Superman is one of the most popular superheroes ever created, and there’s no doubt that with his new movie, he’ll only be in the spotlight even more going forward. Everyone knows something about Superman, from what his powers are to where he came from, but Superman has starred in thousands of comics across almost ninety years, so there’s a lot of information about him that most people will just never learn. A lot of that information is normal, but some of these lesser known things can get very, very weird, and I think everyone should hear about them. So without further ado, here are seven obscure facts about Superman that you might not have known. Some of which are fun, some heartwarming, and some just plain wacky.
1) He Can Shapeshift
Back in the Silver Age of comics, Superman had all kinds of powers. If the Man of Tomorrow was in a situation his typical powerset couldn’t overcome, odds were that he would reveal some incredibly specific ability he kept in his back pocket. However, unlike many one-off powers, the ability to shapeshift was actually consistently one of his powers from very early on in comics, and can be argued as early as the beginning of Action Comics, where he would regularly be impersonating people with startling accuracy. This evolved to the ability to completely alter his skin’s shape and color, explained as super-control of his own form. Superman could make himself look like anyone who even vaguely shared a body type with him, even once changing himself to look like a being from another dimension, clothes and all. It’s been a long time since Superman has done anything like this, so we can assume he can’t anymore, but it’s still possible that he could bust this out one day, and it’d be great to see it come back out of nowhere.
2) He’s the Original Nightwing
Most people know Nightwing as the new superhero identity the original Robin chose after he decided to move out of Batman’s shadow. Many know that he was inspired to pick this name from a Kryptonian legend told to him by Superman, but in actuality, the legend is far more real than you’d think, as Superman himself once went by the moniker Nightwing. While inside the Bottle City of Kandor, Superman loses access to all of his powers, but he still wanted to help the Kandorians with any problems they faced. To that end, he crafted an alternate secret identity so that nobody would know that it was Superman helping them. He called himself Nightwing, and Jimmy Olsen even became his sidekick Flamebird. This alternate vigilante identity deputed in Superman (1939) #158, and he used it for some time before he retired it to Kandorian Van-Zee. Funnily enough, Batman and Robin once had to fill in for Clark and Jimmy, so the future Nightwing would help fill the shoes of the original Nightwing, whose identity was inspired by Batman and Robin. Isn’t it funny how circles work?
3) His Powers Didn’t Always Come From the Sun
When Superman first debuted, the concept of superpowers were very young, and not nearly as accepted or crazy as they are today. In that regard, the things Superman could do were much smaller, such as only jumping one eighth of a mile instead of flying. These powers were explained not as coming from the sun, but as being a byproduct of Krypton having much stronger gravity than Earth’s. As such, Kryptonians had evolved to be much stronger, so when he landed in the lighter gravity of Earth, he was able to perform his incredible feats. This wasn’t only used in his earliest comics either. Even as he developed powers heavy gravity couldn’t explain, they prescribed his physical abilities to gravity and other powers like heat vision to absorbing the sun’s rays. This lasted long into the Silver Age, where the sun slowly overtook gravity as an explanation until it was all but forgotten.
4) He’s Not the Original Superman
While Superman was the first superhero ever made, he wasn’t the first character named Superman that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster came up with. They originally pitched the idea for a character named Superman in the short story “The Reign of the Superman,” where the titular character was a villain instead of the hero we know today. Homeless man Bill Dunn is tricked by an evil scientist into drinking an experimental drug that gives him unstoppable psychic powers like clairvoyance, mind-reading, and mind-control. He becomes a villain that looks an awful lot like Lex Luthor, but eventually the drug wears off and Bill is returned to his usual vagrant self. This story didn’t become a huge hit or anything, and that’s probably for the best, as the idea was recycled later that same year to become the Superman that we all know today. He wouldn’t be published for several more years, but the groundwork done by this idea inevitably led to the most popular and influential comic book character of all time, so this is definitely something to be happy about.
5) He Can Give Other People Superpowers
This is another lesser known superpower, but one that’s far more modern than his shapeshifting. In Action Comics #857, Superman and Pa Kent were trapped on Bizarro World, an entire square world created by Superman’s backwards copy Bizarro. Unlike Earth, which rotates around a yellow sun, this square world flew around a blue star, which greatly enhanced Superman’s abilities, and even unlocked a new one. When Pa and Clark were about to be overrun by Bizarro versions of Superman’s greatest friends and foes, Superman screamed and fired a new type of beam from his eyes. It hit Pa, and granted him powers just like Clark’s. Dubbed his Superman Vision, it seems that Superman has the ability to temporarily infuse anyone he chooses with powers equal to his own when under a blue sun. Together, father and son fought their way through the Bizarro army and eventually made their way home. As far as I’m aware, this is the only instance of this power appearing, which is a darn shame, because it would be really cool to see an amped Superman share his abilities with his normally weak allies like Jimmy Olsen and his parents. This is a potentially very silly and abusable power, and for sure one that I’d love to see make a comeback some day.
6) His Original Title Was Champion of the Oppressed
Superman has earned many epithets over the years. He’s the Man of Steel, the Man of Tomorrow, the Last Son of Krypton, and about five or six other things that we don’t need to bother naming. However, before he was called any of those things, Superman had another title. As introduced in the very first issue of Action Comics, Superman’s first epithet was the Champion of the Oppressed, being called the physical marvel that would stand up to all manners of evil to save people from injustices. This title goes hand in hand with Superman’s earliest stories, which saw him fighting against real life problems such as wrongful imprisonment and poor working conditions. Some of his other epithets would quickly emerge as his exploits picked up in popularity, and eventually this one was all but forgotten, but it never stopped being true. Superman always stands up for people that need him, and is just as likely to fight for people’s benefit as he is against a villain any day of the week. We definitely need to bring this epithet back, because it will always be relevant.
7) He Has His Own Holiday
Superman actually has a special holiday made to celebrate his constant fight against adversity for the sake of others, and always finding a way to save people. Miracle Monday, a holiday celebrated on the third monday of May, was introduced in the novel of the same day, written by Elliot S. Maggin. Kristin Wells is a history student who lives in the far future, and travels back to the present to discover the origins of Miracle Monday, as the reason has been forgotten, but everyone knows that it has something to do with Superman. Unfortunately, upon arrival she was possessed by C. W. Saturn, Hell’s worst demon, sent to Earth to destroy Superman’s morality. Saturn spreads chaos around the world, even revealing Superman’s secret identity, and insists that the only way to stop his crusade of evil from continuing forever would be to kill his host. Superman refuses, even if it means he will battle Saturn every day for the rest of his life, and the Man of Steel sticking to his morals actually causes Superman to be declared the victor by the rules that bind demons. Because of this, Superman is given a single wish, and he chooses to use it to restore the world to how it was before Saturn appeared. Everyone is saved because Superman’s soul helped bring about a miracle, and in thanks, the people of the world declare that day Miracle Monday. Everyone sets out an extra plate for Superman at their table, and it becomes a tradition that continues far, far past his life. This holiday is actually referenced multiple times in comics, and is legendary comic book writer Mark Waid’s favorite Superman moment.
So there we have seven facts about Superman that you might not have known. There’s plenty of info about the Man of Steel floating out in the universe, and it’s always great to learn something new about a character that we all know so well already. It really does help make the character seem larger than ever. What’s your favorite obscure Superman fact? Let us know in the comments below!
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