Superman

Superman is without a doubt the granddaddy of cinematic superheroes. Among his plethora of powers is the ability to fly. But how does he do that?

Consider Superman simply hovering above the city. According to Newton’s Second Law, there must be some upward force to balance the downward force of his weight. Expressed mathematically: F – mg = ma = 0. But what could cause that upward force?

One possibility is that he is able to emit high-velocity streams of air through the pores of his skin. As he forces the air out of his body, according to Newton’s Third Law, the expelled air must push back. And since Superman can survive in space, his lungs clearly aren’t needed for respiration—maybe they’re auxiliary air tanks.

Storm

A classic superhero conundrum: Where do these people get the energy to perform their superhuman feats? In the X-men movies, the “mutant” Storm is able to generate bolts of lightning at will. The energy released in a normal lightning bolt is about 500 million joules, which is equivalent to 120,000 food calories. To produce even a single lightning bolt, Storm would have to eat at least 60 times the recommended daily amount for an adult female. But we don’t see her constantly cramming down food in the movie, do we?

If her stomach has mutated into some type of nuclear-fusion reactor, however—or better yet, a matter/anti-matter reactor—she could do it. Applying relativity (E = mc2), a single gram of mass converted completely into energy would yield 90 trillion joules. That’s 18 million lightning bolts!