Graphic Novel: Superman
According to the novel, “The Physics of Superheroes”, by author and science professor James Kakalios, the key weakness to our super-inhuman-hero Superman was made in a rather unexpected fashion. A fashion that exploded, blossomed into an idea, and took off like nobody’s business. How in the world did Kryptonite, in real life a simple, noble gas (Krypton) on our Periodic Table, turn into a powerful, strange and alien rock with the powers to drain the invincible into, well, evincible?
If you read Kakalios’ book, the origin of the mysterious green element isn’t as mysterious as it’s been made out to be. During an old Superman radio show, an overworked voice actor for Clark Kent, rejected from vacation, quit and took some much needed rest. In a panic, the crew and board for the show hired a sound-a-like, forced him to speak in a raspy tone so the difference was difficult to discern, and they made an episode where Superman becomes ill, because of a strange rock from his home planet.
So was Superman’s Achilles’ heel a mistake? If so, it was the best mistake anyone in the comic business has created so far, and the usage of Kryptonite as a weakness has even snuck into regular conversations. If a hot babe has caught your attention, she’s your ‘kryptonite’. Okay well maybe it hasn’t been used like that, that example is a bit creepy – but I bet Superman used it as such with Lois Lane on more than one occasion.