10 Things You Might Not Know About Superman

It’s no secret that Superman’s most notable Achilles heel is kryptonite – a compound from Kal-El’s home planet of Krypton. However, even though kryptonite has been a part of the Superman mythos since 1943, it wasn’t created in the comic books.

Back in the 40s, many fans got their Man of Steel fix from a radio show called The Adventures of Superman. The show was recorded live, so when voice actor Clayton “Bud” Collyer wanted to take time off, an on-air explanation was needed for his absence.

This led to the introduction of kryptonite, which was based on a prototype from a story written by Jerry Siegel in 1940 titled The K-Metal from Krypton. When Collyer was scheduled to miss a recording, he would be placed in a “kryptonite trap,” and a stand-in voice actor would grunt and groan in pain for the next few episodes until Collyer returned.

Superman has taken on some of the worst villains you could possibly imagine. There’s Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Darkseid, etc. However, perhaps the most notable evil entity that the Man of Steel has tussled with is the Ku Klux Klan.

In 1946, a human rights activist named Stetson Kennedy infiltrated the KKK, seeking to take them down from within. To do so, he contacted the producers of the aforementioned Adventures of Superman radio show, pitching them an intriguing storyline: Superman takes down the KKK.

The producers, needing a new enemy for Supes to battle, quickly greenlit the idea, and the 16-episode series, titled The Clan of the Fiery Cross, aired in June of that year. Because Kennedy was feeding the show runners inside information, the Klan’s secret code words and rituals were all revealed on-air, effectively eliminating much of the group’s mystique. The Klan was mocked, humiliated, and most importantly, weakened.

As I mentioned earlier, Superman’s most notable weakness is kryptonite. However, that’s far from the only thing that can put a dent in the Man of Steel.

Another major weakness of Superman, which is actually two-fold, is the sun. First and foremost, red solar radiation, like that from the red sun of Krypton, causes Superman to lose his powers, though it doesn’t usually have the same painful, crippling effect as kryptonite.

In addition to this, Superman’s reliance on yellow solar radiation for his powers to work can also be considered a weakness. In Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, a nuclear blast blocks out the sun, thus weakening Superman ahead of his battle with Batman. To deprive Kal-El of sunlight is to deprive him of his power.

Aside from solar-based weaknesses, Superman’s other major downfall is magic. It’s not because he’s actually weak against it, though. As mighty as Superman is, his abilities are the product of natural phenomenon, not supernatural. Because of this, a magic spell would affect him just the same as it would affect any other non-magical being.

If you’re familiar with the Man of Steel, you’ve probably noticed at one point or another that many of his supporting characters share a common bond – the initials “LL.”

First, there’s Superman’s one true love, Lois Lane, who also has a sister named Lucy. Then, of course, there’s Lana Lang, who had a father named Lewis and a brother named Larry.

Between Superman, Superboy, and Clark Kent respectively, other love interests have included Lyla Lerrol, Lyrica Lloyd, Lal Leta, Lahla, and Lori Lemaris, whose sister was Lenora.

Let’s not forget the Luthors, either. Originally just called Luthor, editors decided in 1960 that Superman’s archenemy needed a first name, so they decided on Lex. Lex has a sister named Lena, and their parents are Lionel and Letitia.

Finally, in the Legion of Superheroes, Superboy would team up with Lightning Lad and Lightning Lass to take on Lightning Lord.

We all know that Superman has super-speed. However, he’s hardly the only one in the DC Universe that can boast this power. In fact, the most notable speedster in the DCU is Kal-El’s Justice League teammate, The Flash.

While Superman’s speed is the result of his Kryptonian cells being supercharged by Earth’s yellow sun, The Flash’s powers come from the Speed Force. This allows The Flash to travel faster than the speed of light, a feat the modern Superman is unable to replicate.

Although the two have raced on a number of occasions with varying results, the generally accepted belief is that The Flash can run faster than Superman, but Superman can fly faster than The Flash can run.

To be fair, it was actually a mistake by artist Leo Nowak that resulted in Lex Luthor being bald. Originally, he was depicted as a middle-aged man with a full head of red hair. However, less than a year after his debut, Lex inexplicably appeared completely bald in a newspaper strip.

The artistic faux pas was eventually worked into Lex’s back-story in Adventure Comics #271 (April 1960). Here, a young Lex Luthor rescued Superboy (who, at this point in his history, was a teenage Superman) from exposure to kryptonite. As a thank you, Superboy built Lex a laboratory, which he used to find an antidote for kryptonite poisoning.

However, a fire emerged in the lab, and Superboy used his super-breath to extinguish the flames. Once the blaze is contained, Superboy realized his super-breath caused chemicals to spill onto Lex, resulting in the loss of his hair.

Lex, of course, chalked up this turn of events to Superboy being jealous of him. Believing Superboy intentionally destroyed his work and caused him to go bald, Lex vowed to exact his revenge, thus making him and Kal-El sworn enemies. 

If you had extraordinary power, wouldn’t you want the whole world to know about it? The last thing you would ever do is hide in plain sight, right?

Despite all of the clues, for years, Lex Luthor never seemed to make the connection that Clark Kent and Superman were one in the same. For a supposed “evil genius,” this didn’t make much sense.

Eventually, it was revealed that Lex did know Superman’s secret identity, but chose not to believe it. The reason for this was because as a megalomaniac, Lex believed that people of power would always reflect themselves as people of power. Therefore, it perplexed him that if Clark Kent was really Superman, he would simply live the life of an ordinary reporter, rather than bask in his own glory.

When it comes to the big “S” on the chest, most people believe one of three things: The “S” stands for Superman, it’s the symbol of the House of El, or it’s the Kryptonian symbol for “hope.” Truthfully, all three are correct.

Upon its inception, the “S” stood for Superman, plain and simple. However, in 1978’s Superman: The Movie, it was revealed to actually be a Coat of Arms representing the House of El. Then, in 2004, writer Mark Waid’s Superman: Birthright indicated that the S-Shield was a Kryptonian symbol meaning “hope.” This was later confirmed by writer and current DC Entertainment President and CCO Geoff Johns, who stated the “S” is both the symbol of the House of El, as well as the Kryptonian symbol for “hope.”

At the start of this list, I mentioned the fact that Superman was first created in 1933. What I didn’t mention, though, is that the initial concept was far removed from the Man of Steel we all know and love today.

In January 1933, Jerry Siegel wrote a short story titled The Reign of the Superman, which was illustrated by Joe Shuster. Rather than the story of a barrel-chested, cape-wearing superhero, though, the original Superman was a bald-headed, telepathic villain seeking world domination. The story was inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's idea of an Übermensch, and it first appeared in issue #3 of Science Fiction: The Advance Guard of Future Civilization.

Soon after, Siegel rewrote the character entirely, with the name “Superman” being the only remnant of his original creation. The rest, as they say, is history. 

Is there a lesser-known fact about Superman that you didn't see on this list? Let us know in the comments section!