A Black Superman? Why People Don’t Understand The Science – Forbes

‘Science Says Superman Should Be Black‘. When I wrote that article in March 2016, Henry Cavill had played Superman in two films, Man of Steel and Batman v Superman.

But Zack Snyder’s Justice League (AKA ‘the Snyder Cut’) could be Cavill’s third and final outing as the last son of Krypton, as recent rumors suggest that Warner Bros will cast a black actor in the lead role for the next Superman movie.

Now is therefore the perfect time to revisit the reasoning behind why the iconic hero should have dark skin, and why some people didn’t understand the science.

Superman is like an alien plant

Superpowers break the laws of physics. Explaining why special abilities are impossible is no fun, however, so my approach is to explore plausible aspects – to be as accurate as possible when applying realistic science to a fictional character.

The basic premise behind a black Superman is that he’s fuelled by sunlight and, as explained in Man of Steel, his cells absorb solar radiation.

In nature, some organisms do something similar through photosynthesis: plant cells capture photons in light using a green pigment, chlorophyll, in structures called ‘chloroplasts’ that power chemical reactions to generate energy.

Superman wouldn’t be green though. That’s because, unlike plants, he’s not from Earth. He’s an alien from planet Krypton.

The ancestors of Kal-El (Superman’s real name) evolved on a world orbiting a dying star that radiated less light. And so for a Kryptonian’s cells to absorb radiation, they would need a dark pigment to capture a broad spectrum of wavelengths in light.

As NASA space-scientist Nancy Kiang said in the Scientific American article that inspired my Superman story:

“Evolution might favor a greater variety of photosynthetic pigments to pick out the full range of visible and infrared light. With little light reflected, plants might even look black to our eyes.”

So in a plausible scenario, Superman’s skin contains a pigment that works like chlorophyll, but appears black in color.

Pigments have different functions

Some people seemed confused by the explanation.

And while it would be easy to dismiss them as stupid, as a science communicator I’m interested in the public understanding of science, so I tried to pinpoint the source of their confusion.

Forbes articles used to include a comment section and, after reading about 100 comments, I managed to identify a common theme: some people didn’t understand that Superman could be stronger because dark pigments would absorb more energy. That’s summarized in the following statement from ‘Joey’:

“This is the complete opposite of reality. Darker pigmentation blocks out the Sun which would make him weaker.”

And so the misunderstanding comes from the belief that pigments can only have a single function: to block light.

From there, you can see why some people were confused. Humans and other mammals use pigments collectively known as ‘melanin’ to prevent solar radiation (especially UV light) from causing mutations that damage DNA in cells. Melanin pigments help protect people against skin cancer.

Those people who didn’t understand that pigments can have different functions were unable to make a distinction between one that blocks light — melanin — and a pigment that absorbs light, like chlorophyll – except black instead of green.

That misunderstanding reflects an intellectual error that’s typical of people who aren’t trained biologists: people are only one part of nature. When a non-biologist views the natural world, they tend to focus on humans — an ‘anthropocentric’ perspective. It’s a mistake that academics have made when trying to define ‘life’, for instance.

READ: What Is Life? Here’s Why There’s Still No Definition

The ‘Science Says Superman Should Be Black’ article received plenty of positive coverage on news sites and social media.

Some reactions on Twitter had valid points (“If science applied to Superman he would not be able to fly”) while others made tongue-in-cheek jokes (“His real name is Kal-El. That already sounds black.”)

Color is not always about race

My article obviously touched on issues related to race, so I also received negative feedback, including a few comments that contained bigotry, racist language and casual racism due to unconscious bias. One commenter said:

“While we’re at it, let’s make Superman gay as well.”

That statement could indicate that some people don’t want change for change’s sake, for instance, but I suspect that ‘Matt’ was actually accusing me of being a social justice warrior engaged in what’s now called “virtue signalling.”

Over the past few decades, comic books have changed numerous characters to reflect a society that’s far more diverse than it was when mainstream superheroes were created around the mid-20th Century. As I argued in my article:

“Rather than promoting diversity just for diversity’s sake, I believe the case for changing a character’s identity is made stronger if the rationale makes sense based on origins and powers. The change is more likely to be welcomed – and become permanent – if it’s based on logic, not gimmick.”

Skin color is just one example of such changes to identity. Thor switched from man to woman in the comics, for instance, and Natalie Portman will play a female Thor in the forthcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, Thor: Love and Thunder.

Importantly, however, it’s almost always the secret identity that changes, not the character’s name. I’m not convinced that fans would accept a ‘black Peter Parker’ as readily as ‘Miles Morales, Spider-Man‘, but I could be wrong.

The popularity of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse shows that movie audiences will welcome versions from alternate universes, which opens the door for the next Man of Steel movie to star Calvin Ellis.

Samuel L Jackson portrayed SHIELD director Nick Fury, but he’s a minor character. Superman is not only the center of the DC Extended Universe, he’s a major cultural icon and the archetype for modern superheroes.

Assuming that Superman’s origin story in the next movie includes being brought-up on a farm in Kansas by white parents, a ‘black Clark Kent’ may seem like a step too far.

Since ‘Science Says Superman Should Be Black’, I’ve written dozens of articles on the science and technology behind superhero movies – my favorite is an unpopular piece on the cultural impact of Black Panther in creating role models.

READ: Black Panther’s Legacy: African People As Leaders In Technology

My Superman story is one of a few articles that went viral and remains one of my most popular: it had over 300,000 views by 2018, so I would estimate that it’s now been read about half a million times.

The skin color of fictional characters can change. Five years since writing my article, I still can’t think of a scientific argument against why Superman should be black.

Favorite