When was kryptonite introduced in superman

Instead, writers created an alien mineral that would incapacitate the superhero. Without a voiced part in particular episodes, due to Kryptonite, Collyer could get a several-days long break. In , kryptonite was introduced. In fact, it took several more years for the mineral to find its way onto the colored pages of a comic book. A version of kryptonite was introduced in the comics in The bright green rock that fans have come to know was not introduced until later, though. Green kryptonite was introduced in , more than eight years after radio producers introduced the mineral.

Over the years, several more forms of kryptonite have been added. Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound! Superman is known for many many things, including the fact that he only has one weakness, Kryptonite. While it is fairly well known that Superman's powers have grown and changed over the years, many people don't realize the change to his invulnerability, the creation of Kryptonite, was not so much a story decision, but a decision to give Superman a break from crime fighting.

That's right, Kryptonite was invented to give Superman a vacation. What makes this even more surprising is the fact that Kryptonite didn't make its first appearance in the comics, but actually on the radio. Between to , Superman was the star of his own audio drama titled Adventures of Superman , one of the highest rated radio broadcasts of its day. Sometimes, Batman and Robin even showed up to help out while Superman was missing in action.

Kryptonite Wasn't Always Green In the s, comic books and their offshoot properties weren't as concerned with crafting continuity as they are today. Things happened in the Superman comic books that had no effect on the radio show and vice versa, but Kryptonite was far too good of a concept for the comic's writers to ignore, although it didn't immediately make a smooth transition to the illustrated pages of Superman.

When Kryptonite made its page debut in Superman 61 in , the Man of Steel was fighting the con man Swami Riva when his powers were sapped by a mysterious red rock. After going back in time to find the origin of the rock, he discovered that it came from his home planet.

That's right: Kryptonite was red. Note that these were not the same rocks as the artificial red Kryptonite that was introduced in the Silver Age. You could say things got complicated in a hurry. The Different Types Of Kryptonite Because Kryptonite wasn't a part of the original concept of Superman, the writers didn't exactly have a detailed guide for how to use the green space rocks, so Kryptonite ended up becoming a nebulous material whose qualities changed whenever they needed it to do something in particular.

Things got out of hand in the Silver Age — , when writers created different types of Kryptonite that had separate, plot-specific powers and conveniently distinct colors.