Clark Kent’sSupermanis famously invulnerable to almost all forms of harm, able to deflect bullets and fight literal gods in hand-to-hand combat. However, despite being perhaps the most indestructible individual on the planet, one incredibly unique superpower turns this godlike strength into a horrific weakness. In fact,Superman isn’t just vulnerable to this power - he’s the one person in the world who ismostat risk.
In Gail Simone, Dale Eaglesham, Tom Derenick, Jason Wright and Travis Lanham’sSecret Six vol. 4 #10, the Man of Steel goes up against the titular Six. Superman discovers the team on a mission to save the life oftheir god-tier magic user Black Alice, but unfortunately their efforts are weakening the barrier between Earth and the eldritch Dark Giants. While the Secret Six simply aren’t on Superman’s level, their leader Catman reveals thatone member is their secret weapon against the Man of Steel.
While Superman initially thinks the ‘secret weapon’ is the new Ventriloquist - who commands immense telekinetic power - it quickly turns out that the team’s heavy hitter is actually Porcelain. A mysterious thief, Porcelain has an ability that turns hard substances incredibly brittle. In fact, Porcelain’s powers turn any substance brittle in inverse proportion to how hard it is - andsince Kryptonian skin is the hardest substance on Earth, Superman quickly becomes the most fragile man alive, with his skin cracking at the lightest touch.
Batman also has a genius contingency to use Superman’s powers against him, and he doesn’t need a single gadget to do it.
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Porcelain Turned Superman into the Man of Glass
Superman’s Invulnerability Makes Him MORE Vulnerable
Due to absorbing yellow sunlight on Earth, Superman has immense powers, including hardening his skin to a near-unbreakable level. Sadly, the DC Universe is a big place, and against the right power, this actually makes Supermanmorevulnerable. Porcelain can’t do a lot to harm regular human skin because it’s already pliable, but becauseSuperman is diamond hard, he instantly succumbs. Thankfully, Porcelain hesitates to use their sledgehammer to actually shatter the hero, and their hand is quickly stayed by fellow Secret Six member ‘Big Shot’ (actually Superman’s old friend the Elastic Man in disguise.)
Overloading Superman’s heat vision turns him into a threat to everyone around him, effectively taking him out of any fight.
While fans often discuss Superman as having every power the writers could think of, that’s certainly not true in modern comics. Many DC heroes have truly bizarre powers which only take on their full significance in specific situations. Porcelain’s abilities naturally led them into bank heists because they’re ideal for bringing down walls and vault doors, but they also happen to be the ultimate offensive ability against Superman. Thankfully, theSecret Six sit exactly on the blurry linebetween heroism and villainy, and Porcelain doesn’t actually want Superman dead.
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Most of Superman’s Powers Can Be Turned Against Him
From Heat Vision to Super-Hearing, the Man of Steel Has Major Vulnerabilities
While turning Superman’s own immense powers against him might seem unusual, this is actually one of his most consistent weaknesses.Because Superman has immensely powerful abilities, he’s instantly in major trouble whenever they’re turned against him.Various stories (including Tom King and Mikel Janin’sBatman #42) have shown that high-frequency noises are devastating to Superman because of his enhanced senses. This forms the backbone ofone of Batman’s best contingency plans- Superman deliberately modulates his hearing to avoid the pain of high-frequency sounds, but when he’s being mind-controlled, his focus slips enough that Batman can send him reeling just by whistling at the right pitch.
Superman has also lost control of his heat vision many times, often because the level of energy he’s absorbing is heightened outside his control. When this happens, he fires deadly rays wherever he looks, forcing him to fight blind. This weakness means there are entire worlds he’s effectively useless on because their conditions trigger this kind of excess power, as seen in Brian Michael Bendis and David MarquezJustice League #61.
It also takes significanteffort for Superman to control his powers, meaning that in moments of injury or confusion, he can struggle to modulate them. Perhaps the most consequential example is from the 1942 newspaper comic ‘The Failure,’ where Clark Kent attempts to join the military to fight in WWII, but is rejected because he failed the eye exam - not because he couldn’t read it, but because he unknowingly used his X-ray vision to read the wrong exam, looking into the next room over.
As powerful as he is, Superman lives in a world of wild superpowers, alien weaponry and magic, meaning there is always some way he can be put at a disadvantage. No-one would rank the Secret Six on a list of DC’s most powerful teams, but thanks to the way the Man of Steel’s powers interact with Porcelain’s, they can officially boast the ability to take downSupermanwithout breaking a sweat.
Superman
The icon who launched the entire world of superheroes, the last son of Krypton escaped his dying world to crash land on Earth and be raised as Clark Kent. The world knows him better as Superman, the Man of Steel, the leader of the Justice League, and the most well-known hero in the DC Comics Universe. Blessed with the powers of a demigod, Kal-El of Krypton fights enemies both small and cosmic in his endless pursuit of truth, justice, and a better tomorrow.
