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Superman is far stronger than the common man in his physique, but what about in his psyche?

Today is International Day Against Drug Abuse, and as we know it is quite hard for a common person to conquer the addiction by his/her own will. So I'm curious:

  1. Can Superman be affected by drugs, such as heroin?

  2. If yes, can Superman be addicted to drugs?

  3. If yes, does Superman have a sufficiently strong will to conquer the horrible addiction by himself?

Update

By Thaddeus' answer in this question we know that Pre-Crisis Superman was immune to narcotics when be under a yellow sun. However, under a red sun, he appeared to be Human in all the ways that mattered. So whenever under a red sun, what's the answer of these three questions above?

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Popopo
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    How do you administer a drug to him? – ThePopMachine Jun 26 '13 at 16:05
  • @ThePopMachine Via digestive system, respiratory system, or circulatory system. – Popopo Jun 26 '13 at 16:12
  • @Popopo I think circulatory system would be out, unless you used a hollow Kryptonite needle to administer it, and his lungs probably wouldn't be affected by any inhalents seeing as his "super breath" power would already have to counteract any toxins he inhales. Digestion may be the only way to go. – Monty129 Jun 26 '13 at 16:29
  • See question I added http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/37429/does-superman-need-to-eat – ThePopMachine Jun 26 '13 at 16:48
  • @Monty129 According to this question asked before, it seems even Superman can get hurt and bleeding if his adversary is also an strong enough Supercreature. Thus I think circulatory system cannot be totally precluded. – Popopo Jun 26 '13 at 16:50
  • @ThePopMachine I have seen. But I don't think the answer will quite affect here. Probably he does not need to eat foods, but certainly he can. – Popopo Jun 26 '13 at 16:56
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    Worth pointing out that even when he was 'dead' from Doomsday, Superman's body was still invulnerable enough that it bent a scalpel in half when they tried to do an autopsy. This was after he took an all-day beating that made him vulnerable enough to nearly die. – Jeff Jun 26 '13 at 17:44
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    superman can get drunk, I don't see why he can't get high. – z - Jun 26 '13 at 18:28
  • @yx when did he get drunk? – Monty129 Jun 26 '13 at 21:09
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    Do not read without brain bleach available. Superman III had Superman affected by an artificial almost-Kryptonite that contained cigarette tar (in place of an unknown component). This influenced his behavior. @Monty129 This might be what yx was referring to; Superman appeared to get drunk in that movie. –  Jun 26 '13 at 21:44
  • Oh I remember that @PaulA.Clayton, however I chose to believe it was all just someone's idea of a sick joke. And I do remember him drinking beer in that movie, but I thought his behavior was more to do with the Kryptonite and less to do with everything else. – Monty129 Jun 26 '13 at 21:54
  • @PaulAClayton yup that was it. My comment was more of an attempt at black humor by referencing the worst superman movie in existence than anything else. – z - Jun 26 '13 at 22:58
  • @Monty129: I think you might be confusing toxins with intoxicant. Regardless, if no psychoactive substance worked on Superman, then he also wouldn't be affected by caffeine or drugs like tylenol. That by itself might be fine, but since the brain fundamentally requires neurotransmitters and neurotransmitter receptors to function, he should at least be affected by those endogenous chemicals and their exogenous analogs. So perhaps he's not affected by any of the same drugs as humans, but if you extract or synthesize kryptonian adrenaline and he ingested it, he would still feel the effects. – Lèse majesté Jun 27 '13 at 16:15
  • @Lèsemajesté that's assuming his Kryptonian brain functions like an earth based brain. Either way his esophogus, and lungs would have to have the same level of invulnerability as the rest of him to inhale the way his super breath is depicted, therefore neither toxins nor intoxicants would be able to enter his bloodstream through them. – Monty129 Jun 27 '13 at 16:23
  • @Monty129: Well, if he's got blood vessels, a cardiovascular system, and all those other kryptonian analogs to human organs, then he's probably got a similar nervous system that's based on neurons as well. If that's the case, then it would have to function through electric impulses and neurochemistry. Perhaps kryptonian neuroreceptors are highly selective and will only bind to the exact endogenous molecule they evolved to be activated by, and perhaps their blood-brain barrier is much more selective, but it's hard to imagine any kind of brain without these basic components. – Lèse majesté Jun 28 '13 at 01:11
  • I find this a silly question, when you would think of a possibility such as this when it would definitely not happen at all and Superman is not entirely human to begin with, so the chances of addiction are quite slim. -1 – Izumi-reiLuLu Mar 09 '14 at 05:06
  • Over the course of his comic book history, Superman has been faced with a cloud of horrid toxic gas (from villainy and/or industrial accident). His go-to move is to inhale the cloud, zoom up to space and exhale the vapour. Not a blink of an after effect. Hard to imagine even "some really good shit" would even register. – Blaze Dec 26 '23 at 22:37

2 Answers2

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I'm quoting Thaddeus in the question you linked :

Under a red sun, he appeared to be Human in all the ways that mattered.

Thus, the answers :

  1. He could be affected by any drugs.
  2. He could be addicted to any drugs.
  3. You say it is "quite hard for a common person to conquer the addiction by his/her own will". Superman is no common person. So I guess he could, even if it would be hard.

Not really much more to say, since the details are in the question you linked. Maybe one more thing : if Superman was addicted to a drug under a red sun, I suppose as soon as he would get under a yellow one, the addiction (chemical dependency) and effects of the drug would fade instantly.

EDIT after the comments : I really think he would instantly lose the psychological addiction too. Drug is not like a gambling problem. There should be a question about this kind of psychological addiction though :D. So, the addiction to drug stems from chemical processes. Those processes would fade. And Supe wouldn't be able to get those effects again. Smoking or injecting something (provided you manage to inject him something...) would have the same (if not less) effect than a glass of water on a human... I'm not that fluent in english so I don't understand in the Wikipedia article if Cold Turkey has biological or psychological origins. Feel free to edit.

Kalissar
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  • That's not how addiction works. That's essentially the same as saying that, if Superman developed a gambling problem or sex addiction under the red sun, he'd instantly lose interest in sex or gambling under a yellow sun. – Lèse majesté Jun 27 '13 at 16:08
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    @Lèsemajesté perhaps "Chemical dependency" would be a better term than "addiction" in that case – Monty129 Jun 27 '13 at 16:25
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    He would lose the physical chemical dependency but any psychological effects would have to be dealt with and probably "cold turkey" at that because he would no longer be able to be affected by the drug once he returned to a yellow sun. – Thaddeus Howze Jun 27 '13 at 16:40
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Kryptonians (Superman's race) are not human beings despite their phenotypes and the years of continuity and plot errors created by DC Comics. There basic physiology is completely different than that of human beings in so many ways that it is only due to the need to make Superman appear to be human that he does There is no reason to suspect that chemical compounds derived from Earth plants or created in laboratories would have any effect upon hi, Or they may be exceeding lethal as his body not not possess any of the defenses which humans have.

The most honest answer would be to say that it would depend largely upon when the Superman story was written and who wrote it. If it was a 1930-1960s Superman (or as was pointed out in a comment above the Superman from Superman III) it may be possible for him to be affected by the ingestion of narcotics and become addicted. If, however, it is the energy-absorbing Superman from the early 1980s, forward, then it seems unlikely to occur as this being is so clearly distinct from humanity that his resemblance to mankind is the only "human" thing about him.

Mistah Mix
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