This thought just sprung into my head, and maybe it's been done before (I don't really read comics anymore), but would dropping a huge nuke directly onto Superman's head kill him? Or at least fuck him up a lot? Random, I know, but I'm sure someone has the answer.

I would think it would.

I googled this just for the hell of it and found this:

Wasn't that basically the plot of Superman IV (or V, I forget which one)?

Anyway, the real answer is it depends on who's writing him at the time, and what the editorial direction is. The first incarnation of superman couldn't even fly, he had to leap. pre crisis, pre man-of-steel superman was pretty much all powerful, hindered only by what the writers imagined his powers were and what they perceived could hurt him. Post crisis Supes was greatly depowered. Current supes seems almost back to pre-crisis levels.

The greatest superman incarnation of the last 10 years, the animated version, got routinely beat up by simple machines without any kryptonite, so I'm sure a nuke would hurt him a ton.

The Dark Knight version of Superman survived a nuke, but just barely.

You know, this makes absolutely no sense that a nuke would affect Superman. He gets his energy from sunlight. Not just yellow sunlight, but the energy product of the sun. Which is the exact same kind of energy released when a nuke goes off: fission of Hydrogen.

I think it was something along those lines. I'd know myself, since I own it, but after Supes III I'm pretty sure IV isn't much easier to get through. And I don't relish the thought of trying.

Yeah, it's the one where Supes goes to get rid of all the nukes, somehow faces off against a nuclear man, and develops his "rebuild-the-Great-Wall-Of-China" vision in the middle of their fight.

The whole Supes-shouldn't-get-hurt-by-nukes... he's often been described as being a battery that's charged by the yellow rays of the sun, so it's feasible that he could be overloaded by direct contact with a nuke. Of course, sometimes he's able to take the heat of the sun itself, so who knows? Hey, it's comic books. How about, why does a red sun take away his (and Mon-el's) powers?

And I'm fairly sure a MAGICAL nuke could kill him... His only real weaknesses are magic, kryptonite, and plot devices (like Doomsday).

The pre crisis Superman, it probably would'nt phase him. The post Crisis Man of Steel version it would probably hurt him or at least stun him.

Here's another thing I was thinking of. How can he have sex with lois or other humans without killing them?

Eh, Doomsday wasn't really a deus ex machina device.

Post-Crisis Superman is much weaker than Pre-Crisis Superman (as has already been mentioned). Yes, Pre-Crisis Superman could only be hurt by magic and kryptonite, but that is not the case with Post-Crisis Superman. A powerful punch can definitely hurt Post-Crisis Superman.

Post-Crisis Superman is kind of like Rocky Balboa. Both characters have a super-stamina, and they just keep going and going and going... They get knocked down, but keep picking themselves up for "one more round."

Post-Crisis Superman has had the crap kicked out of him several times without the use of kryptonite. Doomsday merely beat him to a pulp and wore down his super-stamina until he couldn't go anymore and just fell over dead. Kryptonite and magic merely speed up the process of wearing out his super-stamina, but they are not the only things that can hurt and/or kill him.

Kryptonite condom ... NEXT!

Amended.

I would imagine Kingdom Come Superman could take it.

this guy can take it:

But wouldnt thus ultimately destroy superman? Or atleast give him some sort of erectile disfunction?


The only true person that Superman could have sex with would be Wonder-Woman.

MallRats

There was some elseworlds story where Superman's baby killed Lois when he kicked her from inside her belly... and that guilt led to him becoming evil or something along those lines.

I called Doomsday a plot device because he came out of nowhere for the express purpose of having something "kill" Superman. I have no idea if Jurgens and co. had come up with the background story before or after his debut, but it still seemed like a plot device to me. Later on it's established that Doomsday evolves after every defeat or something, but you're telling me that all those superheroes couldn't come up with something else besides Supes going fist to fist against this thing?

As far as the Wonder Woman thing, going super geeky here, but wasn't she technically made out of clay? We don't even know if she can have kids...

That happened in the Armageddon 2001 story. It wasn't exactly an elseworlds story. It was Waverider looking into the *possible* future of all the superheroes to find out who becomes Monarch.

The Dark Knight version almost didn't survive because the cloud/fallout that resulted from the nuke completely blocked him off from the sunlight/energy for a short time. He started aging rapidly, but (IIRC) when he fell to the ground he was able to start reclaiming the solar radiation absorbed by the earth and rejuvenate himself.

Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex - Larry Niven

but I'm sure you knew that.

I read something in the most recent WW issue that implies Themyscria Amazons(Immortal) are sterile.

I believe that's why Diana was created and not born... In the original Perez issues, even before they left man's world I don't remember them having any kids (wasn't the retconned Donna Troy origin basically to give Diana a playmate that was around her age as she was growing up)?

What confuses me is that Donna had kids... though they are long gone, had some weird story where they were actually gods or titans or something, and then they died. Ah, Donna Troy, how much more could they possibly screw up an origin, when all they wanted to do originally was give WW a younger analog in the Teen Titans.