Would a more appropriate name for Superman be "Solar Man"?

Answer 1

Solar rays aren't the only source of his power; you wouldn't want him called "Lesser Gravitation Man", now would you...?

His strength, speed and muscular powers come from having been born on Krypton which was supposed to be something like 270 times the size of Earth, so he's that many times stronger than a normal bodybuilder. But for the flight, heat vision, x ray vision and al that, it's the solar rays.

The Encyclopedia of Super Heroes (Facts on File Piblications) lists a Solarman published back in 1940 and another one in 1979.

I think also that there may have been a villain called Solar man at one time. There was at least one bad guy who built a suit covered with solar cells to feed power into his body and make himself strong and fast, but Superman used sunscreen on him and beat him.

2 OCT 07, 2129 hrs, GMT.

Answer 2

Superman was given the name Superman before the sorrce of his powers had been figured out. Also Superman is ment to tell the reader the Superman is supperior to a normal man.