Why is kryptonite green

Whether its green, red, blue, gold, silver, orange, pink, or even periwinkle…each of these rocks has a different effect on Superman and other Kryptonians. Green Kryptonite — The classic and most common form of kryptonite, this rock severely weakens Kryptonians, and can even kill them when exposed long enough.

Superman Red Kryptonite — Severely weakens Kryptonians more so than the traditional green kryptonite, but has also been known to cause bizarre mood swings and even mutations.

Adventures Comics Anti-Kryptonite — This could easily be called Reverse-Kryptonite, but basically it has no effect on Kryptonians — but it is extremely lethal for humans. It effects Bizarros in pretty much the same way green kryptonite effects Superman. Seriously though, this kills plants. Gold kryptonite removes superpowers, permanently!

Silver Kryptonite — This rock gives Superman some pretty trippy hallucinations. Did Superman ever have any crossover issues with Cheech and Chong? Black Kryptonite — Splits a Kryptonian into two entities: good and evil.

Then in another case, red Kryptonite depowered Superman completely and would have been permanent if it weren't for a loophole enabled by Mr. It also has caused excessive hair growth and the occasional transformation into a dragon, proving that sometimes comic books are very odd. Green Kryptonite is pretty bad but as long as it is removed from the premises, Superman or any affected Kryptonian will return to a normal state.

The same could not be said for the golden variant of Kryptonite which can destroy the ability to process yellow sun energy. Exposure to the gold Kryptonite completely removes all powers from Kryptonian cells thus turning them into a regular Kryptonian like back on their homeworld. It is a permanent effect with no other harmful side effects. It also happens to be one of the rarest forms of Kryptonite.

It's completely harmless at least for the Kryptonians of the typical DC Universe but it does have an effect on Kryptonians from the Bizarro world. Essentially, blue Kryptonite has the same poison-like effects on Bizarro Superman that the green does on the normal Superman. It has also been depicted as a remedy for the effects of red Kryptonite. In Smallville, it was depicted to have the same effects as gold Kryptonite but only for as long as a Kryptonian is exposed to it.

Proof that it's better to always get natural products: this version of Kryptonite was inadvertently created by Richard Pryor's character Gus Gorman in Christopher Reeve's Superman III thus leading to what many fans consider the best portions of what is an overall disappointing sequel. The exposure to synthetic Kryptonite causes Superman's morals to slowly degrade and turn him into a darker and evil version of himself that splits apart to battle with Clark Kent.

The heroic version of the character wins and retakes control in the end. Typically, the radiation emitted by these minerals is effective towards Kryptonians but in the case of the white Kryptonite, it has no effect on any person.

It's one of the most well-known and recognizable minerals on the planet, despite being totally fictional, to the point that the word itself has been folded into pop culture, from song lyrics to idioms, and crossing genres, mediums and cultures.

In short, anybody who knows anything about Superman knows Kryptonite too, and everybody knows something about Superman. But there's more to the Man of Steel's one true weakness than meets the eye—in fact, there's a lot more. Kryptonite was an unexpected addition to the mythology of the DC Universe. In fact, it didn't even get its start on the pages of a comic—instead, it was the Adventures of Superman radio show that first introduced it.

Sure, it may sound a little strange to us now, but back then the Superman radio show was just as—if not more—popular than the comics themselves. Keep in mind that this was the heart of the Golden Age before things like continuity and shared universes were really established the way we know and recognize them today, so stories about Superman across all different mediums just kind of did their own thing, and in that way, they helped each other grow and change. Kryptonite's inclusion in the radio show wasn't just for narrative development.

The recording schedule for episodes was a lengthy and daily process that required a huge time commitment from the voice actors. By giving stories a way to take Superman out of commission, they were also giving their actors a chance to take breaks and days off.

It took six years after its radio introduction for Kryptonite to make the leap to the comics and it still wasn't the glowing green rock you're thinking of. It made its on-page debut in SUPERMAN 61 in , but this early version was actually red in color—not to be confused with the now well-known Red Kryptonite that would be introduced several years later.