I was watching AoS episode "The Secret of Superman" last night, and in one scene Jimmy Olsen's mother phones Clark Kent around 1:00 a.m. and wakes him up. He seems groggy as he answers the phone and speaks with her. I wasn't aware that Superman needs to sleep. I've seen this episode several times in the past, but not until now did this issue occur to me. Any thoughts?
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Reply by PT 100
on March 17, 2018 at 5:30 PM
Short answer: yes, he needs to sleep. But not for physical restoration, because earth's yellow sun gives him his physical powers, and this also carries him through the night until the sun rises again the next day. He needs to sleep in order to dream, which keeps him mentally/psychologically fit. If you want details, go here.
People also ask similar questions, e.g., Does he need to eat?, etc. This gets complicated, because it depends on what era/age we're talking about in the history of comics (with DC/Action/Superman comics being a sort of "gold standard" for accuracy). During the Bronze Age (roughly before 1959) and Silver Age (roughly 1959-1970) he seemed to get everything he needed from the earth's yellow sun. So he didn't actually need to eat, breathe, etc. Later on he did need to do these things. For more details, go here.
But I'm not so sure that the AoS TV series was always completely faithful to the Bronze Age comic books. E.g., it's unclear whether Superman needed to eat/drink, but he certainly did so on several occasions. However, I suppose one could argue that he enjoyed the taste of food, coffee, etc., but didn't actually need them. Or maybe he occasionally ate/drank in public so as not to seem strange, but maybe didn't do so in private.
Reply by Zürich Gnome
on March 17, 2018 at 5:47 PM
Gee, thanks for the info/links. I guess w/all the different "worlds"/eras/ages, things can get confusing.