Kryptonite

suffering from green kryptonite poisoning, courtesy of foes Metallo and Titano, in Action Comics Annual #10 (March 2007), art by Art Adams and Alex Sinclair An unpublished 1940 story titled "The K-Metal from Krypton", written by Superman creator Jerry Siegel, featured a prototype of kryptonite. It is a mineral from the planet Krypton that drains Superman of his strength and gives superhuman powers to humans. This story was rejected because Superman reveals his identity to Lois Lane. The mineral kryptonite, not to be confused with the real element krypton, was officially introduced in the radio serial The Adventures of Superman, in the story "The Meteor from Krypton", broadcast in June 1943. An apocryphal story claims that kryptonite was introduced to incapacitate Superman, allowing Superman's voice actor Bud Collyer to take time off. This tale was recounted by Julius Schwartz in his memoir. However, historian Michael J. Hayde disputes this. In "The Meteor from Krypton", Superman is never exposed to kryptonite. If kryptonite allowed Collyer to take vacations, that was a fringe benefit discovered later. More likely, kryptonite was introduced as a plot device for Superman to discover his origin. Hayde may have mistaken 1943's "The Meteor from Krypton" for 1945's "The Meteor of Kryptonite", as Superman was exposed in the latter but not in the former. In the radio serial, Krypton is located in the same solar system as Earth, in the same orbit, but on the opposite side of the Sun. This provided an easy explanation for how kryptonite found its way to Earth. In the comics' Silver Age, Krypton is located in a distant solar system and much of the kryptonite that came to Earth was transported by the same "space warp" that baby Kal-El's rocket traversed. Kryptonite was incorporated into the comic mythos with Superman #61 (November 1949). In a 1993 interview with Florida Today, editor Dorothy Woolfolk stated that she felt Superman's invulnerability was "boring". Originally depicted as an element in the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age comics, Kryptonite is depicted as a compound in post-Crisis continuity. ==Varieties ==

Various forms of the fictional material have been created over the years in Superman publications and programs. This table includes forms that have not persisted in canon. and Jimmy Olsen discuss the mineral kryptonite, with the jewel variant making its debut, in Action Comics #310 (March 1964), art by Curt Swan. ==In vernacular==

The term was being used independent of Superman by the 1960s, as a metaphor for a decisive weakness or vulnerability. Cambridge Dictionary defines the figurative use as "something that hurts or damages a person or thing that usually seems strong", Dictionary.com defines it as "something that a person or thing cannot defend against or defeat", and Collins defines it informally as "something that renders a person or thing helpless". Michael Pedler writes that "Superman's Kryptonite remains a kind of pop-cultural shorthand" for an "Achilles' heel". Brian Holmes, Jeremy Bolen and Brian Kirkbride use the word in a different scholarly context in "Born Secret (Cash for Kryptonite): A field guide to the Anthropocene mode of production", an article on art, technology and political ecology that examines the Tennessee Valley, hydroelectric modernization and the Manhattan Project. The title uses the term "kryptonite" to represent hidden vulnerability, exposure and destructive technological power. The term has seen usage in popular media. In music, kryptonite is often used metaphorically for dependence, loyalty or personal susceptibility. A prominent example is 3 Doors Down's 2000 single "Kryptonite"; songwriter Brad Arnold described the song as being "about friendship" and asking, "Will you just be there for me?" In wider film, television, sports and cultural commentary, the word is used as shorthand for a character flaw, a team's weakness or a system's point of failure; The Atlantic describes figurative use as "a moral weakness" or "a character flaw". ==References==