Superman Is Not a God, but Here’s Why Fans Believe He Is

When you think about powerful comic book characters, your mind probably wanders off to Superman first. And it’s true he has been the gold standard for physical strength as well for speed, courage, and plenty of other superhuman attributes. A lot of superheroes have been modeled after Superman, and he will go down in history as the greatest one there is. Due to his godly attributes, many fans over the years have been wondering is Superman a god? Well, there is some truth to it, and today, we’re going to explain it.

Superman is an alien being, and this explains his powers

Clark Kent, Kal-El, Superman. No matter what you want to call him, the fact still stands at first glance: he looks just like a regular human being. And this is one thing that allowed him to infiltrate and protect human society while staying hidden in plain sight.

We all know Superman’s origin story: he was discovered and adopted as an infant by the Kents, a regular human couple who nurtured empathy, courage, and bravery in Superman. To be fair, Kents were aware from day one that there was something strange about Clark, although he looked just like any ol’ baby.

The truth started coming to light when Clark started manifesting his powers, and he had plenty of them.

Those powers are, however, not due to his status as a deity or a god, nor are they divine in nature. Superman is an alien humanoid that looks indistinguishable from a regular human being, but when you go below the surface, his physiology and the way he utilizes energy are drastically different.

Superman’s powers are not divine in nature, he is fueled by yellow solar radiation

Superman’s superpowers are a result of his Kryptonian heritage and the effects of Earth’s yellow sun. Superman was originally from the fictional planet Krypton. Krypton had a red sun, and its inhabitants had no superpowers. However, when Krypton faces imminent destruction, Kal-El’s parents, Jor-El and Lara, send him to Earth in a spacecraft.

Earth’s yellow sun has a different radiation spectrum than Krypton’s red sun. When Superman arrived on Earth and absorbed the yellow sunlight, it interacted with his Kryptonian physiology in a way that granted him incredible superhuman abilities. The specific powers may vary depending on the comic book or media adaptation, but common powers include super strength, super speed, flight, heat vision, X-ray vision, and more.

All Kryptonians have the same potential as Superman, but he is among the most powerful ones

Now that we’ve cleared up that the source of Superman’s powers is not his divine origin, it’s time to explore his entire race. In technical terms, all Kryptonians have the potential to have superhuman powers, strength, speed, durability, immortality, etc. The main example of this is Superman’s cousin, Supergirl, who also gained incredible powers as soon as she started absorbing Earth’s yellow Solar Radiation.

On their home planet, Krypton, under the influence of a red sun, Kryptonians are similar to humans and do not possess extraordinary abilities. In certain storylines or alternate universes, other Kryptonians may gain superpowers, either through exposure to Earth’s sun or other means. However, in the traditional DC Comics canon, it’s the combination of Kryptonian biology and Earth’s yellow sun that makes Superman unique in his superhuman abilities.

Kryptonians, like Superman, possess cells that function as super batteries, hypermetabolizing specific wavelengths of radiation for living functions and superhuman abilities. The red sun of their home solar system allows them to function at the level of a healthy human, while Earth’s solar radiation acts as fuel for all their powers.

Utilizing superhuman abilities expends absorbed sunlight, and they can control the degree of these powers under different circumstances. Exposure to the solar radiation of a foreign blue star enhances their abilities and introduces additional powers. While constant exposure to healthy radiation isn’t necessary for their survival, extended periods without it will require recharging to maintain life and power.

All Kryptonians have a connection to the god Rao

Rao is the prime god of Kryptonian culture; he is the god of the sun, and we know that the sun plays an important part in Kryptonian culture. Many churches, temples, and philosophies have been created around Rao, and all Kryptonians believe that he is their progenitor, aka their maker, so in a technical sense, Rao has a connection to all Kryptonians.

However, his connection to Superman or Kal-El is a bit stronger due to Rao being a direct founder of Superman’s family – the El Dynasty. This is Superman’s strongest connection to divinity up to this point.

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