The fact that there’s even a question about whether or not he could take down Superman says a lot for Bruce Wayne. I could see how Batman might win if he has a high-powered mecha suit to combat Kal-El’s excessive, neck-snapping strength and uber speed. But laser eyes? How do you beat those? Well, first we have to figure out how his heat vision works.

Superman’s heat vision, an evolution of his x-ray vision, has taken many forms over the span of all his comics and movies and TV shows. However, the easiest version to understand, established by the comics, is a laser-like emission of stored solar energy. That’s something we can work with.

In my latest Because Science, I’m doing the math on Superman’s laser face. If he is taking in energy from the Sun like a man-shaped solar panel, then there are a number of things we can instantly put numbers to. For example, we know how much energy the Sun puts out, and how much surface area Superman has to soak up that sweet, sweet radiation. All there is to do then is calculate how long Clark would have to sunbathe in order to emit eye blasts of varying intensities. Within minutes, he could shoot out a beam more powerful than any laser we have on Earth. It only gets more destructive from there.

But to use his newest super power, Superman would have to wait so long that even Goku‘s Spirit Bomb would look speedy.

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