Like any superhero with decades of history, Superman has accumulated (and lost and gained and lost again) numerous super powers, from heat vision to cold breath to X-ray vision. His most confusing super power among the lot, though, has to be his ability to reverse time, as seen in the first Superman film with Christopher Reeve. What the heck is going on when Kal-El flies around the Earth in an attempt to save Lois’ life? Is he going faster than the speed of light? Is he actually reversing Earth’s rotation?
Let’s put on our investigative journalist/disguise glasses and figure it out.
Over all the years of doing this program, I think I’ve been asked more about this single scene than anything else. Finally looking at it in detail makes it no less confusing. Not only is Superman not going fast enough, and not only would reversing Earth’s rotation not reverse time itself, but if he even attempted this, it would be an absolute catastrophe. But you’ll have to watch my latest above to find out why!
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More DC Superhero Nerdery!
- How big should Batman’s cape be?
- Could the Flash take a hands-free photo of himself?
- Wonder Woman’s sword is the sharpest thing in the universe
