10 Biggest Limits on Superman’s Powers That Stop Him Becoming a God (& Whether They’ve Ever Been Broken)

Gods are some of the most powerful beings in the DC Universe, and Superman is pretty close to being one. With his incredible array of powers, Superman has almost no limits on what he can do. He’s capable of crossing galaxies in seconds and can even travel through time. But for as powerful as Superman is, the limits on his powers prevent him from reaching true godhood.

Superman has a ton of incredible abilities, such as super speed, super strength, invulnerability, x-ray vision, heat vision, among others. Any of these powers individually is incredible, but with all of them together, Superman is practically a god. While Superman isn’t quite on a god’s level, he has managed to break the limits on his powers a few times, and if he ever breaks all of them, he’ll manage to reach a level of power that few characters ever do.

10 Superman’s Super-Hearing Can Be Fooled

Talking In Code Can Fool Superman

One of the most difficult parts of living in Metropolis as a criminal is having to deal with Superman’s super-hearing. It’s nearly impossible to plan a crime when Superman can hear every single conversation in Metropolis. While he isn’t actively listening all the time, he has trained himself to pick up on certain keywords. If someone starts talking about robbing a bank or murdering someone, Superman will key into that conversation until he can discern the context.

The Invisible Mafia managed to work around Superman’s hearing by using code words, disguising what they really meant with other everyday phrases. While Superman did hear them, he couldn’t discern what they meant. This loophole is a major flaw in Superman’s hearing that he’s never managed to overcome. If Superman is going to be listening to everything anyway, the only way around that is by disguising words as something else.

9 Superman’s Super-Hearing Can Even Be a True Weakness

Superman’s Hearing Has Been Used Against Him

Being able to hear everything, no matter how far away, might sound like a pretty good power, but it has huge drawbacks. Superman only functions because he’s spent decades learning how to tune out noises when he needs to. But if Superman isn’t prepared for a loud noise, it can take him by surprise. When Superman was under the control of an inexperienced Poison Ivy, for example, Batman was able to disable him with just a sharp whistle.

When other characters with Kryptonian powers appear, they often struggle with super-hearing, and Superman has exploited this weakness by making sudden loud noises to throw them off balance. While the ability to keep a tab on any conversation or heart beat is certainly great, there’s no denying that Superman’s hearing is also one of his biggest weaknesses.

8 Superman’s X-Ray Vision Can’t See Through Everything

X-Ray Vision Has a Few Weaknesses

Not only can Superman hear just about everything, he can see through nearly everything as well. He has perfect eye-sight and can even shift the way his eyes work, allowing him to use X-rays to see through people’s bodies or most materials. Unfortunately, he can’t see through everything, and Superman’s C-ray vision famously can’t pierce lead.

The big problem is that it doesn’t matter how much lead there is. Superman has expressed his dislike of Gotham City in the past, because there’s so much lead in the air that he finds it difficult to see normally. This weakness means that weapons like smoke grenades laced with lead would be incredibly effective at obscuring Superman’s vision.

7 Superman’s Super Strength Still Has to Obey Physics

Super Strength Still Can’t Overpower Physics

Superman is so strong that he’s more than capable of moving the moon as well as lifting reality itself. Because of his strength, it might seem like Superman could overpower or push around just about anything, but his strength still has to obey the laws of physics. If Superman is pushing against a massive object, like a mountain or a giant monster, he’s not going to push the mountain or monster, he’s simply going to go straight through them. He can only exert his incredible strength over a pretty small area compared to a giant being.

While Superman is more than capable of knocking around people his own size, when he tries to use his strength on super large beings, things can get very messy very fast, forcing Superman to try and figure out smarter ways to deal with giant villains or when he’s put in absurd situations like trying to catch an aircraft carrier out of the air.

6 Superman Is Not Immune to Getting Lost in the Vastness of Space

Even Superman Can Get Lost

Using his super-speed, Superman has moved across entire galaxies in the span of a few seconds. While this is incredibly impressive, the problem is moving that fast means he can also get lost just as fast. There have been times when Superman has been teleported to random points in space, and with absolutely no landmarks or any idea how to get home, he ends up just getting hopelessly lost.

Normally, Superman can avoid being in this situation by having a JLA communicator or even going to a United Planet Embassy, but the universe is a massive place. His communicator can’t always be connected, and not every planet in the universe is part of the United Planets. Being lost is a pretty scary thing to happen, and not even Superman is immune to it.

5 Superman Isn’t Completely Invulnerable, Despite His Super-Strength

Major Heavy Hitters Can Take Superman Down

Superman is borderline invulnerable. There’s no weapon on Earth that can pierce his skin, as bullets simply bounce off, and he’s even taken on the full brunt of nuclear bombs. Many villains think Superman is completely invulnerable, but that’s not the case, and several villains have already proved that Superman is very vulnerable. If someone has sufficient physical strength, they can beat Superman down and even kill him.

Doomsday famously beat Superman to death, and Darkseid can physically match Superman at times. It’s hard to imagine Superman actually being beaten to death, but it’s happened before. He’s even been knocked out by opponents with sufficient strength. While Superman can increase his durability by absorbing more yellow sunlight, he’ll never become truly invulnerable.

4 Superman’s Body Can Be Shut Down by Pressure Points

Superman’s Durability Doesn’t Completely Protect Him

Superman can shrug off just about any punch or kick thrown his way. Due to his durability, he can completely ignore most attacks that aren’t backed by physical power equal or higher than his own. But his durability offers no defense against hits to his pressure points. Superman’s body has a few pressure points that can be used to trigger his powers against his will.

There are specific pressure points around his neck that, when activated, force his heat vision to trigger. Naturally, this can throw Superman off balance and really mess with his body. Heat vision consumes a ton of solar energy, so being able to force Superman to use it against his will could be a major problem, as it would force him to deplete his solar energy reserves.

3 Kryptonite Completely Messes with Superman’s Powers

The Classic Superman Weakness

One of the fastest and easiest ways to shut Superman down has always been Kryptonite. After all these decades, Superman still can’t figure out a way to properly deal with Kryptonite due to the huge variety of effects it can have on his power. Green Kryptonite is the most common and can shut his powers down as well as give him radiation poisoning if he’s in contact with it for too long. While that’s the most common form of Kryptonite that Superman encounters, it’s far from the only one.

The Kryptonite variants include Red Kryptonite, which causes a random effect, from transforming Superman into a space dragon to making him half-ant. Most terrifying of all is Gold Kryptonite, which has the power to completely remove Superman’s power if he comes into contact with its raditation.

2 If Superman Runs Out of Solar Energy, He’s Powerless

Superman Doesn’t Have Infinite Energy

The reason that Superman has so many incredible powers is because of yellow sunlight. Under a red sun, Superman is really no different from a regular human. Being under the yellow sun charges Superman’s cells with yellow radiation, but this energy can run out. Certain powers use more energy than others. For example, if Superman uses his heat vision excessively or uses his deadly solar flare ability, he’ll expend all the energy in his body, and he’ll be left powerless.

While Superman could just recharge after a few hours or days in the sun, he’d be completely vulnerable during that time. If, for whatever reason, Superman was trapped somewhere without sunlight, he’d also eventually run out of energy, even if he wasn’t using his powers. Lack of solar radiation is not a vulnerability that’s often taken advantage of, but it’s a major one.

1 Superman Is Incredibly Susceptible to Mind Control

Superman Has Been Mind Controlled by Several Villains

With the amount of power that Superman commands, one of the biggest nightmares is getting mind-controlled and used for evil. Unfortunately for everyone, this outcome happens pretty often. Over the years, Superman has proven to be pretty vulnerable to mind-control, despite his claims to the contrary.

The Man of Steel was instantly defeated by Mongul when he used Black Mercy on him. Maxwell Lord brainwashed Superman so thoroughly that it was impossible to undo it, leading to Lord’s death at Wonder Woman’s hands. Poison Ivy mind-controlled Superman with the help of Kryptonite, and the Joker has managed to infect Superman and turn him evil as well. As powerful as Superman is, even he has limitations, especially when it comes to his mind.