Kryptonian Aging Process

[Malicieux Toutou]

So what is Clark's life expectancy on Earth? Is that a set fact in the DC universe? Kara seemed to be implying that they will live a long, long time.

[moviefan2k4]

Many fans believe Kryptonians to be immortal, due in part to Clark's vision in Season 1, of an endless graveyard, and he the only survivor. Personally, I doubt they'd go that far, but I do think Clark could live maybe a couple of centuries or so.

[fxrsteve]

Kryptonians ,on Earth, are constantly rejuvinated by the sun. They do not age

[Clana4Life]

That makes no sense, Clark obviously has aged. He came to Earth as a baby and at the moment he seems to be aging at the same rate as everyone else. If anything, I suppose they reach an age of maturity and simply stop aging. I'm not sure what age that will be - 30, 40, 50. Who knows?

[Clark Kent 86]

The reason he looks like he is aging is because Tom is aging. What is he like 30 now?

[superspider02]

from what i know is they reach a certain age and then they start to age at a slower rate and they could either live for hundreds of yrs or could be immortal i dont really know.

[superhippie2000]

i think kryptonians age till like 30 and stop on earth then just stay 30 until whenever. he lives forever except when doomsday kills him but then he comes back.

[fxrsteve]

It's been touched on in previous seasons that Clark lives on forever and Kara brought it up tonight.

[liana]

Originally posted by Clana4Life
That makes no sense, Clark obviously has aged. He came to Earth as a baby and at the moment he seems to be aging at the same rate as everyone else. If anything, I suppose they reach an age of maturity and simply stop aging. I'm not sure what age that will be - 30, 40, 50. Who knows?

Well, both in the Comics and LnC, it was stated that Clark's aging process slows down and stabilizes after reaching adulthood. In Smallville we got two episodes when it was stated that Clark was immortal, but they didn't mention anything about his aging process.

[superspider02]

yea they really havent touched on it before like with the sun is the source of his powers that wasnt really touched to much either.

[Malicieux Toutou]

So in the comics, do they ever explore what Lois & Clark's marriage is like when she has dentures and arthritis, and he still looks like he's 30?

[Azurewrath]

Originally posted by Malicieux Toutou
So in the comics, do they ever explore what Lois & Clark's marriage is like when she has dentures and arthritis, and he still looks like he's 30?

Yes. He has to be very gentle to avoid tearing.

[Clana4Life]

Is one comic, doesn't Lois grow old and die?

[Mello Penelo]

Originally posted by Malicieux Toutou
So in the comics, do they ever explore what Lois & Clark's marriage is like when she has dentures and arthritis, and he still looks like he's 30?

Lois was actually very concerned about that in the last five episodes of the series when they were considering having a child.



As for Kryptonians and their age, their lifespan is several hundred years under normal circumstances. On a planet around a yellow sun like Earth, they don't age as fast because the sun's radiation doesn't influence their body the same way as another color sun. When Sol goes red, Clark will lose his powers, get old, then die.


Originally posted by Clana4Life
Is one comic, doesn't Lois grow old and die?

And then they're reunited in the 847th century.

[liana]

Originally posted by Clana4Life
Is one comic, doesn't Lois grow old and die?

Yes, she does. Clark, however, had her DNA, and he ressurrects her thousands of years later as an immortal, like him.

[Mello Penelo]

Originally posted by liana
Yes, she does. Clark, however, had her DNA, and he ressurrects her thousands of years later as an immortal, like him.

It's DC One Million. And it's unclear if Lois was immortal. Just that she comes back.

[krpto]

I think from what I have read that kryptonians aging depends on how much of the yellows sun rays they pull in to energize them the more they take in they stronger they get and closer to living forever.

[Malicieux Toutou]

Originally posted by liana
Yes, she does. Clark, however, had her DNA, and he ressurrects her thousands of years later as an immortal, like him.

Well that's creepy

[superspider02]

yea that is a bit creepy.

[Honey45]

Originally posted by moviefan2k4
Many fans believe Kryptonians to be immortal, due in part to Clark's vision in Season 1, of an endless graveyard, and he the only survivor. Personally, I doubt they'd go that far, but I do think Clark could live maybe a couple of centuries or so.

There was also a kid in an earlier season who could see how everyone died. For Clark, he just saw someone flying with a red cape - like he would never die.

[liana]

Originally posted by Malicieux Toutou
Well that's creepy

Maybe, the idea was that he couldn't bare to live without her. You have to understand that the guy was 15,000 years old, and completely alone. He couldn't stand to live after she died, however, he had to look over the whole world.

One quote about Lois's resurrection:


It was like he'd waited a billion years for her. Like nothing else had meant anything in all that time. It felt like the whole universe was being put right somehow.

[Mello Penelo]

Originally posted by liana
Maybe, the idea was that he couldn't bare to live without her. You have to understand that the guy was 15,000 years old, and completely alone. He couldn't stand to live after she died, however, he had to look over the whole world.

Which is why he went to live inside the sun.

[liana]

Originally posted by Mello Penelo
Which is why he went to live inside the sun.

Exactly. And you are right, the Comic never actually said she is immortal. I guess I assumed it, because her skin is silver, just like his is golden. :o

[Mello Penelo]

What I liked the most about it is Clark was willing to wait that long to get back the love of his life. It's really hopeful for a lot of people.

[Superbeard]

They probably keep aging until the point of their peak potential performance and build, which is supposed to be around 30. After that, I dunno, they live a really really long time? Even in the DC universe they make it kinda ambiguous.

[Shardz]

so superman learned a billion years later that you can clone the love of your life. i've always heard of lex luthor being one step ahead of supes, but this is just down right ridiculous

[Superbeard]

It's more complicated than that...

Read JLA One Million and you'll get it, I don't want to give anything away here.

But the ending, and the way he "brings Lois back" is pretty epic.

[Ares]

Erica Durance is in Maxim.. I'd bring her back too..

[Kal-ed]

Originally posted by Shardz
so superman learned a billion years later that you can clone the love of your life. i've always heard of lex luthor being one step ahead of supes, but this is just down right ridiculous

He didnt clone her, he created her again with a sample of her DNA (I think he got it from Kyle Rayner) anyhow, he didnt learn to Clone, he obtained the powers to create her again, he became Superman prime and he has powers from the 5th dimension, just like Mxyzptlk, in fact his name was something of the sorts.

[j-kent]

Every incarnation is different, Superman still ages, but VERY slowly. This is due in part to the fact that his body is not subject to cellular degeneration over time. The yellow sun powers and at a rapid continuous rate, rebuilds his cellular structure. In theory, because of this he would not appear to be as near the age of his peers, but every incarnation follows a rapid growth into the teens to follow the preferred demographic age group. Or maybe by comic standard, which we see in every incarnation of Superman cellular growth reaches some sort of plateau at young adult-middle age adult as this is when the body is in peak performance.

[Theshadow129x]

Originally posted by Mello Penelo
Lois was actually very concerned about that in the last five episodes of the series when they were considering having a child.



As for Kryptonians and their age, their lifespan is several hundred years under normal circumstances. On a planet around a yellow sun like Earth, they don't age as fast because the sun's radiation doesn't influence their body the same way as another color sun. When Sol goes red, Clark will lose his powers, get old, then die.




And then they're reunited in the 847th century.

what she said. the yellow sun binds them and penetrates them and connects them with all living things...oops sorry wrong sci-fi story

[Malicieux Toutou]

Originally posted by Ares
Erica Durance is in Maxim.. I'd bring her back too..


The only problem is that plastic surgery is not encoded into our DNA. So you'd want to be sure to also resurrect the doctor who gave ED her boobies.

[caseybrn]

That's why it should be a younger version of Teri Hatcher....she was only a victim of plastic surgery when she got older and stretched out

[jimmyolsenblues]

So what is Clark's life expectancy on Earth?

I had the same question, how does kara know about clark's lifespan, unless kryptonians on krypton have an extended life span compared to earthlings. how else could kara be sure that they will live longer than lana.

[VAMPIREJUWELL]

Ok if you remember in the movie Superman 1, it explains everything. Ok once he goes to the fortress of his iced home, and talks to his father, and he states that there going to take a journey, and when we get back it will have been 10 or 12 years or so. That would make him around 30 years of age, and that is the day he stopped aging, or started aging at a very slow rate after he transformed from Clark to Superman himself. So most people were right around 30 it stops or slow down a lot.

[Stephen Robinson]

Clark could look as if he's still aging *now* because he's reaching full maturity. A child growing up is a different form of "aging" than what happens to us in middle age and beyond. The latter is basically cellular degradation. I don't see evidence that that happens to Clark -- look at how quickly he healed when exposed to the sun in BIZARRO.

Although the comics have shown us different things, my own theory would be that Clark is basically ageless. This doesn't mean he can't be killed but he wouldn't die as a result of old age.

[Mello Penelo]

Originally posted by Shardz
so superman learned a billion years later that you can clone the love of your life. i've always heard of lex luthor being one step ahead of supes, but this is just down right ridiculous

He didn't have any of her DNA until Kyle Rayner contained Solaris going supernova. He could have done it a lot sooner, but he didn't have the tools needed.

And he was called the Prime Superman, because he and Lois had a child, who took over the reigns of Superman when Clark went to live in the sun. Because the child was a union between a human and a Kryptonian, he had a normal lifespan. Basically, after hundreds of generations of their descendants, the powers change some because they reproduce with other people with power.

Everyone is super-intelligent and there are no such thing as germs anymore. Eating food from the 21st century could kill the Justice League from the 847th century.

[auctionmonster]

Superman of 847 developed Telekinisis rain or some crap like that if I remember correctly

[JohnF1981]

The comic version of Superman is immortal? wow. I never expected that. I don't like this at all. Talk about exaggeration, so he's a god basically.

I always knew that Superman had an extended life span as seen in the DC animated universe and Kingdom come, but immortality? Anyway i was told that his totall life span was 240 years, and that he indeed age at a slow rate after 30 years old.

Until a new official DC comic writer write his own take on this or change everything, I guess this immortality nonsense is true.

[sirconical]

Originally posted by Azurewrath
Yes. He has to be very gentle to avoid tearing. And she takes her teeth out in bed.

[HalJordan4184]

Not to be particular, but it's the 853rd century in DC One Million.

Also, it wasn't Superman that brought Lois back to life, it was the 853rd century hourman, who has control over space/time, and matter.

As far as aging, as was explained a little by stepehn robinson, maturing and aging are two different things. Clark Kent matures at roughly the same rate of a human being. It took roughly 17-18 years to reach physical maturity. This would put him in the "early bloomer" category of human males. Clark's aging however, like all humans, is really an arbitrary number. Our age is simply how many trips around the sun the earth has taken while we've been alive. What matter's, is when will Clark's body naturally break down.

Human beings are officially dying the moment they reach physical maturity. At this point, the body actually starts to inefficiently reproduce our cells. You can only divide a cell so much, before it becomes too degraded to copy properly. This is what leads to things like aging. We have too much skin, and get wrinkles. Gravity, adn walking upright, has thinned out the cartilage between our bones, and we actually shrink a little. Our metabolisms slow, and our hearing and eyesight start to go.

Wich Clark, and any other Kryptonians, they have something we don't, the ability to absorb, process, and use solar energy. The longer Clark is alive, the more efficiently his body is working. Rather than incorrectly copying a cell, his body will make BETTER copies as time goes on, and he absorbs more solar energy. Being invulnerable, he won't suffer from arthritis. His eyesight and hearing will only improve over time. If Clark ever lives in a red sun environment, of course his powers would wane, and all of that, but how long it would take to turn him "normal" would depend how long he lived in a yellow sun environment beforehand. It's entirely reasonable to assume, if he wanted to, Clark would live forever, until the end of the universe itself, travelling from yellow sun to yellow sun.

[Kal-ed]

Originally posted by HalJordan4184
Also, it wasn't Superman that brought Lois back to life, it was the 853rd century hourman, who has control over space/time, and matter.


Not to be particular but this looks awfully like Superman Prime bringing Lois back to life:

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/243/dccomics1m4pg197prlr1.th.jpg (http://img504.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dccomics1m4pg197prlr1.jpg)

But I do completely agree with the rest of your post.

[Serynarpc]

Its interesting to me. Clark aged normally into adulthood- no mention of him having weird growth spurts or anything. Now that he's fully mature by human standards, he won't age?

Or perhaps he ages one year for every ten or fifty human years?

[HalJordan4184]

The page before that one, is where the 853rd century hourman "gives Superman his welcome home gift. He recreates Krypton in our solar system, brings all the kryptonians back to life, including Jor-El, and Lara, and then resurrects Lois Lane in a slightly altered form.

[Crusader]

In an episode in season 1 i think it was (the meteor freak with the power to see people's death's), when Clark was touched by him he just saw an endless strech of space. That could imply that he will live forever.
I think it's true though what Kara said, that he will definetly out live everyone he loves.

[smallvillefreak24]

techinically isn't lois and clark doomed to fail as well if he is immortal and she is human as well?

[limi]

Originally posted by smallvillefreak24
techinically isn't lois and clark doomed to fail as well if he is immortal and she is human as well?
Yeah, they are. As a matter of fact, any friendship with humans would end up this way, which would ultimately leave Clark completely isolated from everyone. I made a thread about this a while ago, called the ultimate destiny of Clark Kent or something similar.

[theWatcher]

Originally posted by fxrsteve
Kryptonians ,on Earth, are constantly rejuvinated by the sun. They do not age This seems logical for we know his powers are gained by yellow sunlight. So as long as the sun exists he should exist, however, wouldn't this also imply a sense of limited immortality? Stars don't last forever. I guess he could simply move to another planet that has a yellow sun. This is indeed an interesting subject!

[limi]

Originally posted by theWatcher
This seems logical for we know his powers are gained by yellow sunlight. So as long as the sun exists he should exist, however, wouldn't this also imply a sense of limited immortality? Stars don't last forever. I guess he could simply move to another planet that has a yellow sun. This is indeed an interesting subject!
That's what I thought. He has all the technological knowledge to build a spaceship, all he has to do is find the materials and build one. He could probably move together with the rest of mankind, as they would need to leave the planet too.

[smallvillecrazygurl04]

well as I believe, he will end up dying.. sometime, but in thousands of years from now!!

as oppose to Superman living longer just as long as he's in contact with the sun.

[smallville sage]

Originally posted by HalJordan4184
The page before that one, is where the 853rd century hourman "gives Superman his welcome home gift. He recreates Krypton in our solar system, brings all the kryptonians back to life, including Jor-El, and Lara, and then resurrects Lois Lane in a slightly altered form.

Who is this 853rd century hourman? He sounds very cool! How would I find out more?

[HalJordan4184]

Lois and Clark aren't doomed to fail because she will day. If that's the case, every relationship ever is a complete failure, so why even try?

A failed relationship, is one that's bad for one or both people, and ultimately leads nowhere. Lois and Clark is far from a failed relationship, because they, in essence, complete each other. They grow as people when they are together, and they compliment each other as people. Just because Lois will die one day, long before Clark ever would, does not mean their relationship was a failure.

[KryptonianBlaze]

As numerously stated, he is not immortal. He ages slower than humans and plus he can be killed, ie: long exposure to kryptonite, Doomsday. However, as long as people keep believing in Superman, he can technically never die.

[JohnF1981]

This immortality thing kinda freak me out so I made some research, and here what i found:

(((A text dated April 1960 observes that the rifle-like non-super-ray weapon employed by the Bizarros of the Planet Htrae could permanently rob Superman of his super-powers. Another text for this period strongly implies that Superman is invulnerable to the aging process and therefore immortal (Superman #136, April 1960), but Superman #181 contradicts this, noting that "Though Superman is the mightiest man on Earth, even he cannot live forever!" (November, 1965, "The Superman of 2965!")))
FROM: http://site.supermanthrutheages.com/Encyclopaedia/powers.php

basically in the DC animated universe(JL,JLU,STAS) Superman age at a slow rate and die probably pass 240 years.

In most other version, He's immortal.

It make the character less interesting to me.