Superman is Immune To Kryptonite When He’s [SPOILER]

Since it was first introduced in his radio show, Kryptonite has been the bane of Superman’s existence. As if a single rock capable of killing Superman with its radiation wasn’t bad enough, writers went on to create multiple varieties of Kryptonite that could affect him in a number of weird ways. These include Red Kryptonite (temporary but unpredictable effects), Gold Kryptonite (robs him of his powers), and even Blue Kryptonite (affects Bizarro duplicates).

Surprisingly, however, Superman once accidentally discovered a relatively simple way to render himself immune to all forms of Kryptonite. While this method probably would have led to some additional problems, it’s notable for being one of the most unusual ways Kal-El has dealt with his Kryptonite issues, although the way he discovered it was rather complicated.

The discovery took place in Action Comics #591 at a time when all the Superman comic books had been rebooted to make way for a Modern era Superman who had several noticeable differences from his Silver Age counterpart. For one thing, this Superman had some scaled-down powers. Although he was still one of DC’s most powerful beings, he could no longer do things like push planets out of orbit or destroy an entire solar system with a sneeze. This allowed writers to give Superman more interesting physical challenges as well as show Clark Kent dealing with mundane issues like shaving. Kryptonite use was also kept to a minimum, with Superman only encountering green Kryptonite (although later variations would be introduced over the years).

Another departure from early Superman stories was the elimination of Superboy. During the Silver Age, most fans knew that Clark Kent had adopted the costumed identity of Superboy when he was a child, only becoming Superman in his college years. In addition to fighting crime in Smallville, Superboy also frequently went to the 31^st century to fight alongside other teenage heroes as a member of the Legion of Superheroes. The Legion actually credited Superboy with inspiring their team thanks to his early exploits as the Boy of Steel. In the new continuity, however, Clark kept his powers a secret throughout his childhood and teenage years – only revealing himself to the world as Superman when he reached his twenties.

Unfortunately, by eliminating Superboy and re-establishing that Clark Kent had become a superhero when he was an adult, DC inadvertently robbed the Legion of Superheroes of their main inspiration, which became problematic when DC wanted to reintroduce the Legion in their modern era comic books too. To combat this problem, DC created a bizarre and somewhat convoluted scenario.

In this new universe, a being known as the Time Trapper created a pocket dimension that resembled the Silver Age era that Superboy resided in. He then arranged for an alternate version of Superboy, along with other Silver Age characters including Ma and Pa Kent, Krypto the Superdog, Pete Ross, and other familiar faces, to populate the world. The Legion would thus travel to this pocket dimension when they went back in time, establishing that their Silver Age adventures still “happened,” albeit under very different circumstances.

Things got weird when the “real” modern era Superman traveled to this pocket dimension and ended up getting into a fight with his younger counterpart. Even more disturbing, since this Superboy was designed to have the abilities of a Silver Age Superboy, he was considerably stronger and much faster than the current Superman. Superman also had to contend with Krypto the Super Dog, who was distressed that this Superman “imposter” was fighting with his master.

Wanting to help Superboy, Krypto descended into the Kent house’s basement and accessed some Kryptonite samples that Superboy was doing some experiments on. Krypto hoped that by unlocking a cannister of power-stealing Gold Kryptonite, he could provide the Kents with a way of taking down the “fake” Superman. Unfortunately, to access the Kryptonite, Krypto had to expose himself to the radiation and lost all of his powers (including his super intelligence) when he was exposed to Gold Kryptonite.

Now an ordinary dog, Krypto’s barking managed to alert the Kents and Pa Kent gathered every variety of Kryptonite he could find, put it in a metal cannister, and then went outside to try to take down Superman – only to discover that none of the meteorites had any affect on Superman. Why? Apparently, since Superman wasn’t a native of this pocket dimension, the Kryptonite of this world produced a different type of radiation that couldn’t affect him.

Fortunately, Superman and Superboy were able to resolve their differences – although tragically, Krypto’s sacrifice doomed him to remain an ordinary dog. Even worse, the Superboy of that pocket dimension later died, showing that this world wasn’t exactly a great place to live. That being said, the very fact that none of the different varieties of Kryptonite could affect Superman in this dimension revealed that Superman could potentially become immune to all forms of Kryptonite by simply moving to this dimension – or a similar one where Kryptonite radiation was too out-of-sync with his unique biology.

Naturally, this wouldn’t apply to every dimension as Superman has been shown to be affected by Kryptonite in travels to certain alternate worlds. Superman’s biology and nature has also gone through many changes since this time, further affecting his relationship to Kryptonite. Nevertheless, it is worth considering that since the physics of different realities may not have the same affect on Superman as they do in his native universe, that there are multiple parallel universes out there where Kryptonite has no effect on him.

While it’s unlikely that Superman would ever use this solution as a permanent fix for his Kryptonite problem, the fact remains that someone like Superman will inevitably get the chance to travel to alternate dimensions – and some of these dimensions will be unable to affect Superman with their Kryptonite simply because his body isn’t responsive to the unique radiation signatures. Strangely, this actually means that the “weaker” Superman can be more powerful than his Silver Age counterpart simply because he’s immune to his predecessor’s greatest weakness!

About The Author

Michael Jung
(700 Articles Published)

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Michael Jung is a mild-mannered freelance writer-for-hire, actor, and professional storyteller with a keen interest in pop culture, education, nonprofit organizations, and unusual side hustles. His work has been featured in Screen Rant, ASU Now, Sell Books Fast, Study.com, and Free Arts among others. A graduate of Arizona State University with a PhD in 20^th Century American Literature, Michael has written novels, short stories, stage plays, screenplays, and how-to manuals.

Michael’s background in storytelling draws him to find the most fascinating aspects of any topic and transform them into a narrative that informs and entertains the reader. Thanks to a life spent immersed in comic books and movies, Michael is always ready to infuse his articles with offbeat bits of trivia for an extra layer of fun. In his spare time, you can find him entertaining kids as Spider-Man or Darth Vader at birthday parties or scaring the heck out of them at haunted houses.

Visit Michael Jung’s website for information on how to hire him, follow him on Twitter Michael50834213, or contact him directly: michael(at)michaeljungwriter(dot)com.

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