• exocrinous@startrek.website
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    7 months ago

    Some comic-book events feature a black Superman, and that raises questions about whether Kryptonians coincidentally match every ethnic group on Earth

    Not exactly, but they have dark and light skin. Krypton’s red sun is a big deal in Kryptonian health. Kryptonian communities living closer to the equator would probably evolve higher melanin the same as humans did. Actually, light-skinned Kryptonians require a bigger suspension of disbelief than dark-skinned ones do.

    And obviously the racial dynamics between dark and light Kryptonians wouldn’t be the same as on earth. It would depend upon factors like the shape of continents, the location of arable soil, of large herbivores and of predators, and of minerals.

    Fun fact: swords made out of meteorites are a common trope in Japan, because Japan has poor iron and big mountains.

    • mindbleach
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      7 months ago

      Melanin is a response to ionizing ultraviolet light, which a lower-color-temperature sun would not have.

      The funnier version of taking that hand-wave too seriously would be asking whether dark-skinned Kryptonians are more or less efficient at absorbing superpowers from Earth’s yellow sun. It’s the sort of goofy implication that arises from trying to justify the coincidences behind a just-so outcome.