As I recall, in the Silver Age, there were any number of times that a Kryptonian (Superboy/Superman, Supergirl, Krypton, etc.) were suddenly surprised by green kryptonite. IIRC, sometimes they were able to extricate themselves from this situation and other times they needed assistance.
This raises a couple of questions:
* Did Superman have any sort of kryptonite detector? If he was able to give the Superman robots his weakness to kryptonite, he must have had a way to detect it non-organically. Otherwise I can't see how the robots would react to the kryptonite.
* IIRC, Kryptonians are paralyzed in the presence of Green Kryptonite. However, could they still use super breath to blow the rock out of range?
* Speaking of that paralysis, I also assume Superman could use Super Ventriloquism to call for help -- or could he? Would he have that level of muscle control available in that situation?
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Depending on the size of the green kryptonite, Superman could still use his super-breath and ventriloquism as well as his vision powers. This was how he was able to use his various anti-kryptonite plans like Plan "L" with Lois Lane and the JLA.
In the Metallo story from Action Comics #252 he's trapped in a room with kryptonite and - spoiler - melts it with his x-ray vision, which I think a writer cheat. (Back in the day he didn't have heat vision. He used his x-ray vision to heat things up.)
ITEM: I rather thought that Superman was a Kryptonite detector himself. I mean, lead was the ONLY thing that could protect him from Kryptonite; if the stuff wasn't in a lead box, you'd figure he could feel it from a dozen feet away, before it could really affect him. I recall one story where Superman had an alarm that would trigger in the presence of kryptonite, possibly in the new outfit created by Luthor.
ITEM: Kryptonite did have different effects on Kryptonians. I can remember a Legion story where Superboy actually inhaled a pile of kryptonite on his chest and blew it away sufficiently far away from himself to act. (In the same story, Chameleon Boy as a transformed elephant actually had a trunkful of Green K - no lead around.) And there was the abysmal Adventure Comics #400 where they played fast and loose with Green and Gold K. It's not worth reviewing but it is note worthy that it identified Streaky as both male and female. Yeah, a loser of a Supergirl story.
Paralysis was one effect of Green K, but not used very often. Or maybe it was and just not identified; I don't remember a lot of stories where Kryptonians were able to just crawl away from a Green K trap.
ITEM: Superman could use his powers to a degree when affected by Kryptonite, and I think he tried to use ventriloquism when he was affected in the story with Superman Day where a computer predicted that he would be saved from a Green K trap by an "LL". He kept getting confounded but he tried to use it.
COROLLARY: Pure speculation on my part, but maybe elements on Krypton got transformed into different degrees of Green K - severity, range, degree of affect, etc. So an aluminum coffee pot wouldn't affect him as much as an iron container. One wonders what happened to all the lead on Krypton... would it have turned to Kryptonite? That's kind of an oxymoron, I think.
I'm blanking on specific references, but I assume that Superman built Kryptonite detector devices fairly often. It was, after all, a mineral with a very specific radiation; Kryptonian science achieved more arcane feats all the time.
A version of Luthor's origin (perhaps Adventure Comics #271) established that even while he was suddenly confronted with a huge Kryptonite piece and fell on the floor seconds away from dying Superboy still had enough superbreath to aspire a glass container towards his mouth in order to drink the precious few drops of temporary antidote present there.
Depending on the size of the green kryptonite, Superman could still use his super-breath and ventriloquism as well as his vision powers.
This is how I remember it as well. It always felt like a cheat to the Li'l Capn, since sometimes Superman was completely paralyzed and sometimes he wasn't, as the plot required. But I didn't give it much thought.
Maybe, in the back of my little-boy mind, I just figured that different chunks of kryptonite had mildly different effects. Now, as a grown-up, the Fogey gives us a possible reason (see below).
I rather thought that Superman was a Kryptonite detector himself.
Ha! I never thought of it that way, but yes, that makes perfect sense. Why go to the trouble of building a detector you'd have to tote around, when it's completely superfluous?
So an aluminum coffee pot wouldn't affect him as much as an iron container.
Again, something I've never thought about. I guess it's possible that all material from Krypton transforms into exactly the same strength of kryptonite, but that doesn't really feel likely. It makes more sense to me that a material made of a dense material like an iron rebar would turn into proportionally stronger kryptonite than, say, a paper towel turned into kryptonite.
Which would explain why different chunks of kryptonite affected the Man of Steel slightly differently in the Silver Age. A chunk of concrete turned kryptonite might paralyze him, whereas a plastic dog toy turned into kryptonite might just give him a rash. (Not that we ever saw that. I'm just speculating.)
This was how he was able to use his various anti-kryptonite plans like Plan "L" with Lois Lane and the JLA.
I remember this story vividly. In part because I thought it was weird that Lois would want to kiss all these different men in such a public fashion. Has she no pride? (Remember, this was the '60s. My mother would definitely not approve of this behavior, young lady!) But also because even the Li'l Capn realized that the insanely convoluted story was just an excuse to print that cover. There had to be a less provocative way for her to get the anti-K to Superman than slutting it up with the Justice League!
Captain Comics said:
Because you would like to find out if any kryptonite is around before you start feeling its effects, of course.
Two things I question:
1) When we recently discussed the robots being "affected" by kryptonite, I got the impression that they were trained to fake being affected. I never read the story.
2) As a kid, the impression I had was that kryptonite was large and small chunks of the actual planet Krypton. It seems to me that small man-made items would be evaporated. The force of explosions (short of our planet exploding) have been known to completely evaporate stuff here on Earth.
The first story in which a Kryptonian died from kryptonite might be "The Super-Gorilla from Krypton" from Action Comics #238. He was able to talk, and as he died he turned green.
The Superman Day story the Fogey noted is "Superman's Day of Doom!" from Superman #157. He could use his vision powers (and apparently super-hearing) and moved his head and arms about, but was apparently to weak to crawl away. It may be that the Silver Age Superman was actually quite heavy and avoided letting it show by constantly flying.
ClarkKent_DC said:
Because you would like to find out if any kryptonite is around before you start feeling its effects, of course.
What he needs is a Kryptonian mouse in a cage constantly orbiting him at a distance of several feet.
With regard to these two parts of your question, Randy:
* IIRC, Kryptonians are paralyzed in the presence of Green Kryptonite. However, could they still use super breath to blow the rock out of range?
* Speaking of that paralysis, I also assume Superman could use Super Ventriloquism to call for help -- or could he? Would he have that level of muscle control available in that situation?
I addressed that---or rather, Mort Wesinger discussed it, as I related in Part Two of my three-part Deck Log Entry "Kryptonite--a Glowing Reference". In the Metropolis Mailbag appearing in Action Comics # 290 (Jul., 1962), Bill Love, of Tucson, Arizona, asked how, in an earlier issue, Superman was able to use his X-ray vision while wearing green-kryptonite shackles. Weisinger’s response clarified the effects of green k on the Man of Steel's powers:
You are somewhat confused as to the insidious effects of green kryptonite on [Superman’s super-powers]. Its main effect is to render Superman helpless to fly or to use his super-strength . . . However, in the early stages of exposure to kryptonite, he is still able to use his X-ray and heat vision at short range. He is also able to use his super-ventriloquism and super-breath---but with modifications. Of course, even those powers keep fading the longer he endures exposure to green k. An interesting sidelight is that no matter how long he is exposed to the stuff, his body, at all times, is invulnerable to weapons, explosives, acids, etc.
Hope this helps.
An interesting sidelight is that no matter how long he is exposed to the stuff, his body, at all times, is invulnerable to weapons, explosives, acids, etc.
Boy, that was convenient, wasn't it? (Smile-superman-shield-emoji)
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