Superman's creation helped establish the Golden Age of comics and basically created the superhero genre itself. The Man of Steel has spent much of his history both representing what it means to be a superhero while also being the flagship character of DC Comics. Even today, the hero stands as one of the most important characters in pop culture and brings an impressive level of strength to his stories.
Superman may be an excellent, iconic superhero, but there's a lot in his history that simply doesn't make a great deal of sense. Everything from strange and often whimsical powers to some questionable rivalries has left the hero's fans with unanswered mysteries about their favorite hero. He continues to be one of the biggest forces in comics, but DC also has a few loose threads they could tie up in the story of Clark Kent.
10 Superman's Rivalry With Captain Marvel / Shazam
It's understandable that, for DC, they'd have the impulse to have Superman and Shazam at odds. After all, Shazam is one of the very few heroes in the DCU who can actually stand against the Man of Steel. However, their having a rough history has never actually made that much sense.
Most notably, seeing Superman at odds with Captain Marvel — who for some reason joined Lex Luthor in "Public Enemies" — despite their overlapping ethics and personalities. Both heroes are, at their core, wholesome middle-America heroes, equally devoted to truth and justice.
9 Superman's Intelligence
By rights, Superman should match Batman when it comes to intelligence and then some. After all, not only is every aspect of his anatomy — presumably including his brain — enhanced by Earth's sun, but he thinks at super speed, too. In effect, Clark Kent should have the mental capacity of multiple supercomputers.
Some stories have made reference to Superman's intelligence and memory abilities, showing how he can read dozens of books within minutes. Yet, this only further leaves open the question of why he's so often written as being of relatively mediocre intelligence in the DCU when he should be one of Earth's greatest minds.
8 How Does Superman Age?
The best-case scenario for Superman's aging is that he ages at the same rate as humans. After all, the alternative to this would be a tragic future wherein Clark Kent must either watch Lois pass him by and die while he's still young or have the hero give up his powers to live a mortal life.
The precise rate at which Clark Kent ages remains without a definitive answer, and it would run in conflict with the sun's enhancement of his biology if he ages at the rate of a typical human. After all, if the sun gives him a healing factor well beyond humans, surely this should extend to his cellular regeneration and stave off the aging process.
7 How Did The Miniature Supermen Work?
In the Silver Age, the Man of Steel had a few strange powers, but none were quite as weird as that of his ability to shoot miniature versions of himself from his fingers. There are simply too many questions and implications around this ability to leave it hanging.
While it was explained how Superman got this power, there are questions about how exactly these mini-Supermen were formed, whether they had their own free will and if their lives could be independent of the Man of Steel. It's simply the strangest and most disturbing power the hero ever had.
6 Superman's Disguise
In DC's defense, as well as the defense of many creators, some real effort has been made to explain away Superman's disguise as more nuanced than just taking off his glasses. For example, stories have shown how Clark Kent alters his posture, personality, and more to blend in and shake suspicion.
It isn't so much that the people around Clark can't see that he's Superman; after all, people are often blind to what's right in front of them. The real question is, with so many photos and videos of Superman, how none of his technologically advanced villains could have used simple facial comparisons to figure it out.
5 How Kryptonian Does Clark Consider Himself?
Based on the fact Clark Kent is a refugee from a dead planet, it's understandable that he'd have some identity conflicts in figuring himself out. However, Superman's history has been somewhat dubious on what Clark ultimately considers himself, with some stories seeing him go by Clark, others by Kal-El.
Likewise, some stories will see him embrace aspects of his Kryptonian culture. This goes as far as invoking Rao, a Kryptonian deity, much as Wonder Woman does Hera, leaving the question as to whether he believes in Kryptonian religion. This can make sense for a young Superman still coming to grips with his identity, but an older Superman has always worked best when he embraced his more human side.
4 The Exact Nature Of Superman's Strength
The basics behind Superman's strength under a yellow sun have been explained a few times. In essence, after a much longer evolution on Krypton than humans on Earth, and with much denser cells from the red sun and higher gravity, Kryptonian physiology becomes super under lighter gravity and more nourishing light.
That, however, doesn't come even close to explaining how Superman is strong enough to, for example, move planets. Even this changes radically between writers. Some will have Superman struggle to lift a building; others show him bench-pressing planets.
3 Superman Can't Beat Batman
One of the more ridiculous aspects of the DC Universe is the fact that, throughout history and across the multiverse, Batman can handily beat Superman. This may lead to some fun grudge matches, but it's simply ridiculous and depends in part on downplaying Superman's intelligence.
By rights, every battle between Superman and Batman should be over before it even begins. Superman is practically as fast as the Flash and has X-ray vision. He should be able to spot and dismantle every trap Batman has before the Caped Crusader even knows Superman is there. Yet, he continues to lose to the hero, and decisively so.
2 Superman's Kryptonite Weakness
Kryptonite represents the quintessential idea of a superhero's weakness, and the term has even become synonymous with the idea. However, while it has been used to weaken the hero over the years, DC has never made up its minds on just how much the rock and its radiation weakens the Man of Steel.
Some stories will feature Superman almost completely immobilized and brought down to human strength levels, while others peg him more at Hourman-levels of strength. In some comics, he can still fly a little; in others, not at all. Not to mention the strange way the rock doesn't seem to affect Superman until someone holds it right in front of him.
1 Superman's Silver Age Powers
One of the best yet strangest eras of Superman was his Silver Age era, known for a wacky look at the hero replete with strange new powers. It was here that, among other things, Superman's powers came to include telepathy, super ventriloquism, and memory-erasing kisses.
The Silver Age of Superman is still cherished by many for its absurdities, but the question of what happened to these abilities remains. While some aspects of the hero were revised after Crisis On Infinite Earths, fans still want to know which, if any, of these strange powers the Man of Steel still wields.