Can Superman Tell One Heartbeat From Another?
Scene from Superman: The Man of Steel #121
Once again, I want to take a look at Superman’s ability to distinguish people’s “unique” heartbeats from miles away. I’ve spoken out against this interpretation of his power before, but now I’ll admit that I’m starting to change my mind — at least a little. I think it mostly boils down to how you define “heartbeat.”
I am willing to concede that each individual has a unique heartbeat – and by heartbeat I mean the sound the heart makes as it beats (the “lub-dub”). After all, no two hearts are precisely alike and these minuscule differences in size, shape, thickness, and other factors are enough to make each heart sound slightly different to someone with Superman’s super hearing. It’s possible that Superman would be able to find a particular individual by listening for and locating their specific heart sounds (of course, whether this precise level and discrimination of hearing is actually possible by the laws of physics is another topic entirely).
Bear in mind that heart sounds are not fixed and can change. An injured heart will not beat normally, and this is reflected in the sounds it makes. Heart valves can grow floppy with time (”prolapse”), or become stiffer (”stenosis”). Fluid status (dehydrated or overloaded) can also influence heart sounds (for instance, I have always found it easier to hear murmurs in pregnant patients because the extra blood they’re pumping around makes murmurs much more apparent). Longstanding high blood pressure can lead to a thickening in the walls of the heart. Generally, these are gradual changes so Superman should remain able to recognize someone’s particular heart sounds for years and years (though sudden severe heart damage — a large heart attack for instance — could lead to an instant change in heart sounds rendering this ability less useful. So if you want to hide from Superman, your best bet is to be out of shape and unfit).
However, I continue to doubt that Superman could locate someone by listening for their particular heart rate and rhythm. Rhythm and especially rate can change at a moment’s notice, particularly when a person is under stress and their adrenaline is flowing (like when they’re being chased by Superman, for example). Take a decongestant this morning? Someone just cut you off in traffic? Did you have your usual latte, or did you skip it? Take your blood pressure medicine? All of these can affect the heart rate and rhythm rendering Superman’s ability to track by these factors dubious. Thus in the Question #4 (recent mini-series, not the older ongoing series), when Superman tells the Question that each pulse is individual like a fingerprint, I have to call shenanigans because that’s comparing apples and oranges — pulses change over time, even from minute to minute, while fingerprints are immutable.
The scene at the top of this post is from Superman: The Man of Steel #121 by Geoff Johns and Todd Nauck. I read it as supporting the heart sounds concept — as he talks abut other sounds he used to track the 10 of Diamonds — as opposed to the rhythm/rate one. It also reminds me that I’ve never read a bad story featuring the Royal Flush Gang. They’re B-list villains certainly, but great B-list villains.
Previous digressions on this same topic:
Superman #654
The Question #4
November 15th, 2007 at 2:53 am
Instead of “like a fingerprint” (which gives the impression of not varying), it would have been better if he had said “like a voice” (which can vary, but is still recognizable).
I suppose it could be rationalized that he was trying to describe how he perceives it, as a kind of super-electrocardiogram that looks sort of like a fingerprint in terms of patterns in his mind. That is, rather than a simple single curve, he sees a lot of detail, and he can remember and match that picture over time (even if it changes a little, the same way people can match distorted or somewhat changed pictures of faces).
November 15th, 2007 at 8:42 am
I seem to recall you took a hiatus because of a heart attack yourself. Are you hiding from Superman?
November 15th, 2007 at 9:03 am
Hmm, form-fitting Kevlar. Sexy protection for the smart young super-villainess.
November 15th, 2007 at 9:06 am
Supes’ jaw is as big as the deformity on last Tuesday’s House - shouldn’t he get that looked at?
November 15th, 2007 at 11:56 am
Seth suggested that Clark perceives a “heartbeat” “as a kind of super-electrocardiogram”, and that a voiceprint would be a better comparison. Let’s take that further.
Back in the Silver Age, Superman was often shown hearing minute electrical discharges and current flowing through wires; in some extreme cases, he could even hear radio transmissions.
Since they’ve boosted Clark back up to Pre-Crisis levels, what he calls a “heartbeat” might really BE an EKG. He’s not just hearing the sounds of pumping blood: he’s hearing every single neuron as it discharges in sequence.
As I understand it, the neurons wrapped around the heart are governed by the same kind of fractally-distributed growth factors that produce fingerprints and retinas and all those other distinctive biometrics, wrapped in a three-dimensional pattern, with equally-distinctive variations in timing and sequence.
Now, doing this trick at extended ranges in a large crowd is still subject to those pesky laws of physics, but, if he is indeed hearing the heart’s electrical patterns, then I think the “voiceprint” analogy would pass muster.
If he’s picking those patterns up with some OTHER Kryptonian super-sense and simply INTERPRETING it as “hearing”, that could even explain some of his “hearing faster than sound” stunts.
November 15th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Best not to even get into how long it should take him to filter and rule out eleven million other hearts beating, even if you grant him that he only has to examine each one for a fraction of second, and not actually hear at least a few beats per heart to calculate beats-per-minute or to establish anything else.
November 16th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
[…] Scott asks if Superman would really be able to identify people by their heartbeat. […]
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