Between 1992 and 1993, DC Comics published a story called “The Death of Superman”, a large narrative structure that dealt with Superman’s death at the hands of Doomsday, but also his return. Ever since then, the topic of Superman’s death has been a very interesting one in the world of comics and people have wondered how and why Superman could die. Superman is usually perceived as the most powerful superhero and although he is not immortal, he doesn’t really die all that often. In light of that, we have pondered one possibility of Superman dying, and that is by being stabbed by Poseidon’s trident. Could it happen? Keep reading to find out.
Although Aquaman’s Trident is imbued with magic, we do not think that it could actually kill Superman. It could injure him, but Superman is just too powerful to be killed in such a way.
DC Comics, for those of you that are not familiar with the story behind the comics, is a major American comic book publisher founded back in 1934. Along with Marcel Comics, it is the most popular comic book publisher in the United States. DC Comics is a major player in the comic book business and is the “home” of many famous comic book characters such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and many others.
Now that we’ve given you a short introduction, let us discuss the topic of this article in more detail.
Aquaman’s trident
Aquaman’s trident is Aquaman’s best-known and most powerful weapon. It is a weapon based on Ancient Greek (and Roman) mythology that is said to have belonged to the ancient gods of the seas, Poseidon and Neptune. Aside from being exceptionally powerful, the trident is also imbued with magical powers, which makes it one of the most powerful Earth-based weapons in the DC Universe. Aquaman, though, never uses the Trident’s full potential, which is quite an interesting observation.
According to the unofficial DC Database, there seem to be two different Tridents – the Trident of Neptune and the Trident of Poseidon. This is a very strange distinction, as Poseidon and Neptune are basically one and the same, except that the former was a part of the Greek pantheon, while the latter was part of the Roman one. We would understand that the differences were purely nominal – the same Trident was named differently in different stories – but the Database has two separate entries about each of them.
This is particularly curious because both of them seem to have the same powers and abilities, with the differences being purely narrative, i.e., they each appear in different stories. So, whether or not there are two Tridents or not, we don’t actually know, but for the purposes of this article – and due to the fact that their powers are the same – we are going to treat them as one weapon, Aquaman’s trident.
Can Aquaman’s trident cut Superman?
Now that we have established the nature of Aquaman’s weapon, we have to see whether it can harm Superman and to what degree. We’ll discuss bodily injuries first.
There is a common misconception that Superman is especially vulnerable to magic, simply because he is not immune to it. But this is really a misconception, although Superman can be hurt by magic. Still, the Man of Steel has proven that he is not any less resistant to magic as he is to other things that can harm him. In fact, during a fight with the magical supervillain Disciple, he was the only member of the Justice League that was able to resist his magic and defeat him. This proves Superman’s strength and, although he is not immune to magic, it doesn’t affect him worse than other weapons, and not as nearly as strong as Kryptonite.
So, what can Aquaman’s magical Trident do? In two separate storylines, Superman was shown to sustain injuries from magical objects, but they were minor. While fighting the supervillain Equus, who used Angelic Claws (known to be able to cut a human in half in a second), Superman only sustained a mild cut, which also happened when Wonder Woman used her magic sword to cut Superman. This means that he can be injured by magical objects, but the injuries are usually minor. What does that mean for Aquaman?
Well, based on the fact that Aquaman’s Trident is a magical weapon, but nothing out of the ordinary when compared to other similar weapons, we deduce that the Trident might injure or cut Superman, but the injuries wouldn’t really be anything more than just minor scratches.
Can Aquaman’s trident kill Superman?
Now that we have seen that Aquaman’s trident could probably injure the Man of Steel, we cannot but wonder whether it could kill him. Theoretically, it could? We mean, if it can cut him, it could also pierce him, right? Well…
The issue with killing Superman in general is that it is very, very hard to do. Doomsday managed to do it, but it took him an enormous amount of time and he, likewise, perished during the fight. And Doomsday is way stronger than Aquaman or Aquaman’s trident; Doomsday’s a monster. So, while Aquaman’s trident could cut Superman, we highly doubt that it could actually pierce through him and kill him, simply because Superman would never allow it to happen and his physique would resist it.
Superman and Aquaman have clashed before and although Aquaman did manage to land several sucker punches, Superman never really gave it his best against his friend and colleague. There is no doubt that, if he did, he would’ve been able to beat Aquaman to a pulp. Even with Mera’s help, the two of them couldn’t really do much against the Man of Still.
Certainly, Aquaman did not use his Trident in those clashes, but with Superman’s speed, fighting skills, agility and strength, we highly doubt that Aquaman could do much even with the Trident in his arms. Sure, he could launch a surprise attack and maybe do some harm temporarily, but kill Superman? We think it’s practically impossible and with that, the question of today’s article is duly answered!
And that’s it for today. We hope you had fun reading this and that we helped solve this dilemma for you. See you next time and don’t forget to follow us!
