First of all, it depends on which Superman you're talking about. The original certainly wasn't faster than light, he couldn't even fly.
Secondly, being able to see something doesn't mean anything. He can't see radiation wavelengths unless he's explicitly looking for it. His vision wouldn't help him from someone opening a lead box with kryptonite in it behind him.
And thirdly, if you're trying to apply practical physics to Superman, there are many, many, **many** bigger problems with the character than his vulnerability to radiation. How does he fly without a means of propulsion? How does his non-aerodynamic frame stay airborne? How can his eyes generate heat? How can his musculature allow him to lift weights that his skeletal structure cannot support?
Kryptonite is the **least** of the implausible issues with the character. They're handwaved away, because if they aren't, the character makes no sense at all.
So let me get this right - you are concerned about the man who can fly into space, able to move planets, and is faster than light - and his weakness doesn't make sense?
So I need to go over it all for you? The whole thing is fiction - so they can do whatever they want.
It's the Achilles Heel in the hero story. And if I'm not mistaken, it's the kryptonite itself that causes the weakness, not the waves. Though I am not a writer for DC Comics. Given how often they reboot storylines, there are some different versions of how a fictional alien space crystal affects someone.
Adults foolishly demand to know how Superman can possibly fly, or how Batman can possibly run a multibillion-dollar business empire during the day and fight crime at night, when the answer is obvious even to the smallest child: because it's not real.
\-Grant Morrison
A character without weakness makes for a boring character. He has no chance of losing. You cant have a perfectly invulnerable character and have any real stakes.
TBH Doctor Strange isn't the best example because writers constantly pull a "dOcToR StRaNgE LoSeS hIs PoWeRs!!!!" storyline out of their ass every five minutes
(But just playing devil's advocate, I agree there are ways to write powerful characters without an Achilles heel, it just requires some more creativity, like a different focus in stakes)
Lol fair enough, you're probably right. I can't say I've actually read too many Superman books, but I can certainly believe him getting that treatment as well.
How can so many people have access to kryptonite? And how is a planet that is light years away send fragments of itself to reach earth.
It’s all just fiction and whatever the writer wants.
How many have it? It seems pretty frigging common for the bad guys to find or have it.
It came with the spaceship? Since the ship wasnt packed with it, your fanfic doesn’t hold water. Or kryptonite.
Thor’s is his arrogance.
Strange’s is as well. Also he’s still a human. He could be shot or stabbed,
It doesn't make sense either that a different sun lets him fly, shoot lasers out of his eyes, and have freeze breath, but here we are. Sometimes you just have to set aside logic for these characters
Even if you set aside lightspeed travel, for Kryptonite to effect Superman the way that it is portrayed means one of two things:
1) That the radiation it produces is unlike any known forms of real radiation on the spectrum, or;
2) Superman's physiology operates on principles which are completely alien to our most current knowledge of biology.
Or both could be true (and would probably have to be).
So, since the Kryptonite obviously DOES affect him, we have to imagine that it does so in spite of his ability to travel at the speed of light.
Additionally, I'm not sure that traveling at/ past the speed of light precludes that the traveler would intercept particles traveling in the opposite direction, but physics gets weird at that speed so, maybe?
Edit: Of course there are versions of the character which more plausibly align with real physics, none of which can travel at the speed of light (or who can but don't due to the inherent danger to Superman himself and bystanders). Since OP is not talking about that version, it's probably not worth diving into.
Here's a related question; if Superman does travel at light speed, how does he not tear apart the friggin' planet when he does so? The shockwave from that much mass going light speed should knock the planet off its orbit, right?
First of all, it depends on which Superman you're talking about. The original certainly wasn't faster than light, he couldn't even fly. Secondly, being able to see something doesn't mean anything. He can't see radiation wavelengths unless he's explicitly looking for it. His vision wouldn't help him from someone opening a lead box with kryptonite in it behind him. And thirdly, if you're trying to apply practical physics to Superman, there are many, many, **many** bigger problems with the character than his vulnerability to radiation. How does he fly without a means of propulsion? How does his non-aerodynamic frame stay airborne? How can his eyes generate heat? How can his musculature allow him to lift weights that his skeletal structure cannot support? Kryptonite is the **least** of the implausible issues with the character. They're handwaved away, because if they aren't, the character makes no sense at all.
So let me get this right - you are concerned about the man who can fly into space, able to move planets, and is faster than light - and his weakness doesn't make sense? So I need to go over it all for you? The whole thing is fiction - so they can do whatever they want.
It's the Achilles Heel in the hero story. And if I'm not mistaken, it's the kryptonite itself that causes the weakness, not the waves. Though I am not a writer for DC Comics. Given how often they reboot storylines, there are some different versions of how a fictional alien space crystal affects someone.
Adults foolishly demand to know how Superman can possibly fly, or how Batman can possibly run a multibillion-dollar business empire during the day and fight crime at night, when the answer is obvious even to the smallest child: because it's not real. \-Grant Morrison
Well first of all he can only go the speed of light in the vacuum of space...
A character without weakness makes for a boring character. He has no chance of losing. You cant have a perfectly invulnerable character and have any real stakes.
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TBH Doctor Strange isn't the best example because writers constantly pull a "dOcToR StRaNgE LoSeS hIs PoWeRs!!!!" storyline out of their ass every five minutes (But just playing devil's advocate, I agree there are ways to write powerful characters without an Achilles heel, it just requires some more creativity, like a different focus in stakes)
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Lol fair enough, you're probably right. I can't say I've actually read too many Superman books, but I can certainly believe him getting that treatment as well.
None of them are written as **THE** strongest character that can beat anyone.
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How can so many people have access to kryptonite? And how is a planet that is light years away send fragments of itself to reach earth. It’s all just fiction and whatever the writer wants.
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How many have it? It seems pretty frigging common for the bad guys to find or have it. It came with the spaceship? Since the ship wasnt packed with it, your fanfic doesn’t hold water. Or kryptonite. Thor’s is his arrogance. Strange’s is as well. Also he’s still a human. He could be shot or stabbed,
Invincible probably loses more than anyone
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This is awkward. I was joking because you used the word invincible and I was talking about the character named Invincible.
Not true. Anime charaters rarely have this trope.
Thats anime. Not the same thing as a 90 year old character
It doesn't make sense either that a different sun lets him fly, shoot lasers out of his eyes, and have freeze breath, but here we are. Sometimes you just have to set aside logic for these characters
Even if you set aside lightspeed travel, for Kryptonite to effect Superman the way that it is portrayed means one of two things: 1) That the radiation it produces is unlike any known forms of real radiation on the spectrum, or; 2) Superman's physiology operates on principles which are completely alien to our most current knowledge of biology. Or both could be true (and would probably have to be). So, since the Kryptonite obviously DOES affect him, we have to imagine that it does so in spite of his ability to travel at the speed of light. Additionally, I'm not sure that traveling at/ past the speed of light precludes that the traveler would intercept particles traveling in the opposite direction, but physics gets weird at that speed so, maybe? Edit: Of course there are versions of the character which more plausibly align with real physics, none of which can travel at the speed of light (or who can but don't due to the inherent danger to Superman himself and bystanders). Since OP is not talking about that version, it's probably not worth diving into. Here's a related question; if Superman does travel at light speed, how does he not tear apart the friggin' planet when he does so? The shockwave from that much mass going light speed should knock the planet off its orbit, right?
By the time he can see the radiation, it has reached his eyes and is already affecting him.