KRYPTONITE AND THE DAXAMITE LEAD WEAKNESS
#Superman #kryptonite #Daxam #Daxamite
This will be the nerdiest nitpick post you see all day. Feel free to reach through your screen and dump my books.
I've always thought kryptonite was kind of weird: it's radioactive but in a way that doesn't hurt humans or anyone else but Kryptonians. Also, it stops being radioactive if you crush it or you dissolve it in acid; radioactive materials don't work that way.
Meanwhile, the people of planet Daxam have all the same solar powers as Kryptonians, but are immune to kryptonite radiation. Instead they're susceptible to lead radiation, because we all know how radioactive lead is.
None of it makes sense.
Let me toss out an idea though. First, let's start with the uncontroversial notion that Kryptonians and Daxamites absorb certain frequencies of radiation, particularly in the yellow sun zone, which they then use for a variety of powers.
Now, suppose that kryptonite isn't radioactive at all, but rather, it acts as a prism that distorts yellow sun radiation in a way that renders it harmful to Kryptonians. That would explain everything nicely, wouldn't it? You crush or dissolve kryptonite and it stops being a prism. Its "radiation" doesn't affect humans because they don't have any significant response to solar radiation in general.
Switching over to Daxamites, suddenly "lead radiation" starts making sense too, if what's happening is that solar radiation is reflecting off lead albeit with a little distortion. It just so happens that the distortion doesn't impact Kryptonians, just as kryptonite distortion doesn't impact Daxamites.
And it's also a thing that kryptonite and lead cancel each other out, in both directions: a chunk of kryptonite in a lead box won't hurt a Kryptonian, nor will the lead of that box hurt a Daxamite. This makes sense if solar radiation is getting distorted twice, and happens to land on a frequency that doesn't hurt either species.
One last thing: Bronze Age lore was that kryptonite couldn't hurt Kryptonians who had no super powers, either because they weren't currently under a yellow sun or because they had their powers taken away. Well, that would still hold under the "prism" theory: in the first case there would be no yellow radiation to distort, and in the second the Kryptonian simply wasn't capable of absorbing the radiation.
So, that is my shameful dissertation on how I think kryptonite works and why the Daxamite weakness isn't as completely stupid as it seems. This is what I have done with my life.