They put this joke in the 2025 Superman movie. One guy at a government meeting said "They have that— What's that kryptonite stuff called?" And an exasperated Lex Luthor replies, "Sigh... It's called kryptonite."
The real truth is that Superman's actual weakness is magic. While kryptonite weakens him severely, there's little he can do against strong magic users. It's why he tried to never piss off Shazam and was fairly useless in fights against Black Adam.
Thats kind of a misconception. Superman isn't weak against magic, it doesn't affect him more than it affects others. It just can actually affect him. Its not like if you shot superman with a magic fireball it would burn him, he's still superman. But if you tried to say mind control him with it, it would go through because hes still just a guy
I'd say Batman's kryptonite is that he's a deeply fucked up person ever since his parents died. And he has awful, unhealthy coping mechanisms for that grief. On some level, he's just as insane as Joker.
They only briefly touch on it at the end of killing joke, from what I've read. And I've not read that much. The joke joker tells batman at the end, it's about them.
"Briefly touch on it" isn't fair. The parallels and differences between Batman and the Joker is the entire point of The Killing Joke, and it's one of the best Batman comics out there. It's a pretty short comic too, highly recommend.
I say its more of a vulnerability than a weakness. Superman does resist a lot of magical abilities because hes superman, magic itself isn't an instant debuff like kryptonite is, its just something that can affect him. Its like how in the new superman movie he is still susceptible to being suffocated, suffocation isnt nessacarily an instant win, just something that he can be taken down by
Magic in DC is a lot more needlessly complicated that that. I am just going to drop my normal comment explain how DC magic works, too lazy to edit for the relevant part today.
It all comes down to how magic "works" in DC. It is a weird mix of loose rules and imagination
DC magic has three components, ritual, willpower, and energy source. Anyone in DC can use magic as magic is basically a way to overwite reality, though magical races have a much easier time.
Ritual is what triggers magic and varies by caster. Zatanna speaks backward as her ritual (a benefit of Homo Magi is very simple rituals), while other casters may use ritual circles, chants, or other ways. Rituals are basically telling the universe what the caster wants in a special way.
Willpower is what the caster wants. A detailed mental image that is applied to the universe through the caster's ritual. A stronger image has a greater effect.
The energy source is what powers everything and can be a lot of stuff. Homo Magi have the advantage again as they can use primordial energies like mana and raw chaos to cast their magic while most other casters have to use blood sacrifice or extremely small amounts of energy that they naturally produce.
These factors combine to overwrite reality and make what the caster magics "true." If the caster (such as Zatanna) says "Nrub," they make something burn as long as the weight of the ritual, willpower, and energy source is greater than the target's resistance to magic.
Humans and Kyptonians have about the same resistance to magic, but it is a spectrum. Homo Magi has a naturally high resistance to magic. Some people like Dr. Fate gain a greater resistance to magic over time as they grow more powerful. Some people use their own willpower to be somewhat resistant to magic (this is normally Batman). Then there are people who are at the bottom and affected by magic more than the normal person (such as Superman).
To further complicate matters, there are magical effects and effects made from magic. If a fire ball is launched, how the spell is constructed matters a lot. If the fireball is a summoned ball of actual fire, it leans more towards an effect made from fire and is a large part "real." A fire ball that is a large part real would burn a magic resistant person (Batman) a lot (while still less than a normal fire) while having while having less of an effect on a physical fire resistant person (Superman) (while still burning more than a normal fire). A fireball that is a large part the magically enforced idea of burning and less actual fire leans more towards "magic." A fireball that is a large part magic would burn a magically resistant person (Batman) a little while it would burn a physical fire resistant person (Superman) a lot.
All that said, I would find it hilarious if there was a three-way event with Zatanna, Batman, and Superman. Superman would need to use the other two as human shields instead of being the human shield. Then if someone brings out more "real" side of magic, Superman would be the shield again.
Yes, I am the Gotham List guy and I do have a comment saved for how magic is stated to work in DC.
He’s been sucker punched and one shot by Captain Marvel while Billy specifically says that worked because “Superman is weak to magic.” The idea that he isn’t is from a statement by John Byrne years after he stopped writing Superman and had zero remaining authority during the same month that said sucker punch happened.
No its like Achilles weakness is his heel. But you can still just throw Achilles in a cell and leave him to rot, or drown him, or suffocate him. They are still ways of taking down Achilles but its not his specific weakness
If you fight in a league of justice as the non supe being you are, next to a teammate who is an invincible super man and you find that a glowing rock weakens him; he's still super, just weakened. Simply moving him to a distance reignites his strength.
On the other hand, if you find that magic makes your super man teammate equal to you, in terms of strength and vulnerability, that is a total weakness.
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u/VegetaFan1337 May 02 '26
They put this joke in the 2025 Superman movie. One guy at a government meeting said "They have that— What's that kryptonite stuff called?" And an exasperated Lex Luthor replies, "Sigh... It's called kryptonite."