The Science of Superheroes

Our resident Hollywood physicist examines how even the most righteous crime fighters still manage to break the most important laws of all

By Adam Weiner Posted 01.31.2008 at 4:59 pm 11 Comments

Ouch: The Sandman pulverizes himself in Spiderman 3 Photo by Sony Pictures/Courtesy: Everett Collection

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Spiderman, Batman, the Fantastic Four, Ironman—seems like every time we go to the movies, there's some guy in a unitard saving the world with acts of unnatural physics. We realize that these are works of fantasy, so we don't get too upset when the science portrayed in them comes from some alternative universe. Nevertheless, it can be fun and instructive to point out the violations and/or conflicts with physical reality that we often encounter in film.

With that in mind, let's take a brief look at eight of our favorite superheroes (and super-villains) and see what science can add to the discussion.

Adam Weiner is the author of Don't Try This at Home! The Physics of Hollywood Movies

11 Comments

Comments

jrimsa75

Article Rating: 02/01/08 at 12:09 pm

In the movie "DareDevil", a blind mand with ultra-powerful hearing fights evil. Here's the problem as I see it: He dodges bullets by listening to the sound of their coming, but since bullets travel faster than sound, he'd easily be shot before he ever heard anything.

4 out of 7 people found this comment helpful

Atela

Article Rating: 02/01/08 at 4:49 pm

"...but since bullets travel faster than sound, he'd easily be shot before he ever heard anything."
- jrimsa75

Not all bullets are supersonic. Only certain weapons have a muzzle exit velocity above the speed of sound. For example, a typical handgun 9mm Luger round with 124 grain has muzzle velocity of about 1100 ft/s; a 45 ACP with 130 grain has muzzle velocity of about 850 ft/s. Shotgun pellets are even slower. Speed of sound in dry air at room temperature at sea level is about 1130 ft/s, so unless DareDevil was being shot at point-blank range, he could theoretically "hear" the bullets. Evildoers should have used rifles on him (typical muzzle velocity of .223 Remington is 3250 ft/s).

7 out of 7 people found this comment helpful

paper

Article Rating: 02/01/08 at 9:21 pm

although in the movie they (badguys) they are normally using automatics and not pistols

0 out of 1 people found this comment helpful

jcfritz28

Article Rating: 02/02/08 at 3:18 pm

one thing to point out about daredevils abilities, is he seemed to use all of his senses at a heightened level. In the movie, it was important to show that he probably sensed a combination of pressure, heat, AND used supersenitive hearing. The movie wanted to leverage our familiarity with people with disabilities compensating with their other senses. The comic book seems to go a bit farther, by showing that DD has a special sense almost like a low resolution radar, that worked best with moving objects. This magical ability might not have been as well received as the more normal (but extraordinary) heightened senses.