Laser eyes and freeze breath may be standard in Superman's arsenal, but the hero has an even more interesting power he rarely gets the chance to use. When the circumstances are right, the Man of Steel can endow humans with the abilities of a Kryptonian.
For nearly a century, Superman has displayed some truly impressive powers. And with every new generation, the feats he's able to perform only become more awe-inspiring. While he shocked the world being able to leap tall buildings in a single bound during his earliest days, the hero eventually took to the skies and flew like a bird or a plane. X-ray vision, super hearing and strength; the Man of Steel only seemed to grow in power as the years went by.
But out of every power Superman possesses, his most interesting has to be the one he gained in Action Comics #857 by Geoff Johns, Richard Donner, Eric Powell, Dave Stewart, Rob Leigh and Nick J. Napolitano. Superman's Pa has been spirited away by his backwards doppelgänger, Bizarro, to the strange alien's home world of Htrae. Orbiting a blue sun rather than yellow or red, Bizarro developed the ability to create new Bizarro heroes and villains to populate his world. Superman discovers what the younger, brighter son does to him as well when Bizarro Lex Luthor unleashes a Bizarro Doomsday that rampages near Jonathan Kent. Superman shoots a strange red, blue and yellow light at his father, which allows him to survive his brush with the monster. Gaining extreme durability, laser eyes and strength, Pa Kent marvels at the powers he's been granted thanks to Clark's newfound "Superman vision."
Unfortunately for Pa Kent, "Superman vision" is only temporary, and by the time the two return to Earth, Jonathan's amazing new abilities have left him. However, the entire event is a fascinating look at how Superman's solar-based powers operate. Anyone familiar with Superman knows that the hero's strength comes from the solar rays he absorbs and that he also becomes weaker when exposed to red sun radiation. While Clark rarely comes into with a blue sun, it appears that one could make the Man of Steel more powerful than ever.
The logic is sound. If a yellow sun imbues Clark with strength and an older red sun weakens him, then it stands that a younger blue sun would make him even stronger. Superman's powers have steadily increased just being exposed to the Solar system's yellow sun, so what would long-term exposure to a blue one do for Superman? Would "Superman vision" be permanent? Or would he develop an even more mind-blowing power? It's a shame readers rarely get to see this avenue explored because "Superman vision" alone raises a number of questions about how powerful the character could truly become.
