Warning! Spoilers for Action Comics #1080!Even someone as powerful as Superman is quickly brought down by Kryptonite - but not his brother. As the weakness of every Kryptonian, using Kryptonite is a great idea when hunting down escaped Phantom Zone prisoners, as Superman is in the latest Action Comics arc. But since Superman can't use Kryptonite, he has to rely on his Daxamite brother, Mon-El, who is completely immune to Kryptonite - but not invulnerable.

The Super-Family begin rounding up the escaped Phantom Zone criminals in Action Comics #1080 by Mark Waid and Clayton Henry. Rounding up a bunch of escaped Kryptonians is definitely a difficult task. Naturally, the easiest way to capture the Zoners would be by using Kryptonite, but considering the majority of the Super-Family are themselves Kryptonians, they'd be equally affected by the Kryptonite as well.

the Phantom Zone prisoners are too clever or too strong to be hit by these special guns, Superman's brother Mon-El swoops in to help. While the rest of the Super-Family are easily beaten by Kryptonite, Mon-El is completely immune due to one major difference in his biology.

Superman's Daxamite Brother, Mon-El, Can Use Kryptonite Without Harm

Action Comics #1080 by Mark Waid, Clayton Henry, Matt Herms, and Dave Sharpe

Kryptonite is the irradiated shards of the planet Krypton, and even a small piece can be deadly to Kryptonians - but Mon-El isn't Kryptonian. Mon-El is a Daxamite, which is a biological off-shoot of Kryptonians. Daxamites have all the same powers as Kryptonians, but none of the weaknesses. Under a yellow sun, Mon-El is just as powerful as Superman, but he's able to wield Kryptonite with ease and suffers no ill effects from it, making Mon-El one of the most powerful beings in the DC Universe. However, he actually has a weakness that's way worse than Kryptonite.

While it's true that Daxamites aren't weak to Kryptonite, they're weak to something that is much more abundant. Instead of being weak to Kryptonite, Daxamites are fatally weak against lead, meaning that anything with lead in it, such as bullets, would be deadly. Superman had actually sent Mon-El to the Phantom Zone to save his brother-in-arms from a fatal case of lead poisoning. Without a cure, Mon-El will die, and so he has to spend the majority of his time in the Phantom Zone. Even with this major weakness, Mon-El is still one of the best people to go up against Kryptonians due to both his strength and his invulnerability to Kryptonite.

Mon-El Has a Weakness Even Worse Than Kryptonite: Lead

The Daxamite's Major Weakness Could Kill Him at Any Moment

Not being weak to Kryptonite is an incredible advantage over Kryptonians, but Mon-El's lead weakness is far easier to take advantage of. As long as he's able to keep his Daxamite heritage secret, then he's practically unstoppable. Seeing the powers he has under a yellow sun, most people would simply assume that he's a Kryptonian, but if they tried to use Kryptonite on him, nothing would happen. Unfortunately, Mon-El never really got his time to shine. While it's nice to see Mon-El use Kryptonite to bring down these criminal Kryptonians, it's unlikely he'll be helping Superman anytime soon due to his lead poisoning.

Action Comics #1080 is available now from DC Comics.