Does anyone know how Superman came to get his power and abilities and what is the story? What are his powers?

Answer 1

Superman is an Alien from the Planet Krypton, which long ago exploded.

There are various incarnations of this character, from Comics, Film and Animated varieties that have different origins and reasons behind his powers.

Most revolve around Kryptonian's having unique cellular structure that under Yellow Sun, and on a planet like Earth with a lower gravity, their cells become more dense (invulnerability) and allow them to jump very high or fly. So, by being on Earth, Superman, like any Kryptonians (Zod, Supergirl, Krypto, etc) all gain their powers naturally.

His powers and abilities change depending on who is writing him, and let it be known that there are 3 comic characters with this name.

1. The original Golden Age Superman, created in 1939, Kal-L was later retconned to be the Superman of a parallel Earth, Earth-2 where he as Clark Kent worked for the Daily Star and was around during World War II. He originally had limited powers: Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap (not fly) over a tall building in a single bound. Later his powers would eventually mirror the Post Crisis Superman’s.

2. Then, in the 1960’s until 1985, they created a new Comic version of Superman, Kal-El from Earth-1. He is the Silver Age version of the character, and of note is NOT the same Superman in comics today. His main differences was that he was much more powerful than current heroes as he had the ability to Hypnotize people, and could Move Planets. This overpowered version of Superman would again change depending on who wrote him, but was later removed from history during the reboot after the first crisis.

3. Superman, Post-Crisis is the most common Superman now appearing in comics. He was created in the Man of Steel mini-series, and slightly re-tooled during the Birthright storyline. He has the most balanced powers:
Flight, Invulnerability (to everything but Magic, Kryptonite and Psionics) , Artic Breathe, Vision Powers (Heat, X-ray, microscopic, telescopic, and others such as at times a Soul Vision, and others still), Super Hearing, and a very quick regeneration if he is injured and no longer poisoned by Kryptonite.

Hope this helps.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_and_abilities_of_Superman

Answer 2

The source of Superman's powers has changed subtly over the course of his history. It was originally stated that Superman's abilities derived from his Kryptonian heritage, which made him eons more evolved than humans.[68] This was soon amended, with the source for the powers now based upon the establishment of Krypton's gravity as having been stronger than that of the Earth. This situation mirrors that of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter. As Superman's powers increased, the implication that all Kryptonians had possessed the same abilities became problematic for writers, making it doubtful that a race of such beings could have been wiped out by something as trifling as an exploding planet. In part to counter this, the Superman writers established that Kryptonians, whose native star Rao had been red, only possessed superpowers under the light of a yellow sun.[88] More recent stories have attempted to find a balance between the two explanations

Answer 3

There are 2 reasons that a person from Krypton has powers on Earth. The first of these is that the gravity on Krypton was greater than gravity on Earth is. this gives Superman and others from Krypton super stength, speed, and flight powers. The second reason is that the Star the Krypton orbited was a red star and Earth orbits a yellow star. The differance in energies from the stars gives Superman invunlnibilty, super hearing, X-ray vission, heat vission (not laser vission), telescopic vission, microscopic vission, super breath (cold), and possibly enhanced intelligence.

Answer 4

The original superman originally had just super strength because he came from a planet with a much higher gravitational pull, but now he has all these weird powers which come from our yellow sun, instead of the red sun of krypton.

Answer 5

are you sure you are not from another planet?

everyone knows that Superman was born on the planet krypton, rocketed to Earth as a baby by his parents to escape the destruction of his planet, and his powers are a by-product of being in the vicinity of a yellow sun, (Kryptons was red), He is faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a steam locomotive and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

His powers include:

Invunerability
Super Speed
Flight
Super Strength
X-ray vision
Heat Vision
Super Breath
Super Hearing
Super Sense of Smell

Answer 6

Go to the Superman through the Ages site, and you will be able to read all the original old scans of his first issues! They show all the versions of his origin (the original version, and the updated versions.) You will be surprised at how much he has changed over the years, and how much he has remained the same! This is one of the very few sites where you can read on line comics for free, that are not ripping off the publishers.

21 FEB 07, 0334 hrs, GMT.

Answer 7

Superman doesnt really have powers. Its just that humans cant do what he can do. If a human went to another plantet and the residents couldnt jump or swim would that mean that human has powers?

Answer 8

He is an alien. ON his home planet of Krypton he is normal. But under Earth's sun he achieves superpowers.
Superspeed
Flight
Strength
X-ray vision
lazer vision
Invulnerability
Telescopic vision
super hearing
super voice

Answer 9

He came from the planet Krypton so he already had powers when he came to earth.

Answer 10

superman is the son of some guy (i forgot his name) and is an alien from the planet krypton...... all of the ppl from the planet had those powers but the planet was deystoyed and he was the only one who survived..... duh..... i cant believe i knew all of that.... i'm kinda scared now.....