Widdershins:

(sometimes withershins, widershins or widderschynnes) means to take a course opposite that of the sun, going counterclock-wise, lefthandwise, or to circle an object, by always keeping it on the left. It also means "in a direction opposite to the usual," which is how I choose to take it in using it as the title of this blog. We're all in the same world finding our own way.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Could a lightsaber cut through Superman?

I was asked this question by my friend Ceph on formspring and thought it too good a question to condemn merely to that page.

So: Could a lightsaber cut through Superman?


If we assume that a lightsaber sufficiently emulates the currently accepted source of Superman's powers, the solar radiation given off by a yellow sun, then yes, under certain conditions, a lightsaber could cut through Superman. It just depends on the wavelength of light the lightsaber uses (what color it is).

A yellow lightsaber would be useless as it would too closely act like the rays of a yellow sun. In effect, a yellow lightsaber would be absorbed by Supreman's cells and converted into more power for the Man of Steel. If you were to take a red lightsaber like those commonly carried by Sith Lords, however, under these principles of solar similarity, it would then act much like the red sun of Krypton, Superman's home planet and render him powerless (though here I must emphasize that because of the nature of a lightsaber I think it would only render him powerless at the point of contact, so you would have to be extremely quick to finish cutting through him before he throws you off).

However based on a variety of other factors, it seems more likely that a lightsaber wouldn't be able to cut through Superman.

First, a lightsaber by nature is a close-range weapon not advisable to use against an opponent known for his super-strength, super-speed, super-hearing, heat-vision, etc. Unless he's sorely distracted or you're protected by some magical means (one of Supes' known weaknesses) he would see/hear you coming at him from at least a few miles away and take measure to prevent your attack far before you could even think of getting close enough to using that lightsaber.

Second, Superman has faced some pretty strong foes in his time, perhaps the greatest of which in pure power is the villain Darkseid.


If Superman is capable of withstanding direct blasts of Darkseid's Omega Effect in battle, I highly doubt a mere lightsaber would be able to touch Superman, let alone cut through him.

But in looking for the first image that I used above, I found an article on Howstuffworks.com (http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/superman-vs1.htm) that debated the merits of attempting to fight against the Last Son of Krypton, which I think goes into far more detail on other aspects of fighting Superman than I think this question requires as an answer. Feel free to check it out and give me your thoughts.

1 comment:

veracitous said...

I side with you. Definitely wouldn't cut through his skin. Unless it was a magic light saber. That shit would fuck him up.