Superman/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions

*** The super-compressed costume is far from univerally-accepted canon in every story. Cape or not, he's shown wearing the costume under his work clothes in virtually every Superman story, thousands of times more than he's shown with it as a super-compressed ball. It's in no way a case of "just plan forgot". In fact, this troper has only heard the concept of super-compressed clothing used to explain what happens to his ''work clothes'' when he changes into Superman.

*** [[Golden Mean Fallacy|Compromise time!]] He wears the ''costume'' under his clothes, but keeps the ''cape'' in a super-compressed ball in his back pocket or wherever. That way, he's got the suit on underneath if he needs it and, after doing the dramatic shirt-rip and suit removal, can just quickly whip the cape out, attach it, and get down to business.

** Some comics have gone around to answer this- Krypton is sometimes portrayed as an isolationist society, because the immense pricks who ran it were convinced they were the greatest civilization and species that could ever come into existence, and going to "lesser" words could be degrading. This refusal to leave their homeworld and arrogant self-image is why they refused to accept Jor-El's warnings. Other stories however do have Kryptonian astronauts- most notably an issue of All-Star Superman.

** According to the Ultimate Guide, Krypton had a space program, but because of their superior attitudes, they abandoned it long before their planet's destruction.

** During the ''[[Millennium (Comic Book)|Millennium]]'' crossover, part of this plot hole was fixed: the Manhunters tried to capture his spaceship and created a blizzard to keep people from reaching the crash site, but the Kents found him anyway and ended up stuck in a blizzard for five months. It was plausible that Martha could have given birth during that time.

*** I thought I had seen that idea somewhere, thanks.

*** "Anchor baby" implies that the parents are illegal aliens, and that the fact that the baby is a citizen benefits other members of the family. Neither of these is true for Superman.

*** Whether or not he is an anchor baby, if the birthing matrix is still canon, if Superman was indeed born on American soil, he ''is'' an American citizen. It's automatic. If you are born on American soil you are an American citizen.