Superman, explained · Trivia and firsts
Can he? The answers, story by story.
It depends on the story. Most modern comics show him in space without a helmet, holding his breath or simply not needing air. Some late-1980s stories gave him an air supply, and one has it leaking. There's no single canon rule.
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In some stories, yes. In DC Comics Presents #86 (1985) he and Supergirl pass through a black hole and come out the other side, and in Superman: Lost #2 (2023) he stops an artificial black hole from a crashed alien ship. There's no fixed rule, so it depends on the story.
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He has many times. He's travelling in time by Superman #48 (1947), and Silver Age stories often have him fly faster than light to break the time barrier. In Superman (1978) he flies round the Earth to turn back time. A 2026 comic jokes the idea away, but it isn't a formal rule.
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Can Superman breathe in space? There's no single canon answer: most modern stories show him holding his breath in space, but some give him an air supply. He has survived black holes in some stories, flew through time in the Golden and Silver Ages and the 1978 film, and tied the Flash in both of their 1967 races.
Fans ask a lot of “Can Superman…?” questions, and the internet answers most of them with confident guesses. Here are the answers the comics and films actually give, with a clear label where canon disagrees with itself or has never answered.
| Question | Answer | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Can Superman breathe in space? | Varies by era; most modern stories show him holding his breath | Disputed |
| Can he survive a black hole? | In some stories, yes | Likely |
| Can he travel in time? | Yes, in the Golden and Silver Ages and the 1978 film | Likely |
| Is he faster than the Flash? | Usually not: two ties in 1967, then mostly Flash wins; see super-speed | Confirmed |
| Can he beat the Hulk? | Yes, by reader vote in DC vs. Marvel (1996) | Confirmed |
| Did Muhammad Ali beat him? | Yes, in a 1978 one-off comic | Confirmed |
| Can he die? | Yes: Doomsday killed him in 1993 | Confirmed |
| Is he weak to magic? | Yes, a rule since the Silver Age | Confirmed |
| Can he lift Thor’s hammer? | Once, with Odin’s permission, in JLA/Avengers (2003–04) | Likely |
| Can he beat Goku? | No canon answer: they’ve never met | — |
There’s no single canon answer. Most modern comics and films show Superman flying into space with no helmet, either holding his breath or apparently not needing to breathe. But some post-Crisis stories, when DC had scaled his powers down, gave him a breathing device: in The Adventures of Superman #453 (April 1989) it’s damaged and leaks air while he drifts in space. Exactly how long he can hold his breath depends on the writer. His super-breath and freeze breath need air to blow, so they don’t work in a vacuum. For eating, sleeping and ageing, see Kryptonian biology.
In some stories, yes, though there’s no fixed rule:
He’s done it many times. He’s already travelling in time in Superman #48 (1947), and Silver Age stories often have him break the “time barrier” by flying faster than light. The most famous example is Superman (1978), where he flies round the Earth to turn back time and save Lois. The Earth appears to spin backwards, which is commonly explained as how it looks from his point of view.
A 2026 comic has some fun with this: in Batman/Superman: World’s Finest 2026 Annual #1, the Flash suggests spinning back time and Clark dismisses the idea. It’s a joke, not a formal rule.
Usually not. Their first race, a charity race in Superman #199 (August 1967), was a tie, and so was the rematch in The Flash #175 (December 1967). In most later races the Flash wins: Barry Allen in 1970, Wally West in 1990 and 2004, and Jay Garrick in 2002. The full list is on Superman’s greatest feats.
We only list fights that actually happened on the page:
Match-ups with characters he has never fought on the page, such as Goku or Thanos, have no canon answer. In JLA/Avengers (2003–04) he wields Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, but only with Odin’s permission (Likely).
Yes, he can die. Doomsday killed him in Superman (vol. 2) #75 (January 1993), and he returned later that year. See is Superman invulnerable?. He’s also been vulnerable to magic since the Silver Age, although nobody has pinned down the first story to show it. See why is Superman weak to magic?.
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Every Superman series, and where to watch it in the UK.
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