Kryptonite

Probably one of the most well known comic book items, even among those who don’t frequent comic books. Kryptonite; it's a song, an analogy, but more importantly it's Superman’s only known weakness, at least green Kryptonite is his weakness. Kryptonite takes many forms in the comics, some of which we get to see play out on screen in the form of Smallville (the best Superman adaptation that exists I don’t care). With all the changes DC comics has gone through and the many colors Krytonite can take form in, all causing different effects, it can get confusing keeping them straight or even knowing what all of them are. So here we go, here is where we break down all the colors and effects of Kryptonite…

Green (Action Comics #161, 1951); The most common and depicted in almost every onscreen version of Superman that has taken place, both on the big and small screen, Green Kryptonite famously weakens Kryptonians and can kill them with prolonged exposure.

Red (Action Comics #255, 1956); The original intention behind Red Kryptonite was to be a more intense version of Green Kryptonite in that it weakes Kryptonians in a quicker and more severe way, but it is also known to cause bizarre mood swings and/or mutations as we saw in Smallville when Clark would put on his class ring and turn into Khal-El.

Blue (Superman #140, 1960); Blue Kryptonite seems to have been written in strictly for the purpose of stopping a single character, Bizarro (This is what happens when you OP all of your characters DC…) Blue Krytonite has basically the same effect on Bizarro that Green Kryptonite has on Superman. Blue Kryptonite has also been used as an antidote to the unpredictable behavior effects of red Kryptonite.

White (Adventure Comics #279, 1960); White Kryptonite….why was it invented? The world may never know because all it does is kill plant life (DC why?)

Gold; Gold Kryptonite, extremely rare, it negates a Kryptonians healing factor and can permanently remove superpowers (only in the pre-Crisis DC universe, in post-Crisis stories it only removes powers temporarily).

Silver (Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #70 1963); The effects and origins of Silver Kryptonite are extremely convoluted (as is everything with the damn DC universe...I’m a fan, I swear). In Smallville, Season 5 Silver Kryptonite causes altered perceptions, Clark suffered from paranoid delusions. In the comics it was revealed by Jimmy to be a hoax.

Black (Supergirl V.5 2005); In the pre-flashpoint timeline it could split a Kryptonian into 2 entities, 1 good, the other evil however this was only true in the case of Superman. In one of DC’s way to many alternate universes (Dark Multiverse Earth 22) however it causes affected Kryptonians to become murderous towards the ones they love before dying themselves (Dark Knights Metal - The Batman Who Laughs #1).

Red/Green (Action Comics #275, 1960); For some reason DC thought Brainiac should create a type of Kryptonite that would cause Superman to mutate, the result was that of a temporary growth of a third eye in the back of Superman’s head.

Red/Green/Blue (Superman #162, 1963); Okay first of all what the hell is with all these hybrid versions of Kryptonite? Was it really necessary? No, no it wasn’t... anyway this version of Kryptonite was used in an imaginary story/ alternate world in which Superman attempts to power an intelligence expanding device using the different colors of the Kryptonian alloy. This experiment causes an explosion resulting in the separation of Superman into two different identities, Blue and Red both with enhanced intelligence. (Kinda like that Buffy episode where there's two different Xanders each representing his different personality traits).

BONUSES: Anti-Kryptonite (Action Comics #252, 1959); Basically is just the inverse of Green Kryptonite, it has absolutely no effect on Kryptonians but is extremely lethal to humans.

X-Kryptonite (Action Comics #261, 1960); This version of Krytonite give humans and other creatures momentary super powers, I believe in the comics Lois Lane was granted temporary superpowers with some help from X-Kryptonite (I don’t remember the exact issue number but once I find it, I’ll publish it in a future article)

All that stated, I only included the most relevant forms of Kryptonite as there are still many more...yes really. I used to think DC’s alternate universes and multi-leveled timelines that don’t make any sense was a recent hardship, but upon further research...they’ve always been overly complicated and unnecessary. My advice to everyone is to stick to DC’s animated universe, nothing will ever top the cartoons and animated movies.