him flying hundreds, if not thousands of feet into the air.
That all makes scientific sense, and Siegel and Shuster could have justified their Superman by alluding to ants or grasshoppers; everyday beings whose environment, and evolution, had made impossible feats possible. Compare that to something like Superman’s physiology somehow granting him mastery over gravity itself, and ‘leaping tall buildings in a single bound’ represents the logic that once defined Superman. And it’s been a long time since the Man of Steel had things like gravity to worry about.
Superman will always be faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. But Clark Kent has long since proven that he’s capable of more than just that, and while the slogan is an iconic piece of the Man of Steel’s history, it just doesn’t pack the same punch it used to. These days, Superman can do far more in a single bound than just leap over tall buildings.
Wonder Woman #8 is on sale now from DC Comics.
