Comic Coverage

The Kryptonite Chronicles (Part 1 of 5): Primary Colors

One of the great ironies of the Superman character is that his weakness to Kryptonite is almost as well known as his phenomenal strength. 

Introduced on The Adventures of Superman radio show in 1943, the radioactive fragments of Superman's home planet have been keeping him humble ever since. What began as a single variety of Kryptonite eventually became a rainbow of varied colors and effects...all of which I'll be highlighting at different points during Superman@70 month. Think of it as an extended "Kryptonite Geology Lesson".

In this first installment, I'll be covering the most high profile, or "primary" varieties of Kryptonite, all of which occur naturally (i.e. the explosion of Krypton), or were altered through strictly natural phenomena. Later installments will cover man-made alterations and the more obscure varieties of Kryptonite.

Note: Since there are plenty of varieties from the comics to cover, I won't be including any of the divergent types of Kryptonite featured in movies or TV shows (such as Smallville and its bizarre variations). Also, I'm aware the histories and effects of various Kryptonites have been altered since Superman's 1986 reboot, so rather than get into all of that, I'll be focusing on the classic (pre-1986) versions.  Of course, new varieties of Kryptonite that came along post-1986 will be featured. 

First Appearance (radio show): June 6, 1943

First Appearance (comics): Superman #62 (1949)

History: Highly radioactive fragments of the planet Krypton.

Effects: Causes weakness and eventually death for all superpowered Kryptonians within range of its radiation. Green Kryptonite has no effect upon non-superpowered Kryptonians or humans.

First Appearance: Adventure Comics #252 (1958)

History: Originally a substance "100 times more powerful" than Green Kryptonite (in Adventure Comics #252), three issues later in Adventure Comics #255, its creation is the result of Green Kryptonite passing through a mysterious red "space cloud".

Effects: Triggers bizarre behavior or radical transformations in Kryptonians.  The effects are non-lethal and last for 48 hours. Each piece of Red-K causes a unique effect that cannot affect the same Kryptonian the same way twice.

First Appearance: Adventure Comics #279 (1960)

History: Created when Green Kryptonite drifted through (yet another) mysterious space cloud.

Effects: Deadly to all plant life of any world (along with certain microbes).

First Appearance: Adventure Comics #299 (1962)

History: Created when Red Kryptonite was exposed to high amounts of atomic radiation (as revealed in Superman #177).

Effects: Permanently removes superpowers from Kryptonians by destroying the ability of their cells to process yellow sun energy.

First Appearance: Action Comics #252 (1959)

History: Thrown free from the explosion of Krypton, Argo City and its people survived their planet's destruction. However, the foundation rock that Argo City rested upon changed into "Kryptonite", eventually wiping out its entire population (with the exception of Supergirl and her parents). Realizing that non-powered Kryptonians were supposed to be immune to Kryptonite, DC later explained that the people of Argo City actually succumbed to "Anti-Kryptonite".

Effects: Causes weakness and eventually death for all non-powered Kryptonians within range of its radiation. Anti-Kryptonite has no effect upon humans or super-powered Kryptonians.

Of course, the most primary of the primary colors is the one that never actually appeared in a Superman comic book. Pre-dating the Kryptonite of the radio show, a "lost story" by Siegel and Shuster discovered in 1989 featured K-Metal, a Kryptonian mineral that weakened Superman!  In addition to this development, the story also included Clark Kent revealing his Superman identity to Lois Lane...so perhaps these big events pushed the envelope too far for DC and their already ambitious marketing plans for the Man of Steel.

First Appearance: In an unpublished Superman story written and partially drawn in 1940.

History: Clark Kent suddenly became weak when in the presence of a meteor fragment found by Professor Winton. Winton explained it was a fragment of a destroyed planet named "Krypton", which Clark then realized was the world of his birth.

Effects: In addition to having the same weakening effects as Green Kryptonite, K-Metal could also grant temporary super-strength to Earth humans.

Stay tuned for Altered States, part two of the The Kryptonite Chronicles!

The Kryptonite Chronicles (Part 2 of 5): Altered States

In the first installment of the Kryptonite Chronicles, I took a look at the primary colors of Kryptonite, most of which resulted from Krypton's explosion or were altered by other cosmic phenomena (such as transformative "space clouds"). In part two, the focus will be on man-made alterations or derivations....by far the largest of the five categories.

First Appearance: Action Comics #261 (1960)

History: Seeking an antidote for the effects of Green Kryptonite, Supergirl accidentally created a new variety that, while harmless to her, granted superpowers to her cat Streaky.

Effects: As stated, X-Kryptonite does not affect Kryptonians, but grants temporary superpowers to Earth lifeforms instead.

First Appearance: Superman #140 (1960)

History: As Bizarro and the forces of Bizarro World began an invasion of Earth, Superman focused the "duplicator ray" (the same device that created Bizarro) onto a deposit of Green Kryptonite. A new "imperfect" form of Kryptonite resulted, which was harmless to Superman and other superpowered Kryptonians, but deadly to Bizarro creatures. Naturally, the Blue Kryptonite turned back the hostile army of Bizarros, and actually proved fatal to Bizarro-Supergirl (who'd just been created in this very issue).

Effects: Causes weakness and eventually death for all Bizarro creatures (both superpowered and non-superpowered) within range of its radiation. Blue Kryptonite has no effect upon superpowered Kryptonians or humans.

First Appearance: Action Comics #310 (1962)

History: Shortly before Krypton's destruction, a time-traveling criminal named Jax-Ur altered a chunk of the planet's Jewell Mountains.  As he planned, Krypton's explosion further altered the chunk into a new form of Kryptonite that Jax-Ur and his fellow Phantom Zone criminals could use against Superman.

Effects: Amplifies the psychic powers of Kryptonians in the Phantom Zone, allowing them to remotely cause explosions, project illusions, or perform mind control outside of the zone.

First Appearance: Jimmy Olsen #80 (1964)

Effects: As an "imperfect duplicate" of standard Red Kryptonite, Bizarro Red Kryptonite triggers bizarre behavior or radical transformations in Earth humans, and not superpowered Kryptonians.  The effects are non-lethal and last for 48 hours. Each piece of Bizarro Red-K causes a unique effect that cannot affect the same human the same way twice.

First Appearance: Jimmy Olsen #94 (1966)

History: Created by the villainous Mr. Nero.

Effects: Magnetically "clings with unbreakable force" to all substances originally from Krypton while emitting the same deadly radiation as Green Kryptonite.

First Appearance: Action Comics #350 (1967)

History: This rare Kryptonite isotope was stolen from a mineral collection of socialite Carter Hagen by a gang of criminals.

Effects: It's potent radiation will kill a superpowered Kryptonian within minutes instead of hours.

First Appearance: The Brave and the Bold #175 (1981)

History: Created by the villain Metallo to affect humans instead of Superman.

Effects: By slowing down the rate of Green Kryptonite's particle emissions, the "slower" rays affect humans the same way Green Kryptonite affects superpowered Kryptonians.

First Appearance: DC Comics Presents #84 (1985)

History: Kryptonian criminal Zo-Mar arrived on Earth with a mysterious card that could bend the will of others to his own. Curiously, Zo-Mar did not gain superpowers on Earth, but did later when the card was taken from him.  Superman deduced that the card, unknown to Zo-Mar, was laced with a mutated form of Kryptonite.

Effects: Temporarily robs any superpowered Kryptonian of their power when in close proximity to the card.

First Appearance: Adventures of Superman #511 (1994)

History: When a villain named the Cyborg Superman blasted the Eradicator with Green Kryptonite, the energy passed through the Kryptonian entity and struck Superman instead. Instead of weakening Superman, it restored his powers (which had been severely diminished following his "death").

Effects: Restored the ability of Superman's body to absorb solar energy, but with a price. Kryptonite-X caused Superman to absorb so much solar energy that his body mass and super powers expanded beyond his control.

First Appearance: Supergirl (vol. 4) #79 (2003)

History: In an alternate timeline visited by Supergirl, Pink Kryptonite is shown to temporarily turn Superman gay.

Effects: Temporarily changes heterosexual superpowered Kryptonians into homosexuals. Whether the opposite effect is true is unknown.

First Appearance: Supergirl (vol. 5) #2 (2005)

History: Given to Lex Luthor by Darkseid (who presumably created it).

Effects: Splits superpowered Kryptonians into two separate beings, one good and one bad.

First Appearance: Superman/Batman #46 (2008)

History: An enchanted moon-shaped piece of Kryptonite is found, with an interlocking round piece found later on.

Effects: The moon-shaped piece affects Superman similar to the effects of Marijuana, which is canceled out when the round piece is united with it.

History: Various villains and evil scientists have created simulated versions of Kryptonite.

Effects: Effects of synthetic Kryptonite vary widely. Some have a lesser effect than natural Green Kryptonite, while others have had a much more powerful effect.

History: Capable of transforming a Green Lantern's thoughts into reality, their powerful rings (on occasion) have been used to emit rays of simulated Kryptonite.

Effects: By precisely duplicating the radioactive wavelengths of Green Kryptonite, the Green Lantern's Kryptonite rays can be just as powerful and painful to superpowered Kryptonians as those from natural Green Kryptonite. However, the effect can be dispelled by breaking the Green Lantern's concentration, or (when such a rule was in effect) interposing anything yellow between the beam and the Kryptonian.

Stay tuned for The Alloys, part three of the The Kryptonite Chronicles!

The Kryptonite Chronicles (Part 3 of 5): The Alloys

We've covered the primary colors and the dizzying array of altered Kryptonite, but what happens when one or more varieties of Kryptonite combine into strange new alloys?  Let's find out:

First Appearance (supernatural): Jimmy Olsen #42 (1960)

First Appearance (natural): Superboy #83 (1960)

History: At various times, Green Kryptonite has combined with living beings either through magic (Jimmy Olsen was transformed into living Kryptonite by an evil genie) or natural forces (a teenage criminal who flew through a space cloud of Green-K became the Kryptonite Kid).

Effects: Living Kryptonite has the same deadly effect on superpowered Kryptonians as mineralized Green Kryptonite.

First Appearance: Action Comics #275 (1961)

History: Created by the evil Brainiac, this synthetic blend of Kryptonite caused Superman to grow a third eye on the back of his head. Using the combined heat vision of all three eyes, Superman was able to destroy Brainiac's defensive force field and take him into custody.

Effects: Red-Green Kryptonite possessed the mutating power of Red Kryptonite, while it's possible the Green Kryptonite extended the mutation past the customary 48 hours of Red-K.

First Appearance: Superman #162 (1963)

History: In this unofficial "imaginary" story, Superman invented a Brain Evolution Machine to increase his problem-solving brain power. Powered by four varieties of Kryptonite, the machine exploded shortly into the procedure, which resulted in Superman splitting into two separate beings. The two Supermen then decided to operate as Superman-Red (wearing an all-red costume) and Superman-Blue (wearing....well, you know).

Effects: Caused Superman to become two Supermen, each with enhanced super-intelligence.

First Appearance: Superman #178 (1965)

History: When Red and Gold Kryptonite meteors collided above Earth, the impact fused them into a single meteor that then fell into the Atlantic Ocean. During an undersea rescue mission, Superman was exposed to the Red-Gold K's radiation, causing him to lose his memory but not his superpowers.

Effects: Its effects are temporary amnesia with no loss of super-powers (which is normally the case with Gold-K).

First Appearance: Superman #192 (1967)

History: In this unofficial "imaginary" story, three meteors of Kryptonite collided in outer space and fell to Earth. When Superman rescued the geologist who found the fused meteor, the tri-K radiation caused a him to not only lose his superpowers, but also his memory of ever having been Superman.

Effects: Permanently robbed Superman of his powers and caused him to forget his super identity.

With so many colors and alloys of Kryptonite, there were bound to be some fakes, right? Stay tuned for part four of The Kryptonite Chronicles: The Hoaxes!

The Kryptonite Chronicles (Part 4 of 5): The Hoaxes

With all the Kryptonite I've cataloged, it was inevitable that some fakes would find their way into the mix. Obviously, I won't be listing "effects" as I did for parts one, two, and three (since none of them are actual Kryptonite), but I thought they were all interesting enough to warrant a bit of history.

First Appearance: Action Comics #277 (1961)

History: Lex Luthor created a machine that he claimed could make floating globes of synthetic Kryptonite, including a mysterious new yellow color. Designed as a hoax to mentally torture Superman, the fake Kryptonite did manage to fool one of Superman's robots.

First Appearance: Jimmy Olsen #70 (1963)

History: Summoned to Professor Potter's lab by Jimmy Olsen, Superman was exposed to a chunk of Silver Kryptonite, which turned out to be a specially designed keepsake container.  Created to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Superman's arrival in Metropolis, the container held silver statues of Superman's closest friends.

First Appearance: Jimmy Olsen #126 (1970)

History: Supposedly left on Earth's moon by invading super-aliens, these non-glowing, multicolored, banded rocks...at first thought to be Kryptonite-Plus or Ultra-Kryptonite...were actually "Tikron Stones".

First Appearance: 52, week 13 (2006)

History: A cult dedicated to the resurrection of Superboy used "Blood Kryptonite" to drain life force from the living to resurrect the dead. It was later revealed that Blood-K was a deception of the sorcerer Felix Faust.

The Kryptonite Chronicles (Part 5 of 5): Late Additions

As Superman@70 month winds down, we've got one last installment of The Kryptonite Chronicles to get to. But wait...with the primary colors, altered states, alloys, and hoaxes already covered, what other varieties could possibly be left? Well, after some intense digging and investigating, I've unearthed five ultra-rare Kryptonite specimens to squeeze into the collection.

Deadly to Jimmy Olsen only.

Fatal yet zesty.

It is...yet is not.

This Minnesota State Fair favorite has the
ability to instantly clog Superman's arteries.

Able to kill Superman, yet
soft enough to throw indoors.