Superman??

Question

If kryptonite can't penetrate lead. Why doesn't superman fly round in a lead suit?! i'm sure he could carry it!

ps - he can see through the lead with his x ray vision!

Answer 1

Time out, please; everybody listen.

Prior to the 'reboot' of the Dc universe in the 80's, Superman could not see through lead at all. Now, he apparently can, but not very well. He could see through thin coatings of lead, but not thick ones. All right.

As a rule of thumb, let's say that any layer of lead that Superman can see through is not thick enough to provide him with sufficient protection from Kryptonite. It's a nice idea, but generally you can't have it both ways in the comic book world. So lead paint is out.

The whole 'lead suit' idea has been used before. Long ago (in the sixties!) Superboy had the idea of having spools of thin lead strips in his belt buckle, in which he could wrap himself at super speed at the first painful touch of K radiation.

He forgot or overlooked that Kryptonite slows him down, makes him weak and sick and dizzy. Also, the lead melted from air friction when he tried to fly at super speed.

He has used thicker lead armor with a TV monitor inside when he knew he was going to have to work with Kryptonite (but, that was in the days when a huge K meteorite landed on Earth every week! Apparently, the space warp that his ship formed when it brought him to Earth also dragged behind it a huge amount of Kryptonite.)

Well, he couldn't use his heat vision, the best long range offensive power that he has, when he was in the lead suit. Also, all criminals that wanted to kill him had to do was to shoot the lead suit with a bazooka-- sorry, rocket propelled grenade-- and presto! no more lead suit! hit him with the Kryptonite, boys!

He could have protected the lead suit by wearing it under his super costume, back in the days when it was indestructible cloth from Krypton, but now that they have eliminated that, that won't work any more.

Fortunately, as some have mentioned, Kryptonite is a lot more rare now than it was in the days of old. So all this is sort of a moot point. But I hope I have clarified things as to what has been tried and what hasn't been tried, and the confuson between the old Pre-Crisis Superman and the Post-Crisis Superman.

Answer 2

To begin with kryptonite can penetrate lead, if there is enough force behind it. Like if bullets were made from kryptonite, they could be shot through lead. It's the radiation that kryptonite emits that cannot penetrate lead, because its so dense. You'll probably find gold has a similar effect.

Anyway, Superman doesn't wander around in a gold or lead costume because kryptonite is so rare, not many villains can get their hands on it. And you don't see rich and famous people wander around in bullet proof jackets all the time. Even though they quite often accumulate enemies, simply by being rich and famous.

Answer 3

Cause Kryponite is extremely rare on Earth. It would be pointless to walk around in a suit made of a material that would only slow the radiation of Kryptonite. Remember, he still has to expose his head and face or people wont trust him. And an Iron suit wouldn't fit to well under his reporter costume.

And he CAN see through lead... it's just a lot harder for him to do it and he needs to consentrate on it for a while.

Answer 4

Superman gets his power from the Earth's sun. So if he wore a suit of lead the sun would not be able to charge his batteries so to speak. Why would Superman wear a lead suit if he rarely comes in contact with kyptonite anyway? I mean would you wear a condom all the time just because you MIGHT make it with a woman. Doesn't make much sense.

Answer 5

Even better, why don't they brush him with a coat, from head to toe, of lead based paint?? (and for the guy who answered just before me, superman can catch bullets and missiles. He could easy not be affected if his hands were painted.)

God, they used to use it in the 70's, till it got banned for making people go doo lally with poisoning (or is it mercury that makes you simple?).

Anyone remember the warning adverts about being careful when stripping paint, because of old layers that contained lead? I think that warning still applies for really old houses - so no licking the glossed stair bannisters!

Answer 6

he can't see through lead with his x- ray vision. Also due to his really fast flying and need to move around quickly,the lead would always be breaking off.

Answer 7

He would have to be totally surrounded in lead. Therefore he couldn't see to fly. Any exposure to Kryptonite would make him weak.

Answer 8

I too have thought of this. The only thing I can think of is he can't see through lead.

Answer 9

Public relations. You can be killed by bullets can't you now if you walked around town in a kevlar suit wouldn't you appear silly. Point is you can't always be scared because something might hurt you

Answer 10

i think superman would rather fly around wearing his chonies ( Spanish for underwear), than a heavy lead suit.