Warning! Spoilers ahead for Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #21!A new battle between two wildly different versions of Superman has just revealed a creative way of defeating the Man of Steel. The Prime Clark Kent has come to the Kingdom Come universe and come into opposition with its Superman. Instead of kryptonite, Clark has a more clever way of defeating his doppelganger.
In Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #21 by Mark Waid and Dan Mora, Bruce and Clark have found Superman’s old sidekick David, now calling himself Thunderman on the Kingdom Come Earth. Earth-22’s Superman comes to assist Thunderman and fights his Prime Earth counterpart.
The Prime Superman leads his variant to a nearby abandoned cave. Earth-22’s Superman mentions that even if he can’t see his doppelganger, he can still hear him. However, that’s exactly what the Prime Clark is expecting and whistles. Not only does the loud pitch harm the other Superman’s sensitive hearing, but it also manages to make the cave collapse in on itself, giving the Prime Superman a chance to escape.
Superman Knows His Hearing is One of His Greatest Weaknesses
Superman only came to the Kingdom Come world because he was searching for David Sikela, aka Boy Thunder, Clark’s former sidekick. After a brief stay with Superman, David wound up lost in the universe until Flash discovered that Boy Thunder was living on Earth-22. Superman and Batman went to the Earth variant and quickly found Boy Thunder, who had grown into the antihero Thunderman. Thunderman was far more violent than the boy Clark knew and David harbored such intense feelings of hatred for Superman, that he tried using his powers to kill his former mentor.
Superman’s hearing being a weak point makes sense. Clark’s hearing can pick up sounds from inconceivable distances, so it has to be extremely sensitive. This idea was toyed with in the recent Action Comics #1058, where Superman made a magic doppelganger’s ears bleed by keying him into every sound Clark can hear. While kryptonite or red solar radiation is usually one of the go-to ways of hurting Superman, the truth is, he’s well aware that his hearing is an overlooked, but effective way of dealing with him. If any villain ever truly wanted to hurt Superman, all they’d need to do is find ways to exploit his sensitive hearing.
Superman’s Hearing Weakness is Incredibly Overlooked
Superman might have trained himself to filter out noise, but if his Kingdom Come variant is any indication, he doesn’t do it all the time. All it’d take is a decent enough distraction and a well-timed, deafening pitch to get the drop on Superman and seriously hurt him. Few people in the DC Universe can match his speed or strength, and even fewer can get their hands on kryptonite. But it’s not as hard to figure out sonic-based attacks that could hurt the Man of Steel’s hearing. If Superman could defeat himself by whistling, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that others could too.
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #21 is on sale now from DC Comics.
