Feats.

The biggest things he's ever done, with sources.

There's no official number for Superman's strength or speed: every figure online is either one story's feat or a fan calculation. His feats grew by era, from leaping a building in 1938 to dragging a solar system in 1967. The famous 200-quintillion-ton lift comes from All-Star Superman, outside main continuity, while he's overcharged and dying.

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Updated 6 November 2026 · 8 sources

A flaming meteor stopped above farmland, a ring-shaped shockwave in the clouds behind it

In depth

The full story.

“How strong is Superman?” is the most asked question about him, and the honest answer surprises people: there’s no official number. What the comics give us instead is feats, and those have grown with every era. Everything below is cited; if a feat isn’t here, we haven’t verified it.

Feats of strength

Feat	Where	Era	Confidence
Lifts a car and leaps a tall building	Action Comics #1 (1938)	Golden Age	Confirmed
Splits mountains	Action Comics #47 (1942)	Golden Age	Likely
Moves the Appalachian mountains	Superman #48 (1947)	Golden Age	Likely
Squeezes coal into a diamond	Action Comics #115 (1947)	Golden Age	Likely
Crashes moons and planets together to make a new star	Superman #58 (1949)	Golden Age	Confirmed
Moves a star	Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #33 (1958)	Silver Age	Likely
Drags a 13-planet solar system with giant chains	Superboy #140 (1967)	Silver Age	Confirmed
Moves the Earth itself	Superman #220 (year to be checked)	Silver Age	Likely
Burns all his energy in one solar flare, then is powerless for a day	Superman #38 (2015)	New 52	Likely

In short, Superman’s strength escalated from strongman to planet-mover in about 30 years, then John Byrne’s 1986 reboot deliberately scaled him back down. More on how his strength works is on super-strength.

Feats of speed

Feat	Where	Result	Confidence
Literally faster than a speeding bullet	Superman #3 (1939)	—	Likely
Catches lightning	Action Comics #79 (1944)	—	Likely
First race with the Flash (Barry Allen), for charity	Superman #199 (August 1967)	Tie	Confirmed
The rematch	The Flash #175 (December 1967)	Tie	Confirmed
Race against Barry Allen	World’s Finest #198–199 (1970)	Flash wins	Likely
Race against Wally West	The Adventures of Superman #463 (1990)	Flash wins	Likely
Race against Jay Garrick	DC First: Flash/Superman (2002)	Flash wins	Likely
Another race against Wally West	The Flash (vol. 2) #209 (2004)	Flash wins	Likely

So the first two races were ties, and the Flash wins most of the later ones. See how fast is Superman?.

Feats of survival

Feat	Where	Confidence
Bulletproof from day one	Action Comics #1 (1938)	Likely
Survives a point-blank nuclear blast	Superman #38 (1946)	Likely
Survives a trip to the Earth’s core	Superman #43 (1946)	Likely
Withstands the Sun’s core while weakened by kryptonite	Action Comics #161 (1951)	Likely
Killed by Doomsday	Superman (vol. 2) #75 (January 1993)	Confirmed
Lives in the Sun’s core for over 15,000 years	DC One Million (1998)	Likely

Superman (vol. 2) #75 went on sale on 18 November 1992 and sold more than six million copies. His return began in The Adventures of Superman #500 (June 1993). See is Superman invulnerable?.

Superman feats myths, busted

Myth	What the comics actually show	Verdict
“Superman can lift 200 quintillion tons”	Only in All-Star Superman (2005–08), out of continuity, while overcharged by the Sun and dying. The issue still isn’t confirmed	Myth as a general stat
“Superman has an official power level”	No DC source sets one; feats vary by writer and era	Myth
“Superman is faster than the Flash”	The 1967 races were ties, and the Flash wins most later races	Myth as a blanket claim
“Superman spun the Earth backwards” (1978)	In the film he flies faster than light to go back in time; the spinning Earth is commonly explained as his point of view	Misreading
“Superman routinely moves planets”	True in some Silver Age stories, rare since 1986	Partly true
Precise energy or tonnage figures	Writers’ and fans’ own calculations, not canon	Fan calculation

The strongest Supermen

Fans usually name two versions as the most powerful in print, and both sit outside today’s main continuity: the Sun-dwelling Superman-Prime of DC One Million (1998), and the solar-overcharged hero of All-Star Superman. That’s an editorial judgement, not canon. Meet them on Superman versions and Elseworlds, and for crossover match-ups that actually happened, see Can Superman…?.

Era by era.

The same Superman, rewritten for every generation.

Golden Age (1938–1956)

From leaping a tall building and stopping bullets (1938) to moving the Appalachians (Superman #48, 1947) and crashing planets together to make a star (Superman #58, 1949).

Silver Age (1956–1986)

The cosmic era: he moves a star (1958), drags a 13-planet solar system on chains (Superboy #140, 1967) and ties the Flash twice in 1967.

Post-Crisis (1986–2011)

John Byrne's reboot scales him down. Doomsday kills him in Superman (vol. 2) #75 (1993), and the Flash wins their later races.

New 52 (2011–2016)

The solar flare: one huge burst of all his stored energy, after which he's powerless for about a day (Superman #38, 2015).

Out of continuity

All-Star Superman (2005–08) and the far-future Superman-Prime of DC One Million (1998) show the most powerful Supermen in print.

Questions.

Can Superman lift 200 quintillion tons?

Only in All-Star Superman (2005–08), an out-of-continuity story in which he's overcharged by the Sun and dying, and the exact issue still isn't confirmed. It isn't his normal strength, and any 'normal limit' figure derived from it is fan maths rather than canon.

Who would win, Superman or Goku / Thor / Hulk?

There's usually no canon answer. Goku belongs to a different company, and they've never met in an official story. Superman has met Marvel heroes only in rare crossovers such as JLA/Avengers (2003–04), where results are mixed. We label fan debates as opinion, not fact.