Would Superman still be Super ... ?

[Magneto X]

Then answer this question, if you want Superman to be so drastically weakened, what is the point of him being Superman? why don't we just cancel his series

Let's take each of Superman's powers. What would be:

1) Lame
2) Superhuman
3) Super to other Superhumans
4) Getting ridiculous
5) Ludacris

First, speed.

1) Lame - Floating at 5 miles per hour
2) Superhuman - 30 miles per hour
3) Amazing - 100 miles per hour
4) Super even to other Superhumans - 761 mph (sound barrier)
5) Okay, getting ridiculous - 7610 mph (Mach 10)
(and let's skip right by 100X speed of sound and go right to ...)
6) Ludacris Speed! - 760,100 mph (1000 times the speed of sound!)

Oops. Need new terms.

7) Just preposterous - 670,616,629 (lightspeed barrier)
8) Just f*ed Up :no: - Faster than the speed of light
9) Oh come ON!!! - 5X speed of light
10) Jesus Frigin Christ! - 10X speed of light
11) :x - 15X speed of light
12) Fine, whatever ... - 20X speed of light
13) :( - 25X speed of light
-&) SUPERMAN - more than 30X the speed of light!

Now at which number would he not be "super" anymore? At which point would you rather they canceled the comic? Are you really saying it's gotta be "level 13" or you quit? It couldn't be 5 or 6 or 7 and still be super?

What's the lowest you'd accept before dumping Superman as no longer being super enough to be worth reading?

[JX141]

5-6 would be good for me maybe a little more I could deal with as well.
For me it would be best if he ahd limits, that though not necessarily possible for a person in the real world, wouldn't completely throw physics on the ground and then curb stomp the very thought of it.

Like yeah I can lift 500 tons but if I were to catch a falling piece of a building I would tear through it like paper because it can't support its own weight.
Ok if it is explained away by my having some form of TK that expands the area over which the force is exerted so that it doesnt crumble in my hands, and then that power bottlenecked as not being able to affect things away from my body when clearly I can, is just poor writing IMO.

The key is to have limits to a character and then having that character overcome those limitations, which are already far beyond the ken of mortal man, through character development and plot.

Everybody likes to make this quote "He is called 'Super' man for a reason.", I'd like to say "He is also called a Super 'man' for a reason." If your going to make him God then just make him God.

[jonsnow]

I am ok with 7, at or around lightspeed, not much beyond that though. My favorite measure of how "Super" Superman should be, would be the orignal Mr. Majestic run by Joe Casey. That was what Superman should be. Larger than life and belief over-the-top super-heroic stories, but with ample explanation, which Casey did a great job providing. Superman cannot take off at FTL speed because it could cause a category 7 hurricane in Djibouti or something, however, in the vaccum of space, bam go FTL. Beyond FTL is getting excessive though, because then what is the point of having Flash, or the Speed Force?

[Mark Blicharz]

Magneto X, you really need to read the character before you actually make blind judgements. From your debates about him and your posts like these, you make it clear you have little to no real understanding of who he is or what his character is.

[Normalman]

14. Precrisis Superman - 1000X speed of light (read this in Showcase Superman last night).:eek:

I think Supes should be FTL.

[Magneto X]

My vote is for Ludacris speed to be the top. 760,100 miles per hour! A thousand times the sound barrier. Mach 1000! You could still fly around the planet 100 times in a row in an hour! You could still fly from New York to Los Angeles in like twenty seconds!

[Magneto X]

Okay, strength.

1) Lame - Lifting 500 pounds
2) Superhuman - Lift 1000 pounds
3) Amazing - Lift 5000 pounds (strength of 10 men!)
4) Super even to other Superhumans - 20 tons
5) Okay, getting ridiculous - 50 tons (25 cars!)
6) Ludacris - 100 tons
7) Just preposterous - 200 tons
8) Just f*ed Up :no: - 300 tons
9) Oh come ON!!! - 500 tons
10) Jesus Frigin Christ! - 1000 tons
11) :x - Moon shattering punch
12) Fine, whatever ... - Punch through planets and hold black holes together w/ bare hands
13) :( - punch right through reality ????
-&) SUPERMAN - punch through the time barrier????

Now at which number would he not be "super" anymore? At which point would you rather they canceled the comic? What's the lowest you'd accept before dumping Superman as no longer being super enough to be worth reading?

[jonsnow]

12 works except the whole hold black holes together. I think he should be able to actually move planets, again reference Mr. Majestic the first series, actually the first issue. He rearranges the solar system. Awesome issue, awesome story, and the best written Superman I have ever read, even though it was not actually Superman.

[Jiggaman Tiga]

I'll say it like this, I don't think you can limit superman to being superman just because of powers. To me, nowadays it seems like they put more weight on character instead of powers. While people argue whether he is the powerful this or that, hardly anyone will argue that he is the most influential and inspirational comic book character ever created. Superman is just....super

[AmazingMattMan]

7 works perfectly for me. mainly because it makes sense (well as much sense as possible). then this way flash is using the speed force can be faster then supes

[thtadthtshldntb]

If you are going to use my statement as a point somewhere, please use it in context and include at least for reference, a link to the original statement

Original statement Then answer this question, if you want Superman to be so drastically weakened, what is the point of him being Superman?

why don't we just cancel his series and start a new called, Somewhatpowerfuman? Or alternatively, say Iron Man?

Superman is, what Superman is.

[Normalman]

This is simple, whatever :thor: and :hulk: are defined at multiply by 2. :)



Should also point out that things like ocean liners and stuff weigh like 50,000 tons so Supes has to be at least 10+ to continue to lift ships which I certainly think he should be able to do.

[Mark Blicharz]

This is simple, whatever :thor: and :hulk: are defined at multiply by 2. :)



Should also point out that things like ocean liners and stuff weigh like 50,000 tons so Supes has to be at least 10+ to continue to lift ships which I certainly think he should be able to do.

He's done that with one arm without straining at all. And yes, the reason why things don't crumble under their own weight is that he has a TK field which supports them. It extends around whatever he lifts and touches, which is why his costume doesn't get trashed everytime he fights.

[Magneto X]

He's done that with one arm without straining at all. And yes, the reason why things don't crumble under their own weight is that he has a TK field which supports them. It extends around whatever he lifts and touches, which is why his costume doesn't get trashed everytime he fights.

Well, that's a rather convenient use for his rarely mentioned teek power. Why doesn't he use his Teek to, say, hold Doomsday in place while he beats on him? What kind of telekinesis is limited to plot devices? To hold an entire building or tanker together, his telekineseis must exert at least hundreds of tons of pressure and have a a span of hundreds of yards and yet, and yet he never uses it to hold a guy? Or toss away kryptonite? Or clobber a guy? Is this awkwardly-limited telekinesis uber-PISy or what?

[Magneto X]

This is simple, whatever :thor: and :hulk: are defined at multiply by 2. :)

Should also point out that things like ocean liners and stuff weigh like 50,000 tons so Supes has to be at least 10+ to continue to lift ships which I certainly think he should be able to do.

Okay, you've convinced me to go up from my proposal of a "Jesus Frigin Christ Strength" of 1000 tons all the way to "WTF? Strength" of 50,000 tons (but no more, why should lyying around 50,000 ton items be not only doable, but easy?)

10.5 - 50,000 tons

Now what's the least amount of invulnerability he absolutely must have???

[thtadthtshldntb]

Well, that's a rather convenient use for his rarely mentioned teek power. Why doesn't he use his Teek to, say, hold Doomsday in place while he beats on him? What kind of telekinesis is limited to plot devices? To hold an entire building or tanker together, his telekineseis must exert at least hundreds of tons of pressure and have a a span of hundreds of yards and yet, and yet he never uses it to hold a guy? Or toss away kryptonite? Or clobber a guy? Is this awkwardly-limited telekinesis uber-PISy or what?

His biofield which is usually considered a form of tk, was designed by Byrne for the purpose of, among other things, providing for invulnerability based on how much energy he has stored and for allowing him to lift or fly stuff (it is autonomic, he currently has no conscious control over it)

[Normalman]

He's done that with one arm without straining at all. And yes, the reason why things don't crumble under their own weight is that he has a TK field which supports them. It extends around whatever he lifts and touches, which is why his costume doesn't get trashed everytime he fights.

And I keep pointing that out in Arena fights between Supes and these two and not only do the Marvel Zombies refuse to believe it but they have the nerve to negative rep me for pointing out such obvious truths.

[Normalman]

Okay, you've convinced me to go up from my proposal of a "Jesus Frigin Christ Strength" of 1000 tons all the way to "WTF? Strength" of 50,000 tons (but no more, why should lyying around 50,000 ton items be not only doable, but easy?)

10.5 - 50,000 tons

Now what's the least amount of invulnerability he absolutely must have???


:thor:'s hammer bounces off.

Nuclear explosions hurt but don't kill.

[Justin Byrd]

:thor:'s hammer bounces off.

How do you figure that? JLA/Avengers, last part, Supes got layed out by Mjolnir...

He did get right back up though.

[Normalman]

How do you figure that? JLA/Avengers, last part, Supes got layed out by Mjolnir...

He did get right back up though.

Well the question was what invulnerability level I thought he should have.

This way I don't have to get into any of these Supes vs Thor arena fights - the answer will be obvious.

[JX141]

Invulnerablity - punches from beings on/near his level, ie thor, hulk, captain marvel, black adam, should hurt him and be able to take him out, if he doesnt defend himself properly and immediately, but if he is given a few seconds to recover he is nearly back to full strength.
Strikes from weapons like Thor's hammer and WW sword should take him out if they land. Thor's hammer swung by Thor can hit harder than a nuke.

[Jiggaman Tiga]

Yeah, Superman's TK is better known nowadays has his biorythm or "aura". And how is that PIS when he has never used it outside of the simulated effect of invulnerablity and super strength.

anyway TK is more of superboy's bag anyway.

[Batmanfan79]

Well, that's a rather convenient use for his rarely mentioned teek power. Why doesn't he use his Teek to, say, hold Doomsday in place while he beats on him? What kind of telekinesis is limited to plot devices? To hold an entire building or tanker together, his telekineseis must exert at least hundreds of tons of pressure and have a a span of hundreds of yards and yet, and yet he never uses it to hold a guy? Or toss away kryptonite? Or clobber a guy? Is this awkwardly-limited telekinesis uber-PISy or what?


True, but his TK would be limited to inanimate non-kryptonite (because of his weakenss) objects. If he could do that to all his enemies, the stories wouldn't be interesting cause he would manhandle everyone. It would be absurd.

[Magneto X]

If he could do that to all his enemies, the stories wouldn't be interesting cause he would manhandle everyone. It would be absurd.

Yeah, true dat.

For invulnerability, bullet-proof is obviously fine, missile-proof is fine, but nukes and puches to the head from Hulk or from Thor's hammer should hurt the guy and risk concussion or knock out. And any bomb that would destroy a million star systems should completely toast him. That was crazy.

[Justin Byrd]

In regards to Superman's invulnerability, I am okay with him able to take several megatons and survive...he could be hurt but survive, just as if he takes a shot from Thor/Hulk/Marvel/Adam and survive. Anyone on comparable strength should be able to hurt him.

As for magic and kryptonite, he should be vulnerable to magical spells and the like, and magical artifacts could potentially still hurt him. Magic shouldn't be the end all be all weakness it has been said by many...he shouldn't be oversensitive to it. Based on his powers, he should be able to fight through certain attacks, otherwise you just have him jobbing to Johnny Spellcaster of the week. And Kryptonite, I like how he can fight through the effects now. It's a ridiculous weakness...I mean look at it this way. If Green K made him completely out of touch, then Batman could take him easy...take out some kryptonite, and kick him around. He should be able to work through it...I know this is cause for many to be mad "it's his only weakness" stuff, but current Superman can die from many things, not just kryptonite and magic as it was Pre-Crisis.

[JX141]

Supes AF I would have to agree and add some to my view. I like that he can fight thru the affects of kryptonite. It should visibly weaken him, though not to the point you or I could kick him around as soon as we pulled it out but eventually over time, minutes/hours maybe I dont know, we would be able to hurt him.
Magic should affect him just as easily as it does anyone else no more no less. Meaning if the magic attack has a physical affect that is not from a magically enhanced/enchanted object then he can shrug it off like anything else up to the limits of his vulnerability. However a magical beam/force attack something like hellfire should affect him a little more than most but not immediately incapacitate him, same thing with other spells.

[Justin Byrd]

Supes AF I would have to agree and add some to my view. I like that he can fight thru the affects of kryptonite. It should visibly weaken him, though not to the point you or I could kick him around as soon as we pulled it out but eventually over time, minutes/hours maybe I dont know, we would be able to hurt him.
Magic should affect him just as easily as it does anyone else no more no less. Meaning if the magic attack has a physical affect that is not from a magically enhanced/enchanted object then he can shrug it off like anything else up to the limits of his vulnerability. However a magical beam/force attack something like hellfire should affect him a little more than most but not immediately incapacitate him, same thing with other spells.
Exactly...which in turn kind of explains why he caught Thor's hammer, but could still be affected by it hit.. And say if someone like Etrigan blew hellfire at him, he'd be hurt by it. Good show

[JX141]

Yeah people have a problem with him catching Thors hammer. I have yet to read JLA/Avengers but have no problem with him catching it blocking it. I choose to believe that however powerful the blow was it wasnt near Thor's best and it was just like Superman handling anything else below his pain/invulnerability threshold. Not having not read it, I don't know if he caught and held the hammer if so it would then really unnnerve me since it was later determined that he wasnt worthy enough to lift it without special permission.

In case anybody is wondering I have got to be the biggest fan of Thor on this board. I have books going back to mid 70's and nearly every appearance of Thor in a Marvel book from about 1980 to 1996. Hell if it were practical I'd worship Thor, however I just don't go all fanboy over him.
IMO which will never be swayed, any 1 time they meet Thor wins, crossovers be damned.:thor:

[Justin Byrd]

Yeah people have a problem with him catching Thors hammer. I have yet to read JLA/Avengers but have no problem with him catching it blocking it. I choose to believe that however powerful the blow was it wasnt near Thor's best and it was just like Superman handling anything else below his pain/invulnerability threshold. Not having not read it, I don't know if he caught and held the hammer if so it would then really unnnerve me since it was later determined that he wasnt worthy enough to lift it without special permission.

In case anybody is wondering I have got to be the biggest fan of Thor on this board. I have books going back to mid 70's and nearly every appearance of Thor in a Marvel book from about 1980 to 1996. Hell if it were practical I'd worship Thor. IMO which will never be swayed, any 1 time they meet Thor wins crossovers be damned.:thor:
Thor was fighting through Superman's heat vision and then brought the hammer down, at which point Superman caught it, said his "turn it up to eleven line" and layed Thor out with a haymaker. He didn't hold Mjolnir.

I'm a huge Thor fan myself...but it was still pretty cool :)

[JX141]

Thor was fighting through Superman's heat vision and then brought the hammer down, at which point Superman caught it, said his "turn it up to eleven line" and layed Thor out with a haymaker. He didn't hold Mjolnir.

I'm a huge Thor fan myself...but it was still pretty cool :)
thanks thought that was the case but didnt want to be called out on it. That'll teach thor to try and walk thru HV again. :) Course I also choose to believe the turn it up to eleven line was just false bravado somethign said to psyche himself up for his last hurrah. It worked but then he was so spent he couldnt even defend himself against lesser foes, I can live with that

[Magneto X]

That's a great segue to heat vision.

1) Lame - warm up chilly hands
2) Superhuman - boil water
3) Amazing - burn books (Fahrenheit 451!)
4) Super even to other Superhumans - (1000 degrees)
5) Okay, getting ridiculous - (10,000 degrees - surface of the sun!)
6) Ludacris - (50,000 degrees - lightning!)
7) Just preposterous - (One million degrees)
8) Just f*ed Up - (hurts Thor)
9) Oh come ON!!! :oops: - (reheats the planet)
10) Jesus Frigin Christ! - (fries Hulk to a dead crumbly crisp)
11) :no: - (melts adamantium)
12) Fine, whatever ... - (fries planets dead with a glance)
13) :sick: - (melts the galaxy)
14) :eek: - (melts the universe, burns timebarrier [well, apparently you can punch it so...])


Now at which number would he not be "super" anymore? At which point would you rather they canceled the comic? What's the lowest you'd accept before dumping Superman as no longer being super enough to be worth reading?

[Mark Blicharz]

I really think this thread is pointless. Superman isn't interesting because of his powers. His true fans know this and don't read him for that. They change things up, but his fans know he's interesting because of his personality. Superman #650 shows exactly why. I suggest people who don't understand Superman(mainly people who say if he didn't have a certain level of power they wouldn't read him) go pick up that book, Superman: Strength, World Without Superman, Superman: Secret Identity, Action Comics #775, and the Death of Superman to see why he's interesting.

[S.A. Parvaze]

I really think this thread is pointless. Superman isn't interesting because of his powers. His true fans know this and don't read him for that. They change things up, but his fans know he's interesting because of his personality. Superman #650 shows exactly why. I suggest people who don't understand Superman(mainly people who say if he didn't have a certain level of power they wouldn't read him) go pick up that book, Superman: Strength, World Without Superman, Superman: Secret Identity, Action Comics #775, and the Death of Superman to see why he's interesting.
I don't think this thread is pointless. It's an interesting little game to me. Rebuild Superman's powers. And while you (and I for that matter, though it's been a long journey) may find Superman more than the sum of his powers, there are other people (even perhaps avid fans) who don't believe that or haven't progressed to that notion. Take a breath. Relax. Enjoy the game. Sure there's a little bit of Superman ridicule to spread around here, but all superheroes (especially ones with such long and rich histories as Superman) have their foibles and deserve to be laughed at sometime -- even better if it's by their fans; that's real devotion to a character.

[Magneto X]

Well, for me, if you're already top teir in strength and speed, I think it's cool to hurt people like Thor with the rays, but not Hulk crisping or planet melting.

[Mike D'Alfonso]

I really think this thread is pointless. Superman isn't interesting because of his powers. His true fans know this and don't read him for that. They change things up, but his fans know he's interesting because of his personality. Superman #650 shows exactly why. I suggest people who don't understand Superman(mainly people who say if he didn't have a certain level of power they wouldn't read him) go pick up that book, Superman: Strength, World Without Superman, Superman: Secret Identity, Action Comics #775, and the Death of Superman to see why he's interesting.

To me it is the man that defines who he is, and not the powers. He stands as a beacon of hope when there seems to be none to be had (in the fictional realm anyways). Of course the powers are there as a birthright and he uses them for the betterment of humankind, but there are times when he has a struggle to keep it in check in order to blend with the rest of the world;that in itself becomes a great story element.

When writers that come on think that the character's persona can be dictated according to his powers, they cleary do not understand Superman, and I would quickly lose interest. Look to the stories that come after Reign of the Supermen in the 90's and you will see what I mean.

[Mark Blicharz]

To me it is the man that defines who he is, and not the powers. He stands as a beacon of hope when there seems to be none to be had (in the fictional realm anyways). Of course the powers are there as a birthright and he uses them for the betterment of humankind, but there are times when he has a struggle to keep it in check in order to blend with the rest of the world;that in itself becomes a great story element.

When writers that come on think that the character's persona can be dictated according to his powers, they cleary do not understand Superman, and I would quickly lose interest. Look to the stories that come after Reign of the Supermen in the 90's and you will see what I mean.

Exactly. That's something several stories have shown now and that's what makes Superman super. Hell even when he was powerless he's still sacrificed himself to help others. That's just who he is.

[Normalman]

I really think this thread is pointless. Superman isn't interesting because of his powers. His true fans know this and don't read him for that. They change things up, but his fans know he's interesting because of his personality. Superman #650 shows exactly why. I suggest people who don't understand Superman(mainly people who say if he didn't have a certain level of power they wouldn't read him) go pick up that book, Superman: Strength, World Without Superman, Superman: Secret Identity, Action Comics #775, and the Death of Superman to see why he's interesting.


I don't think you can take the powers out of Superman for long and still have Superman. Superman is interesting as a character partly because he's more powerful than everyone else and how he deals with that is part of what makes him interesting. The examples you give (except for Death of Superman which IMHO sucked) were successful because they involve interesting variations on the theme (e.g. extremely powerful person loses powers, extremely powerful person grows old, etc).

I also like some of the more interesting Superman knockoffs for this same reason - such as Supreme Power's Hyperion - morally ambivalent Superman in the "real" world. Or Invincible's Omniman - evil Superman, etc.

I don't think there's a set power level Superman has to be at, but I do think his powers need to be clearly greater than the other mainline heroes of his universe - or he's not Superman, he's Wonderman or Colossus, or any of the other Marvel strong guys who are just below the top two in the Marvel Universe (:thor: :hulk: ). (Both of whom Superman ought to be able to take down BTW):) .

[Magneto X]

Onto my least favorite Superman power: FREEZEBREATH

I think it should have been retconned out along with his superventriliquism, super-language-proficiency and his shape-shifting powers.

How many people think he needs to have freeze breath at all?

[Justin Byrd]

I like freeze breath. And it's more of a super breath.

Anyway, I agree with Mark, Mike and S.A. Superman is super because of who he is, not of his powers. That's why interests me too. I like the character, his powerset doesn't interest me THAT much. I just think a lot of people get mad because he can win a lot of arena fights in here, which he can, but even so that doesn't mean he's lame or anything.

[Mark Blicharz]

I don't think you can take the powers out of Superman for long and still have Superman. Superman is interesting as a character partly because he's more powerful than everyone else and how he deals with that is part of what makes him interesting. The examples you give (except for Death of Superman which IMHO sucked) were successful because they involve interesting variations on the theme (e.g. extremely powerful person loses powers, extremely powerful person grows old, etc).

I also like some of the more interesting Superman knockoffs for this same reason - such as Supreme Power's Hyperion - morally ambivalent Superman in the "real" world. Or Invincible's Omniman - evil Superman, etc.

I don't think there's a set power level Superman has to be at, but I do think his powers need to be clearly greater than the other mainline heroes of his universe - or he's not Superman, he's Wonderman or Colossus, or any of the other Marvel strong guys who are just below the top two in the Marvel Universe (:thor: :hulk: ). (Both of whom Superman ought to be able to take down BTW):) .

I don't agree. Even when he's not powered he still tries to help. Superman is only the persona that comes out when he's in public saving the day. He does the same as Clark daily. He did the same when he had no powers at all.

[Magneto X]

I like freeze breath.

I don't. He can already heat vision a guy. Punch a guy. Throw stuff at him. Dive at him at super-speed. Why's he need to be iceman at the same time?

[Jiggaman Tiga]

that is why was Superman Blue was such a GREAT idea....still uber powerful but one of the more unique characters at the time. now we look we got old standard-equipped superman...and its blah. lol Viva azul!!!:)

[Justin Byrd]

I don't. He can already heat vision a guy. Punch a guy. Throw stuff at him. Dive at him at super-speed. Why's he need to be iceman at the same time?
And that's why it's your opinion :)

I happen to think behind the science of his powers, this one makes sense.

[Mark Blicharz]

I don't. He can already heat vision a guy. Punch a guy. Throw stuff at him. Dive at him at super-speed. Why's he need to be iceman at the same time?

Should we list all the things a character you enjoy can do with his powers and then ask if he'd still be interesting with them toned down or not there?

[Magneto X]

To sum up, here's my favorite Superman:

CHARACTER: Same
MIND: Very intelligent, but not an uber-genius, not designing his own time machines
SPEED: Mach 1000
STRENGTH: 50,000 tons (or more than 500 times the full strength of the Thing)
DURABILITY: Lucky Hulk/Mjolnir might knock-out/concuss, galaxy-ending bomb would be SM-ending too
SENSES: Uber-awareness in immediate vicinity, some reasonable effectiveness for a few miles
IMMORTALITY: Doesn't get sick, doesn't need to eat, drink or breathe, lives a long time
HEAT VISION: Burns Hulk but not straight to crispy dead, won't melt planets, effective range 1 mile
TELEPATHY: No. Willpower and alieness slows down lower level psis, can wear mech psi-blocking
TELEKINESIS: No
SUPER BREATH: Sure, some, but he doesn't have the lung capacity to hold that much volume
FREEZE BREATH: No

I don' think uber-hero can be called the Superman of a "hater". I think he's WAY top teir in this form.
He's not as weak as he was originally written (leaping, for instance), but not cosmic/god either.
With the combination of invulnerability and immunity to sickness, poison and breathing!
With 500 times class 100 strength! More than 500 times stronger than Namor, Thing or Colosus!
With the senses that alert him to any attack before it comes combined with flight and Mach 100 speed!
And, whenever needed, heat vision that, at a half-mile, can liquify a tank or burn the Hulk!

Should we list all the things a character you enjoy can do with his powers and then ask if he'd still be interesting with them toned down or not there?

Sure, go for it :)

[Normalman]

I don't agree. Even when he's not powered he still tries to help. Superman is only the persona that comes out when he's in public saving the day. He does the same as Clark daily. He did the same when he had no powers at all.

Yes, and how long would it remain interesting and would people read it if we didn't know that sooner or later (cue Superman 2 theme music) he'll get his powers back - probably just in the knick of time.

[Normalman]

To sum up, here's my favorite Superman:

CHARACTER: Same
MIND: Very intelligent, but not an uber-genius, not designing his own time machines
SPEED: Mach 1000
STRENGTH: 50,000 tons (or more than 500 times the full strength of the Thing)
DURABILITY: Lucky Hulk/Mjolnir might knock-out/concuss, galaxy-ending bomb would be SM-ending too
SENSES: Uber-awareness in immediate vicinity, some reasonable effectiveness for a few miles
IMMORTALITY: Doesn't get sick, doesn't need to eat, drink or breathe, lives a long time
HEAT VISION: Burns Hulk but not straight to crispy dead, won't melt planets, effective range 1 mile
TELEPATHY: No. Willpower and alieness slows down lower level psis, can wear mech psi-blocking
TELEKINESIS: No
SUPER BREATH: Sure, some, but he doesn't have the lung capacity to hold that much volume
FREEZE BREATH: No

I :)

Interesting. Never really discussed speed as in speed he can operate at - as in we're all moving in super slo-mo and if he wanted to he could punch somebody a 1000 times before they even realized he was there. I'd say probably.

Should he still have the kryptonite and magic weaknesses? I'd say some to kryptonite - it's traditional. I dislike most magic based supercharacters so I'd actually prefer that he have some immunity to this.

One can actually come up with a scientific basis for freezebreath. If you've ever seen a pressurized tank blowdown, you might notice that ice will form on the valve since as the air rapidly expands, it cools to subfreezing temperatures causing the water in the air to freeze.

What's actually harder to explain is how Superman could get more air into his lungs than an ordinary person - they aren't any bigger and he doesn't have a way to pressurize the air in his lungs while they're expanded - unless he has a supercompressor built in his throat.

Maybe he could use his mouth to swallow air rapidly and build up the quantity that way? (Might make him have to burp a lot though).